SMS Short codes – Broadcast your message in bulk | Hacker News Reader

SMS Short codes – Broadcast your message in bulk

plivo.com

31 pointsdhfromkorea27 comments

I don't understand why anyone would use this. I've never been anything but angry when I received a text message from a business. I've never met anyone who likes receiving text messages from businesses.

I hear you. We all hate SPAM!

In the US, short-codes are helpful for B2C SMS communication. US has many regulations on using a regular phone number for sending SMS via Applications and APIs.

For starters, a shortcode allows you to send 40 sms/second which is not allowed using a regular phone number.

We have tried to document some of the differences and cases when a shortcode is helpful: http://plivo.com/faq/shortcode/what-is-the-difference-betwee...

You haven't answered the question. Why is someone going to be happier to receive SMS from a short number than from a long one?

You didn't ask that question, nor did anyone claim that as near as I can see: only that there are clearly usages for sending text messages to users, and that short codes are better in at least some way (such as indicated here: sending large quantities is more easily possible).

That said: I'll bite (in case anyone else reads your message and gets confused); as a user who deals with a bunch of services that send text messages (Bank of America, Equifax, AAA, Google, AT&T, UCSB, Pingdom...) I consider the ones where I get some random long number infuriating if the number isn't at least constant for me (as I can't add it to my address book), unprofessional (it would be as if someone hosted Apple's website on their Geocities account), and even "risky" (as the numbers are usually different for different carriers, and as mentioned even tend to randomly cycle, there's no reasonable way for me to know that it isn't someone playing a prank on me when I get the message; yes: SMS is somewhat spoofable, but replying to a short code, in my understanding, is not subject to those problems).

Hipchat is a notable service that seems to pick random phone numbers to send SMS notifications. It can get really confusing when they split notifications over multiple messages, and the carrier drops or delays the first message or two that tell you it's from Hipchat — subsequent messages do not indicate who it is from.

You can have any preferences you care to, but it's valuable to assimilate the fact that many people don't share them.

There are many use cases for B2C text messages where the customers will be ecstatic to get the message. An example near and dear to my heart: many people appreciate automated appointment reminders. e.g. "Reminder: Fido's appt with Vet Bob is at 3 PM Tuesday. Text back 1 to confirm or 5 to cancel."

One of my most common customer support inquiries is "Bob Smith came in for his appointment today and said he didn't get a reminder for his appointment like usual. He was upset. What gives?"

I think it depends a lot on solicitation. If the message is not providing value to the recipient then it's obviously intrusive. This is a much more powerful effect than normal since texting is so intimate. That said, it's quite likely that in circumstances where the sender represents someone with the interests of the recipient in mind then it can be reassuring. Consider, for instance, reminders about an appointment with your dentist. Totally automated system, needs a shortcode at scale, but very trustworthy.

Texts from companies can be great when they're informational, e.g. parcel tracking, appointment reminders ('the engineer will arrive in the next 30 minutes') and so on. But these are all better IMO when they are accompanied by an actual real phone number that you can contact in case of a query. So in my eyes, short codes are worse.

How about these use-cases:

* Reminder to take your medication

* Alerts for urgent municipal job opportunities

* How far away is my nearest bus?

* Reminders to take your new baby to get vaccinations

* Motivation to quit smoking

* Interactive customer service / hotlines / health lines

We send text messages to millions of people who certainly appreciate (date I say, love) getting them.

Absolutely, an unsolicited SMS would drive anyone mad, but they're also incredibly low-friction and useful for appointment reminders.

Case in point, Ramit Sethi regularly holds one-off sales webinars and ends all (?) of the RSVP ("give me your name and email") funnels with an optional, "Would you like to receive an SMS reminder before the webinar begins?"

There's enough of a B2C trust relationship that I don't mind giving up my phone # for a one-time reminder to join the webinars when they begin. It's way simpler than putting a low-priority event like that on my calendar and probably quite effective at converting more people to join the webcast.

Compare that to some O'reilly webcasts that advertise via an initial email, have you RSVP by filling out a 7 or 8 field survey, and then still forget to send an email reminder that the webcast is starting. I'm mentally exhausted and I also miss the event.

Seems like it works out to be $200 more than Twilio to purchase a random code through Plivo. But if you manage your own lease it's $200 cheaper. I hope I didn't screw up the price comparisons. Might make a difference since it all comes from http://www.usshortcodes.com

A shared short code seems to better for now if you are more price conscious :)

That is only for the first quarter. In fact, if you compare the rental fees, Plivo is $300 cheaper per quarter.

If you compare the outbound SMS rate, Plivo is 30-40% cheaper than similar services out there.

Rental-fee: $2700/3 months + (one-time $500)

SMS rate:

0.65 cents/sms (outbound) 0.50 cents/sms (inbound)

Also if you lease a new Short Code before March 31, 2014, we give you $1000 off your first invoice.

I see. Fair enough.

I have 2 short-codes through twilio and the 30-40% cheaper SMS rate grabbed my attention. I love twilio and never managed to get far when trying to figure out how to go direct to the carriers and get better pricing (and twilio was never interested in price negotiations, in fact I serve mostly non-profits and they wouldn't even give me their non-profit pricing). But with pricing pressure from plivo, maybe I can make some progress.

Would love to have you onboard with Plivo. Just for the record, we can port your existing short-codes from other providers at the same price points.

If that sounds interesting, feel free to reach me at venky@plivo.com

Hi, DH from Plivo here. We're excited to launch SMS short codes today. Feel free to ask any questions.

Why should I use you instead of Twilio?

1.tl;dr

For short codes, our pricing is better. Tech-wise, honestly SMS short codes do not have much room for any difference.

2. long versions (if you're curious, in general, why someone would choose plivo over others)

http://vincedasta.com/p/why-i-went-with-plivo/

http://clintberry.com/2012/why-plivo-cloud-is-better-than-tw...

happy to answer follow-up questions.

Thanks.

An open Question regarding short code sms to plivo and anyone else knowledgeable in the space:

Is there a reason why plivo has not implemented the ability for users to register keywords on a shared shared shortcode that plivo owns?

This would allow small apps that use a number of texts that don't justify a separate shortcode to operate under text "mykeyword to 78568" to register

Several sms providers do this, I've always wished someone like plivo or the likes would and I'm not sure what the issue might be? With a shortcode costing over a thousand a month I'd be one user who's sign up for a keyword based shortcode

Do I pay when I receive one of these text messages?

If you're referring to when you, as a consumer, receive a message from a Short Code in the U.S., you will pay the same amount to receive it as you would with a Long Code (the regular number).

On a related note, this article could be interesting: http://www.quora.com/Why-do-US-carriers-charge-for-incoming-...

Thanks. That's just what I was wondering. It influences my attitude about receiving bulk messages. I think that I pay less for e-mail, and it has better spam filtering, so that would be my preference.

Yup :-)

Is there an API for sending text to shortcodes?

Plivo and Twilio are two great places to start your texting journey.

Anyone know if the shared short codes would support outgoing MMS images, and what the total pricing would be?

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