Q: Why do they call text messages “SMS” messages?
SMS is the telecommunication industry acronym for Short Message Service, and it is used interchangeably when describing text messages.
Q: Can most cell phones receive and send text messages?
Yes, especially if the phone was produced after 2007. Although, the customer must have inbound and outbound text messaging included on their cell phone plan.
Q: Why should I use text messaging?
Texting is arguably the fastest, easiest, and most popular forms of electronic communication. You’ll reach more people more often. In fact, over 80% of adult Americans are considered “texters”! Also, text messages are opened 98% of the time, while email messages are only opened at a 20% rate.[Statistics source: techst.com, Oct. 3, 2015]
Q: How long can my text messages be?
It’s 160 characters per message — the count includes ALL letters, spaces, symbols, etc.
Q: How long does it take customers to receive text messages?
In almost all cases, delivery times will range from seconds to minutes. Individual factors which can lengthen the reception timeframe can include: The customer is currently using out-of-network service, their billing is not paid up-to-date, or their phone is turned off. In rare cases, a cell provider’s network may be overloaded or experiencing technical issues, and text messages may be delayed for one to three days. Because of these and other uncontrolled scenarios, we hope you understand we cannot guarantee prompt delivery of every message to every person.
Q: Can I send text messages to a current list of numbers?
Yes, as long as the receivers have “opted-in” to your list; we give you the tools to help all your future customers opt-in to your service, as well. A person must explicitly confirm (in writing or through electronic confirmation) that they want to join your text list to receive marketing or sales-related messages. Anti-spam laws are firmly in place to protect consumers, and our own anti-spam policy supports the opt-in standard along with other important rules. We don’t in any way view these things as a hindrance — following the law and respecting customers’ wishes will help keep texting a viable marketing platform for many years to come.
Q: What are “keywords,” and why should I use them?
Without getting too technical, a keyword is simply a unique set of characters that connect a set of customers to a texting list. Have you ever read something like: “Text the word WISDOM to this number to join our text alert club”? Well, that keyword enables customers to opt-in to your program, as part of a pre-created list, in just a few seconds. But some marketers use more than one keyword to measure advertising reach or to organize various customer-types. Keywords can even be setup to collect sweepstakes entries, contest answers, and opinion poll results. You can see why we love keywords, and you should, too!
Q: How easy is it to use your system?
We’ve built our text messaging software on the basis that it MUST be easy-to-use for the average computer user. If you can use other popular websites like Facebook, Amazon, or Yahoo, you should be able to adapt with little effort. It could take five minutes or five days to get comfortable. If you have experience using other online business tools, you’ll probably find our functions to be quite intuitive.