James Bowditch
We are looking ahead to a great 2011 here at Dynmark however it’s also worth looking back at an eventful 2010 and how SMS has proved to be an effective form of communication on a variety of occasions. We have been amazed at the amount of customers who see SMS as their first port of call during these events, be it an essential emergency SMS, customer service message or promotional offers coinciding with certain events.
The major talking point most recently has been the severe weather that gripped the country at the end of the year. During the coldest December for 100 years parents were kept up to date with the latest school closures via SMS. A text message allows for communication on a mass scale at the touch of a button and parents were informed immediately allowing them to prepare and make alternative arrangement. Gone are the days of tuning in to the local radio station for an endless list of school closures to be announced waiting for the right one to be read out!
We also saw an increase in SMS activity during the period where the cloud of volcanic ash grounded flights across Europe at the end of April. SMS was crucial in informing the millions of passengers about flight delays and cancellations and while a text message probably did not lessen the inconvenience of having a flight delayed, it certainly went a good way to keeping passengers informed quickly and easily of the latest developments.
Despite the disappointment of England’s performance at the World Cup in South Africa, our retail and entertainment clients were able to benefit from the extra revenues that such an event brings in. SMS was used to aid in retail promotional activity during the World Cup, with competitions and the latest offers on products and services. Likewise, bars and clubs were able to ensure they had a full house gathered round their flat screen TV’s by informing their customers of when and where matches would be screened as well as offers on drinks and food to help them fully enjoy the experience. Our clients in the betting sector also utilised SMS to update their customers on the up-to-the-minute odds for each game.
There were also occasions where SMS could have been used more effectively, such as during the recent strike by Tube workers in London or during the chaos the snow caused in the delivery of cards and parcels in the run up to Christmas. The possibilities are endless and our whitepaper “Sending out an SMS” goes into great detail about the use of text messaging in an emergency. It can be downloaded for free from here
