|
What is SMS? |
|
SMS is short for SHORT MESSAGING
SERVICE. It is a transmission of text or
binary data to a mobile device like a
phone or PDA. 99% of all mobile phones
support SMS. SMS is more commonly known
as a TEXT MESSAGE and these can be
transmitted from device to device or
from software such as that provided by
Textvertising to a device.
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMS#SMS_today
|
|
How much
does it cost? |
|
Textvertising offer different plans to
suit any business.
Our Entry package is completely free and
text messages are purchased on a 'pay as
you go' basis.
You can upgrade your account to use any
of the features we offer, and if
required downgrade it again. No lengthy
contracts or commitments - just pay as
you go!
|
|
How do my clients 'Opt in' and 'Opt
out'? |
|
OPTING IN:
Providing a facility for your clients to
opt in is very simple. Your client
simply texts YOURKEYWORD to either our
Virtual Mobile Number (VMN) or if
enabled on your account, to one of our
shortcode numbers (e.g. 82055).
OPTING OUT:
Textvertising provide two simple ways
for your customers to opt out. They can
do so by simply texting YOURKEYWORD STOP
to unsubscribe from your database or
STOP to unsubscribe from all databases
they may have registered to on our
system
to either our VMN or shortcode.
|
|
Can I see handset delivery reports? |
|
Yes you can.
Firstly we initially provide a report
that the SMS network has accepted each
message for each phone on your list.
When your message has been routed to a
handset a DELIVERED status is applied
with a timestamp so you can see exactly
when it has been delivered.
If the message could not be delivered, a
NON DELIVERED status is applied and one
of over 50 reasons why. If the reason is
due to handset problem, not a temporary
phone issue (like inbox full), you can
quarantine the number. This locks the
phone in your account (so it will be
ignored) next time you send a message to
help prevent you from wasting messages.
|
|
Can I upload my own numbers? |
|
Yes you can.
Not only can you upload your own
numbers, but our system can
automatically check your file for valid
mobile numbers from up to 3 fields of
your data, remove duplicates and compare
the new clean data against numbers
already in your database. You can even
include landline numbers.
Every time you upload a database, you
can assign a new client group to it to
identify it later. When a number already
exists in your current database, the
group is simply tagged against them
rather than the client being added
again.
This ensures no numbers are duplicated
and your database is formatted in an
easy to understand way making targeted
message sending as easy as possible.
|
|
Can I build multiple databases/client
groups? |
|
Yes you can.
Simply upgrade to use Client Groups/Sub
Keywords.
(Client groups are not just groups of
clients, but those groups are also known
as "sub keywords". This is because
someone can text your keyword followed
by one of your configured group names.
Hence the term "sub keyword")
Each group/sub keyword can contain
unlimited numbers, so you could for
example have sub keywords like MALE and
FEMALE. Using this example, your clients
can text YOURKEYWORD MALE to join your
male database or YOURKEYWORD FEMALE to
join your female database.
You can also set different replies for
each sub keyword. these can be SMS, MMS,
a live RSS feed or other interactive
responses such as those provided by our
text raffle or competition/voting
services.
It is also set different replies to each
keyword and have the alert sent to
different email addresses with your
organisation.
Many of our clients set up sub keywords
for live event information. For example
you could have text YOURKEYWORD GIG for
up to date information of our next live
event, prices and booking information.
By simply amending your sub keyword
reply to reflect current promotions,
gigs or news, your sub keyword acts as a
simple 24 hour live news feed for your
clients.
|
|
Can I provide reverse billing? |
|
Yes you can. We can provide 25p, 50p,
£1, £1.50, £2.50, £5, £3 charity and £5
charity - and multiples thereof.
We can provide 1mth-12mth plans not just
12 month contracts. The amount you
charge your clients is not fixed and can
be switched between plans at any time
from within your account. You can even
run multiple campaigns simultaneously at
different rates.
|
|
How do I advertise a service like on TV? |
|
Simply upgrade to use your keyword on
the shortcode.
For example, "text BROCHURE to 82055"
for a free information booklet.
This is a great way to capture your
clients number and all enquiries are
sent to you in an automated email or by
SMS if you prefer.
If required, add more keywords (like
BROCHURE, INFORMATION, BOOKLET etc)
which all point to sub keywords in your
account. This allows you to quickly see
which areas of your marketing are
working and which are not. Also
specifically tailored replies can be
sent back. You can also send a group or
bulk text message to any single, group
or all clients from your account at any
time.
|
|
Are there are any delays or routing
problems? |
|
Some other SMS providers may route
through one, two, four or even more
providers to route your message. They
may even use overseas routes which are
inherently unreliable. Each gateway in
the chain can fail at anytime, increase
their price, delay your message or worst
of all lose your message altogether.
Textvertising use 5 routes directly to
the UK network partners.
This gives an unparalleled delivery time
and reliability, plus at very busy times
by threading messages, delivery times
are rarely affected. Our systems will
easily cope with up to 2.5 million
messages per day.
We also only use 'ported routes'. These
are SMS routes to phones who have had
their number moved 'cross network' (when
changing a provider from Vodafone to
Orange for example). Other companies
sometimes offer both a 'standard route'
and 'premium route' where only the
premium route includes ported numbers.
Non ported routes see around 50% of
message delivery occurring making them
not cost effective for large batches of
numbers. Be sure when comparing our
prices that you are seeing quotations
based on premium ported routes (PPR) or
ask the provider you are considering
before committing.
|
|
Can
I have multiple logins? |
|
Yes you can.
Your account can be used by your staff
or other persons. You can assign a
password for each and then set a limit
to how much they can do from within
their account.
For example, a level one user can manage
all aspects of the account but a level
four user can only add customers, amend
the database or send single text
messages.
This is especially useful for chat
services where you may have operators
managing your service.
|
|
Can SMS be converted to an email and
back? |
|
Yes.
1) Our system forwards a copy of the
details and message of any person
texting YOUR KEYWORD.
Also by setting up 2 way SMS for you,
your customers can reply to your
messages with the reply coming to you as
an email. By simply following a link in
the email reply, you can text the
customer back.
|
|
Can I do text chat? |
|
Yes.
All incoming messages are shown inside
your account in real time. Although your
account can be configured to
automatically reply to your clients,
there are times (especially with chat
services) where you want to respond to
the client yourself.
With our chat services this is possible.
By clicking [reply] beneath any incoming
message that has not been responded to
you can reply to the person easily.
Replies can be either
-
at a small cost to you but free for
the customer to receive.
-
at no cost to you but at a premium
charge to the client between 25p and
£10.
-
Send the first message at a cost
then 1,2,3 or 4 messages free of
charge.
|
|
Is my data secure? |
|
Textvertising are registered with the
Information Commisioners Office (ICO)
and abide by laws laid down in the Data
Protection Act 1998. See http://www.ico.gov.uk/
Once you login to Textvertising, your
connection uses 128bit encryption. This
ensures that the transfer of data
between yourselves and Textvertising is
as secure as possible.
We also host our own servers and
products via a dedicated Tier 1 10Mb
Leased Line.
Be aware of other companies who may not
provide any of these.
|
Common Terms |
|
|
|
bulk texting |
|
Otherwise known as bulk text messaging,
bulk text messages, bulk texting, group
messaging or sms broadcasting.
This is the ability to send many text
messages simultaneously. For example
with Textvertising you can enter a
message once, import or select a list of
numbers and send the same message to
many phones at the same time.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texting
|
|
Multimedia Messages, (sometimes called
texting pictures or texting videos) |
|
MMS messages are delivered in a fashion
almost identical to SMS, but any
multimedia content is first encoded and
inserted into a text message in a
fashion similar to sending a MIME
e-mail. MMS defines a subset of MIME
content formats in the MMS Message
Encapsulation specification. The message
is then forwarded to the carrier's SMS
store and forward server, the "MMS
relay". If the receiver is on another
carrier, the relay forwards the message
to the recipient's carrier using the
Internet.
Once it reaches the correct MMS relay
for the receiver, the content is
extracted and sent to a temporary
storage server (often the same process
as the relay) with an HTTP front-end. An
SMS "control message" containing the URL
of the content is then sent to the
recipient's handset to trigger the
receiver's WAP browser to open a receive
the content from the embedded URL.
Several other messages are exchanged to
indicate status of the delivery attempt.
Some installations also include a
conversion service that will attempt to
modify the multimedia content into a
format suitable for the receiver. This
is known as "content adaptation", or
MMSC.
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Multimedia_Messaging_Service
|
|
Texting |
|
A conversation that takes place using
text messages on mobile phones.
|
|
GPRS |
|
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) is a
packet oriented Mobile Data Service
available to users of Global System for
Mobile Communications (GSM) and IS-136
mobile phones. It provides data rates
from 56 up to 114 kbit/s. GPRS is a
technology which is changing the present
shape of mobile communication.
A GPRS connection is established by
reference to its Access Point Name (APN).
The APN defines the services such as
Wireless Application Protocol (WAP)
access, Short Message Service (SMS),
Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and
for Internet communication services such
as email and World Wide Web access. GPRS
data transfer is typically charged per
megabyte of traffic transferred, while
data communication via traditional
circuit switching is billed per minute
of connection time, independent of
whether the user actually is using the
capacity or is in an idle state. GPRS is
a best-effort packet switched service,
as opposed to circuit switching, where a
certain Quality of Service (QoS) is
guaranteed during the connection for
non-mobile users.
2G cellular systems combined with GPRS
are often described as "2.5G", that is,
a technology between the second (2G) and
third (3G) generations of mobile
telephony. It provides moderate speed
data transfer, by using unused Time
division multiple access (TDMA) channels
in, for example, the GSM system.
Originally there was some thought to
extend GPRS to cover other standards,
but instead those networks are being
converted to use the GSM standard, so
that GSM is the only kind of network
where GPRS is in use. GPRS is integrated
into GSM Release 97 and newer releases.
It was originally standardized by
European Telecommunications Standards
Institute (ETSI), but now by the 3rd
Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).
See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
General_Packet_Radio_Service |
