5star SMS

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eCommerce Website Design & Development Service, Nigeria Complete custom ecommerce website design & development solution with online payment, unlimited hosting, continuous support, and 24/7 security.

We now offer email database of Nigerian companies. Over 52,000 emails. Ideal for business-to-business campaigns. For details see http://www.5starsmsng.com/email-database

80% of consumers say they have not been marketed to via SMS by their favourite brands (Hipcricket) https://duocallcommunications.wordpress.com/2013/09/19/sms-marketing-statistics/

SMS Marketing : statistics SMS has been around for over 20 years, and has grown to become the king of communication in the UK, surpassing phone calls and even face-to-face communication. The statistics we’ve compiled below p...

There’s a science behind bulk SMS sender IDs. Get it right and succeed. Get it wrong and fail. Here are tips to help you succeed!
http://5starsmsng.com/blog/science-of-sms-sender-ids/

The Science of SMS Sender IDs There's a science behind bulk SMS sender IDs. Get it right and succeed. Get it wrong and fail. Here are tips to help you succeed!

Introducing the New Look 5star SMS

Introducing the New Look 5star SMS First, we want to apologize for any inconvenience that you might have faced because of this upgrade. It’s normal with every system undergoing an evolution.   Now, to the main issue…  How do the new features affect you? What are the plus and minus?  1. It’s now fully mobile - This is probably the mos…

Looking for The Cheapest Bulk SMS Provider in Nigeria? Beware!

It’s natural – when we want to buy something, we consider the price and look out for the cheapest price that won’t break our bank account. So, it's normal that you are looking for the cheapest bulk SMS provider in Nigeria. But there are more important things you need to consider in the long-term than the price.

If you’re among those bulk SMS users that shop for cheap prices, I have a WARNING for you – most Nigerian bulk SMS services with cheap prices are BIG TRAPS that will cost you MORE in the long term!

How do I know this? Well, before setting up my own online bulk SMS service, I use many bulks SMS services in Nigeria and like many Nigerian bulk SMS users, my first consideration was always the price. I stayed away from bulk SMS service providers with “expensive” prices. Then one very important day, the unexpected happened!

I had a very important bulk SMS to send out to inform my seminar attendees of a change in venue, but I tried all I could, but the bulk SMS site I was using couldn’t send the message and it was past banking hours to even thinking of paying to another bulk SMS service. Long story short – I paid dearly for it.

What about another Nigerian bulk SMS site that sent my scheduled message at a different date, causing people to call me on end? Imagine scheduling a birthday message for someone and getting it delivered 7 days later! In short, I have so many heartbreaking stories to tell including that of the customers I introduced to the platform.

Then I decided to try a Nigerian bulk SMS site with a price I perceived as expensive (N1.90 – N3.5) depending on the amount you’re buying. And since I started using them, I have not had any problem with them. So, naturally I concluded that the bulk SMS guys with cheap prices are sacrificing excellence so that they can cut costs to make profit.

The most annoying thing is that when customers leave them, they reduce their prices even further thinking it will bring back new customers and attract new ones. What a shame!

That’s why I’ve decided to share this with every Nigerian bulk SMS user so that you can beware and avoid these services like plague.

Now, some people might say Mr. Edwin is trying to sell his bulk SMS service at a high price to us. Yes, I own and run 5star SMS (Nigeria). Take it for whatever it is. I’ve done deep and intense research in this industry and I should know one or two things about bulks SMS service. Come back when you’ve been disappointed by cheapest bulks SMS services, maybe then, the truth will sink in.

I rest my case.

P.S. Please note that I say MOST bulk SMS services with cheap prices, and not ALL. So, please do your due diligence. Good luck!

My Oga at The Top Slipup – Lessons for Bulk SMS Providers in Nigeria

We all laughed when we saw the video of Mr. Shem Obafaiye, the Lagos State Commandant of the Nigeria Security & Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC). The video is now popularly known as “My oga at the top.” But in laughing and ridiculing the poor man, let’s not forget that the event contain lessons for all of us. Here’s my own lesson, especially for bulk SMS providers in Nigeria…

1. Always do the right thing – Mr Shem claims that Channels TV that conducted the interview didn’t give him a pre-questionnaire as their job demand. The right to do would have been to ask them for it or even verbally ask the Channels TV crew the kind of questions he will be asked so that he can be prepared to answer them well. I’ve been interviewed on TV before and it wasn’t easy for me at all even though I had every information at my fingertips!

2. When in doubt, just say you don’t know – This whole thing wouldn’t have happened if Mr. Shem had humbly accepted his ignorance and say, “I’m sorry, I don’t have that information at this time, when I get back to work, I’ll confirm and issue a press statement.” We are all human beings, we would have understood. And for those who wouldn’t have understood, that would have been their cup of tea!

Now, what are the lessons for Nigerian bulk SMS providers? It’s clear: always do the right thing and always tell the truth. I see many adverts online claiming that you could buy bulk SMS for 60 kobo and so on but when you click over, they say you have to buy a million units of bulk SMS to qualify for that. Why not state that in your adverts?

So many Nigerian bulk SMS providers don’t inform their customers beforehand that they deduct different units for deliveries to different networks. Many providers put logos of churches, political parties, and top companies on their websites as their customers when, in fact, they have no business dealing whatsoever with these organizations.

At times, their sms credit will finish with their foreign providers and customers will get “Message Failed” error message, when you call them, they will lie. And so on and so on.

Let me tell everyone this: In the end, the last bulk SMS business standing as far as the bulk SMS industry in Nigeria is concerned will be the honest guys. Mark my words!

Bulk SMS Marketing – How to Turn Its Biggest Limitation To Your Own Advantage

So much has been said about the biggest limitation of bulk SMS being the limited space within which you have to communicate your message, especially when compared to email. But you can leverage that “limitation” and turn it to your advantage.

How? Here’s how: The limited space of bulk SMS forces you to communicate your most important message. You know, we communicators and marketers tend to include a lot of fluffs and unnecessary words in our messages. Twenty years ago, that wouldn’t have mattered much, but in the age of interruption and attention-deficit we now live in, that’s unforgiveable. People don’t have the time and patience to wade through your ramblings to get the core of your message.

What that means is lost sales, failure, money down the drain, and time and energy investment loss. So, in a sense, bulk SMS’s limited space feature is actually a blessing in disguise.

For instance, look at this article. Look at its intro. As far as effectiveness is concerned, it’s a waste of space. Why? The first paragraph doesn’t contain the core of my message as far as this article is concerned.

Now, assuming I wanted to communicate what I’m writing on now via SMS, I’ll be forced to eliminate fluffs and communicate my main message thus:

“The biggest limitation of bulk SMS is the limited space you have to convey your message. But you can turn it to an advantage by delivering your most important message and doing away with unnecessary words.”

See? That’s what this article is all about. That’s the priority. Every other thing is just mere commentary.

You should take the advice of the two great brothers Dan and Chip Heath – the authors of the awesome book, Made to Stick, “To strip an idea down to its core, we must be masters of exclusion. We must relentlessly prioritize.”

Bottom line: To turn the limited space of bulk SMS to an advantage, communicate your most important message and leave out every other thing. That’s what works now, that’s what’s been working before. And that is what will continue to work to bring you the results you desire because it is based on a timeless principle.