SMS and new technologies: how the well forgotten old works
Hello! With this publication, we open the blog of the company Infobip on Habré. After ten years of working around the world, with sophisticated technical products and messaging services, we decided it was time to share experiences, cases and visions of the present and future of mobile technologies, cloud solutions, communications and marketing.
The blog will be interesting to technicians and marketers, as well as to anyone interested in innovations in the IT industry. We will be glad to your comments and reflections!
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A curious fact is that today, in 2016, the good old SMS technology remains the most common channel in the world of communications. More than 4.75 billion mobile subscribers send and receive SMS messages.
Despite the growing penetration of mobile Internet, sales of smartphones, new applications, instant messengers, there are areas of communication where it is impossible to completely eliminate SMS. It is still one of the most stable, reliable and predictable messaging technologies.
Of course, we do not consider SMS only as a person-to-person (P2P) message exchange. Our blog will focus primarily on A2P traffic (that is, from application to person), as well as two-way messaging. A2P, it would seem, is the simplest technology, but depending on the customized scenarios, it can increase the loyalty of the current audience, return old customers, increase secondary sales or the frequency of purchases, increase the user base, increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, provide a fundamentally different level of customer service. . Every business has its own urgent tasks.
According to Statista, the total volume of the market for A2P (application-man) and 2 (man-application) in 2016 will be 1688 billion messages, in 2017 - 1733 billion, in 2018 - 1763 billion.
Facebook, Apple, Google and other innovative companies use SMS technology and are unlikely to give it up anytime soon.
Mark Zuckerberg does not intend to refuse SMS. Photo source: Gawker.com
User mailboxes are overloaded, and the abundance of messages in them does not contribute to concentration, if you need to transfer something important. In this sense, SMS turns into a more reliable and important means for some key notifications. Consumers understand the value of SMS for security, verification of transactions, updates, and business messages. A survey by the International Customer Management Institute showed that 79% of companies are convinced that their customers need sms support.
A2P SMS is direct, personal and simple communication. Three criteria that win in this case.
When you have 160 characters, it is difficult to communicate something superfluous, and brevity is the sister of talent, as A.P. Chekhov.
Our colleague from Argentina, Carlos Lozada, explained how SMS technology is used in business and marketing in the era of smartphones and why this communication channel is in demand by users.
User verification is the first but very important step for any company. The main purpose of the check is to obtain a guarantee that there is a smartphone and a real person on the “other side”. This warranty allows you to run a further system of communication with customers. SMS will work when other methods fail.
Security and trust are a prerequisite for good marketing. Two-factor authentication (2FA) using SMS is not a panacea, but it is a pretty strong security measure. SMS-based 2FA is understandable and easy for users to help them keep their accounts secure.
Notifications and text alerts are possible for almost every conceivable scenario: alarm messages, installation of service packs, reminders, restaurant reservations, bank balance, delivery status from an online store. The discovery of such SMS is eight times more than in e-mail, which makes this channel virtually unopposed in many industries.
Text messages give you the opportunity to connect with the most loyal customers. For them, this is the easiest way to interact with a brand. This, of course, is not about spam, which according to statistics, by the way, is 10% of all marketing sms messages, but about a valid user base in various loyalty programs. Loyal customers tend to receive coupons, reviews and updates. Customers, therefore, have a deeper connection with your brand. For example, according to Hipcricket, 90% of users participating in SMS loyalty programs consider this useful (advantageous) for themselves.
At the same time, the communication of SMS distribution and CRM will help to make your marketing offers as individual as possible. So, they will no longer be perceived as spam.
SMS customer support is not an easy task. For its implementation, you need to connect the client and support service through two-way messaging. Of course, this does not replace individual consultation, but in some cases, standardized questions and answers are an alternative to waiting in a queue or receiving answers by e-mail. In our future publications, we will return to this topic and describe several options and cases on the use of this technology.
Moreover, if P2P SMS traffic gradually falls, then A2P - on the contrary, grows. Indeed, it is much more convenient to communicate with friends today with the help of instant messengers, in which various functions are integrated, sending files, sound messages, emoticons, in the end. Many "switch" to SMS only when they want to be sure that the subscriber will receive a message.
And in the case of business solutions, there is a rich field of opportunity and experimentation. We will talk about them. Perhaps there are some directions in the topic of mobile communications, about which you want to learn more? Write in the comments, we will tell.
The blog will be interesting to technicians and marketers, as well as to anyone interested in innovations in the IT industry. We will be glad to your comments and reflections!
')
A curious fact is that today, in 2016, the good old SMS technology remains the most common channel in the world of communications. More than 4.75 billion mobile subscribers send and receive SMS messages.
Despite the growing penetration of mobile Internet, sales of smartphones, new applications, instant messengers, there are areas of communication where it is impossible to completely eliminate SMS. It is still one of the most stable, reliable and predictable messaging technologies.
Of course, we do not consider SMS only as a person-to-person (P2P) message exchange. Our blog will focus primarily on A2P traffic (that is, from application to person), as well as two-way messaging. A2P, it would seem, is the simplest technology, but depending on the customized scenarios, it can increase the loyalty of the current audience, return old customers, increase secondary sales or the frequency of purchases, increase the user base, increase the effectiveness of marketing campaigns, provide a fundamentally different level of customer service. . Every business has its own urgent tasks.
According to Statista, the total volume of the market for A2P (application-man) and 2 (man-application) in 2016 will be 1688 billion messages, in 2017 - 1733 billion, in 2018 - 1763 billion.
Facebook, Apple, Google and other innovative companies use SMS technology and are unlikely to give it up anytime soon.
Mark Zuckerberg does not intend to refuse SMS. Photo source: Gawker.com
User mailboxes are overloaded, and the abundance of messages in them does not contribute to concentration, if you need to transfer something important. In this sense, SMS turns into a more reliable and important means for some key notifications. Consumers understand the value of SMS for security, verification of transactions, updates, and business messages. A survey by the International Customer Management Institute showed that 79% of companies are convinced that their customers need sms support.
A2P SMS is direct, personal and simple communication. Three criteria that win in this case.
When you have 160 characters, it is difficult to communicate something superfluous, and brevity is the sister of talent, as A.P. Chekhov.
Our colleague from Argentina, Carlos Lozada, explained how SMS technology is used in business and marketing in the era of smartphones and why this communication channel is in demand by users.
Verification
User verification is the first but very important step for any company. The main purpose of the check is to obtain a guarantee that there is a smartphone and a real person on the “other side”. This warranty allows you to run a further system of communication with customers. SMS will work when other methods fail.
Two-factor authentication
Security and trust are a prerequisite for good marketing. Two-factor authentication (2FA) using SMS is not a panacea, but it is a pretty strong security measure. SMS-based 2FA is understandable and easy for users to help them keep their accounts secure.
Notifications and Updates
Notifications and text alerts are possible for almost every conceivable scenario: alarm messages, installation of service packs, reminders, restaurant reservations, bank balance, delivery status from an online store. The discovery of such SMS is eight times more than in e-mail, which makes this channel virtually unopposed in many industries.
Mobile promotions and campaigns
Text messages give you the opportunity to connect with the most loyal customers. For them, this is the easiest way to interact with a brand. This, of course, is not about spam, which according to statistics, by the way, is 10% of all marketing sms messages, but about a valid user base in various loyalty programs. Loyal customers tend to receive coupons, reviews and updates. Customers, therefore, have a deeper connection with your brand. For example, according to Hipcricket, 90% of users participating in SMS loyalty programs consider this useful (advantageous) for themselves.
At the same time, the communication of SMS distribution and CRM will help to make your marketing offers as individual as possible. So, they will no longer be perceived as spam.
Customer service and support
SMS customer support is not an easy task. For its implementation, you need to connect the client and support service through two-way messaging. Of course, this does not replace individual consultation, but in some cases, standardized questions and answers are an alternative to waiting in a queue or receiving answers by e-mail. In our future publications, we will return to this topic and describe several options and cases on the use of this technology.
Moreover, if P2P SMS traffic gradually falls, then A2P - on the contrary, grows. Indeed, it is much more convenient to communicate with friends today with the help of instant messengers, in which various functions are integrated, sending files, sound messages, emoticons, in the end. Many "switch" to SMS only when they want to be sure that the subscriber will receive a message.
And in the case of business solutions, there is a rich field of opportunity and experimentation. We will talk about them. Perhaps there are some directions in the topic of mobile communications, about which you want to learn more? Write in the comments, we will tell.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/307912/
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