Imagine this scenario: A woman in Johannesburg, South Africa, stands at the fish counter in her local supermarket and texts the name of a fish to a phone number. Within seconds, she receives back information via a short text message informing her whether the fish is legally and environmentally harvested, and advising her whether “to tuck in, think twice or avoid completely.”
The shopper is using FishMS, a text messaging-based service that provides point-of-sale information about the impact of fishing on fish stocks, enabling consumers to make informed choices about the seafood they purchase.
Infolines provide valuable, just-in-time information, but in the end their real potential is how they change behavior based on the information, and result in concrete actions by consumers and constituents. Infolines can also be a good hook to get people to join your mobile list.
Introduction
Imagine this scenario: A woman in Johannesburg, South Africa, stands at the fish counter in her local supermarket and texts the name of a fish to a phone number. Within seconds, she receives back information via a short text message informing her whether the fish is legally and environmentally harvested, and advising her whether “to tuck in, think twice or avoid completely.”
The shopper is using FishMS, a text messaging-based service that provides point-of-sale information about the impact of fishing on fish stocks, enabling consumers to make informed choices about the seafood they purchase.
Infolines provide valuable, just-in-time information, but in the end their real potential is how they change behavior based on the information, and result in concrete actions by consumers and constituents. Infolines can also be a good hook to get people to join your mobile list.
What does it cost?
SMS info lines are not inexpensive to set up or maintain. Gathering and compiling comprehensive data, indexed well, reliable, and ready for queries is no easy and can be expensive and costly to do.
In fact, all of the services we spoke with already had made considerable investments in providing valuable information and made such data available through other channels such as through an online database. They simply needed to make what they already had available via a mobile channel.
The second cost center is the vendor that provides the delivery platform. Costs range here widely, depending on country and complexity of delivery, but can average a few thousand dollars USD per month.
Lastly, NGOs need to consider the transmission costs for sending SMS to the recipient. Obviously, the more popular an SMS information service is, the higher SMS delivery charges will be. Again, charges for SMS vary from country to country.
In-kind donations from carriers and vendors can drive those costs down but also raise questions about longer-term sustainability. The SMS information line in South Africa, for example, is currently entirely funded by iVeri Payment Technology. The company used SASSI’s wallet sized cards to produce the database, and has covered the cost of the SMS. Barendese said the only cost to the consumer is the cost of the initial text message querying the data.
Case Studies
Info lines on the MobileActive.org blog:
- Human Rights Equality Index Ever wondered how Walmart ranks when it comes to supporting gay and lesbian employment equality? What about Starbucks, Coca-Cola, or Microsoft? Employment equality is an issue that the gay and lesbian community has advocated for for years. It has now moved into the mobile phone age with point-of-purchase company information for conscious consumers. The U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign recently launched a new tool: An SMS buyers guide that that brings instant information about businesses' support of gay and lesbian equality straight to your mobile phone.
- SexInfo SexInfo is a sexual health info line for teens, in conjunction with the San Francisco Public Health Department. For example, if the condom breaks, teens can turn to their cell phone for help: "if u hve sex, u can get an STD + not know it. Chlamydia, gonorrhea=no symptoms most of the time Dropin get chcked FREE," reads a text message tip, followed by a health clinic number and hours. Send the message "sexinfo" to (917) 957-4280 on MetroPCS phones or 36617 on all other cell phones to try it. SexInfo is the only mobile sexual helth service available in the United States so far.
- Climate Counts Climate Counts lets a consumer text in the name of a product or company to a US short-code (a five-digit phone number) to receive back information about how serious companies are about stopping climate change - and how they compare to their sector competitors. The information, in the form of a scorecard that is delivered via text message back to the user, reflects the self-reported efforts of companies to address climate change.
- Asian-language Foreclosure Infoline Understanding a housing mortgage isn't easy, especially within today's so-called subprime mortgages filled with legalese, deceptive interest rates and dishonest brokers. Having English as a second language doesn't make it any easier. Jeremy Liu and Tad Hirsch, the developers of Speakeasy, are using mobile phones to help non-English speakers fight the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States with an Asian-language specific foreclosure prevention hotline.
Key questions you should ask
Before beginning the campaign, decide if an SMS Infoline is right for you.
- Do you have the available data? Many SMS Infolines are built using data that organizations already have available. Make sure the data set is comprehensive enough that the majority of queries will get a response.
- How are you integrating the SMS Infoline into your overall organizational communications? An SMS Infoline must be marketed extremely well so that the target audience is aware of it and uses it. Ways to market the campaign include print media, a campaign website, email lists, and other media forms. Earned media (coverage in newspapers, radio, and television) is hugely important in promoting an SMS Infoline, so make sure your public relations strategy is very well developed.
- Evaluate the costs -- is an SMS Infoline feasible for you? The easiest way to do the campaign technically is to hire a mobile vendor. Realize that the costs will be much higher if you have to build the database from scratch. Costs to include in your estimate are vendor costs, marketing costs, costs of the database of information, costs of delivery of the SMS, and the human/labor costs involved.
- Research has shown that transmitting indexed data that is actionable to the user is better than simply transmitting raw data. For example, convey data on the sustainability of fish with a text message telling the consumer to 'buy', 'only eat occasionally", 'avoid.'
In short: Check whether messages from your SMS Infoline is actionable.
- Similarly, messages should be worded clearly and concisely. Make sure that all messages fit within the 160 character limit of a text message. If the SMS is in other languages, you may have even less space - Arabic text messages, for example, can only contain 70 characters.
An SMS Infoline in 8 Simple Steps
1. Design. Make sure you have the data necessary to answer user queries. Is the information you are conveying something that will be useful to your constituency or consumers? Are SMS the right medium for conveying this information?
2. Hire a mobile vendor. For vendors focused on the NGO sector, you might want to check the MobileActive vendor directory. The vendor will provide a platform for SMS delivery and also lets you track incoming queries and results.
3. If available in your country, you might want to consider purchasing a short phone number, called a short code that makes it easier for a person to remember the number to query for information. Mobile vendors also sometimes provide short codes that are shared for a number of different organizations but they require a keyword for each query. Note that obtaining your own short code (and leasing it from the carriers) has sometimes considerable monthly costs, depending on which country you operate in.
4. Develop you social marketing strategy to advertise your SMS Infoline. Be clear about your goals, audience, messaging, and integration with other media. Your SMS Infoline is only as good as people know about it.
5. Determine your PR and earned media strategy. Newspaper, television, and radio coverage can greatly increase usage as people learn about it.
6. Set up the SMS Infoline and test it. With a good vendor this can be as simple as uploading a spreadsheet and determining the wording for the messages.
7. After users text in a query, consider following up and engaging them in a thoughtful ladder of engagement. One of the advantages of an SMS Infoline campaign is that it builds your database of mobile phone users. Now that you have all these mobile phone numbers, how will you use them in the future? You could consider sending each user a message thanking them for participating and asking if they want to be notified of other campaigns or receive SMS notifications. You can also ask people to text in their email address in order to continue with other follow-up.
8. Evaluate the SMS Infoline. How many people texted in? Were there technical problems that could have easily been resolved? How could you make an SMS Infoline campaign more successful in the future? Were people texting in queries that weren’t in your database of information?
How does it work?
Most text message information services work very similarly. A user actively queries a database at point of purchase via a text message keyword sent to a short code or a regular phone number, and receives back results from that database as a text message in turn, customized to fit the 160-character limitation of an SMS. Alternatively, a user signs up (such as on the Web) to receive a text message to his or her phone number when a certain variable is met (that is, when the air quality for a specific postal code, for example, exceeds normal values).
All text info services rely on an SMS platform to handle the query and delivery of the text messages, and a robust database that contain the relevant information.
A Checklist for best practices for an SMS info service
- Design an effective call to action.
- Make sure the information offered by the service is information that your constituents will really use.
- Follow-up with people who texted in and recruit them to join your mobile campaign.
- Make sure you have very clear campaign objectives.
- Market the campaign effectively.
- Integrate the campaign with your website and other media
- Write text messages with concise and effective wording.
Designing an Index
One of the challenges of designing an infoline is figuring out to present information in a way that is useful, actionable, and easily understandable by consumers.
Recent research shows that information is more effective when it is communicated in the context of an index rather than raw data. Climate Counts, for example, uses a three-point scorecard that indicates whether a company is ‘stuck,’ ‘starting,’ or ‘striding’ in its efforts to lower its carbon footprint; FishMS uses a three-tiered system as well that indicate whether a consumer should buy, consider, or abstain from buying a particular fish.
This makes the information actionable -- critically important for conveying information via text message.
Mobile Marketing Rules
If you choose to follow up with users who text-in to the service, you should be aware that many countries have rules for opting-in to a mobile campaign.
In many countries, the Mobile Marketing Code of Conduct, enforced by the Mobile Marketing Association, dictates that individuals specifically opt-in to a mobile campaign. Acceptable methods of opting in include voice consent, website registration, an SMS or MMS opt-in process, or other means. All SMS sent must also contain an option to opt-out of a campaign as well. The MMA requires that the opt-out process be accessible from every message and an explanation of the opt-out process be included frequently.
Imagine this scenario: A woman in Johannesburg, South Africa, stands at the fish counter in her local supermarket and texts the name of a fish to a phone number. Within seconds, she receives back information via a short text message informing her whether the fish is legally and environmentally harvested, and advising her whether “to tuck in, think twice or avoid completely.”
The shopper is using FishMS, a text messaging-based service that provides point-of-sale information about the impact of fishing on fish stocks, enabling consumers to make informed choices about the seafood they purchase.
Infolines provide valuable, just-in-time information, but in the end their real potential is how they change behavior based on the information, and result in concrete actions by consumers and constituents. Infolines can also be a good hook to get people to join your mobile list.
Introduction
Imagine this scenario: A woman in Johannesburg, South Africa, stands at the fish counter in her local supermarket and texts the name of a fish to a phone number. Within seconds, she receives back information via a short text message informing her whether the fish is legally and environmentally harvested, and advising her whether “to tuck in, think twice or avoid completely.”
The shopper is using FishMS, a text messaging-based service that provides point-of-sale information about the impact of fishing on fish stocks, enabling consumers to make informed choices about the seafood they purchase.
Infolines provide valuable, just-in-time information, but in the end their real potential is how they change behavior based on the information, and result in concrete actions by consumers and constituents. Infolines can also be a good hook to get people to join your mobile list.
What does it cost?
SMS info lines are not inexpensive to set up or maintain. Gathering and compiling comprehensive data, indexed well, reliable, and ready for queries is no easy and can be expensive and costly to do.
In fact, all of the services we spoke with already had made considerable investments in providing valuable information and made such data available through other channels such as through an online database. They simply needed to make what they already had available via a mobile channel.
The second cost center is the vendor that provides the delivery platform. Costs range here widely, depending on country and complexity of delivery, but can average a few thousand dollars USD per month.
Lastly, NGOs need to consider the transmission costs for sending SMS to the recipient. Obviously, the more popular an SMS information service is, the higher SMS delivery charges will be. Again, charges for SMS vary from country to country.
In-kind donations from carriers and vendors can drive those costs down but also raise questions about longer-term sustainability. The SMS information line in South Africa, for example, is currently entirely funded by iVeri Payment Technology. The company used SASSI’s wallet sized cards to produce the database, and has covered the cost of the SMS. Barendese said the only cost to the consumer is the cost of the initial text message querying the data.
Case Studies
Info lines on the MobileActive.org blog:
- Human Rights Equality Index Ever wondered how Walmart ranks when it comes to supporting gay and lesbian employment equality? What about Starbucks, Coca-Cola, or Microsoft? Employment equality is an issue that the gay and lesbian community has advocated for for years. It has now moved into the mobile phone age with point-of-purchase company information for conscious consumers. The U.S.-based Human Rights Campaign recently launched a new tool: An SMS buyers guide that that brings instant information about businesses' support of gay and lesbian equality straight to your mobile phone.
- SexInfo SexInfo is a sexual health info line for teens, in conjunction with the San Francisco Public Health Department. For example, if the condom breaks, teens can turn to their cell phone for help: "if u hve sex, u can get an STD + not know it. Chlamydia, gonorrhea=no symptoms most of the time Dropin get chcked FREE," reads a text message tip, followed by a health clinic number and hours. Send the message "sexinfo" to (917) 957-4280 on MetroPCS phones or 36617 on all other cell phones to try it. SexInfo is the only mobile sexual helth service available in the United States so far.
- Climate Counts Climate Counts lets a consumer text in the name of a product or company to a US short-code (a five-digit phone number) to receive back information about how serious companies are about stopping climate change - and how they compare to their sector competitors. The information, in the form of a scorecard that is delivered via text message back to the user, reflects the self-reported efforts of companies to address climate change.
- Asian-language Foreclosure Infoline Understanding a housing mortgage isn't easy, especially within today's so-called subprime mortgages filled with legalese, deceptive interest rates and dishonest brokers. Having English as a second language doesn't make it any easier. Jeremy Liu and Tad Hirsch, the developers of Speakeasy, are using mobile phones to help non-English speakers fight the subprime mortgage crisis in the United States with an Asian-language specific foreclosure prevention hotline.
Key questions you should ask
Before beginning the campaign, decide if an SMS Infoline is right for you.
- Do you have the available data? Many SMS Infolines are built using data that organizations already have available. Make sure the data set is comprehensive enough that the majority of queries will get a response.
- How are you integrating the SMS Infoline into your overall organizational communications? An SMS Infoline must be marketed extremely well so that the target audience is aware of it and uses it. Ways to market the campaign include print media, a campaign website, email lists, and other media forms. Earned media (coverage in newspapers, radio, and television) is hugely important in promoting an SMS Infoline, so make sure your public relations strategy is very well developed.
- Evaluate the costs -- is an SMS Infoline feasible for you? The easiest way to do the campaign technically is to hire a mobile vendor. Realize that the costs will be much higher if you have to build the database from scratch. Costs to include in your estimate are vendor costs, marketing costs, costs of the database of information, costs of delivery of the SMS, and the human/labor costs involved.
- Research has shown that transmitting indexed data that is actionable to the user is better than simply transmitting raw data. For example, convey data on the sustainability of fish with a text message telling the consumer to 'buy', 'only eat occasionally", 'avoid.'
In short: Check whether messages from your SMS Infoline is actionable.
- Similarly, messages should be worded clearly and concisely. Make sure that all messages fit within the 160 character limit of a text message. If the SMS is in other languages, you may have even less space - Arabic text messages, for example, can only contain 70 characters.
An SMS Infoline in 8 Simple Steps
1. Design. Make sure you have the data necessary to answer user queries. Is the information you are conveying something that will be useful to your constituency or consumers? Are SMS the right medium for conveying this information?
2. Hire a mobile vendor. For vendors focused on the NGO sector, you might want to check the MobileActive vendor directory. The vendor will provide a platform for SMS delivery and also lets you track incoming queries and results.
3. If available in your country, you might want to consider purchasing a short phone number, called a short code that makes it easier for a person to remember the number to query for information. Mobile vendors also sometimes provide short codes that are shared for a number of different organizations but they require a keyword for each query. Note that obtaining your own short code (and leasing it from the carriers) has sometimes considerable monthly costs, depending on which country you operate in.
4. Develop you social marketing strategy to advertise your SMS Infoline. Be clear about your goals, audience, messaging, and integration with other media. Your SMS Infoline is only as good as people know about it.
5. Determine your PR and earned media strategy. Newspaper, television, and radio coverage can greatly increase usage as people learn about it.
6. Set up the SMS Infoline and test it. With a good vendor this can be as simple as uploading a spreadsheet and determining the wording for the messages.
7. After users text in a query, consider following up and engaging them in a thoughtful ladder of engagement. One of the advantages of an SMS Infoline campaign is that it builds your database of mobile phone users. Now that you have all these mobile phone numbers, how will you use them in the future? You could consider sending each user a message thanking them for participating and asking if they want to be notified of other campaigns or receive SMS notifications. You can also ask people to text in their email address in order to continue with other follow-up.
8. Evaluate the SMS Infoline. How many people texted in? Were there technical problems that could have easily been resolved? How could you make an SMS Infoline campaign more successful in the future? Were people texting in queries that weren’t in your database of information?
How does it work?
Most text message information services work very similarly. A user actively queries a database at point of purchase via a text message keyword sent to a short code or a regular phone number, and receives back results from that database as a text message in turn, customized to fit the 160-character limitation of an SMS. Alternatively, a user signs up (such as on the Web) to receive a text message to his or her phone number when a certain variable is met (that is, when the air quality for a specific postal code, for example, exceeds normal values).
All text info services rely on an SMS platform to handle the query and delivery of the text messages, and a robust database that contain the relevant information.
A Checklist for best practices for an SMS info service
- Design an effective call to action.
- Make sure the information offered by the service is information that your constituents will really use.
- Follow-up with people who texted in and recruit them to join your mobile campaign.
- Make sure you have very clear campaign objectives.
- Market the campaign effectively.
- Integrate the campaign with your website and other media
- Write text messages with concise and effective wording.
Designing an Index
One of the challenges of designing an infoline is figuring out to present information in a way that is useful, actionable, and easily understandable by consumers.
Recent research shows that information is more effective when it is communicated in the context of an index rather than raw data. Climate Counts, for example, uses a three-point scorecard that indicates whether a company is ‘stuck,’ ‘starting,’ or ‘striding’ in its efforts to lower its carbon footprint; FishMS uses a three-tiered system as well that indicate whether a consumer should buy, consider, or abstain from buying a particular fish.
This makes the information actionable -- critically important for conveying information via text message.
Mobile Marketing Rules
If you choose to follow up with users who text-in to the service, you should be aware that many countries have rules for opting-in to a mobile campaign.
In many countries, the Mobile Marketing Code of Conduct, enforced by the Mobile Marketing Association, dictates that individuals specifically opt-in to a mobile campaign. Acceptable methods of opting in include voice consent, website registration, an SMS or MMS opt-in process, or other means. All SMS sent must also contain an option to opt-out of a campaign as well. The MMA requires that the opt-out process be accessible from every message and an explanation of the opt-out process be included frequently.
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