24 June 2011

Top Five Reasons for Insurance Companies to Use the TextMagic Text Messaging Service

by michelle

SMS is a largely untapped method for business communication, yet as more and more people are depending on their phones to supplement their changing and increasingly tech-centered lifestyles, the text message medium is becoming more prevalent. Insurance companies should learn how to connect through a text messaging service if they want to maintain business. However, the SMS medium is notoriously hard to work with. TextMagic makes the medium much easier with its Email to SMS service, which allows car insurance companies or life insurance companies to send and receive text messages through a standard emailing program. Read on to learn why your business needs this program.

Brunel Insurance

1) Short And Sweet

Text messages are known for being easy to digest, which should be the emphasis of any sort of business communication. There is a reason that people nowadays seem to text more than they talk. Because they are short and sweet, the information is imparted more quickly and thoroughly. There is no need to couch a text message in a lot of long-winded salutations. If you would like to remind clients to call you back, simply send a text stating, “When are you free for me to call?” If you need to inform a client of a late payment, simply text, “Insurance payment was due a week ago. When will you be able to pay?”

2) Greater Response Rate

One satisfied customer using TextMagic, Brunel Insurance, wrote, “When writing to our customers it could take anything up to 10 days to get a reply, that’s if the letter was not left on the mantelpiece. Now 80% of our texts are replied to within 2 minutes.” The more difficult it is to reply, the less likely it is that a customer or client will do it. However, by using TextMagic, you are using the easiest form of communication available, and a customer will likely dash off a quick reply giving you the exact information that you need.

3) Email Offers Improved User Interface and More Features

By using an email program, you can effectively send a message to as many people as you want. This is perfect if you need to send a mass reminder to pay bills or if you want to offer a promotion or special message to a lot of clients at once through SMS. Additionally, while most SMS sending service systems don’t offer the ability to carbon copy or blind carbon copy a text message, TextMagic allows you to do so with ease. You can SMS-enable your favourite email program and utilise many of the same features for emails, such as variable fields or other business necessities, in a text message.

4) Save on Postal Costs

Brunel Insurance writes of TextMagic, “Not only does it save us postal costs it saves us time.” Indeed, it is important for insurance companies to save money wherever they are able to do so, and postal costs are one such place. If a company has one thousand clients and a letter needs to be sent to every client, postal costs are approximately $320. The cost of using a text messaging service to connect with one thousand people is infinitely smaller than that.

5) Keep Records Easily

By using TextMagic’s email to SMS sending service, you can keep records more easily than if you send important messages via paper. You know exactly what you sent and when you received a reply, so if there are ever any legal issues down the line, you will have all the documentation saved in your email program of choice. Brunel Insurance writes, “The process is so slick; just write an email and send, we have a full audit trail of what has been said and what replies we have received.”

18 June 2011

Three Ways That Finance Companies Can Use TextMagic Web SMS Products to Attract Customers and Improve Business

by michelle

TextMagic is an excellent program for finance companies to assist in business operations. In short, it allows a business to send text messages to mobile phones through a variety of different media. Whether you want to send a text message via email, your web browser or even a web-based application, TextMagic mobile SMS software gives you an easy way to include clients’ and co-workers’ mobile phones in your business plan.

Intrinsic Financial Services LTD

For instance, satisfied corporate finance advisors Intrinsic Financial Services LTD use TextMagic’s services to alert remote (out of office) employees when systems are down and to keep them informed of fix progress. Other financial companies use TextMagic to keep clients informed of appointments, to communicate project details to supervisors, to advertise to potential new customers or to share relevant information regarding clients’ accounts.

The specific implementations of TextMagic are nearly limitless. They allow your employees to save time by sending short, to-the-point messages through a convenient user interface at their computers. TextMagic saves all text messages sent and received by each user, allowing for easy record keeping. This alone makes it a great alternative to using telephones for intra-office communications, as details can often be overlooked if only discussed over the phone. With TextMagic mobile SMS software, all details are recorded for easy access later.

TextMagic can utilise a variety of mediums for sending SMS messages. Each medium makes use of the same general concept through a different location, and it is recommended that you purchase as many as you think you might need.

Email to SMS

The TextMagic Email to SMS program is among the most popular, as it allows finance companies to use their own email programs to send SMS to anyone. All the functionality of an office email program, including the ability to cc and bcc, to send unlimited messages to anyone, to automate email alerts and more can be applied now to SMS messages. Perfect for people who like to have their work life revolve around their email inbox, the TextMagic Email to SMS program is a productivity enhancer and time saver.

Bulk SMS Gateway API

Any web-based application can utilise the Bulk SMS Gateway API, which is jargon for, “send text messages to anyone on over seven hundred global mobile networks.” Corporate finance advisors often use web applications to keep tabs on their accounts and clients, and by including the Bulk SMS Gateway API in an application, it can be programmed to automatically send text messages when changes are made to an account, when an alert status pops up or right before an appointment. The Gateway API allows for the automation of SMS/text messaging, which can save a lot of time and money that would normally be spent manually informing clients. This frees up employees to do more important work.

Web to SMS

The third potential for TextMagic is known as Web to SMS, and it ensures that as long as you have a web browser and access to the Internet, you will be able to send and receive text messages. This is useful if you plan on taking a laptop that doesn’t have the company email program or if you plan on travelling to an area that has mobile phone service problems. This program is arguably the simplest of them all, as it is completely browser-based with two boxes: one for the text message and one for the recipients. It even allows you to set up recurring or pre-scheduled SMS messages, so you can implement a marketing campaign for your finance company or send repeated reminders to clients through the browser.

The possibilities for improving business and attracting customers with TextMagic are nearly endless. SMS messaging is likely to become vital to businesses in the near future, so you should be sure to check out TextMagic if you want your finance company to stay competitive in the years to come.

14 June 2011

Financial Advice in the 21st Century: Web to SMS Makes Reaching Clients Simple

by michelle

When advisers with One Call Financial Advice Centre need to reach their clients quickly, they don’t reach for the phone, nor do they send out emails. Instead, they turn to the SMS technology offered by TextMagic.com. There, they are able to quickly type and send text messages with important information and requests to call the office. One Call sees the benefits of using TextMagic.com as threefold. Not only have they been able to reach out to clients in new ways, but they’ve also saved time and money using TextMagic’s Email to SMS service.

TEXT

Financial advisers and service companies turn frequently to TextMagic when they need to reach their clients promptly. TextMagic’s easy-to-use SMS service allows them to reach clients easily, whether they need to get a message to a single individual or thousands. From information about mortgage rates to advice regarding equity release, TextMagic.com allows financial advisers to send concise messages to their clients, even on the tightest of deadlines.

The SMS service offered by TextMagic.com allows users to send messages of up to 459 characters to multiple mobile accounts. Messages can be sent easily from any domain to mobile phones. No text messaging skills are required. Simply register your email address with TextMagic and all emails sent from your account will display your domain name, making it easy for SMS recipients to identify you and the importance of your message.

As any financial adviser knows, the economy can be a volatile environment in which to operate. Being able to reach clients quickly is essential, especially when a lapse of just a few minutes contact could cost your client a significant amount. With individuals in the UK sending nearly 11 million text messages every hour according to TEXT.IT, sending financial services advice from the web to mobile SMS recipients isn’t just logical; it’s a sound business stratagem as well.

To keep customer contact organised, it is possible to integrate TextMagic’s email to SMS technology with CRM systems, allowing you to monitor customer outreach. The progress of each text message can be followed online, so it’s always possiblethat your clients have received the latest information about their accounts.

For many financial advisors, working with clients and in markets around the world is part of the normal day. For those who need to span the globe in just a few moments, TextMagic allows you to send emails to SMS recipients to over 200 countries in any language. Simply upload the numbers in international format and you can reach clients in Kenya and Basingstoke in the same message.

In a turbulent financial market, it is essential that you are able to reach your clients in a timely manner. As One Call Financial Advice Centre found, text messages do not only save them money, they save their clients money as well. By sending financial advice from the web to SMS recipients, your clients will know that you are doing everything possible to keep them informed of the latest developments related to their accounts, and you’ll build important relationships with them at the same time.

10 June 2011

Using TextMagic’s TextMe Service to Get Crucial Notifications from PRTG Network Monitor via SMS

by michelle

PRTG Network Monitor by PAESSLER is an all-in-one network monitoring tool that lets you monitor your network and server performance. Modern businesses rely heavily on their networks for data, communication and operations. Slow network performance and unexpected outages can heavily harm the day-to-day activities of your business.

By having a reliable network monitor you will be able to prevent network problems before serious escalation. You will also be able to update your hardware according to your needs, which will result in more uptime and more profitable business operation.

With TextMagic’s TextMe you can easily set up a PRTG Network Monitor notification that will send you text messages via email.

The first thing that you will need is a TextMagic account. We offer a free trial, so you are not obligated to spend any money to try out our text messaging services.

After you sign up, head over to your TextMagic reply options where you will set up from whom the text messages will appear.

1a

In your ‘Reply options’ you can apply for a Sender ID. For the sake of this tutorial, I will do this now.

2

Choose a Sender ID, which can be alphanumeric and up to 11 characters, and click ‘Save’. I chose ‘PRTG Alert’. Usually your Sender ID application will be approved instantly.

3

Then select your newly approved Sender ID in the dropdown box, select ‘Sender ID’ as the reply option and click ‘Save’.
Now we need to set up the TextMe service. The TextMe service will generate an email address, and all emails that are sent to this address will be forwarded as text messages to users you select while setting up a TextMe e-mail.

4

Go to the ‘TextMe Service’ tab, and click the ‘Set up new TextMe e-mail’ link.

5

When setting up a TextMe e-mail, the first thing you need to do is name it. I named mine ‘PRTG alert’.

Then you will need to decide how much information will be forwarded as a text message. I decided to only include the email subject, so that the text message looks tidy and to the point. Doing it this way will also use less TextMagic credits.
Then you can select how many linked text messages will be in each email. I suggest you leave it at 3.

We also need to select the Sender ID we applied to. I recommend setting the Sender ID to something like this, to avoid any confusion as to where the text came from and what it means.

6

Last but not least, we need to enter mobile numbers that will receive the text messages sent to the TextMe email.

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You can enter multiple recipients. You can add contacts from your TextMagic phone book or groups. If you have a lot of people who need to receive PRTG Network Monitor SMS alerts, you may first create a group with those people by exporting their contact details, and then simply add the whole group here.

Please note that you need to include your country’s code and you do not need leading zeroes before the number, nor plusses.

Once you are done entering recipients, click ‘Save’.

8

You can edit your TextMe email after you have saved it, to either change settings or add more recipients.

9

Now copy the email. All emails sent to this address will be forwarded to select recipients as a text message via TextMagic’s text messaging service. In my case, the message will contact the subject of the email, so let’s proceed to configure a PRTG Network Monitor notification.

10

Head over to the PRTG Network Monitor admin panel. From there, you can either create a new notification or edit an existing one.

Let’s add a new one…

11

Name it…

12

Set to notify ASAP.

13

Then select ‘Send Email’. In there you have to configure the notification email that you wish to receive as a text message.

14

Since I chose to only forward the email subject as a text message, I will only need to edit my subject. In this case I will use the default one with PRTG Network Monitor placeholders. And don’t forget to set the priority to ‘highest’.

Now save your notification and you’re done!

9 June 2011

Internet Texting Bounces Corporate Entertainment Agencies to New Heights of Customer Service

by michelle

If the thought of tedious text messaging on a tiny mobile phone keypad exceeds your patience quota, you will be happy to discover TextMagic Online, a new computer-based service that facilitates internet texting from your PC or laptop keyboard.

TextMagic’s SMS – short message service – technology keys you in to all of your mobile phone texting contacts anywhere in the world, giving you the ability to send and receive single or bulk messages quickly and inexpensively via your internet connection, and save your communications for later review.

corporatefun

Setting up TextMagic’s key features takes only a few moments, because you can import your mobile contacts from accounts such as Outlook. According to TextMagic users at corporatefun.com, a leading corporate entertainment agency, TextMagic’s texting service has a user-friendly and understandable interface that lets you jump immediately off the mark and be up and running in the text messaging milieu.

Ideal for virtually any type of business that wants to add easy text messaging to its communications portfolio, TextMagic technology fits right in with the program at a corporate entertainment agency such as corporatefun.com. The ability to stay in touch with business clients as they plan an event is critical to providing the right equipment for a successful party.

Corporate party entertainment companies are sure to receive last minute equipment hire changes, supply add-ons, and questions from busy business clients who cannot take the time to make a phone call on the fly. Instead, being able to receive and reply to quick text messages gives TextMagic Online users the ability to keep pace with all sorts of clients.

Staying in close touch through a texting service with anxious customers on event day makes everyone more relaxed. Whether the delivery van with party equipment is delayed by traffic, or the hired jumping castle springs a leak midway through the party, quick communications capability through TextMagic Online can address problems or concerns instantly, keeping clients happy and corporate events running smoothly.

When the popcorn machine and the candy floss spinner prove more popular than planned, and the need for additional supplies is dire and immediate, the event coordinator can toss off a quick text and the corporate entertainment agent can forward the message to the appropriate supplier. Internet texting provided by TextMagic Online optimises the ability for a corporate party entertainment firm to be as responsive as possible to immediate client requests. Impressive customer service builds a loyal clientele, and regular callbacks for party equipment hire can become the backbone of an agency’s yearly revenue structure.

TextMagic Online is an easy, effective marketing tool to keep clients up to date on new equipment such as an adult assault course, games like Bungee Rugby Eliminator, and special packages for occasions like Mother’s Day. By creating a short, evocative text message that TextMagic Online relays to each established or prospective corporate customer, the entertainment hire agency can keep its name prominent while providing clients with additional reasons to make bookings.

With TextMagic software, sending texts via a computer keyboard is cost-effective and fun. All sorts of businesses of any size can send targeted, to-the-point text messages for instant communications wherever and whenever they choose. Busy clients love receiving texts because this popular technology bypasses those antiquated modes of communication such as faxing and mail campaigns that mean more waste paper and wasted time.

In business situations when close communications with customers can be critical, as in the case of equipment hire for corporate entertainment, TextMagic Online serves to eliminate those missed communications that could mean the difference between a dismal failure and a resounding success.

6 June 2011

Multilingues21 translates bulk SMS sender into a successful business

by michelle

Diogo Heleno from international translation experts Multilingues21, based in Lisbon, Portugal, is part of a team of expert translators who have translated thousands of documents in more than 25 languages around the world. Because of the nature of their business, they use freelance translators based across the globe to do their work, so staying in touch is crucial to the day to day operation of their business. Rather than just relying on email, Multilingues21 have adopted a bulk SMS sender to get messages through to their freelancers quickly and easily.

Multilingues21

“We work with freelance employees based around the world. We always felt that due to time differences we were never sure when our employees would check their email,” explains Diogo. “Plus, as freelancers, sometimes they can spend a whole morning without checking their emails, which can be valuable time to get work done.” So, rather than worrying about whether the message had been picked up by the freelancer, Multilingues21 relies on sending bulk SMS messages to ensure that their freelance staff are kept up to date.

What is bulk SMS sender?

This simple, efficient system provides an effective alternative to traditional email messaging. Users can send bulk SMS messages from their PC to mobiles instantly, giving you a range of advantages including:

• A fast, cost-effective way to send text messages to co-workers and customers. And it’s simple to use – sending texts from your computer is much faster than using your phone

• The ability to send messages to anyone when you want to, with the freedom to send single or bulk SMS to individuals and groups

• Letting you keep track of your usage. The SMS system keeps a record every time you send text messages with web SMS and lets you check their delivery status, so you can be sure the message has reached the recipient

• Instant access so you can see your contacts, past invoices, and set up automatic balance alerts

Fast, simple and easy to use

Not only has sending bulk SMS messages speeded up response times, but it’s also saved Multilingues21 money too. “With SMS we can automatically forward to the freelancer an SMS telling him/her that we have a new project,” explains Diogo. “Before we would manually type in the SMS. SMS takes less than 1 minute to be sent after email was sent. It costs less than sending a normal SMS through our mobile phones, specially abroad, and saves us so much time you cannot even imagine.”

So are you communicating in a language everyone can understand? Using a bulk SMS sender to keep your international contacts informed is proving to be a smart way to do business for Multilingues21 – find out how it could help you too.