Types of SMS Services Small and Medium Operators Can Provide
In this article I will try to list SMS services by their type
Following up my recent posts about Introduction into SMS services and Technical aspects of SMS service, I just want to briefly outline types of SMS Services Small to medium Operators usually provide using our software.
- Outbound marketing campaigns. Despite of the rise multitude of messanger services (Facebook, Whatsapp, Skype etc), SMS is still the only service with almost 100% coverage. Any mobile user can receive (and send) SMS even if they do not have a smartphone, or subscription to the data plan. Therefore it is one of the best way to reach large audience for the marketing companies. SMS Operators can provide these companies a convenient and fast way to deliver their messages. They can use either bulk message sending via uploading their recipient lists or via sending messages in an automated way through API which is part of our system.
- SMS-enabled Virtual phone numbers (DID numbers). Like in Voice Telephony, DID numbers are now available also for SMS. This allows many businesses to establish their virtula presence in countries or areas where they cannot physically present. A company can choose a SMS-enabled DID number from the country where their customers are based, therefore increasing cutomer attraction, and reducing costs for customers trying to message them. Operators using our platform can manage these SMS DID numbers - assign them to their customers, route inbound and outbound messages, and bill according to the selected plans.
- Security. A two-factor authentication, while far from perfect, is a major step in increasing security of the online services. Nowadays there are barely a reputable online service which does not require (or at least offer) two factor authentication to their customers. While there are ways to do it via hardware devices (expensive!) or apps like Google Authenticator (requires smartphone), however sending SMS is far most convenient way of doing so. The API built in our software allows this functionality out of the box, without any additional configuration.
- Automated notifications. Many online and offline services nowadays notify their users about the status of their orders, subscriptions, changes of the delivery, appointment reminders and so on. This is very efficient way to plan resources, reduce missed appointments and no-shows. Those who rely on their apps, use in-app notications. However, the SMS is still way more accessible. Integration with APIs (which are native to our platform) makes this task fully automated and error-prone.
- Toll Free SMS Numbers. Like phone toll free numbers, SMS-enabled toll free numbers are a very good element of better customer service. Customer will more likely respond to the short message originated from a toll free number, rather that from regular phone number. Two way fully automated integration allows to build systems like subscription/order management systems, opt-in/out marketing services and so on.
This is jsu a basic list of SMS services small to medium providers can offer. Additionally as an exercise to the reader, one can can think of ways of integrating IVR Builder system with SMS services.
