SMS GuideDo great things with SMS in business

Mediaburst SMS Guide

Contents

1 Introduction

3 Our three SMS tools

7 Who are you sending to?

8 How to collect more contacts

9 Internationaldiallingcodes

10 Get savvy with Keywords

11 Message length

12 From address

13 Emoji

14 Personalised SMS

16 Timing is everything

17 Receive SMS

18 Sending SMS Online with Textburst

23 Sendig SMS via the Clockwork API

26 Sending SMS surveys with SurveyMill

29 Testimonials

Mediaburst SMS Guide 1

Mediaburst sends millions of text messages every month for thousands of differentcompanies.

SMShasbeenproventohelpbusinessesincreasesales,improverelationshipswiththeirstaffandcustomersandultimatelygrowtheirbusiness. In fact, 84% of small businesses that have invested inamobilepresencehaveseenimmediate,long- termbenefitsandnewcustomers.

The best results possible

70%ofpeoplefeelthatSMSisagoodwayforanorganisationtogettheirattention,whichiswhywe’vewrittenthisSMSGuide.Itillustratesthethingstothinkabout when sending SMS to ensure you see the best resultspossible,aswellaswalkingyouthroughhowyoucanuseourproductsandwhatfeaturesweoffer.

Whetheryou’realreadysavvywithyourSMSmarketingorjustthinkingofgettingintoit,this guidewillhelpyoutounderstandtheinsandouts ofSMSmarketingandhowwecanhelp.It’llalsocover SMSintegration,SMSsurveysandallthingsSMS.

This guide covers:

• Sending SMS through Textburst, our online text product: Using templates,branding,internationalcharacters,personalisation,keywords, our scheduling tool and how to measure the success ofyourcampaign

• Sending texts via our SMS API, Clockwork: Choosing a language, settingyourfromfieldandusingkeywords

• Sending SMS surveys with SurveyMill, our text survey app: Choosingyourparticipants,addingquestions,freetotextshortcodes,making sense of your survey resultsandSurveyMill’sAPI

• Testimonials from our customers

Introduction

Mediaburst SMS Guide 2

91%

84%

68% 98%

150

..ofsmartphone

users that always keeptheirphonewithinarm’sreach.

...oftextmessages read, comparedto 22%ofemails.

...ofpeoplewould like to receiveofferstotheirmobile.

The number of timestheaveragepersoncheckstheirphoneperdayis...

...ofsmallbusinesses who

have invested in a mobilepresencehave seen immediate, long termbenefitsand newcustomers.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 3

Our threespecialist SMStools help youget things done.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 4

Textburstisasimplewebapplicationwhich allows you to send SMS directlyfromawebapp.

YoucanuploadindividualcontactsorbulkuploadfromExcel so that you can send a message to 10 or 10,000 contactsatonetime.

Onceyou’vetypedoutyourmessageandsetyour“fromaddress”youcandecidetosendnoworscheduleforlater.

It’sfreetosignupsothere’snocommitment!

www.textburst.com

Mediaburst SMS Guide 5

Clockwork is our API, which lets you integrate SMS into your current system or website.You’ll either need to be a developer or have access to one to use Clockwork because you’ll need to use our code wrappers or one of our plugins to connect your server to ours.

Sign up for free! The Documentation page will give you more information on our collection of code wrappers.

www.clockworksms.com

Mediaburst SMS Guide 6

SurveyMillisourtextsurveywebapp,ideal for customer surveys, feedback ormarketresearch.ItletsyousendSMSsurveystoindividualsortogroupsuploadedfromExcel.

SurveyMill also has an API, meaning surveys can be triggeredautomaticallywhenanactiontakesplacesuchasanewbooking,phonecallorcompletedappointment.

Ifyou’dliketotestSurveyMillyoucansignupforfree!

www.surveymill.co.uk

Mediaburst SMS Guide 7

Who are you sending to?

So,firstthing’sfirst:decidewhichproduct isforyouandsignupforafreeaccount.

It’sreallyquickandeasyandnocarddetailsarerequired,soifyouwanttotest allthreethere’snothingstoppingyou.

Nowthatyou’rereadytouseSMSinyourbusinessyou’llneedtoaddsomecontacts.Ifyou’venotdonebeforeyoushouldstartcollectingmobilenumbersfromexistingandpotentialcustomers.

Ifyou’vegotalistofnumbersalready,youcanaddtheseindividuallyorinbulkbyuploadinganExcelspreadsheet.Clockwork and SurveyMill also let you send to contacts automaticallyusingourAPI.

Just always remember, whoever you are sending to must always have given you permission before you contact them.

TheInformationCommissioner’sOfficehavesomeuseful guidanceonelectronicandtelephonemarketing.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 8

How to collect more contacts

If you don’t ask, you don’t get. Askyourcustomerstofilloutaformatthecheckoutorentertheirmobilenumberwhenmakingabookingonline.Justmakesurethatyouletthemknowthatyou’llbecontactingthemwithnewoffersandupdates.

Keywords and shortcodes

Alternatively,apopularwayofaddingtoyourcontactlistisbyusingKeywordsandShortcodes.

TextburstandClockworkofferkeywordsonoursharedshortcode,84433completelyfree(justalittlewayforustosaythanksforusingus!).

Mediaburst SMS Guide 9

Whicheverwayyouarecollectingyournumbers,alwaysensuretheyareformattedcorrectlybydroppinganyleadingzerosandaddingthecorrectinternationaldiallingcode.

Eachcountryhasauniqueinternationaldiallingcode.Hereareafewtogetyoustarted:

International dialling codes

Country Dialling Code

United Kingdom 44

India 91

Turkey 90

Israel 972

USA 1

Norway 47

Russia 810

Spain 34

Kenya 254

Ifyou’reusingClockwork,youcanuseascripttoconverttointernationalformat.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 10

Get savvy with

KEYWORDS

SMS keywords are short words which can be sent to a shortcodeinordertotriggeraresponse.Keywordsallowpeopletoopt-intoyourSMSupdatesandmessagesandcanalsobeusedforcustomerswhohavealreadyopted-intoreplytoyou.

For example, a hair salon could advertise:

... and then set an automatic reply saying:

Thesecustomersareaddedtoyourkeywordgroupandyoucantextanyfutureoffersandupdatestoyourever-growing database knowing that the message is going out tothosewhoreallycareaboutwhatyouhavetosay.

Text HAIR to 84433 to be added to our SMS insiderslistandfor20%offyournexttreatment.

Thanksfortextingin!Your20%vouchercodeisHAIR20.Claimuponpaymentatyournextappointment.TextSTOPto84433toOPTOUT.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 11

OneSMSis160characters.

However,don’tworryifyou’vegotalotmorethan160characters’worthofthingstosay.Youcansendconcatenated,or“joinedup”textmessages.

This means that you can string together three messages, whichallowsyoutouseupto459characters.*

* Why doesn’t that add up? Here’s the technical answer

160×3=459*

Mediaburst SMS Guide 12

From address

YourFromaddressisthefirstthingyourcustomerswillsee when they receive your message and we have three optionsforyou,somakesureyouchoosecarefully!

1. Use your company or promotion name

This ensures that your customers know exactly who the messageisfromassoonastheyseeitflashupontheirphone.Theonlythingtoconsideristhatyourcustomerswon’tbeabletoreplysothisoptionshouldbeusedforoutboundSMSonly.

2. Use your own mobile number or a work handset number

Allreplieswouldthencomedirectlytothischosenhandset.Thisalsogivesyourcustomerstheoption tocallthemobilenumbertocontactyoudirectly.

3. Purchase a Textburst or Clockwork number

These numbers look just like a normal UK mobile number andanyrepliesthatyougetwillbeforwardedtotheReceived tab within your Textburst account to a listening URLyousetinyourClockworkaccount.

Thisoptionisgreatwhenyou’reexpectingalotofreplies.RepliestoyourTextburstnumbercanbedownloadedintoanExcelfileandyoucanevenreplydirectlyfromyourTextburstaccount.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 13

Add a little bit of Emoji fun to your text messagesApictureisworthathousandwords,whichiswhywethought itwasimportantTextburstandClockworkletyouinclude emoji’sinyourtextmessages.

Tofindoutmore,readourblogs:

www.textburst.com/blog/emoji

www.clockworksms.com/blog/sending-emoji-s-with-clockwork/

Mediaburst SMS Guide 14

Personalised SMS

Ifacustomerfrequentlyvisitedyourclothesshoporhadapersonalshoppingexperiencebookedwithyou,you’dbe there to greet them by name and to make them feel comfortableandvalued.

Your text messages should treat customers in exactly the sameway,makingthemfeelyouhaveapersonalinterest,ratherthanthembeing“justanothercustomer”.

78% of people believe companies sending personalised communication are interested in building good relationships. ThisisexactlywhypersonalisedSMSissopopular. It’sevenbeenproventoincreaseresponserates.

We’llshowyouhowtomergepersonaliseddataintoyourTextburst sends in ‘Sending SMS Online with Textburst: Usingmergedata’

Mediaburst SMS Guide 15

Using personalisation to increase the percentage of fines paidA casestudypublishedbyThe Behavioural Insights Team looked into how sending text reminders for debts on overdue taxcreditswouldaffectresponseratesandultimatelythenumberoffines thatwerepaid.

The result showed that not only was SMS really successful in increasing thenumberofpaymentsmadebutpersonalisingthesetextmessages meantthatthisincreasedevenfurther.

Interestingly,byaddingtoomuchinformationsuchasthenameofthereceiverandtheamountowed,responseratesdippedagainslightly.Thiswouldsuggestpersonalisingtextmessages, butkeepingotherdetailstoaminimum,could be the best way to increase responserates.

5% 23%

25%

33%

29%

No text

Standard text

Standard text + amount owed

Standard text +personalisedwithname

Standard text +personalisedwithname + amount owed

Case study

Mediaburst SMS Guide 16

Timing is everything

Ifyou’respendingmarketingbudgetonsendingtextmessages,makesurethey’retimedwellsoyoureaptherewards!

You have to make sure you catch your customers at the perfecttimeandtheperfecttimecompletelydependsonyourtypeofbusiness.Ifyou’reacoffeeshop,sendingtextsat2amonaTuesdaymorningisawasteofasend.

Similarly,aclubpromotionprobablyshouldn’tbesentoutonaMondaynightwheneveryone’sstillrecoveringfromthepreviousweekend.

Haveathinkaboutwhenyou’dliketoreceiveyourtext if you were a customer …

You’verolledoutofbedon a Monday morning stillfeelingtheeffects ofSaturdaynight. On your way to work you get a text through fromthecoffeeplacearound the corner from yourofficeofferingafreepastrywitheverycoffeebefore10am.

It’snearlytheendoftheweekandyou’retryingto decide what to make for tea because you don’thavetheenergytocook!ThenyourlocalChinese takeaway sends youatextofferingfreedeliveryandfreespringrollswitheveryorder.

You and your friends arechattingaboutplansfor the weekend on a Thursday night and you get a text through offeringfreeentryandhalfpricedrinksonFriday night at your favouriteclub.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 17

Receive SMS

WhyshouldyouallowSMSrepliesfromyourcustomers?

Settinga“Fromaddress”asanameorworddoesn’tallowyourcustomerstorespondbuttherearethreewaysinwhichyoucanenablereplies:

Alloptions,andhowtheyrelatedtoindividualproductsareexplainedinmoredetaillaterinthisguide.

• Quick, easy way for your customers to contact you

• Cutdownon“hold”timesandemailqueries

• Reduce call centre costs

• Gainrealtimefeedbackfromyourcustomers

• Allowimmediateresponsesregardingappointmentreminders

• Receivehigherresponserates

• Increase customer knowledge

• Developacustomerrelationship

• Setthe“Fromaddress”toamobilenumberandhave allrepliessentdirectlytothatdevice

• Setupakeyword

• GetaTextburstorClockworknumber.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 18

Sending SMS Online with Textburst

Firstthing’sfirst:signupatwww.textburst.com

Mediaburst SMS Guide 19

Send and receive text messages directly from theTextburstwebsite.TextburstisperfectforSMSmarketingorsendingupdatesto your customers orstaffasitletsyouuploadlargegroupsofcontacts from Excel andsendinbulk.

Adding existing contactsYou might already have a list of contacts saved in Excel, which makes this extra easyforyou!

Just log in to your Textburst account, click Groups>Add new tocreateanewgroup,giveitanameclickNextStepandthen selecttheBulkUploadContactsoption.

Selecttheappropriatecolumnheaders foryourfileuploadandclickthebutton toprocess.Oncetheprocessiscompleteyou’llbereadytosendmessagestoyour newgroup.

If your contacts have come from another system, you might need to format them foruploadtoTextburst.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 20

Using Templates and BrandingDoyouseeyourselfoftentypingoutthesame text message on a regular basis or ending each message with a similar sign offmessage?

Tosaveyouvaluabletime,Textbursthastheoptionforyoutoaddpre-writtentemplatesand branding, which can be merged into your SMScontentandadaptedasneeded.

Using Merge DataWhenuploadingyourcontactsyoucanhaveuptofourcolumnsofdatainyourExcelorCSVfile.Obviouslyyourcustomermobilenumbersoccupyoneofthesecolumnsbutyoucanenteranyotherpersonaldatayou’dliketouseintheremainingthreecolumns.

Thisdatacouldbeanythingfromcustomers’names to an amount owed, a customer referencenumberoraproductthey’vepreviouslyrequested.

Whencomposingyourtextmessage contentyoucan“merge”inthesedetails sothatyoucanpersonaliseyourmessageseven when sending one bulk SMS out to yourentiregroup.

International characters Textburstisbeingdevelopedconstantly.

It’syourproductandyou’retheones using the tool day in and day out so we love listeningtoyouandmovinginadirectionthatyou’reexcitedabout.So,youaskedtobeabletosendinternationalcharactersthroughTextburstandthat’swhatwe gaveyou!

www.textburst.com/blog/international-character-support

Mediaburst SMS Guide 21

KeywordsTosetupakeywordasseenin‘Getsavvy withKeywords’,youwillhavetocreatea groupbyclickinginto‘Groups’and‘AddNew’.

Whenyouareaskedhowyou’dliketo‘AddContacts’youcancreateyourkeywordunder‘TexttoJoin’.Youwillhavetosetanautomaticreplywhichwillbesenttoeveryonewho textsinto84433withyourkeyword.

Scheduling your textsForthoseoccasionswhenmessagesaretimesensitive,composeyourmessageasusual, thensimplyclicktheSendLaterlink,chooseadateandpickatime.Yourmessageisscheduledandwillbesentatthetimespecified.

You’llevenreceiveanemailconfirmation whenthemessagehasbeensent.

Receiving replies with Textburst numbersThese are virtual mobile numbers, which look likeusualUKmobilenumbers.Oncesetup, allrepliesareforwardedtoyouronline account where they can be found in the “Received”section.

Messages sent to your Textburst number will be charged at a standard rate message, which meansformostpeopleintheUK,thiswillbeincludedintheirmonthlybundle.

Soundsgood!HowdoIsetoneoftheseup?SettingupaTextburstNumbercouldn’tbeeasier!

When logged in to Textburst, click on Received andfollowthesimpleon-screeninstructions togetyouruniqueTextburstmobilenumber.

Textburstnumbersare£5toset-upand then£5permonth.Theycanbecancelled atanytime.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 22

Was my Textburst campaign successful?TherearefourwaystomeasurethesuccessoftheSMScampaigns.

Sent statistics

Onceyou’vesentyourmessageouttoyourcustomers you can click into the Sent tab withinTextburst.

Here you will see how many messages weredelivered,undeliveredorexpired.

You can download and analyse these statisticstoseehowsuccessfulyourcampaignsare.

Track your customer clicks

Textburst allows you to shorten and track yourlinks,sothatyouknowexactlywho’sinterestedinwhatyouhavetosay.

The link will be shortened to something that lookslike:www.tb.mu/iiCPC9.Thismeansthatyou’renottakingupall160characterswithasuperlonglinkanditalsomeansthatwecantrackthoseallimportantclicksandwherethey’vecomefrom.

It’sabrilliantwaytomeasurethesuccess ofyourSMScampaign.

Campaign results

AnotherwaytoseeifyourcampaignwassuccessfulisbytheredemptionrateofanyofferorpromotionyouincludeintheSMS.We’dalwaysadvise,wherepossible,foryoutohaveaclearcalltoactioninyourmessageto allow you to measure clear success rates, e.g..“Callnow”or“Clickhere”.

Forexample,bygivingyourcustomersacode to use to claim a discount it means you canrecordhowmanytimesthecodewasusedwhichmeansyoucanfindapercentageredemptionratetoshowthesuccessofthepromotion.

Feedback

Youcansimplyaskyourcustomerswhenyousee them in your store if they like receiving yourtextupdatesandwhatthey’dliketoseemoreorlessof.

Byaskingforcustomerfeedback,you’reensuringthattheyfeelappreciatedandheard and if you take on board the feedback thatyoureceiveitcanbeusedtoimproveandbenefityourbusiness.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 23

Sending SMS via the Clockwork API

Firstthing’sfirst:signupatwww.clockworksms.com

Mediaburst SMS Guide 24

Ifyou’readeveloperorhaveadeveloper atyourcompany, ourSMSAPIproductClockwork is here tohelpyouintegrateSMS into your companywebsite orinternalsystem.

Choose your languageDevelopersusingClockworkcanuseachoice of languages and they can choose one ofourpre-writtenwrappersoroneofourplugins.

Clockwork can send via HTTP or XML and wehavewrappersforPHP,C#,VB.NET,Java,PythonandNode.js.EachwrapperispubliclyhostedonGitHubwithexamplecode–ifyouwanttoimproveit,we’re happytotakePullRequests.

AllwrapperscanbefoundonClockwork’sdocumentationpage.

www.clockworksms.com/doc

Mediaburst SMS Guide 25

Set your ‘from’ nameClockworkcustomerscansettheir“Fromfield”totheircompanynamesothattheircustomersorstaffknowexactlywhoistextingthemstraightaway.

Clockworkallowsdeveloperstointegratetheirsystemorwebsiteintoourplatform totriggertextstobesentautomaticallywhenactionsaremadesuchascustomerssigningupormakinganorder,whenadeliveryisonitswayorwhenthecompanypublishanewblog.

Clockworkalsoallowsuserstosetupdeliveryreceiptsandstatscanbeviewed ontheStatspagewithinClockwork.

KeywordsTo create a keyword as seen in ‘Get savvy withkeywords’clickon‘Receiving’and ‘Addnewnumberorkeyword’thenfollowthesimpleon-screeninstructionstocreateyourkeyword.

Receiving replies with Clockwork numbersThese are virtual mobile numbers, whichlooklikeusualUKmobilenumbers.Oncesetup,allrepliesareforwardedtoa listening URL which you set within your Clockworkaccount.

Messages sent to your Clockwork Number will be charged at a standard rate message, whichmeansformostpeopleintheUK, thiswillbeincludedintheirmonthlybundle.

Soundsgood!HowdoIsetoneoftheseup?SettingupaClockworkNumbercouldn’tbeeasier!Justloginandfollowthesesteps:

When logged in to Textburst, click on ReceivingandAddnewnumberorkeyword’thenfollowthesimpleon-screeninstructionsto get your unique Clockwork mobile number.

Clockworknumbersare£5toset-upandthen£5permonth.Theycanbecancelled atanytime.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 26

Sending SMS surveys with SurveyMill

Firstthing’sfirst:signupatwww.surveymill.co.uk

Mediaburst SMS Guide 27

Create and send SMS surveys in minutes withSurveyMill.It’sasimpletousesurveyapp,whichallows youtocreateupto 13questions.

Choose your participantsYou can send surveys to individual contacts oryoucanuploadgroupsofcontactsfromExcelwhensendingtoalargergroupofpeople.

Add your questionsWhenyoustartcreatingyoursurvey,SurveyMill will ask you to select a message typeforeachquestion.

Theoptionsare:

• Aninstruction(withnoresponse)

• AYes/Noquestion

• ARatingof1-5

• Aplaintextquestion.

Mediaburst SMS Guide 28

Introduce yourselfToletrecipientsreply,eachmessagewillautomaticallybesentfromalongnumber.However,ifyoursurvey’sfirstmessageis aninstruction(itdoesn’trequirearesponse),youcanenteranoptional‘sendingfrom’name so your customers immediately knowit’syou.

Free to textWhen you send a survey, it will be sent fromastandardrate,UKmobilenumber.Repliestoyoursurveywillbeincluded intheparticipant’scontractiftheyhaveunlimited text messages or messages remainingintheirbundle.

To avoid any unwanted charges to those whomayusepay-as-you-gomobilephones,wenowhaveafree-to-textshortcodeyoucanpurchasetoconductyoursurveyswith.The free to text shortcode comes at an extra cost,sopleasegetintouchforpricingandformoredetails.

ResultsAll of your started surveys will show under ‘Started’or‘Ended’dependingontheirstatus.Ifyouclickintoyoursurveyonceyoursurveyhasafewresponses,you’llseetheresultspagehasstartedtotakeform.

It’llshowtrendsandpatternsinyourresultswithourclevergraphsanddiagrams.Weknowtheresultsarethemostimportantpart,sowe’veworkedveryhardtomakesureitdisplaysyourresultsbrilliantlyandbeautifully.

It shows you exactly what your customers aresayingatfirstglance.Youcanalsodownloadthefullresultsina.csvfile formorein-depthanalysis.

SurveyMill’s APIOur easy survey API has been created for developerswantingtointegrateSurveyMillwiththeirapps.YoucanviewourAPIDocumentationforhelpwithgettingstarted.

www.surveymill.co.uk/api/

Mediaburst SMS Guide 29

Mediaburst has over 50,000 users. Here’s what some of them have to say about us.

Megan, Bond International Software (UK) Ltd

Mike, System Manager

TheClockworksolutionhasnotonlyofferedimmediatecostsavings,butprovidedanenhancedsoftwareinterfacewithourin-houseapplication.Clockwork’sAPIlibraryprovidesforrapiddevelopmentandallowsustomaximizeoursystemcapabilitiesforcontactingourOperativebaseviaSMS.TheClockworksolutionisanintegralpartofourFrontOfficeSolutionandisuseddailybyouruserstodistributeinformationrelatedtoGeneralCompanyNotifications,VacancyOpportunities,HealthandSafetyUpdatesandFleetVehicleUpdates.

Gill, Owner

Textbursthasenabledustokeepintouch with our customers in a quick and effectiveway.Wehaveabetterresponsetoanycampaignthroughtextingourcustomersdirectly.Textburstiseasytouseandthesupportteamareveryhelpful.IcanthoroughlyrecommendusingMediabursttoanysmallbusiness!

We’veusedClockworkSMSextensively,whichhasnowbecomeavitalpartofourcustomerexperience.Asatutoringbusiness,clientsexpecttutorstorespondextremely quickly to enquiries and questions.UsingSMSratherthanemailforusertousercommunicationsmakesforamuchquickerresponsetimes,andcustomerslovereceivingnotificationsandremindersstraighttotheirphone.WealsouseClockworktosendoutnotificationsand reminders to users, and act as an extremelyuser-friendlycustomersupportchanneltoo.It’salsobeenextremelyeasytosetup,whichourdevelopersgreatlyappreciate.Wewoulddefinitelyrecommend Clockwork SMS to any businesslookingforagreatwaytohelpengageandhelptheircustomers!

www.mediaburst.co.uk

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©2018Mediaburst.Allrightsreserved

Have questions?Speaktoourfriendlysupportteamforhelp withsettingupyourbrandnewaccount:

hello@mediaburst.co.uk | 0161 359 3100

We’reheretohelpyougetalltheinformationyouneed.

Big sender?Ifyou’relookingatsendingvolumesof1,000+UKmessagespermonth,

give our sales team a call to discuss rates:

hello@mediaburst.co.uk | 0161 359 3100

As set out in our TermsandConditions,wehavenocontroloverthevalueorqualityofgoods,servicesorcontentofferedbythirdpartiesonorthroughourservices. Asaresult,wecannotberesponsibleorliableinanywayforanddonotendorse,anyofthesegoods,servicesorcontent.Thisguideisintendedtoillustrateourservicesandisnotadefinitive

orcompletestatementofthelawonanysubject,norisanypartofitintendedtoconstitutelegaladviceforanyspecificsituation. Created#05/07/2018