Hello e-txt user!
Welcome to the October newsletter!
Is the Credit Crunch the time to use mobile marketing and mobile CRM? Get more from your marketing budget with e-txt applications. This newsletter showcases some recent achievements, new products and features as well as some interesting industry articles on exciting new predictions for mobile marketing and the latest developments in mobile technology.
Also we are asking for your feedback and opinion to compile a report about how organisations in the UK use mobile communication. It would be great if you could complete our survey.
In this issue:
- The wait is over. e-txt Campaign Manager is here!
- New! ‘Text to group’!
- Dynmark at the Microsoft Partner Day
- Dynmark short listed for award!
- The Survey. Help us help you!
- Mobile marketing popularity set to soar
- Parents want SMS updates
- 61% of the population will go mobile by the end of 2008
- LED’s provide internet connection
The wait is over. e-txt Campaign Manager is here! e-txt Campaign Manager is a full blown enterprise SaaS (Software as a Service) application. For a limited time only we are offering this application for the price of a dedicated long number, that’s just £60 per quarter! Oh and we’ll throw in a dedicated long number as well! e-txt Campaign Manager is a client-server application which is a distributed system comprising both a web-based client application and a Microsoft SQL-based server.
So if you need the reassurance and the confidence of running the application on your premises we can provide this too. By deploying e-txt Campaign Manager as an on-premise server it can still be provided to all of an organisation’s departments and users as a SaaS application, providing the best of both worlds. Click here for more information and to request a quote.
A new feature is available via e-txt web. Called ‘text to group’ this function allows you to send messages from e-txt web by texting the e-txt system from your mobile phone!Depending on the content of the message or sender, your message can be automatically forwarded to a whole e-txt group.
This system is great for all kinds of organisations that require communications within a designated group such as departments, area based contacts or even school years/classes. It is a highly effective way of ensuring that people get your message instantly, unlike an email. Here’s an example of ‘text to group’ in action…
The Engineer Team
Initial Set-up requirement: Groups are set up based on region; NE – North East Team, NW –North West Team, M – Midlands Team, SE – South East Team, SW – South West Team.
The engineering coordinator has had a meeting with the Engineering Director (David B) who has advised that the North West Team have had a really good quarter, and as a reward they are all being given the rest of the day off. As the coordinator is away from their office, due to meeting being held at HQ, she sends an SMS to e-txt web as follows:
NE – Well done for this month’s performance. David B has asked me to tell you you’ve all got the rest of the day off. Well done, and have a nice day.
The e-txt system reads the message, and then forwards this through to all those people within the north east team of road based engineers. One of the engineers is a keen golfer, so he sends a reply back asking if anyone fancies a game of golf. This is then sent round to all those in the north east group. 2 other engineers like golf, so both reply back saying they fancy a game too.
Here’s how it works:
1. Create a new group on e-txt web
2. You can set up as many different groups as you need with different names.
3. You set up a rule on e-txt web that says that if an inbound message matches a certain criteria, i.e. starts with a specific word, it will get forwarded to this group.
4. Someone texts in to the dedicated number attached to your e-txt. Their message matches the criteria specified in the rule.
5. The message is automatically forwarded to the relevant group of people.
6. The sender of the message will receive a text to confirm the message wasforwarded and how many people received the message.
7. The members of the group can reply back, either to the sender, or to the wholegroup.
N.B. Please note this functionality is only available in e-txt web.
Dynmark at the Microsoft Partner Day
Fresh off a plane from visiting our team in India, our CEO attended the Microsoft Software and Services partner day. Other than meeting industry colleagues and hearing about lots of interesting new developments at Microsoft, the theme was a bit old hat to us. We were left wondering - What’s all the fuss about? That’s how we’ve been building software for over 6 years!
e-txt applications have been designed from the ground up to be deployed as either on-premise applications, hosted applications, or they can be consumed as SaaS applications. We’re glad to know we have been on the right track all along.
Dynmark short listed for award!
Dynmark has been short listed for the Sage Innovation Award thanks to the Sage CRM Plug-in! The Sage Awards are aimed at developers who are dedicated to providing software and service excellence.
The Innovation award recognised high quality, exceptional value and all round efficiency in products and services. The results will be announced at the Awards dinner on Wednesday 5th November. We will keep you updated! Click here to read the brief used for us to be selected for these awards. We need your feedback to improve the products and services we supply. We continually strive to deliver leading products and high quality service to you and want to know how we’re doing!
So please spare us a few minutes to follow the link below and complete a short survey telling us how your organisation uses mobile communication. http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=ggTMCAF78i3lu92BV4j4iA_3d_3d.
All responses are greatly appreciated and remember your feedback helps us to help you!
Mobile marketing popularity set to soar
Major brands are investing heavily in mobile marketing and will continue to do so over the next 5 years according to a survey commissioned by O2. More and more brands are realising the potential of SMS in their marketing strategy.Budgets for mobile marketing and communications are predicted to increase by almost 150% by 2013, despite the economic downturn.
Two thirds of businesses stated that mobile marketing generated a higher response rate than more traditional forms of marketing due to the more personable and direct nature of SMS.Results showed that 60% of marketing directors, particularly those in the financial services sector, prefer mobile marketing because of its ability to target consumers. According to a Booz Allen Hamilton survey, 88% of marketing directors believe that behavioural targeting will be an important capability by 2010, creating the opportunity to gain in-depth customer insights.
The report revealed the following mobile marketing facts:
· The most popular use of SMS is for information services in the retail sector (60%) and financial services (54%)
· 40% of mobile marketing is used to send booking confirmations, send appointment updates and confirm items in stock
· 28% of mobile marketing features ‘text to win’ competitions
· 25% features ‘text a call back’ campaigns
· 24% features ‘text to email’ campaigns
SMS marketing proved to be the most popular mobile marketing medium with almost a third of respondents using text messages to contact their customers. Other popular techniques included MMS and mobile barcoding. 44% of respondents revealed that they use SMS for internal communication, with 98% of those users working in the manufacturing sector.43% of respondents were concerned over integrating SMS marketing into the existing IT infrastructure however 95% of those who have integrated the medium have experience little or no integration problems at all!
Head of Mobile Media at O2, Simon Dean stated, “As SMS continues to grow, there has never been a better time for brands to engage with their customers via mobile. In today’s economic climate, mobile is proving to be a cost effective, targeted way for businesses to interact with exactly the people they want, from sending a text reminder to alert a customer to an overdrawn bank account to confirming a delivery via SMS.”
“In fact, one in ten of those we surveyed already think mobile marketing has saved their business at least £1 million when compared to other marketing solutions. With more consumers than ever browsing the web through their mobile handsets, there is a significant and largely untapped audience for brands to target their customers directly.”
160characters.org
Parents want SMS updates
According to a survey by Becta 81% of parents want to receive more frequent feedback on their child’s progress via SMS. Over two thirds of respondents said they would like schools to communicate with them more frequently via SMS text messaging and the internet.
Parents feel that current methods such as parent’s evenings are not enough to keep the updated on their child’s progress. Only 15% of parents were updated on a monthly basis and 85% revealed they were updated only four times a year or less. Due to busy working lives parents want schools to start using SMS and the internet to communicate with them. Only 8% of the parents are currently being kept updated via SMS.
Niel McLean, Becta's Executive Director said: "Engaging parents is key to a child's success at school. Yet it appears parents and schools are not talking as much, or as frequently, as parents would like. Parents want more updates about their child's progress at school. Using technology, there are many ways to increase the frequency and quality of contact parents have with schools. This can be done easily and cost effectively, without putting extra pressure on teachers."
Tanya Byron, clinical psychologist and TV parenting expert, said: "I think that parents are right to be asking to have greater and more regular access to information relating to their children's development at school. Using a variety of digital platforms, such as the internet and text, will enable schools and parents to have a greater collaborative relationship, which can only benefit each child."
Becta is encouraging parents to contact their child's school to discuss ways in which new technologies can be adopted to help improve day-to-day communications between them and the school in the future.
The survey found:
- 81% would like more feedback from their child's school on their child's progress
- 85% of parents receive updates from their child's school on their progress four times a year or less
- 81% are informed of their child's progress at the school's parents evening, but
- 68% would like their child's school to use technologies such as text messaging and emails to communicate with them more frequently
The survey was conducted among 1,493 parents of school children, between 15th and 21st of August.
LED’s provide internet connection
A new generation of wireless communications technology focuses on visible light rather than radio waves. Boston University’s College of Engineering is developing this technology after receiving a National Science foundation grant.
Claiming to be much faster and far more secure that current network technology “Smart Lighting” will see data communication ‘piggyback’ on low-power light emitting diodes. This would effectively turn a LED light into the equivalent of a Wi-Fi access point.
BU Engineering Professor Thomas Little said, "Imagine if your computer, iPhone, TV, radio and thermostat could all communicate with you when you walked in a room just by flipping the wall light switch and without the usual cluster of wires.”
"This could be done with an LED-based communications network that also provides light - all over existing power lines with low power consumption, high reliability and no electromagnetic interference. Ultimately, the system is expected to be applicable from existing illumination devices, like swapping light bulbs for LEDs."
Little sees optical wireless communications systems that use white LED lighting within a room to provide Internet connections to computers, personal digital assistants, television and radio reception, telephone connections and thermostat temperature control.The benefits of this technology lie in the LED lights themselves. White light does not penetrate opaque surfaces such as walls so security is heightened as eavesdropping is not possible. LED lights also use far less energy than RF technology, providing the opportunity to create a communication network without added energy costs and reducing carbon emissions.This “Smart Lighting” technology is not restricted to just indoor lights; its first real application may well be seen in the automotive industry."This technology has many implications for automobile safety," Little said. "Brake lights already use LEDs, so it's not a stretch to outfit an automobile with a sensor that detects the brake lights of the car in front of it and either alerts an inattentive driver or actively slows the car."
cellular-news.com