We’ve all used the humble text message to chat with people on a one-to-one basis. What you may not realise is how much they’re utilised to communicate with people en masse. It’s likely you’ve received these messages without even noticing, as they were useful and unobtrusive. Bulk texts are relied upon heavily by many organisations as 90% are opened within the first three minutes of sending – a far higher open rate than any other communications medium.
Below are three examples of text messages (SMS) used in three very different industries:
- State Exams Commission
A leaving certificate exam paper was shared on Facebook shortly after the exam had started. They needed to immediately notify over 5,000 supervisors of their obligations regarding sharing exam papers. A simple SMS broadcast to all 5,000 was the simplest and most effective way to do this.
“Any candidate who leaves the examination before the scheduled completion time must return the examination paper to you. Examination papers must not be released from the centre for any other reason (e.g. to the staff room).”
- Panda Waste
Every time a Panda bin is left out for collection they gain a sale. The problem is that people often forget to leave their bins out. The solution was simple. A reminder text is now sent out to customers each day before bin collection, reminding them which colour bin they are to leave out that evening.
The customer gets a handy reminder and Panda’s sales increase due to higher collections. It’s a win-win thanks to a simple, weekly text message.
- The Zip Yard
The Zip Yard ran a paper-based loyalty system that was failing to deliver results. They decided to change this to an SMS-based loyalty system and have seen a wealth of improvements as a direct result.
Promotions can be sent instantly and directly to customers via their phone. This way, the customer is not in danger of losing the paper-based voucher. The texts are also connected to the Zip Yard’s point of sales system, allowing them to easily tailor the message to each customer’s shopping behaviour. It is also run at a far lower cost as a text message is just a few cents compared to more than €1 to deliver a voucher via post.
