February 01, 2010
OpEd Guest Post By Robert Farago, E-Commerce Consultant
With all the talk of Apple iPads, advanced smart phones and 3G networks, e-tailers would do well to remember that plain old SMS text messaging is an extremely powerful medium. A report out today from the U.K.-based Mobile Data Association reveals that British cell users send 11 million texts per hour. According to the CTIA (formerly the Cellular Telecommunication Industry Association), Americans send some 4.1 billion SMS text messages per day.
Convergent Mobile hopes to push consumer’s buttons with their new US411 text messaging service. Consumers looking for logistical information or special offers from a participating company text a business-specific keyword to US411. They then receive customized SMS messages—with or without a link to the business’s web page.
Convergent customers pay $20 for the keyword and $10 a month for unlimited texts, such as “Il Fornaio would like you as a customer. Just show this text msg next time for a free item on the Antipasti menu. Buon appetito!” Convergent’s back-end software includes response stats and a bespoke, mobile-enabled web page.
“We beta tested the system with a special promotion offered by the Jackson Rancheria Casino Hotel,” Convergent President Mickey Breen told ZippyCart. “They saw a customer response rate between 17 to 18 percent over the first seven to ten days.”
Convergent’s US411 will compete directly with AT&T’s recently launched ATT411 TXT. Crucially, the ATT411 TXT business-specific “keyword” is a five or six digit number. AT&T’s SMS service is also significantly more expensive: $828 per year for each ten-digit telephone number keyword, or $2,268 per year for a “toll-free” ten-digit telephone number.
“Our US411 service will be much easier for customers to remember, and easier for a business to use,” Breen asserted. “We feel that our logo, incorporating each customer’s keyword, will become a recognized symbol for SMS-based marketing.”
Despite any inherent advantages Convergent’s service may enjoy, AT&T is a communication colossus with huge reach to both customers and businesses. One thing’s for sure: text messaging as a marketing medium is set to become the mouse that roared.
Every once in awhile we will have guest authors write for our news as well. These guest authors are always experts in the industry and we require that they write from a non-bias point of view, unless the content is noted as an OpEd piece. If you would like to be a guest author on our site, please contact admin at zippycart.com. Anyone who would like to become a regular guest author has the option of being featured on this page.
