Bulk SMS guaranteed delivery vs commercial routes
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.
Commerci
al 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.
