SMS texting increases the value brand of a business

Businesses want to be on the same page as their customers, yet there’s a big disconnect in communications. While marketers and sales people use phone and email, their customers prefer texting. Here are five great reasons you should meet them on their own turf.

You’ll Reach More Customers

Today, 64% of Americans own a smartphone and 15% of them rely on it exclusively or most of the time for Internet connection, according to a Pew Research Center study. Texting is the most widely used smartphone feature, used by 100% of people age 18 to 29, 98% of those 30 to 49, and 92% of those 50 and above. It is also used more frequently than any other feature.

People really are glued to their smartphones. In the Pew study, 46% of those surveyed claimed they “couldn’t live without” their phone. In another survey by mobile customer care solutions provider B2X, more than half (56%) of Americans wouldn’t give up their smartphones for a month for a 10% salary increase, and 50% wouldn’t give it up for an extra week of vacation.

Ninety-nine percent of people use their smartphone at home, 82% in cars or public transit, and 69% at work, according to Pew. They check texts while waiting in line, walking, and even exercising.

If you want to be in front of your customers, you need to be front and center on their smartphones, on SMS.

Dynamically Send, Receive & Enhance Text Message Campaigns.

You’ll Get Noticed

According to a Gallup poll, texting is the dominant way of communicating for Americans under 50.

Because people are constantly texting, your messages have a high probability of being seen. According to a Dynmark report, 90% of SMS messages are read within the first three seconds, and SMS has a final read rate of 98%.

Better yet, texts have an 80% response rate, Heymarket research found. Yet few businesses are using them—making you stand out among your competitors.

Customers Want to Text You

Nine out of 10 customers want to use messaging to communicate with brands, though few brands currently do it. Eighty-five percent want to have a dialog with the company, not just get push messages.

People like texting because it’s immediate, unlike waiting for an email response or a customer service representative on the phone. In an eMarketer survey, 44% of respondents said they prefer texting for customer service because it’s less time-consuming, and 42% said texting is more convenient than voice calls. A survey by Franchise Help found that over 90% of its customers preferred a text to a phone call.

Texting Makes You Sound Human

Because texting is commonly used to communicate with friends and family, it feels natural to customers, whereas emails and voicemail are seen as intrusive.

Ninety-five percent of purchasing decisions are made on an unconscious level, Harvard Business Review research shows. Texting creates rapport, setting the stage for a smooth transaction. Because it’s brief and encourages give-and-take, texting moves customers closer to a sale naturally.

Texting Boosts Sales

Texting simplifies the sales process, lets you track communications easily, and eliminates the problem of ecommerce cart abandonment. It’s a very effective way of closing deals.

Research by sales automation software provider Velocify found that prospects who are sent text messages convert at a rate 40% higher than others. When it’s used after initial phone contact, texting can improve conversion by more than 100%, the study found. Sending three or more purposeful text messages after contact has been made with a prospect can increase conversion rates by 328%.

In an article titled “Is Texting the New Way to do Business?” Inc. magazine profiled beverage seller Dirty Lemon. The company sells only by text, and increased revenue by 1,400% in less than two years, with 25% of customers returning for more business.

Don’t waste time and money communicating with customers exclusively by phone and email. They’ve made it clear they prefer texting. If you want their business, listen to them.

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SMS chatbots capabilities in marketing and communication strategy

Mobile Messaging Platform

Messaging is the new platform, and bots are the new apps. 2017 is hosting an explosion of growth in the popularity of chatbots (short for chat robot), fuelled by recent actions taken by giants like Microsoft, Facebook and Google.

A chatbot is a computer program that maintains a conversation with a user in natural language, understands the intent of the user, and sends a response based on business rules and data of the organisation.

On a very basic level, a computer programme is coded to recognise keywords and sentences that are sent to it and then uses this information to respond with a scripted message. The purpose of subsequent messages is to either gather further information from you, reply with the information requested or to act on the request if it can’t help any further i.e. pass you to a human.

A user interacts with a chatbot via a mobile messenger (like Facebook Messenger, Skype or Whatsapp), SMS, or a website, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) is normally embedded in a chatbot in order to help it better understand the context of the conversation.

Text message marketing has not only been proven and consistent, but it has actually evolved over the years to compliment customer's expectations of good quality service.

What’s the main benefit of SMS-powered chatbots?

The key benefit to SMS-powered chatbots is quite simply, efficiency. It’s also hugely adaptable to a large number of customer touch points, and it has a unique ability to improve the self-service customer experience, or CX, whilst simultaneously lowering business costs.

Customers want timely, hassle-free and relevant interactions with their preferred businesses, and those companies with SMS-powered chatbot services will be able to not only boost their bottom line, but they’ll be able to deliver on conversational SMS requests, which ultimately puts them head and shoulders above the competition.

Being able to use just one messaging app, i.e. their native SMS app, users can message their personal stylist, text their bank informing them of a lost PIN, whilst at the same time order a pizza. All without having to go between apps, channels or technology.

For users, this massively improves the time it takes to carry out these tasks and provides a personal and friendly feel.

Why are SMS-powered chatbots on the rise?

In the next few years, chatbots will rise up as the next big CRM tool, especially chatbots via SMS. There are two main reasons for this; SMS is much easier to build a bot around than ‘Over The Top’ (OTT) messaging apps and every smartphone has SMS capabilities.

The key thing to remember is that not everyone uses Whatsapp, Facebook Messenger, Skype etc, but every smartphone has a native SMS app and functionality, and is accessible to all, at all times.

Who is already harnessing this technology?

If you want to retain customer engagement, it is hugely important that you consider leveraging the power of chatbots. Smartphone app popularity is on the decline, and messaging apps are on the rise, and businesses should harness this current trend to their advantage.

There are many development companies that specialise in the building of chatbots and with the use of API feeding into other applications, it is relatively easy to implement into your marketing and communication strategy.

Large brands like Sephora and H&M have already built chatbots to act as personal stylists. The Royal Bank of Scotland have created a bot called “Luvo” which helps with small issues such as forgotten pins and lost cards.

How would it work for your business?

If your business is in a sector which serves everyday needs, such as travel, hospitality, retail and finance, the simplicity and quickness of SMS-powered chatbots are an ideal form of self-service communication technology. Here’s some suggestions as to how you could integrate chatbots into your day to day offering;

Travel - Chatbots can send SMS messages to customers ahead of check-in to alert them of their room number, inviting them to reply via text with questions they have throughout their stay.

Hospitality - Customers can send an SMS message to the hotel’s chatbot line asking for the Wi-Fi access information, request additional bedding, enquire where the hairdryer is kept, or even order room service.

Retail - Customers can receive sale alerts, new stock-in notifications and discount codes straight to their smartphone for use at checkout.

Finance - Banks are able to deliver fraud notifications, account balances on request, and allow customers to self-serve in real-time when they receive account status or transaction notifications.

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SMS remains a key mobile communications platform for enterprises

Dynamically Send, Receive & Enhance Text Message Campaigns.

A2P messaging indicates application-to-person messaging and P2A messaging is person-to-application messaging. In this ever changing world of communication technology, these two technology are gaining popularity because of secure, reliable, and cost effective communication. The most common uses of A2P messaging are bulk message, notifications, alerts, and mobile contextual marketing. It is imperative for enterprises to have insight into how the dynamics of A2P SMS market is changing. The most significant trend in A2P SMS market is emergence of new communication channels and the way supply chain is innovating to provide an improved customer experience.

Telecommunication service providers, cloud service providers, and vendors of A2P SMS market are working together to ensure continued functioning of A2P SMS. All these entities are making it easier for enterprises to include SMS in their business process. The A2P messaging industry is also working to build synergies between enterprises and communication application providers. It will assist enterprises to cater their customers with better quality.

Premium A2P and P2A Messaging Market: Drivers and Challenges

Changing customer communication behavior is driving the development of the growth of premium A2P and P2A SMS market. In the current scenario, SMS remains a key mobile communications platform for enterprises to reach consumers and employees. It is less expensive, ubiquitous on devices, reliable, and quick.

The biggest challenge in the market is telecom operators are facing difficulty to understand the eco system of the market. Many operator sees no difference between P2P SMS and A2P SMS. This is because of the fact that technology remains same in both the communication mode (P2P SMS and A2P SMS).

Premium A2P and P2A Messaging Market: Segmentation

Premium A2P and P2A messaging market can be segmented on the basis of application, traffic, messaging platform, vertical and region. Application category includes inquiry related services, customer relationship management, notification and alerts, authentication service, and promotional and marketing service. On the basis of traffic, the market can be segmented into national and multi-country. On the basis of messaging platform, the market can be segmented into cloud API messaging platform and managed messaging platform. On the basis of vertical, the market can be segmented into BFSI, telecom and IT, media and entertainment, travel and tourism, retail, healthcare, and government. Region wise, the Market can be segmented into North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Japan, Eastern Europe, Western Europe, and Middle East & Africa.

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business benefits of using chatbots

Mobile Messaging Platform

The conversation surrounding chatbots is growing, and the way this benefits a company’s business model is better understood. Chatbots can fulfill many requirements and help your business align with what both employees and consumers want to experience. Implementing a chatbot provides many benefits, and it helps to visualize your chatbot goals based on your company’s wants and needs.

Easy to use

Many chatbots are set up with Facebook Messenger or through SMS (a basic texting service), platforms that are familiar to nearly everyone in the workforce. Facebook Messenger has 1.2 billion active users, and the number of people with SMS activity tops that. These platforms are able to send out alerts with a few options for the receiver – to read more, to view a summary or to ask a question. The chatbot service provider can easily change these options depending on the company’s needs. A chatbot’s message is easy to understand and succinct. After each request you make, the bot replies with an answer and then asks another question like “what’s next?” This gives the receiver the option to continue or not.

Faster external communication

Two thirds of consumers appreciate being able to handle a customer service issue without having to talk to a person according to a report by Aspect, a customer service solutions company. A chatbot saves your company time and resources if it needs to communicate with consumers in any way. For example, a bank may need to alert customers of an inconsistency or potential fraud with their account. Instead of just receiving the alert, and then having to call or visit a branch, a consumer can message a chatbot to resolve the issue. As another example, a utility company may have consumers experiencing power outages. Instead of responding to tweets or phone calls, a chatbot answers most questions and give consumers an estimated wait time.

Better internal communication

Employees are familiar with chatbot software, even if they do not realize it. Chatbots Magazine reported that more than three billion people actively use different messaging apps. This is more than use email and any social media account. Messaging and chat services are intuitive and instantaneous. Employees appreciate being able to stay mobile even if they are usually at a desk. And if not, a chatbot is especially helpful to those that are constantly mobile because they can stay connected without a computer.

Attract young talent

Millennials, the future of the workforce, appreciate a company that is tech savvy and considers what employees want and value. While this should not be the only reason to implement a chatbot, it is a major perk. Retale, a mobile advertising service provider, conducted a survey on consumers’ reactions to chatbots. It found that 86 percent of millennials thought that brands should use chatbots to promote deals, products and services. By considering what millennials like and want, a company shows they value all employees and are in tune with trends and what is to come.

Be ahead of the curve – or at least with it

Major companies across industries, including Disney, CNN, Fandango and Fidelity, have already implemented chatbots for various functions. It’s always better to be moving with these corporations than to be a step behind. The Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), a financial services company, has a chatbot named Luvo that “… helps staff answer business customer queries quickly and easily.” This is just one example of a business using a chatbot to its benefit, and it’s not a difficult model to follow.

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advantages and disadvantages of using chatbots

It’s amazing how rapidly the world of technology can turn customer service on its ear.

Transformational tech is completely revolutionizing the online sales experience. There’s only one hitch: What you don’t know about this topic can mean the difference between success and failure.

If you operate an online store, you can’t risk being left behind. But while understanding the potential benefits is great, knowing how to prevent things turning ugly is paramount. Now is the time for improved chatbot education, because it’s not all as promising as the headlines imply.

Technically, there are only two kinds of chatbots: those that function as “virtual assistants” and those designed to live within messaging apps. The virtual assistants, like Siri and Cortana, use machine learning to interact more effectively. In contrast, chatbots in the messaging world are usually available from within Facebook Messenger, Slack, and WeChat. They simply follow pre-programmed rules.

Together, they’re projected to become a billion-dollar industry within 10 years, and that’s impressive. After all, we’re all in business to make money.

Enterprise Mobile Messaging

So this is just the beginning of the chatbot takeover — the technology is still in its infancy, and more is yet to come. That’s why it is essential to consider chatbots in three groups: the good, the bad, and the ugly.

The good

People are perfectly okay with using chatbot services. In fact, 63 percent are willing to communicate this way with various businesses and brands. It’s an easy way to get quick answers to simple questions.

Thirty-three percent actually prefer to use chatbots for purchasing decisions. As chatbots become more common, this number will likely rise. (And since there are more than 30,000 chatbots on Facebook, you might’ve used one, too — and didn’t even know it.)

We know that 37 percent of people are willing to make purchases through chatbots. In the U.S., these consumers spend an average of $55 per purchase. Potential is even greater in the U.K., where people are willing to spend an average of $410 via chatbot. These consumers are also open to a chatbot’s sales recommendations and product advice.

It’s worth noting that nearly half of all millennials will accept the advice and recommendations offered to them by chatbots.

The bad

Though chatbots seem to be well-received, it’s not all a bed of roses. If the chatbot experience ends up being negative in the customer’s eyes, nearly three-quarters (73 percent) won’t use that chatbot again.

Companies with poorly designed chatbots could injure their own bottom line by driving people away. Most people admit they’re more frustrated by chatbots that can’t answer their questions than they are by human counterparts in the same situation.

This is why you should make no attempt to hide the fact that you’re using chatbots. Don’t try to blur the lines. A resounding 75 percent of people want to know when they are talking to a chatbot. Nearly half of them find it “disturbing” when a chatbot pretends to be human.

You don’t want to freak your customers out.

Besides, more than half the people surveyed say they can tell the difference, and they won’t look kindly on your efforts to fool them. (Reports suggest this won’t be the case by 2029, when chatbots are projected to be capable of meaningful conversations, with human-like language abilities. But that might not make the idea less creepy.)

The ugly

Chatbots are not fully autonomous yet, and this makes them a potential liability. They can improve based on the amount of data provided, but there’s a point of diminishing returns that simply cannot be ignored.

In fact, chatbots max out at about 85 percent efficiency. And when consumers feel like they are getting nowhere with the automated responses, they will be inclined to believe that your company is cold and indifferent.

This can seriously damage your brand.

The whole idea behind utilizing chatbots in the customer service arena is to streamline processes and remove friction. But if your chatbots aren’t capable of top-tier customer service, they are counter-productive. Don’t think of AI or chatbots as your be all end all. People still long for human interaction.

Remember that the chatbots you utilize are the “most literal digital personification of your presence and brand.” They leave an impression that will outlast that of your website or any of your brochures. When it’s all stripped away, a conversation is all that remains. If your chatbots aren’t up to par, they could cost you dearly.

There’s hope

We’re not saying that you shouldn’t use chatbots. The ability to maintain an ongoing relationship with your customers 24/7 has enormous value. Additionally, chatbots provide consumers with quick answers and convenience.

However, it’s essential to integrate human contact at necessary intervals to maintain customer satisfaction. Here are some simple things you can do to ensure that chatbots don’t make your company look disconnected from the people who keep you in business:

• Make sure all your phone numbers work
• Answer calls in three rings or less
• Hire a call center for 24/7 human access
• Be active on social media
• Respond quickly to posts and emails

Humans are conversational entities. When we feel that the conversation has fallen flat, or that our questions have not been answered, we get frustrated. Be sure you have the best chatbot APIs available before setting them loose on your customers.

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impact of sms marketing for your business in the year 2017

SMS Marketing is one of our most favorite tools.In fact, 91% of all adults have their mobile phone within arm’s reach every hour of every day!

Consumers today are more mobile than they ever were and history has showed us that ignoring the power of mobile will hold you and your business back. In 2017, they’ve predicted that more than 4.77 billion people will have a mobile phone (that’s 2/3 of the world’s population!).

But use with caution: SMS Marketing is heavily regulated and you’ll find yourself in hot water if you abuse the privilege of having a customer’s personal cell number. So, if you’re looking to reap the benefits of adding another (largely under-utilized) channel to your marketing campaigns read on for all the Best Practices for SMS Marketing in 2017.

High Value

Text messages are reserved for your customer’s most inner circle, make it worthwhile for them to include you. We like to use SMS Marketing to increase the attendance rates on our webinars. What we never use it for is to send SMS blasts with information and offers that they can find on our site/social media or in our emails.

Dynamically Send, Receive & Enhance Text Message Campaigns.

While you may not realize it, sending a subscriber an irrelevant or unwanted message can feel like a encroachment into their personal space. If you plan to use SMS marketing in your campaigns, make the effort of understanding exactly who your subscribers are and what they expect from your texts.

Offer Incentives to Sign-Up

SMS Marketing is permission-based and the user has to opt-in before sending messages. This is why you should use exclusive offers that will create a sense of exclusivity and get people to sign up for your texts.

Tempt your customers with coupons and deals available only to SMS-subscribers. Programs like this will make your subscribers feel like they’re part of an exclusive community or club.

Create a Sense of Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency in your SMS texts to subscribers so you can yield better results or gain information as quickly as possible. For example, a simple expiration date encourages your subscribers to respond or act faster.

Use a Numeric Vanity Short Code

A numeric vanity short code is an easy-to-remember number such as, 44444 or 12121, that will be the ‘phone number’ for your SMS marketing campaign. You can create a specific number picked by you that will be easy for your customers to remember.

Short, logical keywords get used quickly, but a great numeric vanity short code also assures those opting-in that your SMS marketing program is trustworthy and committed.

Personalized Texts

Since SMS is much more personal than email or direct mail, personalizing your texts to subscribers will get their attention. Customers respond better to material addressed directly to them so insert their name whenever you can. Target them further with more relevant texts based on their preferences.
Conclusion

Ad spend on mobile was expected to reach $100 billion in 2016! But it’s the mobile advertising on websites and apps that tend to get most of the attention from marketers. Now that we know the best practices and the favorable rates of SMS messages, 2017 is the year to make room in your ad spend and start integrating SMS marketing into your campaigns!

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the need for sms aggregators

Going global with anything is never an easy task. There are various legal, cultural and resourcing standpoints to consider in order to successfully scale.

While SMS can be straightforward on a local level, going global can be challenging for a number of reasons: various local regulations, inefficient performing routes, untrustworthy aggregators and more.

Traditional telecom infrastructure is cumbersome

The traditional telecom infrastructure was never built to support the volume of business-to-person messaging we’re seeing today. Some companies have resorted to Application-to-person (A2P) SMS, but the process for delivering A2P SMS is clunky and can be expensive to deploy.

Traditional methods require a company to liaise with a variety of middlemen such as SMS aggregators, gateway providers, and resellers before gaining access to the SMS inventory of the various network operators. This alone bumps up the cost to entry, in addition to any specialized telephony hardware and software middlemen prefer to use.

Network operators don’t typically offer A2P SMS services directly to small businesses; for most companies, the only way to go global is to use these middlemen. This then limits the amount of businesses who can send SMS globally to those that are able to afford it.

SMS aggregators are – at times – shady

As there is no way for one party to connect directly to every single telco in the world, the use of SMS aggregators is the most ideal method for a global footprint.

However, there is a possibility that such aggregators might be using what’s commonly known as a “grey route.” A grey route is where a service provider or SMS aggregator sends messages to end-users in another country without paying the recipient’s network for their delivery.

Typically, a telco would charge another telco for sending an SMS to their network if the SMS originated internationally. However, since international SMS was designed for peer-to-peer (P2P) messaging, these fees essentially cancel each other out as you would normally get replies.

In effect, if Telco 1 charged Telco 2 for sending an SMS to their network, Telco 2 would have to charge Telco 1 as well when the recipient replies. Therefore, the telcos often just didn’t charge each other.

To avoid fees, grey routes can be implemented by exploiting an intermediary that has a terminating agreement with the end operator, disguising the origin of the message as a ‘person’ instead of an ‘application,’ or making the message appear to be national as opposed to international.

SMS aggregators using grey routes attract customers by offering cheap rates for delivering bulk SMS and monetize by exploiting gains made from sending messages for free.

Aware of the issue, telcos will often work with aggregators they trust to block grey routes. If your SMS aggregator is using a blocked grey route, you may not be able to monitor if an end recipient is receiving your message.

Presence of local regulations and country-specific guidelines

Every country has different regulations and guidelines for when certain types of messages are allowed to be sent. For example, promotional A2P SMS cannot be delivered in India between 9 PM to 9 AM, and some countries won’t allow you to include a URL within a message.

Before sending messages in a new country, you’ll need to sign a legally binding contract that says you will adhere to these rules at all times (that, or pay a fine of $500 per message).

In addition to country-specific requirements, many carriers have their own unique compliance requirements. Some may filter out specific phrases or words to censor content it deems inappropriate for readers. On average, three carriers around the world change a rule or regulation each week. That’s a lot of rules to keep up with if you’re sending SMS to multiple countries!

Since each country has different compliance regulations, best practice guidelines also have to be tailored per country. For example, in Brazil, a message can only contain 157 characters instead of the standard 160 characters.

In the US, all A2P messaging needs to take place over a short code and the application process takes between 8 to 12 weeks. Therefore, the best practice might mean partnering with a service that provides pre-approved short codes available on a pay-per-use basis.

Keeping up with best practices in each country require a lot of time and effort, making SMS hard to scale globally. Lack of a direct route from sender to receiver

Sending SMS can be akin to traveling internationally as airlines work on a hub-and-spoke model. The airlines decide what routes they will operate, and you’ll have to take those predetermined routes to get to your destination, either via a direct flight or with several transfers.

Similarly, when an SMS is sent internationally, it will have to travel along predetermined routes. Sometimes, a message may be transferred five to six times to get to its final destination.

The huge amount of transfers involved greatly reduces quality of message delivery, as transferring routes has its own issues. A delay or cancellation in delivery may occur if one route is busy or if there are problems with network connectivity.

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enterprise sms firewall market set to take off big time

Mobile Messaging Solutions from Vectramind

According to a new market research report "SMS Firewall Market by SMS Type (A2P Messaging and P2A Messaging), SMS Traffic (SMS Exchange and International Exchange), Messaging Platform (Cloud and Traditional), Service Type (Professional and Managed), Organization Size, Vertical, and Region - Global Forecast to 2022", published by MarketsandMarkets(TM), the SMS Firewall Market size is expected to grow from USD 1.73 Billion in 2017 to USD 2.82 Billion by 2022, at a CAGR of 10.4%.

 Growing security and privacy concerns across the globe, increasing focus on preventing revenue loss due to grey routes, stringent government regulations, and increased adoption of Application to Person (A2P) messaging are some of the driving forces in the SMS Firewall Market. A2P messaging segment is expected to play a key role in the SMS Firewall Market.

 The A2P messaging segment is expected to have a larger market share in the SMS Firewall Market during the forecast period. Demand for A2P messaging has been skyrocketing across all industry verticals, including, banking, finance, retail , healthcare, travel, and eCommerce. The common use cases of A2P messaging are sending alerts, notifications, and marketing messages, such as banking updates, flight alerts, One Time Password (OTP) verifications, and promotional messages. Nowadays, customers are receiving unwanted and unsolicited  text messages, which may negatively impact enterprise business operations. Hence, enterprises are focusing on sending spam-free A2P messages to their customers. This is expected to drive the growth of the global SMS Firewall Market.

A2P messages are convenient and easy to use with the introduction of advanced platforms integrated with APIs and messaging gateways. These platforms and gateways simplify the process of sending A2P SMS for enterprises. The global enterprise A2P SMS market was valued at US$ 23.4 billion in 2014 and is expected to increase at a CAGR of 6.0% during the forecast period (2015-2025). Enhancement in end-user experience and provision of a secure and reliable operator channel are the basic factors propelling growth of this market.

how SMS plays a key role in engaging Customers

With today’s ‘there’s an app for that’ culture, it’s sometimes easy to see how SMS, or as it’s more commonly known, the text message, gets overlooked. A veteran of the mobile industry and a fundamental part of mobile functionality since the 1980’s, today, SMS often finds itself in the shadow of flashier messaging options, such as Whatsapp, Snapchat, and even customer-designed instant messaging services that are integrated into social media sites and applications, such as Facebook. And that’s only from a consumer perspective.

Businesses, too, are missing a trick with SMS, by pouring vast amounts of money into bespoke mobile apps for marketing, engagement and branding purposes. I can understand why businesses might feel pressured to take this approach. As of June 2016, there were 2.2 million apps available for Android users to download, and 2 million in Apple’s App Store. So it may seem at first glance that by not developing an app of your own, you are in danger of falling behind your competitors.

Most companies donot dismiss the value of SMS when it comes to mobile marketing. Businesses should not overlook SMS as it provides a vital way of interacting with customers and driving engagement.

Dynamically Send, Receive & Enhance Text Message Campaigns.

Here are a few reasons why:

SMS offers unparalleled reach

Recent Ofcom statistics show that, despite the vast array of apps that are available in various mobile and online stores, only two-thirds of UK adults own smartphones, leaving more than 30% not only unable to download an app, but also unreachable through internet-dependent messaging such as email or WhatsApp. However, 90% of these mobile phones are SMS-capable. Furthermore, it’s currently estimated that less than 23% of emails sent by SMEs are actually opened, whereas 98% of all texts are read within three minutes of being received. Still need convincing? Consider the fact that the average email response time is 90 minutes, but for SMS, it’s just 90 seconds. So can texting really be matched by email or an app in terms of reach?

SMS is flexible

Employing SMS as a marketing tool can provide businesses with a great deal of flexibility. It’s possible to easily and quickly send either a handful of messages to a targeted group of individuals, or thousands of messages to a bulk list that could span across the world, all from the same platform. This makes customising a text campaign to your audience an incredibly simple and dynamic process, which, in turn, makes tracking meaningful RoI a lot simpler.

SMS is relevant

Marketing via SMS is permission-based, meaning that recipients have to actively register to receive texts from a business, and most platforms monitor fraudulent activity meticulously in order to defend their customers from spammers. A mobile phone is an incredibly personal item, and unlike with email, where endless marketing material is sent straight to the junk folder without a second thought, businesses won’t be let off lightly if they intrude on that personal space with unwanted content.

That said, when used properly, a permission-based marketing campaign can have incredibly positive effects for businesses as well as consumers, as it ensures that you are only communicating with an audience that wants to receive your message. Therefore, respect your customers’ desire for security and privacy by sending only relevant content via a text message, and your audience will be more receptive than they ever would to “blanket-bombing” all the contacts you find with a “one size fits all” email.

SMS is popular

Finally, mobile users have been found to often prefer using external applications for social or leisure purposes, but favour text for personal information that is of greater importance, such as reminders, verifications and alerts. Since this distinction has already been made by the consumer, the leg work has already been done for businesses. Rather than investing heavily in downloadable apps, brands should be ready to jump on the opportunity to reach out directly to their target audience in a way that has been widely pre-approved.

SMS as a tool for distributing marketing material. Consumers want to ensure they have a receipt when they purchase a product or service via their mobile, or a confirmation message when they book a doctor’s appointment, or a way of providing feedback after an appointment and have verified that text is a valid way to receive these.


Looking at SMS more closely, I would encourage businesses that are keen to boost their customer engagement, improve their services or gain more exposure for their brand, but may be sceptical of SMS, to ask themselves, has texting really had its day? SMS may have been around for many years, but the fact that it is still around, still active, and is standing up to competitors such as email and Whatsapp, is just evidence of its value, and that this is very much a case of “old dog, new tricks.”

your business requires a practical, easily implemented solution for connecting directly with an audience that is near-guaranteed to be highly receptive to your content, you couldn’t do much better than sending a text.

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messaging Vs chatbots for marketing strategy

The rise of the messaging app has been faster and greater than everyone’s expectations. Six out of the top 10 mobile apps are now messaging apps, and messaging dominates all other apps in terms of sessions, according to the Kleiner Perkins’ 2015 Internet Report. And it doesn’t end there. Major free chatting software is turning into something even bigger — showing up as portals, platforms, and even operating systems.

This is because the potential for messaging as a platform is virtually unlimited. Users will be able to order taxis, get movie tickets, search for a book at a local library, donate to charity, follow celebrity news, check into flights, access bank statements, and make appointments with doctors, all within the messaging app itself.

Enterprise Mobile Messaging

In the enterprise messaging space, instant messaging for business enterprises like our Flock software or Slack offer more than basic workforce communication. As a platform upon which others can build applications that send and receive messages, internal chat options for enterprises will serve an even more significant function for both users and developers.

Why users should get excited

The biggest benefit for users is that they can use just one app for multiple purposes. Users will not have to switch between apps or deal with multiple interfaces. The convenience — the immense amount of time saved and the freedom from having to download an app for every single task at hand — is unparalleled.

When it comes to chat for businesses, the use cases are numerous. Internal chat options for business enterprises like Flock app or HipChat let you do so much more than “just message” within groups. A poll bot lets you take instant polls among team members. A reminder bot enables a team leader to send reminder messages to all team members about an upcoming deadline. Team members can simply drag and drop files (both documents and images) to share with their teams. Code snippets can be downloaded, edited, forwarded, and reused within the app itself. Webhooks (e.g., event notification) and app integrations allow you to get all important notifications sent directly to your app.

Moreover, with messaging becoming a platform, users will be exposed to customised features that are specific to their business communication and collaboration needs. And since users belonging to distinct functions have dissimilar needs, the messaging platform will make sure that they are provided for with tailored features, apps, or bots.

Why developers are going to be thrilled

The movement of messaging to platforms signifies that a messaging platform is not a product but a symbiotic ecosystem. So what’s the distinction that defines a messaging system as a platform? Let’s consider the example of instant messaging for business enterprises that offers collaboration and communication within enterprises of all sizes. As an app, it might offer a great set of features, which, while awesome, is just not enough. However, as a platform, the free chatting software may choose to provide plug-ins for just about every developer tool on the market. These plug-ins allow developers to create their own best-of-breed apps and bots – something greater than any of the component parts.

By choosing to open API platforms, enterprise messaging apps are offering developers customization, quicker time to market, frictionless deployment, and — most importantly — a symbiotic ecosystem that grows with the platform itself. Plus, businesses looking to develop apps and chatbots have the option of using A.I. or human intelligence, (since the interface to the messaging backend is just messages).

With free messaging service for business enterprises, developers have a wide playing field in terms of developing apps. Integrations can include ecommerce, customer service, B2B services, and even fun apps that build team spirit. Most importantly, developers need to create cool functionalities that end users want. The potential in the enterprise communication space will emerge as messaging morphs from being solely a work-chat and collaboration tool to becoming a new type of business process management platform.

An essential building block of future messaging

Top messaging apps the world over are investing heavily in the developer community and in startups, with the intent to build viable messaging ecosystems that will create greater usability. For business communication tools, the success of the app will attract developers and B2Bs wanting to differentiate themselves by providing integrations on the messaging platform. Also, the free messaging service for business enterprises will have the responsibility of making sure that businesses and enterprise teams can find the many great integrations and make the best use of them. The ultimate goal of the messaging platform will be to provide a host of rich experiences that end users can rely on as the messaging platform become the central hub for their workflows.

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how chatbots impacts social media marketing

As e-commerce consumers become more comfortable interacting with machines online, chat bots will inevitably continue to dominate the online landscape.

Chat bots are the new black, sweeping all before them in an increasingly connected and online world. And as e-commerce consumers become more comfortable interacting with machines online, chat bots will inevitably continue to dominate the online landscape.

Chat bots, and the artificial intelligence technology that enables them, are on the rise and constantly evolving. While most chat bot tasks are relatively elementary for now, that is unlikely to be the case for long. Some independent research maintains that by the end of 2017, only about one-third of all customer-service queries will require the attention of human representatives.

mobile messaging platform

Social media environments like Facebook are keen to encourage developers to produce chat bots, and advanced related technology, that work within their platforms. And as messaging platforms open up, essentially chasing a greater user base, chat-bot-creation tools are becoming both more prevalent and easier to use.

Facebook is certainly at the vanguard of the chat bot revolution. Control of a messaging platform can lead to big money in the future.

In the past year, Facebook opened up its Messenger platform–with its more than 1 billion monthly active users and Facebook’s 1.79 billion MAUs–to third-party chat bots.

Upwards of 45,000 developers are now using Facebook’s Wit.ai chat-bot-building tool to create chat bots for Messenger. Other major technology companies have also seen the writing on the wall. Microsoft, for example, has introduced a chat-bot-building tool called Bot Framework.

Facebook is not alone in recognizing a marketplace potential for chat bot technology. The business-oriented applications for chat bots are extensive–everything from e-commerce queries to customer service to call centers. But why are chat bots gaining so much attention?

Technology is in a state of continuous flux. And while some technology trends can be fleeting and easily forgotten, some take hold and are destined to dominate the industry for years to come.

Social messaging is one such pervasive trend. It is widely believed that overall, people now spend more time in social messaging than in social media. That is especially true for the younger millennial generation, with their all-important disposable income.

In another sense, then, the increased interest in chat bots also reflects a cultural shift toward social messaging. Just as users have migrated towards SMS and messaging apps as their communications medium of choice, so they have embraced that same familiar interface for chat bots.

And as they spend more time within that social messenger environment, they are increasingly reluctant to download and open additional applications in order to accomplish basic tasks. As a result, they are receptive to an interactive service that resides within their chosen messenger app.

For most companies not selling a product, the most effective use of chat bots is for customer service. Timely and efficient customer service can be the difference between success and failure for companies, especially those in highly competitive markets. Indeed, chat bots seem to be a technology made for customers.

As platforms expand and tools become more accessible and easier to use, the likelihood is that companies will be making their own bots in the near future, certainly within a couple of years. And as social messaging continues to explode in popularity, bots will become ever more pervasive in day-to-day company-to-customer and online communications.

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using chatbots to navigate customer care issues

Chatbots are revolutionizing the way people and companies interact. Communication between customer and company is becoming a more personalized experience for the former. Gone are the days when users have to pick up the phone and talk to a customer service rep or have that tediousness of searching every nook and cranny of a website to find something. In today’s digital age where speed is king, Chatbots are improving customer experience with a streamlined and personal touch.

mobile messaging platform

Let’s learn what chatbots are and what they’re doing for the future of marketing and customer interaction.

1. Chatbots are the new customer service rep

The big question is: what is a chatbot and how do they work? Chatbots are applications that talk with customers and perform basic tasks for them. Chatbots have become the new search button that answers questions posed by customers and even suggests items of interests for customers through the use of certain phrases. They basically converse with customers and cater to their preferences.

2. Chatbots are continually learning and doing multiple things.

With the use of artificial intelligence, Chatbots are ensuring that users have a customer experience that is entirely according to what customers want. Through conversations it has with users, chatbots adapt their content and responses depending on previous conversations with users. Chatbots today are multifaceted tools that can give updates weather, news, and even help people shop.

3. Who are using chatbots? What’s their use?

Companies such as Facebook and Viber are on the forefront of this venture. Their Chatbots are allowing their users to communicate directly with businesses that use their platform in order to cater to specific needs. It has become the newest marketing tool for companies since it allows them better interactions with customers. It makes it easier for companies to streamline their products and content towards what their customer wants because the customers are the ones directly providing the information through their interactions with Chatbots. Chatbots are also able to disseminate information to large user bases without the worry of people missing out. 4. Chatbots are now local

In the Philippines, Megamobile Inc. is one of the first companies to use Chatbots on both Facebook and Viber to interact with their user base as well as receive feedback in how to further improve their services. Through the use of chatbots, Megamobile is leading the way in terms of customer service and marketing in the digital age. Megamobile uses chatbots to give users the latest news and updates. It also gives users a platform to ask questions and provide feedback to make sure that Megamobile caters to the users’ preferences.

5. What’s next for chatbots?

Chatbots are the future of marketing and customer service. Companies are now able to take on grass roots marketing and service without spending a lot of manpower and resources through the help of Chatbots. It maximizes messaging apps which are some of the most used apps today and thus make it easier for companies to directly communicate with their targeted audiences. Customers themselves have it easier because they can use Chatbots to easily find what they specifically need just by typing a simple command or phrase and without the hassle of searching or talking to someone from customer support.

Chatbots are taking the idea of personal marketing and making it into a reality. All customers have to do is message a public account on Viber or on Facebook and have their needs and inquiries catered to in a fast and streamlined experience.

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building a chatbot for customer services

So you want to build a chatbot. Great! You’re not alone.

There are already more than 34,000 chatbots on Facebook Messenger alone, and many of these were built by and for brands. They are increasingly able to help customers answer questions and solve issues on their own, as well as taking work off the shoulders of contact center agents. Though you’re not yet too late to the game, you might be asking yourself where to begin.

Enterprise Mobile Messaging

These are some of the tips you should keep in mind while designing a customer service " chatbot"

1. Determine the role of the bot and set goals

Before you start anything, identify what you want your bot to do — and be specific. Following the Pareto rule about an 80-20 focus, identify the top 20 percent of questions that are answered in your contact center today, but which make up 80 percent of the volume of incoming inquiries. Determine whether you want your bot to interpret questions very narrowly — deflecting fewer questions from the contact center but being highly precise — or broadly, creating a higher rate of deflection at the risk of answering incorrectly.

2. Evaluate and pick a channel

Text-based chatbots can live on any communication channel that can carry a dialog, whether that’s a traditional mobile carrier channel (SMS, USSD), a messaging app (Facebook Messenger, WeChat), social networks like Twitter, or chat embedded on a website. If you are considering adding a conversational experience to your existing mobile app, ask this question: Given general app fatigue, does this experience add enough new value that it justifies the investment? Sometimes a fresh channel opens up new perspectives for better customer service.

3. Create the Conversational Architecture

Chatbots are about a continuous conversation that allows for any number of responses between the bot and the user. Contrary to what users experience with mobile apps or websites, the messaging channel is story- or flow-based, where all previous interactions are always visible to both parties.

What this means for your chatbot design is that user messages can never be analyzed in isolation — they are part of a larger conversation. As a first design step you therefore want to create a Conversational Architecture. This is similar to an Information Architecture for a GUI, which puts the website content into a hierarchy of web pages (a site map). Pay attention to which interactions might lead to follow-up steps that refer to previous dialogue, and figure out how you are going to handle them.

4. Design dialog flows and storyboards

Conversational Architecture is an exercise to help you organize your content and start thinking about the best ways to word the bot’s answers. The dialog flow goes into all the detail needed for your developer to implement the bot, and represents each branch and juncture in the conversation.

The detailed message design happens outside of the flow diagrams, as you will want to design variations of the same message for frequently occurring dialog steps. This is a technique called random prompting, where you make the bot use wording variations to essentially say the same thing. This will make the whole experience feel less robotic and more human, which is something we should strive for in bot design.

5. Design the integration's

Backend and data integrations can be as varied as the applications you want to automate. If you already have an integration with your existing self-service platforms (web or voice) to some of your systems, the same integrations may be re-used for chatbot purposes. For example, if your IVR (interactive voice response) application already verifies your customer and can provide order status information, then most likely the integration can be re-used for your chatbot.

6. Collect chat data

One of the most important resources you will need to assemble is a collection of question variations reflecting the different ways your customer can ask for something. If you’re lucky enough to have had agents communicating with customers in chat channels, you can mine those conversations for real examples.

If you need to create your initial data by hand, make certain that your collection includes not just one developer’s intuitions but also input from as large a variety of people as possible. One useful approach is therefore to work with quality assurance and crowdsourcing companies who have access to a large number of people from around the world. Finding people with the same linguistic background as your target users is helpful. The same linguistic background helps create more realistic data — data that might even include mistakes that are typical for some non-native speakers.

7. Pick a platform and a development approach

In essence, most chatbots consider the following the key tasks to be performed on natural language sentences: (1) determine the intent of the sentence and (2) extract data from the sentence. There are essentially two different approaches to these tasks: (1) based on explicitly creating rules from the top down and (2) using machine learning algorithms to learn the task from a large collection of transcribed interactions.

If you do not have an existing data set to train a machine on, you will be better off with a linguistic rules-based approach. The latter also allows you to retain more control over how a question is interpreted, which matters in customer service, as you want to minimize the number of wrong answers given.

8. Implement the dialogue flow and engineer the Natural Language Understanding

If you selected a platform based on machine learning, you will provide this platform with your example sentences for each possible intent. The more examples you provide, the better the algorithm will learn the variations of linguistic expressions that can be used for each intent, and the better it will learn how to distinguish between intents. Note that you will want to reserve some of your example sentences for the next step (testing).

If you are working with a linguistic rules-based platform, you will use the sentences in a different way. The rules you craft will explicitly represent the characteristics that determine that a given sentence belongs to intent A or intent B.

9. Internal testing and revision of your use case detection

Now you’re ready for the second use of your collection of example sentences: automated testing. You also want as many diverse human testers as possible for “real user” testing. Test and revise your Natural Language Understanding component, as well as the dialog flow, until you reach an acceptable level of accuracy. Note that this step and the step that precedes it are iterative and approximative. Because of the nature of human language and the infinite possible expressions of every question or intent, the goal of 100 percent accuracy is an unattainable one, even for a human being. Each time you iterate through these steps, however, you get closer.

10. Early deployment and revisions

Even though you’re ready to go live, the work is not over when the bot gets deployed. Typical adjustments include rewording your bot’s responses as you review follow-up clarification questions from your customers that wouldn’t have been necessary if the bot’s answer had been clearer. You may need to adjust the logic of your intent classification, either through explicit manipulation of the rules or through providing more example sentences. Finally, you may need to add new use cases if the designed use cases do not cover the majority of user requests.

To ensure a successful outcome of your chatbot deployment, view the creation as an iterative process: Gather the data, review it, and apply it to your bot’s design. Repeat. Above all, log everything for the future. The success of other projects could be driven by the lessons you learn from this one.

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3 tips to incorporate rich communication service(RCS) sms in your mobile marketing plan

HOW RCS IS CHANGING THE MESSAGING LANDSCAPE

According to a recent report in comScore, about 50% of mobile consumers are downloading no new apps (per month), which has brands more focused on SMS and RCS messaging. But, with RCS so new, how can brands ensure they're  well integrated in this latest messaging system ?so what exactly is RCS Messaging ? 

As we explained earlier in our post on " the latest messaging standard"Rich Communication Services (alternatively known as Advanced Messaging), RCS is a next-generation SMS messaging protocol. It allows users to take advantage of a number of features that were previously exclusive to over-the-top messaging apps like WhatsApp and iMessage. 

 For example when texting a friend or family member, RCS users will see typing indicators and lets us do things like share high-res photos and larger files, chat with a group, know when messages are read, or make video calls. and read receipts RCS also enables proper group chat However unlike SMS messages, RCS are messages are sent via the user’s data connection or a nearby Wi-Fi link. 

 Rich Communication Services  allows consumers to have a mobile app-like experience in their mobile messaging inbox in a much more convenient way than requiring them to download yet another mobile app or have them toggling back and forth between web pages. 

Through simply pushing call-to-action buttons on RCS messages, consumers can access a simpler and richer user experience. By making customers' lives easier and delivering them the information they need, when they need it, marketers are being empathetic to their customers while encouraging brand loyalty and ultimately, bring more revenue for the operators.

The service is based on the GSMA’s Universal Profile (UP) for Advanced Messaging, which is currently backed by 76 operators, OEMs and OS providers worldwide, and is expected to grow rapidly this year as RCS is adopted by consumers around the world. Samsung is one of the world’s largest device manufacturers, selling over 300 million smartphones in 2016 alone, and this new solution will make it much easier for millions of users across the globe to access RCS messaging 

early last year in  2016, RCS gained a powerful commercial ally with the resources and clout to help it finally realize its promise: Google. A number of carriers, the GSMA, and Google launched an initiative to establish a universal profile based on RCS specifications and to make an initial RCS messaging product available to Android users. In the 12 months since the announcement, more carriers and OEMs have gotten onboard and Google has launched the RCS-ready Messenger app for Android users (recently renamed Android Messages). Google now has put significant investment behind RCS, with Android Messages, it’s Jibe Cloud product, which offers carriers managed RCS services on Google-hosted infrastructure, and an RCS interconnect solution for carriers called the Jibe Hub.

segmentation ands targetting for mobile consumers

Deploy a mobile ready messaging strategy across your organization

 

 

 

How to Increase  targeting for your mobile consumers

Businesses are leveraging new marketing platforms like video, social media and mobile to acquire customers and build a supportive community.

Mobile marketing can push messages to your clients and build a loyal raving fan client base. This provides something no other form of advertising can – instant traffic.

Consumers are using their mobile devices to access the Internet more than ever before – and it’s expected continue to grow at astonishing rates.

Pew Research reports that 95 percent of Americans own a mobile device — most users keep their phones within arm’s reach over 90 percent of waking hours. Americans are spending an average of three hours per day on the Internet from their mobile devices.

Shopping on Black Friday in 2016 also made history according to CNET, who reported that there were $1.2 billion in purchases from phones and tablets.

More people are accessing the Internet and social media from their mobile devices than from their computers. When combined with other marketing methods, mobile marketing has proven to increase conversion rates.

Imagine, it’s a slow day at your business and you promote a paid ad on Facebook and Instagram then soon generate instant sales. Can you see the power of mobile?

There is still a small number of businesses who have responsive websites that are mobile enabled. According to an article on Marketing Land, only 18.7 percent of 100,000 top-tier websites in an Akamai study were responsive.

Most business owners don’t have the time or the expertise to figure out their next step. It’s easier and not as expensive as you think.

You can update your current website or create a new one in several ways:

• Hire a web developer and designer to write the proper code
• Use WordPress to purchase a high-quality responsive template and plugins
• Create a shared hosting website that is automatically mobile-ready

Your website is your home base — it’s the first place your visitors will see whether they are coming in from social media, a newsletter, through search, ect. If they can’t view your landing page quickly and easily the moment they arrive you could be missing out on hundreds of potential new clients who primarily use their mobile devices to find information and make purchases.

Why You Need to Focus on Mobile

The time is now to ramp up your mobile marketing efforts in order to reach the most people. Your business needs to think beyond the computer user and start targeting this new technology for several reasons:

• Google’s latest algorithm update will pass over any website that is not on the radar of smart devices.
• You can you improve your search ranking.
• Instantly set up advertising on places like Facebook and Instagram and reach targeted buyers.\
• SMS marketing can be used to instantly send a message to your subscribers who have not had a chance to get to their email yet. The open is rate is much higher and highly responsive, which greatly increases your chances of a potential buyer taking action.
• Video and live video are the new storytelling tools. People are connecting with brands in a more personalized way right from their devices.
• Mobile consumer data provides better insights into who your target market is and what they are looking for.
• Your emails offers and promotions are powered up when they are automatically adapted to mobile. This will greatly improve your click-thru and open rates.

Once you develop and execute a mobile marketing plan your business will be able to stay on top of the latest trends that your target market is using, which places you ahead of the competition. It may take some investment in the beginning, but the payoff will be much greater as you attract an entirely new audience who are quickly jumping away from their computers and conducting their transactions on the go.

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