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The bulk SMS industry changed substantially
over the last two years or so as sp@m became an issue with carriers and
the industry defined itself by distinguishing between the features of a
route and the price the client pays.
As a result, we now live with a situation where "you
get what you pay for". In an earlier
article, we discussed how a bulk
SMS client should choose the route he wish to use. We looked
at the different features and options that are available.
In this article, we will take a look at the difference of
commercial bulk SMS routes vs guaranteed
bulk SMS routes also known as premium bulk
SMS.
Commercial
bulk SMS routes: may include all features
a guaranteed route offers but the delivery is not always
guaranteed. Users therefore always have to test before they send
a batch. Managed sends always include one message at the end of
the batch sent for management to check whether the messages before
theirs were delivered. Some of the very cheap bulk
SMS routes might not offer delivery reports, have fixed
numeric sender ID etc.
Guaranteed
Bulk SMS routes: on the other hand
guarantee not only delivery, but also include all the features that
clients wish for (delivery reports, dynamic sender ID, short code
originator, binary support etc). That is the advantage. The
only negative point is that guaranteed bulk SMS
routes are charged at a premium price.
So, let's take a look at the price issue:
Let´s suppose a client purchase 1 million credits from a
commercial bulk SMS route where delivery is not
guaranteed at say 2 Euro cent per SMS. Upon sending, only 50% of
the messages arrive. That implies that the client achieved 50%
success or delivery to mobile phones and in effect paid 4 Euro cent per
SMS.
With guaranteed bulk SMS routes the client
will pay for example 4 Euro cent per SMS and obtain 100%
delivery. This could play a crucial role in the effectiveness of
a campaign for example:
Cases where the client runs a competition and the recipients have to SMS an answer of a question to a short code.
If 100% delivery does not take place, the company running the
competition does not only loose out on the branding opportunity but
also the revenue share they would have earned from the networks.
100% delivery at a higher price ensures that the response expected from
a SMS campaign equals the input.
The final decision about the route that the client would like
to use lies with the client and in consulting them we should determine
what sort of response they expect from their campaign. The
features and service level should match the price they are willing to
pay.
Bulk SMS decisions nowadays cannot depend
on price alone anymore - quality is surely a rising issue with most
gateway customers. The use of guaranteed bulk
SMS routes are on the rise as clients are starting to realize
that it is worth paying for quality.
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