How to market an SMS appointment reminder service?

[AppointmentSMS]

Hi everyone,

I would like to ask for your advice and ideas on how I can market my service - http://www.AppointmentSMS.com.au.
It's an online SMS appointment reminder service, and can be useful for a large variety of businesses that deal with customer appointments.
I think that my biggest hurdle is that most business owners who would benefit from this kind of service don't know that SMS reminder services exist, or think that they're too difficult or expensive.
I have tried an email marketing campaign, as well as a direct mail marketing trial. I'm in the process of setting up an affiliate program that will hopefully help spread the word out.
I'd love to hear any thoughts or suggestions on how else I can market my product

Cheers,
Michael

[v2Media]

I'm surprised the marketing gurus haven't responded here Michael. So I'll put my 2c up and we'll see if it stimulates further discussion.

When you made your first intro post Michael, I checked out your website, how your site ranked for "SMS reminders" at Google, and checked out the competitors that ranked in the top ranking sites for that key phrase. Being a web professional, I'll make a few points about your website. Here's my first impressions..

You have a lot of competition for a service offered by many other businesses. The primary benefit that you give top billing to on your website "Reduce No-Shows With The Easy and Affordable SMS Reminder Service" is used by at least 2 competitors in the first page of results. It's a diluted, not so unique product advantage. I have never experienced a customer that 'forgot' to attend a meeting, so there's no value in that primary benefit to me. I haven't heard of anyone complaining about no-show appointments either, so I doubt this is an effective sales point.

In reading your service's features and comparing to the competition, what caught my eye was the feature to import contacts/reminders from Outlook. I like systems that integrate. It saves time and time is money. Because there's a lot of competition, I believe web visitors that are in the market will be focused on price comparison. However most of your competitors don't display pricing openly. This is another advantage you can exploit on the homepage.

What may be an effective lead generation tool is a feature on the homepage to send a free sms to demo how efficiently your service works. Obviously any free SMS service is open to exploitation, so you'd have to capcha the form. To send the SMS, the visitor would have to enter their name and email address and this is the lead you can follow up on. Perhaps tie it in with the free sign-up process where the sms test sends the visitor their logon details to their new account. This gives the dual benefit of allowing the visitor to test your service and making it very, very easy to start using because they already have an account.

Perhaps run a cronjob at the end of each week for unused accounts created during tests...

[JakeThomas]

In addition to what Mark has said, have you considered working your way through niche markets?

When writing up your marketing plan perhaps spend a bit of time in each industry and illustrate the benefits to that particular industry, that will show you as a professional to them and allow you to target your advertising material specifically. For example, you could send a direct mail marketing letter to hairdressers and within that letter speak about the industry, the frequency of no show, the current methods many hair dressers use (calling clients) and then show how the SMS service can help reduce staff time calling clients in addition to helping prevent no shows.

You can then tie the advertising material into specific landing pages on the website to make it look like you specifically assist them in particular.

[Chris Bates]

Hey Michael,

I could, at this stage, probably only re-iterate what Mark has already said.

Quite bluntly, your website is crap. Would I buy from your website? Unlikely, unless there were no other options. I will ALWAYS go for the supplier who appears to make it easy for me, aesthetics and UX on the sales front is a big decision point for me (personally). I'm a busy business owner, I don't have time to wade through hard to read websites - I'll just look for an easier source of what I need.

On to something a bit more constructive, I don't think Mark was 100% on the money with regards to your value proposition. Mark you've related to it in your shoes (which is fine), but I'm assuming that low-volume consultants aren't the target market here - more so high volume service providers (dentists, hairdressers, etc). The type of people where no-shows ARE a problem and DO cost money.

BUT, what I do agree with is that it's diluted and weak. Quantify it!

Easy & Affordable SMS Reminders
Proven To Reduce No-Shows By 95%, Savings Your Business $1000's In Lost Revenue Each Month

Marks also alluded to a good point about what makes your product unique - integrating with Outlook. A feature, now how does it benefit your target market?

Save time & reduce double handling with Outlook integration

Marks idea of a demo SMS is worth considering too, as it is a lead capture. I'm not sure in the value though, I know what an SMS looks like so I don't know why I would want a demo of it? Perhaps instead do a free trial, or a free entry level package.

Think about places like mailchimp, you can have a free account for up to 1000 subscribers. Would it really cost you that much to allow people to use your service for free up to 5/10/15/20 reminders per month (or whatever)?

Also spotted a simple calculator on the website, a good selling tool you could use more prominently.

Lots of things that could be done, really. I, as always, would suggest looking at your website first and foremost. Alarm bells are ringing for me that that's your leaky bucket - spend all the money in the world on advertising to get traffic there, but the water will keep running out of the holes.

The real question, despite all of our advice, is what resources do you have to fix it? Maybe not something you want to share on here, but start thinking about for yourself.

[v2Media]

Chris, I have clients and friends in appointment based service industries. I haven't heard of no-shows being a big problem. The odd customer forgetting here and there, but nothing causing a worry. In talking about business problems, it doesn't come up. There must be industries that do attract a lot of no-shows that I'm not aware of, but awareness is the first step so they say....

The sms trial obviously isn't to check out what the texts look like (geese, did you wake up on the wrong side of the bed this morning?). More importantly it's a lasting impression from the site and a chance to assess the quality of service.

I totally agree on the website needing refinement. But jebus - you should check out some of the atrocities turning up in the results for SMS reminders!

[JakeThomas]

Chris wakes up on the wrong side of the bed every morning

[v2Media]

Beach time?

[AppointmentSMS]

Hi guys,

Thanks very much for your input and honest feedback
I'm a software engineer, so although I'm good at making stuff "work", perhaps I'm not so good at the visual side of things.

Having said that, I did submit my site to a few web design review forums when I first launched it, and the feedback I got there was generally good, so I'm interested in why you think the site looks "crap" Chris Could you please elaborate on what specifically you don't like about it, and why 'alarm bells' were ringing for you when you visited. I'm all ears to any constructive criticism you can offer

Also, I'd have to disagree Mark with your opinion on how important the reduction of no-shows is to appointment based businesses. Almost all of my current customers continue using the service once they start, and many have told me that it's been very valuable to their business, so this to me indicates that no-shows are something that these kinds of businesses consider.

There are quite a few publications on the internet, mostly regarding the medical industry, that show SMS reminders are very effective at reducing no-shows. So although I can understand Mark that in your case it's perhaps not so useful, I do believe there are many different types of businesses that benefit greatly from this technology.

Your advice and answers have certainly given me something to think about and consider, as I try to spread the word about my business, so thanks again guys for responding

Cheers,
Michael

[JakeThomas]

Just to reiterate that point Michael - I agree completely and hear it quite frequently from my clients in service industries, that now shows are quite expensive and frustrating. Especially to higher prices ones (such as medical as you mentioned).

[Chris Bates]

Hahaha sorry Mark, wasn't having a go at you Sick household = little sleep = grumpy Chris! I still love ya Mark!

I do wonder if the "no shows" isn't a problem that comes up because it doesn't exist, or if people aren't aware it's a problem? Like you've said, awareness is the first step - just look at our industry and how much education is put into making our clients (or potential clients) aware of what can be improved upon. That's worth food for thought though Michael, do businesses understand that no-shows are costing money over time - or do you need to start educating as well?

Michael regarding the website, the aesthetics just aren't appealing - they look dated. Now granted I'm biased, people with a real need are more willing to go to the effort to find their solution - but it's friction none the less.

Your copy isn't bad at all, it's just not all that pleasant to read. It's all quite packed in together, unbalanced vertical spacing, etc. My eye travels oddly, I go straight to the picture, scan the testimonials, scan the list headlines, and end up on a girl with her bra showing through her top. But that's all aesthetics and making people more likely to read your message, my "alarm bells" were more about your missed opportunities.

I don't feel there's enough emphasis on action, I'd be interested to look at your stats and see how people are browsing the site (or if they're bouncing). I'd assume it's a safe bet that most your customers haven't used SMS Reminders before, so the thought of just "jumping in" for a free trial might intimidate them. In which case, 5 free SMS credits probably doesn't entice them much.

Even if I was confident in taking action, 5 free SMSs doesn't seem like much of an opportunity to evaluate a product to me. Then what? I have to start paying just to see if it's the right solution for me?

How much effort is involved in moving to a SMS reminder service? How much time will I need to set it up? Yada yada yada, lots of objections could come up with something like this.

I can't give you the answers unfortunately. That involves many hours of consultation and brainstorming - but I hope I have you thinking a bit anyway. Really drill down into what your target market are thinking, what questions they're asking themselves, etc. A website is so much more than how it looks or how usable it is.