subject: Long Code Services Get Instant Feedback [print this page] The world is slowly and quietly migrating to better phones. Smart phones unlike traditional phones allows a user to do more tasks comfortably and intelligently which includes searching for products, services, watching movies, downloading songs & applications and hundreds of other miscellaneous activities.
In short, people are glued to their handsets for a longer time today than they did in the past. Such a scenario makes mobile marketing an extremely intelligent decision on the part of businesses to promote products, services and getting feedback from customers.
Although SMS still forms a large chuck of Mobile Marketing , other mobile methods such as rich multimedia messages combining text & pictures, audio/video clips are also rising.
Below mentioned are some of the advantages of marketing through this avenue.
1. It is a cost effective marketing solution.
2. It builds long lasting and strong customer relationships.
3. Creates instant buzz around a target product if SMS campaigns are send at regular intervals with catchy phrases.
4. Using two-way messaging a marketer can instantly get feedback. This environment is also used to provide on-demand information, such as weather and traffic information, limousine booking, payment reminders and confirmations.
Print, television and outdoor hoardings are slowly losing their sheen due to prohibitive costs. Another avenue which is trendy, cost effective and simple to use is overtaking these traditional platforms.
Yes, bulk SMS is giving a tough time to many established avenues with its myriad of advantages.
So what is bulk SMS and specifically what does the future hold for Bulk SMS in India ?
Bulk SMS is a way of sending message to large audience from PC to mobile phones. People worldwide have accepted this innovative marketing method. Subscribers have embraced its magic and practicality. Unlike emails SMS tends to get opened due to its brevity and catchy content.
Typically, bulk SMS is used for product propaganda or advertising new service. It is also used to get feedback from customers. Bulk SMS uses SMS gateway software to send thousands of messages, which is generally an AD campaign. The procedure is simple. Create a text based marketing campaign, attach the list of opt-in customers and click on the send button. Within minutes this campaign reaches the targeted recipients.
Long Code Services are used for receiving feedback from the customers which can be in the form of response to a particular product or service.
These are eight digit numbers, specially allocated for premium services. Each 8-digit long number can have multiple keywords to get responses to various products & services with a common number.
Below mentioned is one such example, which uses one common number and several keywords.
SALE >> 66556655
DISCOUNT >> 66556655
NAME >> 66556655
Customers responding to such numbers are generally charged at premium rates.
Some of the features of long codes are mentioned below.
1. Free auto reply facility.
2. Filtered reporting.
3. Message can be sent directly to your specified URL.
Industries which frequently use this type of environments are; insurance companies, mutual funds, hotel and travel services, stock brokers and banks.
