SMS Information Alerts - Can They Compete Against Email and "Apps"?

SMS alerts are great because, obviously you can use them to remind you of import things like birthdays, insurance renewal dates and important events. They are also useful for keeping up with the football results, getting daily horoscopes or keeping tabs on your favourite celeb. However with the proliferation of web and mobile web some commentators are suggesting that apps and email signal the death knell for SMS alerts.

SMS is the most widely used data application with 2.4 billion active users. SMS has an open rate of about 98%. That means that 98% of SMS messages sent are opened. And as mobile phones tend to go with the users/owners everywhere these days there is a tendency for SMS messages to get read sooner than emails. When was the last time you deleted an SMS without at least opening it? That means SMS still contain a huge reach and incomparable "timeliness".

Barracuda Spam

SMS vs Apps

iPhone heralded the arrival of the "app" and the other major manufacturers were quick to follow suit. Apps are now prolific and there is an app for almost anything you can imagine. They are no longer restricted to iPhones and most smart phones now have a reasonably amount of apps with more being developed and launched on a daily basis. Apps are more flexible than SMS alerts and also allow for more interactivity and creativity. However when it comes to information alerts they have some drawbacks compared to SMS.

Firstly many need to be launched to get the information. This causes problems with phones that can only run one app at the time. It also means that users need to remember to check the app, defeating the purpose of an alert. Finally the fragmentation of the apps market means you may not be able to get the app/info you need on your particular handset. You may have a HTC and the app you need is only available on iPhone or vice versa. With SMS being available on 99% of all handsets you are almost guaranteed if the information you are looking for is available on SMS alerts, you can access it.

SMS vs Email

Email has the advantage of being available on both PC and mobile devices. Its growth has been phenomenal over the last number of years and its application widespread. Its flexible, free and easy to use. However it has a number of drawbacks in terms of information alerts. Firstly, it has become abused. A study by Barracuda Networks showed that in 2007 90% of all email sent was spam. This means many of the emails sent don't get through spam filters or don't get read. Another issue is timeliness. For things like insurance renewals where you can set the alert in advance this is not an issue. However if you want to keep up to date with say your favourite football team you need information seconds or minutes after it happens-goals or full time results. Emails may not get read for hours and by that time the information could be redundant.

SMS alerts-Good but not Flawless

Although SMS alerts have benefits over both Apps and email they are not without drawbacks. SMS alerts are not as glamorous as apps and not as widespread as email. This means you may have to look harder to find the info alerts you want. Also the alerts may come from a more obscure provider which sometimes (but not always) impacts on the reliability of the service.

Another drawback is cost. Most mobile networks are loath to give away free SMS, unlike email. That means you will usually have to pay for SMS alerts. This can be anything between £0.05 and £0.50 per message. Some other services charge even more. There are some providers who provide good quality info alerts for free. In the US try www.4info.com and in the UK look up a service from alert-me.co.uk. This brings about a final drawback for SMS. While email and Apps can generally be considered worldwide, SMS alerts are generally country specific. This is because network operators charge a premium for sending messages abroad (again unlike email). So if you are an American living the UK looking to stay up to date on you favourite NFL team you may find a provider for the service but find they wont send messages to your U.K. number. In this case you need to bring your US phone with you or rely on another source.

SMS Information Alerts - Can They Compete Against Email and "Apps"?