How to choose an SMS gateway supplier

How to choose an SMS gateway supplier

If there's one thing marketing teams are fully aware of, it's that mobile advertising is taking off like a rocket.

Reaching customers by mobile means connecting with them wherever they are. Very rarely will someone leave their house without doing a basic check of 'wallet, keys, phone', which means SMS adverts will always find their way to their intended target.

Perhaps the biggest advantage of going for text marketing over email is that it doesn't require an internet connection to work. In addition, SMS reaches everyone with a basic mobile phone, so it's not exclusive to smartphone owners. Its plain text format hints at a very basic advertising platform on the face of things, but a highly effective one at that.

You might have contemplated SMS marketing for your own brand but wondered exactly how this process works. Do you send the messages through a company phone? Does a third party handle all of your deployment requests? Well here's what you're looking for.

Cheap rates

SMS sending works like this. You sign up to a subscription service which gives you access to an SMS gateway (or software). This enables you to instantly communicate with any group of people through a computer - so it's almost like email, but you're sending the messages to mobile numbers rather than online messenger accounts.

You get people to opt-in to your SMS alert service which gives you the permission to send them messages. The texts themselves are purchased on a monthly basis, so you could pay for 500 messages per month for -£30. One of the factors that has to be considered during this stage is the price to send your texts. This should take up most of your SMS marketing budget, which means getting a good deal is crucial to the campaign representing good value for money.

Reporting

SMS marketers don't establish a campaign's success by simply viewing sales figures before and after it commenced. They use reporting tools to see how many people are viewing their messages and at what time of the day. This insight allows them to fine-tune their future efforts in order to optimise their chances of success. So reporting is another key element in the SMS marketing mix.

Location

You might be able to get a better deal on your SMS package from an international supplier - it's likely that you will be advised of the available markets. Though while you marvel at your saving of -£2 per month, you'll miss out on a number of benefits that come with choosing a UK-based supplier. For instance, SMS campaigns usually take a lot of tweaking. You'll prefer a UK company as communications are never hindered by location. This way you can meet the company, understand what they can offer and how you can get the most out of your software.

Results

Richard Parker is an eminent columnist with a publication. He is a telecom engineer and a broadband specialist. Writing news based articles for online journals is one of his favorites. Currently he is busy playing with his newly bought iPhone 5.