sms.shoso.com
SMS Relay Service
Shopkeeper Solutions CC are proud to offer an economical and simple-to-use
email-to-SMS relay service that also relays SMS replies directly to the oiginal email sender's email address together with the text of the original SMS.
Unlike bulk SMS services, you do not need to open and manage your own pre-paid account or contract and each message can be uniquely compiled using a mail merge program or other CRM software. And most importantly, you can use the sms.shoso.com SMS Relay service for low volume and ad hoc messages because you only get charged at the end of the month for the SMSs that you sent.
Uses for this service include the following:
- Send like a normal email - requires no cellphone or GSM modem.
- Save time by using a full keyboard to write your SMS's.
- Hide your identity by using our cellphone number for outgoing messages.
- Keeps a log of every SMS. Request the reports by
auto-responding email. (Just click Send - body of message is ignored.)
- Use your own email software to notify your customers by SMS.
- Reminders for appointments
- Notification of repairs that are ready for collection
- Birthday wishes
- Have your computer send confirmations of programmed tasks or alert messages when a critical event occurs.
Terms:
- After the 28th day of each month, sent SMSs are counted and a tax invoice is provided as per the price table below.
- Replies relayed back to you are free
- Detailed log reports by auto-responding email are free.
- No minimum nor unexpected charges, only outgoing SMS messages to South African cellphone numbers are counted.
- No contract and no service fee.
- No pre-payment required for users of The Jewellery Shopkeeper.
- No pre-payment for approved accounts.
- No charge for SMSs that fail due to improper cellphone number.
- Account customer payment terms are 30 days net.
Price structure
| Qty/month | Price each (including VAT) |
|---|
| 6-40 | R0.80 |
| 43-100 | R0.75 |
| 108-200 | R0.70 |
| 216-350 | R0.65 |
| 380-600 | R0.60 |
| 655-950 | R0.55 |
| 1046-2000 | R0.50 |
| 2223-5000 | R0.45 |
| 5625-50000 | R0.40 |
| (missing quantity increments are free) |
Advice for SMS messages
Good messages are personalised and tell the recipient something that is of interest to him/her.
Bad messages are not personalised or tell the recipient that you are trying to induce him/her to spend money.
Good messages are carefully targeted to people who you are sure are interested in what you are saying or are trying to sell.
Good example: "Attn: Mr Goodmine: Ref. 6023, Replace watch glass on Roldx, is now ready. Bling Bling Jewellers, 055-555-5555"
Bad example: "Summer sale now on at Bling Bling Jewellers. 25% discount on everything. Tel: 055-555-5555"
Good Example: "Hi Mr Jonesey. Exquisite coloured diamond jewellery just arrived. Call George at Bling Bling Jewellers, 055-555-5555, to arrange a private viewing."
Another good example: "Dear Mrs Finstones, it is over two years since your jewellery was valued for insurance purposes. Free cleaning before re-appraisal. BlingBling 055-555-5555"
Please don't be guilty of sending out SMS spam.
Just keep in mind that only 160 characters can be sent in a single SMS, and only send plain text messages without HTML or attachments.
What to do if asked to STOP
SMSs sent to your customer database is cost-effective way of promoting repeat business. However there are some who find unsolicited SMS' to be annoying and will usually inform you by replying to the SMS with the word 'STOP' or a message to that effect. If you ignore such requests then the next time the request to stop may be much less polite. Here is what to do if you receive a message asking to be deleted from your cellphone number list:
1) Find the cellphone number in your customer database.
The easiest way to do this (in JSK) is to use D(ata, C(ustomer, P(hone.
If it does not find the number then try entering just the last 4 digits (because spaces and dashes may not match exactly).
2) After finding the account number, mark the cellphone number so as not to be valid for batch SMS'.
Go to S(ales, F(ile maintenance, C(ustomers. Enter the account number. Look for the cellphone number in the 'Cell' number field. DO NOT DELETE THE NUMBER. Add an 'x' to the end of the number so as to make the number invalid for batch processing.
(for example: 082-345-6789x)
3) Some cellphone numbers may have been entered into the 'Tel' number field. In those cases you can just enter an 'x' into the 'Cell' number field. (If the cell number field is not empty the batch program will not look in the telephone number field for a valid cell number.) Or you can add a character after the cellphone number as per 2) above.
Important hint for JSK users
Duplicate unsolicited SMSs are extremely annoying to some. Avoid sending duplicates by U(tilities, L(etters, B(ulk messages/lists, M(ark before selecting the names to send. Then, in the selection filter, add '!D' (exclamation mark dee) to the Mail list codes. That tells JSK to exclude those marked with a D. Another benefit of this utility is that the cellphone numbers are normalised to the 11-digit standard so that you can easily find the cellphone number in the database when STOP messages are received.
Contact norman@shoso.co.za for more details.
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