sms service pricing?

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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?
#offline marketing #pricing #service #sms
  • 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
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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.
    • [1] reply
    • 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.
      • [1] reply
  • 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.
  • 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?
    • [1] reply
    • You should check whether they are providing trial or not and check their services for few days and then buy big number of sms
  • ok, thanks! A lot of people seem to like limecellular so I guess I will go with them for now. And sms are affordable.
  • Hi there,

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

    All the best.

    Sasha
  • 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.
    • [1] reply
    • 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)?
  • Per message sent.
  • Typically $50 - $75 for this volume and then you can add on consulting/management fees if you'd like.
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    sms service pricing?

    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?