Increasing Use of Bulk SMS in World of SMS Marketing

Bulk SMS software is the latest buzz in the world of SMS marketing and in growing competition in the market, it looks like a lengthier stay. When it arrives to SMS marketing, one thing is very clear that the businesses choosing for it are actually searching for quick and easy way communication with the clients and the customers. Time is valuable and hence bulk SMS is the most favored SMS solution for SMS marketing campaign in India.

The SMS software is getting much popular each day, just because of its several advantages which builds your business handling favorable. Not only this, SMS messaging gateway has some other option which delivers messages as fast as possible. Customers satisfaction and the happy clients are the top concern of any businesses and only for those reasons it becomes essential to render top class services to them. Sending business messages to the point audience in minimal possible times is essential hence by get through bulk SMS software we can do it very easily with affordable cost.

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10 Uses for SMS in Small to Medium Sized Businesses

Over the past fifteen years the mobile phone has become the world's communication device of choice- far more preferred than the use of land-lines, television and radio, for example; and not surprisingly so. The magic of the mobile phone no longer lies only in its portable nature, but also in its simplicity, its usability and its adaptability. As a personal device for individuals, it can literally be said to have revolutionised the way that friendships, families and relationships function. Importantly too, however, thousands of successful businesses have recognised the power and reach that can be achieved with Mobile Marketing. Why? Because a mobile phone represents an immediate and highly personalised channel to the consumer that other media battle to attain.

One of the most successful forms of mobile marketing has been in the use of Bulk SMS (SMS Marketing). Although SMS Marketing has spread like wildfire between businesses of all sizes, the small to medium sized business, particularly, stands to benefit from this form of advertising.

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Cover story: Brands see high returns from mobile coupons

Brands from the restaurant and retail sectors are poised to ramp up their mobile marketing activity after Starbucks and House of Fraser witnessed record redemption rates using mobile coupons.

Mobile network operators including Everything Everywhere and O2 are feeding this appetite, with the former preparing to debut its own mobile couponing service later this year.

O2 Media has revealed its debut location-based You Are Here campaign to promote Starbucks’ instant coffee product Via achieved a recall rate of 93%.

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The Three Greatest Survey Questions Ever

The VP of a Fortune 100 company recently asked for some advice. They were heading into their peak selling season that would last only three months max, and they only had an ability to measure revenue from the website, nothing else. They did not have any web analytics tool.

Her question was: Which analytics tool do you recommend because we want to improve our website and increase sales.

My answer: Don’t implement a web analytics tool, implement a short website survey that would have just three questions.

Surprised?

There were a number of factors behind my recommendation but one of the main ones was that if you want to move really really fast and you don’t know anything then it is better to ask the customer what you should do rather than implement a tool and try to figure it out based on clicks. You will get better insights, faster than you can imagine.

Web analytics is awesome (you do expect me to say that don’t you! : )), is has to be a critical part of your web strategy because it can yield great insights. But for the fastest way to understanding customer problems there is nothing like asking the customer herself / himself (and yes it will lead to improved revenues).

Given the time crunch going to the customer made the most sense, implementation of the Web Analytics tool would happen and after a month or so and slowly over time ClickStream data would play a increasingly important part in decision making. In due course it would achieve parity with the Qualitative data (bu

t hopefully never overshadow it).

Ok so survey got the nod, what questions to ask?

[UPDATE: 04 Mar 2008: You can now implement this survey 100% for free, a true onexit survey with no strings attached. Please see: 4Q - The Best Online Survey For A Website, Yours Free!]

Here are the three questions no survey can live without (and often a survey can be pretty awesome with just three questions):

What is the purpose of your visit to our website today?

It can also be framed as "what is the reason for your visit today" or "what task are you looking to accomplish on our website today" or "why are you here today".

Few website owners have a good understanding of why people visit their websites and this is one of the best possible ways for you to find out that critical piece of information. Answers that you will read, the distributions you will get between different primary purposes, will be eye opening for you, and they will help explain so much of the "weirdness" you see in your ClickStream data (and yes even your path analysis).

Were you able to complete your task today?

If you like conversion rate and revenue then you are going to love this one. An extremely simple question that asks the survey takers to self report their own perception of your website's effectiveness in helping them complete their tasks.

With this question we don't have to rely on our hypothesis such as if the visitors saw this page then they might have gotten their question answered or if I am measuring conversion then I can understand how effective my site is or our site is doing great because we just launched a massive quarter of a million US dollars redesign. We have the customers voice telling us exactly how well the website is performing when it comes to delivering the goods.

Now in case you want to know exactly what you need to do to improve the numbers in the graph, you'd ask a third question:

If you were not able to complete your task today, why not?

It can also be framed as "If you were able to not complete your task please explain" or "Why were you not able to complete your task on our website today" or simply as "How can we improve our website to ensure you are able to complete your task", etc.

The answer to this question is open text VOC, Voice of Customer. It is optimal to refrain from making this a drop down with choices like: Improve internal search, Update the navigation, and Provide more product information etc etc. Let the customers talk, give them a chance to tell you in their own voice the reasons and provide you with suggestions. It works better than you guessing what the answers might be and suggesting those.

Analysis for this question is done by categorizing the responses into common themes and then rating the % of times each theme is occurring in the open ended VOC for those who are not able to complete their task. This is your simple and direct to-do list of issues directly from the horse's mouth about what you should work on in order to improve your website experience for your customers.

These three simple questions that will be the source of a wealth of insights when it comes to helping your deliver on your customer centric strategy. [Want more: Got Surveys? Recommendations from the Trenches.]

ClickStream data is often missing the context, in that absence we overlay our own opinions / experiences / perspectives to make sense of it all. But with answers to these simple questions you’ll have the context to make sense of it all.

What do you all think? Have you tried surveys? Do you have a golden question or two that you use? Please share your own tips and feedback on my question suggestions above via comments.

Article source:http://www.kaushik.net/avinash/the-three-greatest-survey-questions-ever/

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5 Marketing Tips from Pizza Restaurants

There are more than 270 million cell-phone users in the U.S., and most of them admit to never leaving home without their phone. With that many people walking around with their mobile phone, it is time to get smart about mobile marketing efforts and engaging customers through an outlet they always take to go.

In recent years, the pizza industry emerged as the leader and innovator in mobile marketing. The industry used mobile solutions to maximize sales, drive consumers to place orders, and deliver initiatives that were on-brand and relevant to core customers.

It’s time for other restaurants to join the bandwagon and use the power of mobile to increase sales. Lucky for marketers, pizza chains have done the heavy lifting in creating some great, innovative ideas. Here are some mobile marketing tips to take from the pizza chains. Mobile Subscription List Retailers can utilize mobile subscriber lists the same way they use e-mail or direct mail. Customers who subscribe to any of the chain’s SMS messaging campaigns receive alerts for sponsored events, promotions, and giveaways, keeping them in the loop for the latest happenings.

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Build Your Reach With QR Codes

Using QR codes in your offline marketing will allow you to leverage your investment in offline media to build your online reach.

Quick response codes (QR codes) seem to be everywhere. In fact, according to JumpScan, QR code scanning increased 1,200 percent from July to December 2010, with 57 percent of Twitter and Facebook users reporting they scanned at least one QR code in the past year.

It's no wonder, then, that these two-dimensional (2D) matrix barcodes, which can hold thousands of alphanumeric characters of information, offer you immediate access to what's relevant.

A quick scan using your iPhone, Android, or other camera-enabled smartphone activates your phone functions such as e-mail, IM, and SMS, or connects the mobile device to a Web browser.

You might have used a QR code to check in for your flight on United, pay for your Starbucks coffee, locate a business on Google Maps, or get more information at a library or retail store.

But how can QR codes help your business? They are perfect for an opportunity you have to connect people using their mobile phones with digital content. Include a quick sign-up page for opt-in e-mail on each landing page and encourage visitors to sign up to receive e-mail updates.

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50% of web traffic will come through mobile devices within 5 years

We'll help you creating strategies for building a database of local consumers that will want to quickly receive your offerings. We understand that your primary responsibility is to run your business, not spend countless hours trying to understand mobile communicative methods. It is estimated that by 2015 one out of every three businesses in America will have a mobile marketing program.

Mobile Web Usage Is Exploding

If you don't have a mobile optimized site, or a mobile search campaign, or really anything mobile in your marketing mix, you are officially late to the party.

A recent Internet Trends presentation by Morgan Stanley forecasted that "50% of web traffic will come through mobile devices within 5 years." In fact, based on the rate of adoption, it is projected that the number of users accessing the Web via mobile devices will exceed desktop devices by 2014. A column I wrote at the end of last year cited 2009 as the year mobile search took off. And, I think my concluding statement in that column appears to be proving true: "And if 2009 was the year that mobile took off, look for 2010 and beyond to be the years that mobile search reaches its pinnacle." All of the research and data points surrounding mobile Web adoption rates seem to signal that not only will mobile search be exploding, so too will all forms of mobile Web activities.