Faster SMS marketing on the cards

By Damaria Senne, ITWeb senior journalist

Johannesburg, 30 Sept 2005

Orion Telecom has introduced Message Maestro, a delivery service that it claims can send up to 144 000 marketing SMSes per hour. The company`s previous system could broadcast 450 SMSes per hour, says business development manager Roberto Casso.

Casso says the service has increased Orion Telecom`s capacity to meet customer demands, as it can now send millions of SMSes in a shorter space of time. The service is flexible, leaving room for adaptation and upgrading as the company`s needs grow, he says.

According to director Jacques du Toit, the system also makes it easier to comply with recommendations by the Wireless Application Service Providers Association (WASPA) with regard to consumer protection against spam.

He says once a company has sent one SMS to a consumer, as WASPA allows, and the consumer responds by asking to be unsubscribed from that company`s list, the opt-in/opt-out facility automatically blocks further messages to that individual. The facility also allows for the blocking of messages to people who do not wish to receive marketing messages.

Another key challenge to SMS marketing is that when a database is large, the broadcast needs to be done in phases otherwise consumers are irritated by receiving SMSes in the middle of the night. Du Toit says while Message Maestro`s broadcast speed drastically reduces the time required to complete the job, the unlimited SMS scheduling facility enables individual messages to be sent.

The service also allows for personalisation to all the recipients and has a full-reply functionality.

A Web portal allows clients to run their own campaigns, receive replies and check their broadcast statistics. Du Toit says the portal is easy to use, cost-effective at R75 per month and self-provisioned, allowing entrepreneurs to market products with no contractual obligations beyond the subscription fee.

Du Toit says although the SMS market is not mature yet, it will grow to be a pillar of the mobile data drive. One of the key drivers will be content, he says. As with Web sites, fresh content keeps people coming back. The youth factor will also influence market growth, as they are comfortable using SMS for personal communication and are more likely to be receptive to SMS marketing messages.

Results of a World Wide Worx study, "Mobile Commerce in South Africa 2005", indicated it would be three to five years before mobile commerce matured. According to MD Arthur Goldstuck, this is likely to change as mobile banking becomes more widespread and more merchants begin accepting payments via mobile devices.