last year we started doing text marketing, Its worked great for me. about 4 months ago a sales person comes in and has an unlimited text program for 99 a month. I sign a 12 month contract. It sounds good because I have built a very solid list. Here is my concerns and you can tell me if I am overly worried. To build my list takes a lot of work and a lot of free food as incentive. In previous conversations they had told me they are not allowed to share who is on MY list with me. They are afraid I will sell it to a third party vendor.
My question is I do not want to be “stuck” if they decided to jack the prices. I loose every single contact I work for, the other company I am leaving who had good rates but not this good has the list where I can delete people who call and complain, I can group contacts and I can export them to a file.
Do you think I am being overly cautious?
I am not 100% if I understood right, but it sounds like the company you are looking to use will not give you any information on the people you sign up for your text message marketing. If that is the case, I certainly would not want to use them for the reasons you stated. When / if they decide to raise their price (which anyone who offers Unlimited usually ends up doing), you are stuck with them or have to restart your list from scratch.
If I am going to go out, do the work to build it up, and pay to reach the people of the list I have built myself, I don’t think I would let a company tell me I cannot have access to that list.
I may look into having a software designer come up with something that I can upload my opt in numbers and send it via internet to mobile numbers, Is there some kind of middle issue or disconnect between internet and mobiles?? I am not really familiar how this works.
Rockstar,
I have not tried to do it in some time, but I know I used to have a small group of people whom (for a different reason) I used to send mass texts out via e-mail. Each carrier has a text message e-mail (like #########@sms.att.com or something similar). I would use my e-mail list to message these all of them at once.
I used to use a service, but it became a little costly, as we have 10’s of 1,000’s of numbers now…
We ended up getting a used iphone a few years ago, and a program thatblet us text blast…
We’ve had soe issues withthissystem, & the cell company, but it managble…
We thank all new customers the next day via a mass text, and offer a bounce back deal too…
We also thank all those that made an order, via another text bladt, again with a bounce back offer…
I spend maybe 30 minutes/day with text marketing, as i send out several 1,000/day…
We use 5 different sim cards from T-Mobile @ $25 ea…
We get one or two stop requests each day & taketem off the list…
We’re in a college market,but haea great core of local residences as well…
It may sound lie a hassle or too complex for some, but thats the bulk of our marketing…
I have a source for the new freshman each year too…
It works for me…
So I am a little slow so help me out here, I would need a t mobile i phone (4 or 4s) I need 5 Sims cards (is that because of the limit of texts used?
also what application do you use? I have searched and have a hard time finding anything that will send out more than 100 at a time or it takes a very long time.
I have over 1200 currently and I am growing.
have you ever looked into this?
http://www.twilio.com/sms?
I use an iphone 3gs that is unlocked & jailbroken, running on T-Mobile, but any sim card based provider will do…I actually bought a 2nd phone recently, so it speeds up the process twofold…
I use a program call Group SMS Pro and have my groups broken down into sets of 99, in part, to stay under their radar…it takes approx 5 minutes to send out those 99 texts…
I use a simple spreadsheet to track when/what I send…
I generally only send out 1text per month, except I always send out a thank you text for each time an order is placed…
Yes, i use multiple accounts, in part, to stay under their radar…bit i’ve sent out over 1,000 texts/day/account without issue…
Yes, it takes time to do it this way, but I have the free time in the afternoon…takes less than 30 minutes/day, while i’m putzing around with other tasks…
I get a great response with the thak you text as a bounce back…
If i used a service, I’d be spending upwards of $1,500/month, but this way, around $125…
This is my primary marketing method…
I must admit I am amazed. If I recveived text messages from a business, even one I liked and did business with, I would insist on being taken off the list and might stop doing business with them. With email I can simply put them on my junk list and ignore it but I don’t think I can do that with text.
People actually put up with this?
more than put up with it they seem to love it!
The hard part is getting to opt in, now there are people like you (and me) that their cell phone is that last bit of privacy they have and do not want text message. What I do is the VIP program that only THEY receive, and they especially love the “bring a friend text” because it makes them feel involved.
we only do a text out once a week and maybe one more each month that is informational… like “Hey night out against crime is Aug 6th, see you there!”
But people who do not want to, just does not sign up!
So I am not looking into a software panel and I will be at .01 a text which is about 12.00 each time so that’s good…
I’e sent out over 100,000 texts and have had less than 100 ask to be removed…
But my market is a younger market…
I dont have an opt-in program, but the stop requests are never ‘flamed’
Most folks are apprieciate the simple thank you text and the bounce back freebie or deal…
PATRIOT,
What would you say is your monthly cost?
for instance
sent25000 text
5 sims $0.00?
These days, just the cost of renewing the sim cards each month…$125 plus my time, approx. 15/20 minutes/day…
I bought my 1st iphone for $125 and my 2nd for $85…thees arebolder 3GS phones…
I also have 2 marketing ‘partners’ that have used my system, a Smoothe King and the local college bookstore…they bring down my costs to zero & put some $$$ in my pocket…
We do several things with those folks…
Here is my system, which cost me $25 one time:
To collect phone numbers: I have a Google Voice phone number, that customers text a keyword to. The Voice number is linked to my GMail account. I receive their text as an email, including the phone number they sent from.
I include in my print and email advertising: “For text specials text IMOS to 636.486.IMOS”
To send out mass texts:
I purchased a program for $25 called Google Voice Auto Responder http://www.daveamenta.com/2010-05/gvaut … -features/
Numbers are automatically added to my customer file in GVAutoResponder (when the text is keyword IMOS), so I type in my offer and hit send.
Disclaimer: GVAutoResponder must be an open app on a computer to do its thing, so load it on a pc thats on, and attached to the web 24/7
GVAutoResponder can also send the customer an offer when they sign up, or any other function you may wish. It uses an If/Then set of rules that you create, so possibilities are endless.
Hope this helps,
Scott
I wouldn’t put all my eggs in this basket anymore - the developer of this program has called it quits - and it might stop working at any point in time.
“I no longer have the bandwidth to properly support this product, so effective immediately GVAutoResponder is discontinued and will not receive any future updates. The software will continue to work as-is indefinitely, until Google makes an API change which breaks the software. When a breaking Google Voice API change occurs, I will not issue an update to resolve it.”