SMS Marketing - Shared Short Code Service
To help small businesses get into mobile marketing at an affordable price, Texts.com equips businesses with a month-to-month lease of a shared short code starting at $99/month (click here for prices).
While many larger businesses can benefit from having their own short code, most small businesses cannot afford the time or cost associated with such an endeavor (your own short code could cost you $15,000 to 30,000 per year).
By sharing a short code with other small businesses, we can reduce your costs and have you up and running in a matter of days.
Benefits include:
- Faster. Obtaining your own short code can take months. We will have you operational in days.
- Cheaper. Our plans start at $99/month compared to as much as $30,000
- Just as effective. With a shared short code, you still can communicate with prospects to drive new sales for your business.
How it Works
The following describes the process of getting set up and running your SMS Marketing campaign with Texts.com:
Sign up for the service
- You contact us and we will set you up with an account that you can use for your campaigns.
- We will assign you to a shared short code (e.g., 77777 or 88202). The shared code varies depending on the country.
- We will send you an electronic, monthly subscription (via PayPal) for the use of the service.
Set up your campaign
- You choose a “keyword” that is right for your business or promotion (e.g., “seafood”, “scores”, “Vancouver”, “contest”, etc.).
- You create and customize a campaign by defining the text of messages that your customers will receive. For example, you instruct your service to send a pre-defined response: “Joe’s Seafood – Thank you for subscribing. Show this message and receive a free appetizer. To quit, send STOP to 77777” whenever someone sends the word “SEAFOOD” to short code 77777.
Promote your campaign
- To get subscribers to your campaign, you need to get the word out. For example, you could send an email to your current client base encouraging them to subscribe to your mobile promotion. You could also include the short code in point-of-sale promotions, on restaurant menus, on real estate signs, or on your website. The promotion opportunities are endless.
- Invite those interested to send your campaign keyword to the shared short code (e.g, “Text SEAFOOD to 77777 to receive restaurant promotions).
Market to your subscribers
- Once a customer has responded to your promotion, we add their mobile phone number to your account, allowing you to market to that person for subsequent, related offers.
- Send a mobile SMS campaign to your subscribers to drive new business and improve communications. For example, as a restaurant you may see that your reservations for a particular night are slow. You can send a last-minute promotion to your subscribers, inviting them in for a “2-for-1 entree for Tonight Only!”