Performance of my Premium Rate SMS short code in Kenya
Performance of my Premium Rate Sms on the 20242 short code over the year 2011 in Kenya
2011 was the year that the premium rate sms short code 20242 went live, went though it’s initial growth, part stagnation and rejuvenation.
In this article, we examine premium rate sms subscriber growth month by month and discuss the marketing and other efforts that we believe led to the changes.
January 2011
January saw the launch of the premium rate sms short code 20242 using the Daily Nation. We placed a back page advert on the Thursday of the second week of January. This cost us Ksh 81,000. We managed to send out 10,894 premium rate sms messages in total. Not very good.
February 2011
In February we spend Kes 27,000 in advertising the premium rate sms service on Google Adwords (www.adwords.google.com). The total premium rate sms messages sent in February from the 20242 premium rate sms short code was 26,735 premium rate sms messages.
Essentially, the Google Adwords yielded approximately 17,000 new premium rate sms messages at a fraction of the cost of the January print advertisement. At this point, it appeared the better way to market premium rate sms was through the use of Google Adwords.
March 2011
March 2011 saw the near doubling of premium rate sms messages sent to 42,906. What marketing tool did we use? None at all! At this point our Google Adwords Account had a outstanding bill of Ksh 27,000 and we did not have the discipline to pay off the debt. So we cruised on the after-effect of the February advertising and the efforts of our marketing agents.
April 2011
55,751 was the April total, showing an approximately 25% improvement on last month’s doubling. Even here we spent nothing on marketing, relying on the efforts of agents to market individual premium rate sms channels.
May 2011
Without the efforts of our marketing agents, the figure of premium rate sms messages sent would have fallen, but it rose albeit slightly to 59,315, an improvement of about 10%. This was not good news at all as we approached June 2011.
June 2011
Frantic to push up premium rate sms traffic, we splurged Ksh 57,500 on marketing. We spend 27,500 on Google and 30,000 on www.InMobi.com. The results were horrendous. Our message count dropped from 59,315 to 53,838 premium rate sms messages. We were distressed.
July 2011
83,435! That was a surprise. We began to learn of delayed returns. Having spent 57,500 in June and seen a drop in total premium rate sms messages, we were delighted to see a 60% improvement in July premium rate sms messages.
This could not be due to the Kes 20,000 we spent in July exclusively on www.InMobi.com.
August 2011
The Kes 20,000 spent exclusively in July saw a rise in premium rate sms messages sent to 125,861 in August 2011. This represents a considerable increase from 83,435 (almost 50%). Go 20242!
Marketing expenditure this month was exclusively on www.InMobi.com. We spent almost 32,000 expecting a similar bump next month.
September 2011
It worried us that we were facing stagnation again. Having spent Ks 32,000 the previous month and seen a growth of only about 4,000 new premium rate sms messages to 129,586, we were distraught. Perhaps www.InMobi.com had become less effective? Perhaps they were now and newly displaying adverts on websites that had a poor target audience?
We nevertheless put down an extra Kes 34,000 in marketing to see how www.InMobi.com would perform next month.
October 2011
113,676 premium rate sms messages is a joke. We spend more on www.InMobi.com, we see a decline in premium rate sms messages. This must arise from fewer recruits as marketing agents. www.InMobi.com is not working? What to do?
We spent another 35,000 in marketing just to confirm our fears and perhaps also in denial.
November 2011
It’s 87,168. www.InMobi.com has most definitely stopped working. What to do?
We abandon www.InMobi.com and spend 12,750 in www.Facebook.com marketing. Come on December!
December 2011
118,706 is higher than 87,168. That’s an improvement. On Kes 12,000 marketing expense, that’s a great improvement.
Curiously, we do not advertise in December. All our money is being saved for the festivities?
We buy a book on Search Engine Optimization and read a lot of articles on the same. We begin redesigning www.viva.co.ke/../sms.php and creating facebook pages for the premium rate sms service. See below the January 2012 report.
January 2012
168,225 is what I am talking about! Search Engine Optimization appears to work. No marketing expenses required except my valuable time! I then realize how valuable my time is. I am reading and writing a lot to improve www.viva.co.ke/../sms.php using very sophisticated search engine optimization theories and techniques.
Let’s see how February 2012 plays out.
Do not hesitate. Set up your premium rate sms service by going to www.viva.co.ke/../sms.php
15. What are you waiting for? Launch you premium rate service and get a short code today by clicking here.
Email: sms@viva.co.ke |Tel: 0717333382 | Karen, Muiri Lane, Nairobi, Kenya
Learning Resources for Premium Rate Sms Service
1. The Viability of Premium Rate Sms
2. How to set up a Premium Rate Sms service to connect suppliers
3. How to set up a lottery using Premium Rate Sms
4. Regulation regarding Premium Rate Sms Service
5.Difference between Premium Rate Sms and Bulk Sms
6. How to teach languages using premium rate sms
7. How to teach finance using Premium Rate Sms
8. Frequently asked questions regarding Premium Rate Sms
10. Broadcasting business tips using Premium Rate Sms
11. Broadcasting Bible teachings using Premium Rate Sms12. About Bulk Sms