June 30, 2011
At this point, everyone is aware that text messaging is prevalent in societies throughout the world. Text and SMS messaging has come close to taking the place of a quick phone call or email for a variety of communications. Many people make the mistake of relegating SMS messaging to teens and younger crowds. The truth is, anyone in business today needs to have a fundamental understanding of SMS messaging in order to be competitive.
Estimates in 2009 indicated that over 3.5 billion text messages are sent per day. Those are staggering numbers, but even more impressive is that a New York Times article around the same time indicated 97% of all SMS text messages were opened. SMS messages are not known for the same spamming issues which have developed with emails, and users are more likely to open a message on their phone. This means companies who use SMS messaging have a golden opportunity for marketing and providing customer information.
SMS4PC helps users maximize this opportunity. The software does not require someone to be familiar with many technical applications, and can easily be used by anyone with a personal computer. Companies can launch SMS messages from their office to thousands of users worldwide with a click of a button.
SMS4PC is not only good for marketing. Many companies are discovering process efficiencies by utilizing SMS messaging within the organization. Computers can be set up to provide alerts or business communication to employees, consultants, and vendors. In the current global business structure, instant communication across vast distances is required for a company to remain competitive. SMS4PC can provide the tools needed to manage such communication.
Join the business culture of tomorrow, and let SMS4PC provide a valuable tool to keep your business competitive in the future.
June 30, 2011
We got some feedback from some users the last days that the downloadable app we have might crash at a few occasions and also ask a user for re-registration. This is bad and we are working on that as we speak!
In the meantime we recommend all of you who might experience something like this to switch to our web based SMS app. You will be able to use the same account (register the same mobile number), and use the SMS credits you might have purchased already. All the same functions are there and it is extremely simple to get started.
In order to get started signup for web-based SMS here
June 23, 2011
Coupons are very popular these days, and they aren’t just for groceries anymore. Groupon and other coupon sites have offered discounts on everything from flowers to movie tickets, and the couponing world is sweeping the internet. Current retail culture is such that customers don’t only like coupons and discounts—they expect them from time to time.
In a world where everyone wants to protect their privacy, customers freely sign up with trusted companies for mailing lists, emails, and text messages in order to receive news about special deals. Offer your customers the chance to sign up for SMS messages about deals. Customers can fill out a simple written form with their phone number, which you can later enter into a spreadsheet. If your company has a web presence, consider offering customers the option to sign up for messages online.
Once you have collected customer numbers in spreadsheets, you can follow the instructions in our blog post or video to send hundreds or thousands of customers an SMS message with discount news directly from your computer.
Some examples of items you might want to send include:
1. Notification of flash sales. Slow day in the store or shop? Drive foot traffic with an SMS message stating customers can get 20% off any item for the rest of the day.
2. Coupon Codes. Offer repeat customers an incentive by sending a coupon code for a percentage off one item, buy one get one free, or other deal. Make the coupon code good for a limited time, such as a day or even a few hours. Higher valued codes can expirer in shorter amounts of time.
3. BOGO deals when you bring a friend. Offer a buy one, get one deal if the customer brings a friend. This is especially effective for services. For example, a nail salon might offer BOGO pedicures for a customer who brings a friend. This is also a great way to get new customers.
No matter how you use SMS4PC when sending coupons, you can be sure it will be easy, fast, and cost-effective!
June 22, 2011
SMS4PC supports standard address books such as Outlook, Windows, Mac and Google. But what if your contacts aren’t in one of these formats? No worries! You can copy thousands of numbers at a time from a spreadsheet or CSV file directly to SMS4PC. Send an SMS message to hundreds, or even thousands, of users with just a few clicks.
What is a CSV?
A CSV, or comma separated values file, is simply a simplified spreadsheet, which can be opened by most spreadsheet applications. Many times, a CSV file has less formatting than an Excel file would allow, but the information is still in rows and columns. Because it is easy to convert text or data strings into CSV files, many vendors and data warehouses offer users the ability to export data into CSV. If you utilize these types of services, you may receive phone number lists in CSV format.
How to import contacts from a CSV file into the SMS application
In order to import a list of phone numbers and contacts, ensure the list is in a CSV file. You simply go to “Contacts”, “Import contacts” and select the CSV file you want to import the contacts from. After choosing the appropriate columns to import you can also define a group where the contacts and numbers shall end up.
How to Copy Phone Numbers into SMS4PC
In order to copy a list of phone numbers, ensure the list is in a spreadsheet file. If you can open the file in Excel or Open Office’s spreadsheet program, then you can copy the numbers to SMS4PC.
Once you have the data opened in a spreadsheet, identify the numbers you want to copy over. It will be easiest to do this if all the numbers are grouped together.
Put your mouse cursor over the cell with the first number. Left click and hold while you drag the mouse to cover all numbers you want to copy. Once all desired numbers are highlighted, release the left click. Right click and select copy, or use the keyboard shortcut Control-C for copy.
Go to SMS4PC and open a new message. Click in the “To” box. Use the shortcut Control-V for paste. You will note that the numbers you copied are now loaded into the SMS message. Enter the text for your message and click send.
To see more information about how to copy/paste contacts from a spreadsheet into the SMS4PC application see this video
June 20, 2011
If your company utilizes drivers of any kind, then you know constant communication is essential to excellent customer service. Delivery drivers, repairmen, and installers all need to know where to go, what to do, and if there are any changes during the day. SMS desktop messaging can help get the job done in an efficient manner, saving you time and money. Here are three ways you can improve your processes and increase your bottom line by using SMS4PC to dispatch drivers.
1. Cut out wasted time and confusion by replacing phone calls with SMS messaging. When using phone calls to provide instructions or addresses, a driver will have to pull over to write down the information. Miscommunication or failure to record the information correctly will result in another stop and another call. By using SMS messaging from a PC, the dispatcher can provide all information to the driver while he or she is en route. The driver gets the information immediately, and all information is correct.
2. Updates to workflow for the day can be sent to drivers immediately. Imagine this scenario: A customer has scheduled a repair, but calls in stating they need to change the repair time. When using phone contact methods, the dispatcher may call while the repairman is working another job, on a break, or in an area without mobile coverage. The dispatcher must call again until the repairman is reached. If the dispatcher can send an SMS message directly from the work office PC, though, the message can be sent and the repairman can receive it as soon as he or she is available.
3. Update all drivers at one time. By uploading your contacts to SMS4PC, you will be able to send messages to a group of contacts at one time (there are cases where messages are sent to thousands of people at the same time!). Utilize this function to ensure all drivers get important updates or memos.
By using SMS4PC to send SMS messages from a PC to your drivers, you can save time and money, improving the profits on all of your services.
June 13, 2011
Ever since man lived in caves communication has been the primary tool for survival. This is still true today. But today survival communication takes place not only between people but even more so between people and organizations, and companies between companies. Communication and information has become the most important modern day tool for companies that want to survive and stand out from the crowd.
When the telephone was invented over a 130 year ago (by Graham Bell), it was not long before it changed the whole world economy. It was now easy to pick up the phone and talk to people that it would have taken weeks to reach by mail before. Business agreements, mergers, economic information and relations were maintained and strengthened by the telephone.
In today’s society, the choices of tools for communication are many. Besides the standard telephone you have the internet, e-mail, mobile communication, social media and some companies actually still use the fax machine. The constant information flow seems, at first glance, to be exclusively positive, but as we in an evolutionary aspect still “live in caves”, we can only process so much information at once. So, people invented ways to protect and streamline the information overflow with e-mail filters, voicemail and RSS-feeds that let us choose what information we read and process. The rules of engagement have changed, as it has become more and more important for companies to be present where the consumer chooses to be, and not the other way around.
This can be tricky for companies that want to reach out. Making fantastic websites or eye catching videos on YouTube, fun Facebook pages and exclusive e-mail marketing send outs just doesn’t seem to be very effective in many cases, and many companies struggle with their primary tool for survival – communication. Everybody is on the internet, everybody have the possibility to make beautiful marketing almost cost free, and the clutter is making it hard for both information consumers and companies to reach their target groups.
According to many recent studies the fastest increasing tool for getting in touch is the mobile phone communication. You might think that it means iPhone or Android, Twitter, Facebook and YouTube on the mobile, but actually it is SMS. SMS is regarded as the single most personal way to get in touch with someone, and the most reliable tool of all. People trust the SMS, as it is – personal. The reason why the SMS is still so popular is that it can be described as a “permission based” form of marketing, which means that before a company sends a text message to you, you must have initiated the relationship by opting in to receiving the information from that company. This simple fact creates trust – opting in is what we want people to do.
A study of how teenagers prefer to communicate confirms this – despite all social media that is available to them, they still prefer SMS. Get the slide share here:
Trends in Teen Communication and Social Media Use, by Kristen Purcell
The conclusion is that the more personal communication gets, the more impact it has. And today, SMS text messaging is the closest you can get to face-to-face communication. As a company looking for ways to break through the information clutter – SMS is your best bet.
May 30, 2011
Some users asked us the last week about where to login for getting access to the SMS4PC account for sending SMS’s from the web interface. On top right of the front page users can click “Login” and type in the username and password. By doing this a user gets to the webpage for sending SMS messages and managing your groups and contacts.
Happy texting!
May 27, 2011
Hi all!
We are working on making the product offerings more and more attractive for our customers. This means we are trying to give you more and more SMS for a lower and lower cost. Our current prices can be found here.
We have also chosen to have 5 free SMS messages to all new “test users” and not more. This will give everyone a chance to try it out and hopefully after the test period take a decision to buy some SMS credits or not. If you for some reason need a few more SMS messages drop us an email to support@sms4pc.com and let us know your interest in doing more evaluations of the product before a purchase deicsion and we’ll make sure you get some extra SMS credits for that purpose. Don’t worry we are here to help you out!
NEW CURRENCIES SUPPORTED
You can now purchase your SMS credits through different currencies such as EUR, GBP, USD and SEK. Previously we only offered our products in EUR. The different priceses for different currencies can be seen on this link and you can change currencies at the top right.
Whatever feedback you have just drop us a note. Have a great weekend all “texters”
May 25, 2011
SMS4PC now works on latest version of Microsoft Outlook, i.e. Outlook 2010.
To get started simply go to our download page and download the Outlook plugin. This one will work very well with Outlook 2010 and also older versions.
If you have a previous version of our SMS plugin you should remove/de-install the current application in a standard Windows manner and then go to the download page and install the latest version of Outlook 2010 plugin.
Let us know what you think of it!
May 12, 2011
… And why to send SMS text messages from a PC (i.e. the business case and benefits)
It is fairly simple for most people to get started sending SMS text messages from a PC.
First thing to do is go to our website and go to the section Try for free and choose either to downoad a small client application or to use the web based SMS interface. As client applications we offer both plugins to Microsoft Outlook and standalone desktop apps.
Second thing to do (after sending some free test messages) is to go to our Buy credits page where a user can buy anything from 100 text messages up to 10,000 text messages. These messages can be used anytime the coming 12 months. The more you buy the more discount you get as well. Prices can be found on the Pricing page.
Third thing to do is to start using the SMS service for your business needs. Both inside the applications and on the web page for sending SMS you can see the number of remaining SMS credits you have.
The last weeks we have got many new business customers starting to use the desktop SMs service. Many of these customers use the app for
* Work orders – i.e. instructions to a mobile work force
* Notifications – for example delivery notifications to customers for example
Cheers for now
