First SMS trial-best options?

ozlizard · 10th Jul 2013, 03:57 AM

I am about to start my first SMS trial for a Café.

The owner has bought a mobile site from me and is very interested in the SMS marketing side of things.
I have signed up with a local Australian SMs company. They have 10 free SMS to try for free than the costs start at 500 for about $38. Pretty reasonable I thought. VMN is $99 per year, but still cheap, all things considered.

So this is the plan atm.

use his mobile number until we see that we are getting the sign ups
ask customers to sign up to the Café VIP Club for special offers available only on their mobile phone
they text the name of the café to the mobile number on display and will be sent a confirmation and maybe the first offer?
when we have 20-30 signups trial a small campaign and see what response we get
if it goes ok we will ramp it up and start sending offers maybe once a week when it's slow (this is a tourist/holiday town), and maybe every day in the busy season (the place gets packed, anyone heard of Margaret River?)

The things I am not sure about so far, are the offer frequency and what to charge this dude when it gets going.

Any ideas/suggestions/experience most welcome.
I will post results on here when available.

textMo · 10th Jul 2013, 04:12 AM

it all sounds good so far, not being from oz its hard for me to say what the best marketing option is,

but ill have a go any way, in terms of the amount of offers you send out any more than 2 per customer per week would be annoy most people,

as far as pricing goes you said you can get 500 sms for $38 not to bad for a smaller bundle but 7.6c per sms is still on the high side for me and it depends what you are getting for your money i.e. do you get a sender id or a return number in that price?

for me I would look at charging the client cost of sms plus 20% and then an hourly rate on top for managing the campaign for them, most sms platforms are simple to use so it wont take up much time anyway,

another option you might want to look at is getting a white label setup that way you can charge as mush as you want for the sms bundles and the client manages the sends and data them selves,

islandgal · 10th Jul 2013, 04:55 AM

I'm an expat Aussie. Yes, I've heard of Margaret River, though I've never been there. I also hail from a major tourist town, so I know what it's like.

I think you can do better on the SMS rate. Have you checked out pennytel? https://www.pennytel.com.au/personal...l-features/sms I was considering trialing them for marketing in my current country. I have no affiliation with them. I also think that you'd need to be providing a pretty good special deal to be sending a daily text to customers or they'll opt out pretty quick. Perhaps you could offer a daily or weekly option, or split test it?
I'd also look at using a reseller platform like Reseller SMS | White Label SMS | Wholesale SMS Reseller Pricing (no affiliation) but prices are higher for small quantities.

ozlizard · 10th Jul 2013, 06:12 AM

Thanks for the comments, much appreciated.
I agree you don't want to piss off the customers, so maybe 1 a week in the off season, maybe 3 a week during the busy time. Trial and error will prove what is right.

Yes textmo, you get a sender ID, long SMS option and free replies, but I will check out those other options islandgal.

imsolutionsgroup · 10th Jul 2013, 09:36 AM

Sounds good. They only comment I have is "they text the name of the café to the mobile number on display and will be sent a confirmation and maybe the first offer?"

If they are texting the keyword from their phone and not signing up from a web form...there is no need to send a confirmation message. Just send the first offer, this is what they're expecting...and you don't want to piss them off

ozlizard · 10th Jul 2013, 05:32 PM

Just send the first offer, this is what they're expecting

Quite right.

xlfutur1 · 12th Jul 2013, 07:57 PM

You could get lots of signups by having a WiFi tablet at the register whereby customers enter their phone number in a form to enter to instantly win a free cup of coffee, donut, or whatever. The SMS reply either is a winner, or another message with a different offer to be used in the future. Set it so that every 5 people that enter will win.

This can be set up with Twilio, openvbx (free) and the random plugin. Twilio service is available in AU so you are set. 500 texts for $38 is pretty steep. Would cost you only $5.00 using Twilio. When you cut out the middleman, you are in much more control and you can design the exact system you want.

TrumpiaTim · 18th Jul 2013, 10:30 AM

In terms of offer frequency, we'd recommend sending maybe once a week.
For really great deals you may consider doing it twice a week.

xlfutur1 · 18th Jul 2013, 10:54 AM

Originally Posted by TrumpiaTim

In terms of offer frequency, we'd recommend sending maybe once a week.
For really great deals you may consider doing it twice a week.

They better be compelling deals to do once per week. Always monitor unsubscribes, because too much frequency will get lots of unsubscribes. I think every 10-14 is a good frequency. Its a fine line because people are more sensitive to getting worthless texts than they are email. I had a client send out 3-4 times the week before the super bowl and his unsubscribes went through the roof during that week. He learned fast not to abuse his list.

Mobile Steven · 18th Jul 2013, 12:36 PM

Originally Posted by TrumpiaTim

In terms of offer frequency, we'd recommend sending maybe once a week.
For really great deals you may consider doing it twice a week.

I disagree with you Tim, once a week is annoying, twice a week you'll lose your list.

It depends on the business, it's volumes, it's promotions, the demographics. It's not a simple send out 1-2 messages per week. Sure it's good for companies like Trumpia to profit, but terrible for businesses and clients. Would you like to receive 2 texts a week with offers? Opt into 5 programs and you get 10 texts a week... it becomes annoying. Cell phone are personal to people, you need to treat it that way.

Some companies DO advertise a lot and maybe even 1-2 times a week with flyers and other means. Those businesses are rare but those are the ones you send Mts 1-2 times week.

ozlizard · 20th Jul 2013, 08:28 PM

Ok, thanks for the input guys. I have the first 10 numbers ready to go for a promo for the month of August. So will wait to the start of the month to send them out.
It didn't take the client long to get 10 numbers, so this looks good. This is the off season (winter). In summer he gets about 2,000 customers through the door every week. So that's over say 3-4 months. I reckon he will get a lot of sign ups!

One question I still have, that I can't find the answer for is this.
If he gets a VN (he will, of course) and customers send their SMS to this number, how/where is that number stored/managed?
The SMS service I am trialling only allows import by spread sheet CSV.
So what do you use to record and store the numbers prior to uploading?

Mobile Steven · 21st Jul 2013, 07:01 AM

Originally Posted by ozlizard

Ok, thanks for the input guys. I have the first 10 numbers ready to go for a promo for the month of August. So will wait to the start of the month to send them out.
It didn't take the client long to get 10 numbers, so this looks good. This is the off season (winter). In summer he gets about 2,000 customers through the door every week. So that's over say 3-4 months. I reckon he will get a lot of sign ups!

One question I still have, that I can't find the answer for is this.
If he gets a VN (he will, of course) and customers send their SMS to this number, how/where is that number stored/managed?
The SMS service I am trialling only allows import by spread sheet CSV.
So what do you use to record and store the numbers prior to uploading?

I will explain this from my experience because on these forums I find no one has any real world experience with SMS and almost everyone responds by promoting their own service or as an affiliate(Ex. TrumpiaTim and others). So my advice is from someone like yourself. This is also golden what I will tell you because it's been what I have tested and spent plenty of money on. I find you're genuinely trying to lift this off and help businesses so I will reply once in detail.

Expect the business to get a 10% return, not more than that. I understand you just started so getting 10 opt ins is exciting, but a list of 10 people is extremely low to even send a first offer. If he gets 2000 people walking in a week expect only 2-3 to opt-in by themselves given there's marketing and flyers in their face etc... If the business owner pushes the promotion, more people can opt-in, maybe even 40 per shift if he really PUSHES it and so does the staff. This depends on how big the place is, how big the venue is. If in the summer he gets 2000 people walking in, this is where you need to amp up the marketing. Get eye flashing table tents, opt in cards, the staff to push it etc... If not you will get low opt ins. People need to be told what to do, they won't go do it themselves(QR codes are a perfect example, it's everywhere, but no one scans).

So now if you send out a text do it max 2 times per month, or once every two weeks to start with, not more than that or you will get OPT OUTS. A list of 10 is still too small especially for a Cafe joint. From my experience is you get an opt in list of 100, maybe 6 will respond to that offer. It's on average 10% ROI or response. If you get 200 than maybe 10-12 will come in for the specific offer. The higher your database, the more will come in. It's a numbers game. If this was a golf course it would be a litter different.

You also need to ask what does the owner want to achieve? Does he want people to come in on shit days like Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday nights when it's quiet? Is it for a specific time ex. 4pm-9pm? What is the offer? Is it a free dessert? Maybe it's 20% off the final bill? Do the customers get an incentive to text in? If you don't have an incentive expect the opt in list to grow slowly. If you do have an incentive ex. Free Coffee to text in. This costs the owner probably $.30 cents per coffee if not less. He needs appropriate advertising and maybe table tents. Do not say "Join our Text Club", that gives a shit return. No one wants to join a club, they want something out of it.

For where the number is stored. This is a bizarre question. The questions you asked should be obvious from whoever you chose? This should have all been explained. When people text into the shortcode, lets says its 56565 so "Text Cafe to 56565", then when they text in the keyword to the shortcode they are in the database. That database is the "Platform" that you use to send out the messages. It's essentially your list(so if you keyword is Cafe, the Cafe keyword is the list of people who texted into Cafe). I am not sure which platform you are using or if the company you are trying out are doing it for you(sending the texts on your behalf). If they are that's why you are asking these questions. My question is are they using SMPP or HTTP? If they are not texting in and they are just signing up through a paper form then that's when you collect the numbers and upload the spread sheet CSV file, then send out an initial hand verifier to them to let them opt in by responding yes or no to the text.

If you have any specific questions you can PM, otherwise you'll probably get responses from people trying to sell which is annoying as **** because when I have questions that's all I get in this place. I don't mind helping, but this is all the info I will post publicly because maybe others, even Trumpia, will find value in that.

ozlizard · 21st Jul 2013, 06:25 PM

Thanks Kefka for your detailed response. That is all useful information.
I am only sending out 10 SMS at the moment because I got those free when I signed for the trial. At this stage I am hoping that the client will be able to see that the idea works then I can sign him up.

I am not sure his offer is that great for starters, only a free coffee with every $15 spent for the month of August. Anyway we see what happens, I am assuming he knows his business better than me. (yeah, I know never assume anything!).

I asked the question about the numbers because the SMS company's info is a bit vague. I understand now that if I use a VN this will store the customer's number on a database. I will let you know how it goes.

jsmm · 22nd Jul 2013, 05:46 PM

Listen now that you have a free trial going for your client, You are going to need to show them results otherwise you are going to lose them.
So you have to build them a list of all of there clients very fast that way you can market them at a different time for your client.
So find something free that the business owner will give away like if its a pizza place a free slice to everyone who signs up to there list . Make sure you tell them that they have to show the message to there server to get the slice... or whatever your freebie is going to be..

Once you build this list you will have a sms customer for life...

savaloi · 24th Jul 2013, 04:41 PM

Originally Posted by islandgal

I'm an expat Aussie. Yes, I've heard of Margaret River, though I've never been there. I also hail from a major tourist town, so I know what it's like.

I think you can do better on the SMS rate. Have you checked out pennytel? https://www.pennytel.com.au/personal...l-features/sms I was considering trialing them for marketing in my current country. I have no affiliation with them. I also think that you'd need to be providing a pretty good special deal to be sending a daily text to customers or they'll opt out pretty quick. Perhaps you could offer a daily or weekly option, or split test it?
I'd also look at using a reseller platform like Reseller SMS | White Label SMS | Wholesale SMS Reseller Pricing (no affiliation) but prices are higher for small quantities.

Any US companies that offer the white label service that you would recommend?

xlfutur1 · 24th Jul 2013, 09:04 PM

Kefka is spot on. You need a bigger list than 10 people to get some things happening. Don't send out to 10 people and expect to wow the business owner. At least 100, preferably 500 to get some good action going. If your offer is good though, you should get consistent signups.

And finding out what the owner really wants to achieve (as Kefka points out) is paramount as well. Having a list is just the first step. The offers and getting people to respond when and how you want them to are what will produce results for the business owner.

Lastly, the best way to get people to join is to give them something really good in return. Weekly or monthly drawings have worked well for my clients, but don't be afraid to test out offers to get subscribers.

TrumpiaTim · 25th Jul 2013, 12:26 PM

Originally Posted by Kefka

I disagree with you Tim, once a week is annoying, twice a week you'll lose your list.

It depends on the business, it's volumes, it's promotions, the demographics. It's not a simple send out 1-2 messages per week. Sure it's good for companies like Trumpia to profit, but terrible for businesses and clients. Would you like to receive 2 texts a week with offers? Opt into 5 programs and you get 10 texts a week... it becomes annoying. Cell phone are personal to people, you need to treat it that way.

Some companies DO advertise a lot and maybe even 1-2 times a week with flyers and other means. Those businesses are rare but those are the ones you send Mts 1-2 times week.

Well of course with every business the frequency will change, but it wouldn't be too far off for a retail/restaurant to send a promotion every week for the weekly special or new arrivals at a retail store.

ozlizard · 29th Jul 2013, 06:20 PM

I think that one per week is not too much for a café. I mean people need to eat on a daily basis!
I have just signed up my client for a full website and to sweeten the deal included 500 free SMS for one month. The beauty of this is that he probably won't get 500 sign ups in a month so he will be likely to continue.

Still not sure what to charge him though. Was thinking about a monthly fee to manage his list plus the cost of the SMS. I would really like to charge a percentage of any business he gets from the campaigns, but I think keeping track of that would be too hard.

10th Jul 2013, 03:57 AM	#1
ozlizard Active Warrior Registered Member Join Date: 2013 Location: Western Australia Posts: 88 Thanks: 2 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	First SMS trial-best options? Share on: I am about to start my first SMS trial for a Café. The owner has bought a mobile site from me and is very interested in the SMS marketing side of things. I have signed up with a local Australian SMs company. They have 10 free SMS to try for free than the costs start at 500 for about $38. Pretty reasonable I thought. VMN is $99 per year, but still cheap, all things considered. So this is the plan atm. use his mobile number until we see that we are getting the sign ups ask customers to sign up to the Café VIP Club for special offers available only on their mobile phone they text the name of the café to the mobile number on display and will be sent a confirmation and maybe the first offer? when we have 20-30 signups trial a small campaign and see what response we get if it goes ok we will ramp it up and start sending offers maybe once a week when it's slow (this is a tourist/holiday town), and maybe every day in the busy season (the place gets packed, anyone heard of Margaret River?) The things I am not sure about so far, are the offer frequency and what to charge this dude when it gets going. Any ideas/suggestions/experience most welcome. I will post results on here when available.
	Mobile Sites/Web Sites/Mobile Marketing http://www.zapmedia.com.au

10th Jul 2013, 04:12 AM	#2
textMo Warrior Member Join Date: 2013 Location: the UK Posts: 6 Thanks: 0 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: it all sounds good so far, not being from oz its hard for me to say what the best marketing option is, but ill have a go any way, in terms of the amount of offers you send out any more than 2 per customer per week would be annoy most people, as far as pricing goes you said you can get 500 sms for $38 not to bad for a smaller bundle but 7.6c per sms is still on the high side for me and it depends what you are getting for your money i.e. do you get a sender id or a return number in that price? for me I would look at charging the client cost of sms plus 20% and then an hourly rate on top for managing the campaign for them, most sms platforms are simple to use so it wont take up much time anyway, another option you might want to look at is getting a white label setup that way you can charge as mush as you want for the sms bundles and the client manages the sends and data them selves,

10th Jul 2013, 04:55 AM	#3
islandgal Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2013 Location: South Pacific Posts: 27 Thanks: 27 Thanked 4 Times in 3 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: I'm an expat Aussie. Yes, I've heard of Margaret River, though I've never been there. I also hail from a major tourist town, so I know what it's like. I think you can do better on the SMS rate. Have you checked out pennytel? https://www.pennytel.com.au/personal...l-features/sms I was considering trialing them for marketing in my current country. I have no affiliation with them. I also think that you'd need to be providing a pretty good special deal to be sending a daily text to customers or they'll opt out pretty quick. Perhaps you could offer a daily or weekly option, or split test it? I'd also look at using a reseller platform like Reseller SMS \| White Label SMS \| Wholesale SMS Reseller Pricing (no affiliation) but prices are higher for small quantities.

10th Jul 2013, 06:12 AM	#4
ozlizard Active Warrior Registered Member Join Date: 2013 Location: Western Australia Posts: 88 Thanks: 2 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: Thanks for the comments, much appreciated. I agree you don't want to piss off the customers, so maybe 1 a week in the off season, maybe 3 a week during the busy time. Trial and error will prove what is right. Yes textmo, you get a sender ID, long SMS option and free replies, but I will check out those other options islandgal.
	Mobile Sites/Web Sites/Mobile Marketing http://www.zapmedia.com.au

10th Jul 2013, 09:36 AM	#5
imsolutionsgroup Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: 2012 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 629 Thanks: 39 Thanked 197 Times in 103 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: Sounds good. They only comment I have is "they text the name of the café to the mobile number on display and will be sent a confirmation and maybe the first offer?" If they are texting the keyword from their phone and not signing up from a web form...there is no need to send a confirmation message. Just send the first offer, this is what they're expecting...and you don't want to piss them off
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12th Jul 2013, 07:57 PM	#7
xlfutur1 Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,112 Thanks: 13 Thanked 249 Times in 154 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: You could get lots of signups by having a WiFi tablet at the register whereby customers enter their phone number in a form to enter to instantly win a free cup of coffee, donut, or whatever. The SMS reply either is a winner, or another message with a different offer to be used in the future. Set it so that every 5 people that enter will win. This can be set up with Twilio, openvbx (free) and the random plugin. Twilio service is available in AU so you are set. 500 texts for $38 is pretty steep. Would cost you only $5.00 using Twilio. When you cut out the middleman, you are in much more control and you can design the exact system you want.

18th Jul 2013, 10:30 AM	#8
TrumpiaTim www.trumpia.com War Room Member Join Date: 2011 Posts: 824 Thanks: 2 Thanked 65 Times in 58 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: In terms of offer frequency, we'd recommend sending maybe once a week. For really great deals you may consider doing it twice a week.
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20th Jul 2013, 08:28 PM	#11
ozlizard Active Warrior Registered Member Join Date: 2013 Location: Western Australia Posts: 88 Thanks: 2 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: Ok, thanks for the input guys. I have the first 10 numbers ready to go for a promo for the month of August. So will wait to the start of the month to send them out. It didn't take the client long to get 10 numbers, so this looks good. This is the off season (winter). In summer he gets about 2,000 customers through the door every week. So that's over say 3-4 months. I reckon he will get a lot of sign ups! One question I still have, that I can't find the answer for is this. If he gets a VN (he will, of course) and customers send their SMS to this number, how/where is that number stored/managed? The SMS service I am trialling only allows import by spread sheet CSV. So what do you use to record and store the numbers prior to uploading?
	Mobile Sites/Web Sites/Mobile Marketing http://www.zapmedia.com.au

21st Jul 2013, 06:25 PM	#13
ozlizard Active Warrior Registered Member Join Date: 2013 Location: Western Australia Posts: 88 Thanks: 2 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: Thanks Kefka for your detailed response. That is all useful information. I am only sending out 10 SMS at the moment because I got those free when I signed for the trial. At this stage I am hoping that the client will be able to see that the idea works then I can sign him up. I am not sure his offer is that great for starters, only a free coffee with every $15 spent for the month of August. Anyway we see what happens, I am assuming he knows his business better than me. (yeah, I know never assume anything!). I asked the question about the numbers because the SMS company's info is a bit vague. I understand now that if I use a VN this will store the customer's number on a database. I will let you know how it goes.
	Mobile Sites/Web Sites/Mobile Marketing http://www.zapmedia.com.au

22nd Jul 2013, 05:46 PM	#14
jsmm Active Warrior Join Date: 2013 Posts: 35 Thanks: 0 Thanked 10 Times in 8 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: Listen now that you have a free trial going for your client, You are going to need to show them results otherwise you are going to lose them. So you have to build them a list of all of there clients very fast that way you can market them at a different time for your client. So find something free that the business owner will give away like if its a pizza place a free slice to everyone who signs up to there list . Make sure you tell them that they have to show the message to there server to get the slice... or whatever your freebie is going to be.. Once you build this list you will have a sms customer for life...

24th Jul 2013, 09:04 PM	#16
xlfutur1 Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: 2005 Location: Michigan Posts: 1,112 Thanks: 13 Thanked 249 Times in 154 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: Kefka is spot on. You need a bigger list than 10 people to get some things happening. Don't send out to 10 people and expect to wow the business owner. At least 100, preferably 500 to get some good action going. If your offer is good though, you should get consistent signups. And finding out what the owner really wants to achieve (as Kefka points out) is paramount as well. Having a list is just the first step. The offers and getting people to respond when and how you want them to are what will produce results for the business owner. Lastly, the best way to get people to join is to give them something really good in return. Weekly or monthly drawings have worked well for my clients, but don't be afraid to test out offers to get subscribers.

29th Jul 2013, 06:20 PM	#18
ozlizard Active Warrior Registered Member Join Date: 2013 Location: Western Australia Posts: 88 Thanks: 2 Thanked 16 Times in 13 Posts	Re: First SMS trial-best options? Share on: I think that one per week is not too much for a café. I mean people need to eat on a daily basis! I have just signed up my client for a full website and to sweeten the deal included 500 free SMS for one month. The beauty of this is that he probably won't get 500 sign ups in a month so he will be likely to continue. Still not sure what to charge him though. Was thinking about a monthly fee to manage his list plus the cost of the SMS. I would really like to charge a percentage of any business he gets from the campaigns, but I think keeping track of that would be too hard.
	Mobile Sites/Web Sites/Mobile Marketing http://www.zapmedia.com.au