What Are the Benefits of Bulk Text Messagings?
If you need to communicate with large numbers of people simultaneously, bulk text messaging, or bulk SMS, offers you a number of advantages. Coordinated communication, efficient use of time and financial savings are the primary benefits of using bulk SMS, either as part of a marketing campaign, or keeping customers updated.
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Cost Benefits
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Sending an SMS costs less than making a voice call, so there is an immediate financial saving. Businesses can buy bulk SMS on more cost-effective terms than the individual cellphone user. Using SMS also cuts down on man-hours needed to distribute information, which is another budget saving. A business can also send bulk SMS to customers anywhere in the world for much less than the cost of a voice call. Also, while using a voice call may be more effective than SMS when a business is looking for new customers, an SMS intrudes less on a customer's personal time, and she can choose when to read it.
Email
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Sending bulk SMS may cost more than sending a bulk email, but advocates of SMS, such as Clickatell, suggest that customers are more likely to read an SMS than an email. One reason for this is the fact that people usually carry their cellphones with them everywhere. Also, from a marketing perspective, there is always the danger that an email ends up in a customer's junk mail. Either way, any cost benefit is lost by the customer ignoring, or not seeing, the email.
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Adding Value
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Companies can use bulk SMS to add value by providing an alert service. For example, when an airline alerts passengers that a flight is delayed, it is providing an extra service that saves the customer time. Salons and medical facilities can use a bulk text message reminder system to remind clients about appointments without having to call each one individually, or even send individual texts. SMS texts are also invaluable for keeping customers updated about special offers, and the use of them helps to maintain customer loyalty.
Case Studies
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Easy-Forex, the U.S. online currency trading platform, started using bulk SMS to send alerts about market information to currency dealers around the world. The company said that it was far more effective than email because traders spend a great deal of time away from their desk. AllOne Health, which provides mobile health support to U.S. soldiers returning from combat, uses bulk SMS to enable soldiers and health care workers to maintain direct contact. This contact may be hourly or daily, and it represents significant cost and time savings for both the healthcare provider and the patient.
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References
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