Johannesburg, 07 Aug 2013
Bulk SMS communication annoys customers and costs businesses a fortune. SMS bundles may be punted as cost-effective, but that is because until now, it was the only mass communication tool available to businesses. "At 18 cents per SMS, the cost of bulk messaging for businesses across South Africa is over R1 billion per year," says Andrew Cook, CEO of Smoke Customer Care Solutions.
"Our clients kept asking us for a cheaper bulk SMS provider. So we thought, why not stop SMSing altogether? We realised the answer wasn't to do the same as everyone else at a cheaper rate, but to create an entirely new platform that would appeal to customers and would be more cost-effective for businesses at the same time."
Whether businesses want to inform their customers of new products, promotional sales, transactional messaging, latest competitions or any other marketing information, they can now do it all on a dedicated mobile platform called Notafy.
Pay per subscriber at no extra cost
Notafy is a mobile app that is revolutionising communication by allowing businesses to pay per user instead of per SMS, which means unlimited messages at a fraction of the cost. As head ofSouth Africa's leading CEM solutions company, Cook contends: "Companies have been spending millions on mobile SMS communication, but with little direction and mostly at the expense of irritating their customers. Notafy works on a subscription basis, so it cuts the cost and stops the irritation."
Just a few years ago, WhatsApp began changing the face of social instant messaging. Today, it is the most popular IM app. It seems that Notafy is taking it one step further, making the mobile app platform accessible to businesses so that they can have branded space on their customers' mobile phones. This includes many of the non-smart older models because Cook did not want to limit the app's reach. Instead, Notafy has been designed to work on all mobile phones with Internet access. Business will be able to use an API to what they are currently using to push messages via their bulk SMS provider - so there is no change on the business side. Customers are automatically invited to install the application and this takes less than one minute.
What is in it for the consumer?
They no longer get those annoying random SMSes in their mobile inbox. They can enjoy a dedicated platform that allows them to interact with their favourite service providers, brands and businesses. Consumers can personalise the content they want to receive so that it is relevant and easy to use. This means they have more power to engage with businesses according to their needs.
"If, as a business, you are able to communicate with your customers in a way that suits them, you'll have far greater impact and will be able to build better customer relationships. That's what Notafy is all about," adds Cook.
To find out more, contact: kandia@mynotafy.com | (+27) 11 568 0728 | www.notafy.co.za
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