by anton | Mar 25, 2015 |
In South Africa and the African continent where Smartphone adoption is slow, USSD is a perfect way for brands to reach their customers instantly. Brands often find it hard to reach customers in rural areas through digital marketing. These customers are often consumers of more traditional marketing channels like newspapers, brochures, television and radio, and they don’t have access to laptops and computers. Cell phones are relatively cheap, thus the vast majority of these consumers own feature phones. The problem with feature phones is that they have limited capabilities. They might not always receive images or display them properly, and browsing the Internet can be a huge challenge as well. Luckily, this is where USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) comes in. Vodacom commercialized USSD in 2004 and since then many brands have reaped the rewards of this type of mobile service – like Boxer superstores and AVBOB. According to Mobitainment, Boxer stores were able to use a USSD driven competition to increase their sales from 300% to almost 1000% on selected products. Why? Because this form of mobile interaction worked like a charm for their target market. USSD Push and Pull messages works on every GSM capable handset. It is straightforward text – no glitz and glamour. Also, consumers are all very familiar with the working of USSD menus as most of them use these services to top up their airtime. Please Call Me’s are also USSD driven. It creates a two-way conversation between a customer and a brand in real-time – unlike SMS messages that are sometimes delayed. It also adds a personal touch to brand communication that...
by anton | Nov 24, 2014 |
Flexible, real time customer interaction Premium rated USSD for your business Premium rated USSD is a great new payment channel for your customers, and could be a brand new revenue stream for your business. The word “PREMIUM” in the mobile industry, refers to the rate / tariff that your subscribers pay in order to make use of your products or services. Premium rated USSD is initiated by the subscriber, and the subscriber is billed depending on the time spent on the USSD session. How does Premium rated USSD compare to Premium rated SMS? – It’s easier to use, as there are no keywords to remember. – Feedback to your subscriber is immediate. No more waiting for delayed messages. Another great advantage of Premium rated USSD is that it’s really easy to enable this, and there are no complex business rules and billing integration. As with standard USSD services, Premium rated USSD can be integrated into our Higate platform by making use of our SMPP or HTTP APIs. Please contact your account manager for more information on the different price bands that is available, as well as the costs & revenue options. Don’t get left behind, let Integrat (Pty) LTD help you and enable Premium USSD services...
