18 replies
Hey guys, how much do you charge for a 1000 text sms plan for a business? And how much for additional texts?

Just want to get an idea. I read somewhere that $300/month is good for 1000 texts? I was thinking of using lime. Do you know of a better interface?
#pricing #service #sms
  • Profile picture of the author bugtrack
    It depends on which sms gateway you re using i would recommend you to use gsm modem to send message and you can buy sim with lots of sms free or yuo can get sms gateway api to send messages. Prices vary from location to location
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  • Profile picture of the author xlfutur1
    If you make 10X profit margin, that's pretty good. So for 1000 texts, charging $100 is a $90 profit margin with each SMS at 1 cent. If you can get more that's great, but a profit margin of 10X cost is plenty without gouging the customer.
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    I think it depends on what you are doing. If it is DIY and the client will just be trained and run their own that is cheaper then if you manage it for them.

    Also be aware that 1,000 is like a list of 100 to 200. The local checkers franchise here in a small metro area has a list of 14,000 numbers.
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Rather than pricing it on the cost of your service and your time, look at it from the size of the problem it solves for your client.

    How many return customers do they conservatively expect to get based on a blast?

    How much is the average purchase worth?

    How many times a month do they intend to send out these blasts?

    Start multiplying these figures together and you'll get an idea of what your service is worth to them. Charge a percentage.

    SMS is so easily turned into a commodity though...you can look into providing something unique with your management service to avoid this from happening.
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  • Profile picture of the author imsolutionsgroup
    I've had better experience in offering the plans based on the sizes of the customers SMS list rather than limiting them to a set number of texts per month.
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    • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
      Originally Posted by imsolutionsgroup View Post

      I've had better experience in offering the plans based on the sizes of the customers SMS list rather than limiting them to a set number of texts per month.
      It is still the really same since you need to estimate how often they will send to figure your cost.

      Personally I would price it by message vs. list size. You want them to grow their list but they may not want to since it will cost more. By doing it by sent messages they could always cut back how often if the list got too big. But if they are getting ROI they won't. Also you can have packages plus a per message overage. Add in rollover so they can save up those early messages they won't use and you can build a lot of value around the per text model.

      I think overall that marketers should market SMS as managed. Have DIY accounts too so you don't lose customers but managed is better for the businesses till they get bigger.

      Say you cost per text is 1 cent per. And you want to give them 5,000 texts. So your cost is $50. So double that at least plus add in say $50 to $100 per hour you think you would be helping them per month.

      Easy to see how on a managed plan you can get to a $299 or $399 price point fast.

      Make a few plans so they have choices and be ready to make custom plans as needed.
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      • Profile picture of the author imsolutionsgroup
        Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

        It is still the really same since you need to estimate how often they will send to figure your cost.

        Personally I would price it by message vs. list size. You want them to grow their list but they may not want to since it will cost more. By doing it by sent messages they could always cut back how often if the list got too big. But if they are getting ROI they won't. Also you can have packages plus a per message overage. Add in rollover so they can save up those early messages they won't use and you can build a lot of value around the per text model.

        I think overall that marketers should market SMS as managed. Have DIY accounts too so you don't lose customers but managed is better for the businesses till they get bigger.

        Say you cost per text is 1 cent per. And you want to give them 5,000 texts. So your cost is $50. So double that at least plus add in say $50 to $100 per hour you think you would be helping them per month.

        Easy to see how on a managed plan you can get to a $299 or $399 price point fast.

        Make a few plans so they have choices and be ready to make custom plans as needed.
        I agree but only if you're going to offer a Done-For-You service.

        If you don't offer a done-for-you service and are charging by messages sent, if your client does a little due diligence they will see they can most likely find a much cheaper solution strictly based off messages allowed per month.
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        • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
          Originally Posted by imsolutionsgroup View Post

          I agree but only if you're going to offer a Done-For-You service.

          If you don't offer a done-for-you service and are charging by messages sent, if your client does a little due diligence they will see they can most likely find a much cheaper solution strictly based off messages allowed per month.
          They can always find a lower priced service. But let's be real here is they are using enough messages per month why are you not pricing low and just playing the margins.

          If your cost is say 1 cent why wouldn't you be charging 5 cents or less for DIY. Hell on a big account you could charge 1.2 cents per and still make a nice profit.

          Example: 100,000 per month for $1200 a month would be 1.2 cents per and would leave you with a profit of $200 a month for billing and a little support.
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          • Profile picture of the author imsolutionsgroup
            Originally Posted by Aaron Doud View Post

            They can always find a lower priced service. But let's be real here is they are using enough messages per month why are you not pricing low and just playing the margins.

            If your cost is say 1 cent why wouldn't you be charging 5 cents or less for DIY. Hell on a big account you could charge 1.2 cents per and still make a nice profit.

            Example: 100,000 per month for $1200 a month would be 1.2 cents per and would leave you with a profit of $200 a month for billing and a little support.
            Again, I agree...

            I guess the main difference I see is the competition.

            There are many service out there that offer a DIY service and provide you with a platform to send messages, but not many that are a DFY service.

            With the DFY I have better results when you allow your customer to have no limits on the amount of messages they send per month. No need for them to monitor/stress about how many messages they have left without going over.

            Instead, I want the business owner to focus on tracking which messages are generating the best results (what days they are sent, incentive, time they are sent, etc.)
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  • Profile picture of the author vndnbrgj
    With Lime's $297 package, you can put 5 businesses on it.
    I would charge $197 a month.
    You will end up with around $700 a month profit if you get 5 businesses signed up.
    I would add more if you were consistently managing it.
    You can agree to send out 4 texts a month and pre-scheduled them.
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  • Profile picture of the author GeoMasters
    Hey guys thanks for the great advice! But, do you guys think I should go with limecellular.com? Where/what interface is the 1 cent per sms figure coming from?
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    • Profile picture of the author Iluminada
      Originally Posted by GeoMasters View Post

      Hey guys thanks for the great advice! But, do you guys think I should go with limecellular.com? Where/what interface is the 1 cent per sms figure coming from?
      You should check whether they are providing trial or not and check their services for few days and then buy big number of sms
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  • Profile picture of the author GeoMasters
    ok, thanks! A lot of people seem to like limecellular so I guess I will go with them for now. And sms are affordable.
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  • Profile picture of the author SashaLee
    Hi there,

    Twilio has 1c sms messaging and a $1/month subscription. We use it for a number of clients.

    All the best.

    Sasha
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    1 cent figure is coming from lime.

    theirs varies from .5 cents on up with a mid-sized usage IMO would get you 1 cent.
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    • Profile picture of the author AllHailJeff
      Is it one cent per message sent to each SMS subscriber, or one cent per SMS message broadcasted (regardless of how many are on the lists)?
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  • Profile picture of the author Aaron Doud
    Per message sent.
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  • Profile picture of the author TrumpiaTim
    Typically $50 - $75 for this volume and then you can add on consulting/management fees if you'd like.
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    Trumpia: The Most Completed SMS Text Messaging Software & API Solution.
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