The trouble with short codes

The trouble with short codes is that they are freaking hard to get, not to mention expensive, tedious to acquire, and governed by stringent rules.  We at tagga started our quest to acquire the shortcode 82442 in Canada and the USA way back in April.  Five months later we are just now going through the final approval processes with Verizon and T-Mobile in the USA, any day now….

We had to shell out thousands of dollars in activation fees and are now locked into some hefty monthly fees.  We’ve gone through rigorous site examinations, testing, approval and certification processes, and have had services changes mandated to us.  We’ve been delivered lists of rules on words that cannot be sent in messages, lists of numbers barred from delivery, lists of phrases and terms that cannot be advertised, and list of rules for customer opt-in/opt-out.  It has been a harrowing five months, frustrating at times, but it will be glorious when I get those emails from Verizon and T-Mobile next week telling me (hopefully!) that our shortcodes are finally active.

We’ve gone through all of this for a non-premium shortcode!  Most shortcodes are actually capable of charging the user who texts to them!  The ordeal that we have gone through to setup tagga and allow our users to setup free SMS campaigns is partly why we feel like we are building a solid business.  Who wants to go through the trouble (not to mention expense) to setup an SMS marketing campaign that isn’t even assured to be succesful?  Users are starting to realize that texting to a short code can be free and that short code applications are becoming more prevalent.  Why not try a free SMS marketing campaign with tagga?  At the least you won’t have to go through what we did:)

Chris Richardson
tagga.com developer

Create SMS Campaigns - Standard Carrier Rates Apply

Last week we advertised on our front page that users could “Create FREE SMS Campaigns” using tagga.  It turns out we were mistaken and we would like to thank AT&T for pointing this out.  Even though tagga is completely free to the creator of an SMS campaign, we wouldn’t want users to think “they will receive something of value without a requirement of compensation”.  That being said, if you were to create an SMS Campaign using tagga, you wouldn’t have to pay for it.  We just can’t say that doing so would be “free”, “no charge”, “complimentary”, “without charge”, or “zero cost”.

We really should warn you that even though tagga does not charge for sending or receiving tagga SMS (some would call that free), all text messages are subject to standard carrier rates (definitely not free).  This means that one text message to/from tagga counts as one text message through your carrier and will be billed as per your contract with your wireless service provider.  It also means that your carrier doesn’t want to take flack for billing you whatever potentially extortionate per message rate they are currently getting away with.  Me personally, I am charged $0.15 per SMS I send over and above my one hundred free text messages, on a plan that already costs me $60 a month.  Weird, I pay $40 a month to Shaw for broadband internet and they don’t charge me per instant message sent with Adium.  Maybe Rogers should talk to them?

Chris Richardson
tagga.com developer

Email Newsletters

Personally, I hate email newsletters.  I rarely ever read them.  I usually find them smarmy and overly marketingish.  In fact, they mostly make me angry.  I consider them SPAM whether I’ve signed up for them or not.  What I really want to know about is something great, not that nothing really happened this month but you want to market to me anyway.

Sadly, I don’t think email newsletters are going away anytime soon.  They are a staple of internet marketing. That being said, you might as well do them right.  Check out this article on Creating an Effective Email Newsletter.

Chris Richardson
tagga developer

PR Idiots

Sanjay, tagga designer, pointed me to an interesting blog called ideasonideas by Eric Karjaluoto where I came across this post on Idiocy pertaining to PR.  I must say that I agree with what he has to say and would have had a similar reaction to him.  When it comes to PR, pushing press releases out there just doesn’t cut it anymore. Sure, sure, you are an “emerging market leader”, aren’t we all?  Getting your product or company name out there is not as simple as spamming people, which I find quite rude in general.  If I were running a startup, I surely would not waste money on a PR firm.

We are in a Web 2.0 world that no longer has any patience for PR 1.0.  Marketing these days is about conversation, social media, social networking, and, if you’re lucky, virality.  Consumers can now see past marketing fluff and grandiose statements.  What consumers want are quality products sold to them by real people who are plugged into their needs, their scene, and their problems.

Chris Richardson
tagga developer

Tagga on Techvibes

A couple of months ago Amielle presented tagga at the Techvibes.com career fair that went before Launch Party.  She gave the crowd her elevator pitch and got quite a good reaction.  Vancouver’s very own Techvibes wrote a little blurb about tagga and I think they nailed the essence of what we’re about.

Chris Richardson
tagga developer