Are you looking for a way to strengthen your relationship with customers via mobile marketing and SMS?
If so, Octopush may be just what you’re looking for. This short message services (SMS) platform allows you to automate the process of sending messages to convert leads and build your customer relationships.
And it works to address challenges for everyone, whether you are a small or medium-sized business or a large enterprise; whether you are a marketing agency or an IT company.
If this sounds like something you might benefit from, read on to learn more about Octopush.
Octopush Pros and Cons
Pros
- Easy to set up
- Easy to use
- App integration
- Intuitive interface
- Good customer support
Cons
- Could use improvement in UX/UI
Octopush Features
One of the things that users love about Octopush is the features this platform offers. Generally speaking, it is a business SMS platform that allows you to send text messages to customers in nearly 200 different countries regarding marketing campaigns, follow-ups, reminders, surveys, and more.
However, by taking a deeper look at Octopush, you see all the things under that general umbrella of SMS that it offers.
SMS Messaging
Octopush is best known for its SMS messaging abilities. That is the main reason people come to use this platform, and there are plenty of reasons why. Here are the features and benefits you will enjoy with Octopush.
Bulk SMS messaging. Octopush has the ability to manage international mobile marketing campaigns for almost 200 different countries, all from the comfort of your home.
Real-time statistics. You can see how your campaigns are going any time of the day. Octopush also provides you with a dedicated account manager who is available via phone, via email, and via chat.
Customizable sender and messages. With Octopush, you can put your company name as the sender so customers can see exactly who the messages are coming from. You can also personalize all of your messages however you’d like.
Campaign scheduler. Using this platform, you can plan and schedule your bulk messaging for a certain time and date so that you can save yourself time and move onto other projects and campaigns.
Two-way message. Not only are you able to send messages to your customers via Octopush, but they can also reply and send messages back to you.
High engagement. With the ability to keep your customers informed of new deals, offers, and more via SMS, you can keep engagement high and keep customer interest in your company at the forefront of their minds.
Strong communication. Make your customers feel more important by sending them SMS messages. This opens up the conversation for issues they may have, which makes them feel more important and heard.
Voice SMS
If you prefer voice messaging to text messaging for your customers, Octopush allows you to do that. All you have to do is type a text message and the platform’s SMS Voice service transforms it into a voicemail message which then goes to either the landline or mobile of your customers.
Send customer reminders. Use the Voice SMS feature to send a quick reminder to your customers about a deal that you’re offering.
Choose male or female voice. Depending on your brand, you may want only a female voice, only a male voice, or maybe a mix of both. You can choose which sex you want to use when sending your voice messages to customers.
Length variation. Octopush allows you to be flexible with the length of your voice messages. Some may be quick reminders, while others may be longer explanations.
Quick automation. This platform automates messages at the speed of over 85 calls per hour, which is clearly much quicker than any human could ever do.
Receipt and reading statistics. See how your voice SMS messages resonate with people thanks to the Voice SMS receipts and the reading confirmations on the platform. This lets you see if this form of communication with your customers is best for them.
SMS 2.0
Looking to do more than just send your customers a text message with some information? Take your SMS messages to the next level with Octopush’s SMS 2.0.
This tool allows you to share a link to a mini mobile website that pushes your customers to take action immediately.
Clear CTAs. Getting a message to your customers is important, but it is really only important if it pushes them to take some sort of action. With SMS 2.0, your customers have a place to go and a way to take action on the information you send them: with a mini-website. They can go here to take a poll, redeem a coupon, and much more.
Increased sales conversions. Because SMS 2.0 has a call to action, companies find that there is an increase in sales conversions as a result of the SMS campaigns.
Better customer experience. With the addition of something for customers to engage in that goes beyond a text message, companies have found that customer experience levels increase. It’s far more fun to get a GIF from someone than a text message, isn’t it?
Virtual Number
One of the issues that companies run into with SMS messaging (especially messaging that goes international) is that communication can get difficult, disconnected, and possibly even lost for good.
This is why Octopush has provided the feature of a virtual phone number that is local. This helps to smooth out communication, especially when dealing with those customers who are in a different country.
Toll-free number. The number you get with Octopush does not require the use of just one single device and is toll-free. The number is not associated with a specific telephone line, which means it can be used and accessed from multiple devices.
Secure line. This line is safe and secure for companies to use, and for customers to interact with.
RCS Messaging
It is expected that soon, rich communication services (RCS) will replace SMS messages. This type of messaging will be richer and able to transmit in-call multimedia.
Octopush plans to implement this type of messaging into their services when it becomes readily available and used.
Here are some of the reasons that RCS messaging may be better for your company.
Branding. You can customize your messages with your brand and logo as opposed to just basic text.
QR Codes. You can send QR codes to your customers that allow them to take advantage of offers, coupons, bookings, and more.
Rich Content. Send videos, images, GIFs, polls, and audio to your customers with RCS.
Suggested Replies. Make things even easier for your customers by setting up suggested replies they can use when messaging with you.
Clear CTA. Suggest a variety of actions to your customers via calendars, maps, and more.
Insights. Gather data with metrics that are based on read receipts and actions taken as a result of the message.
HLR Lookup
Curious if the numbers you have listed for your customers are up-to-date and active?
Use Octopush’s HLR Lookup feature.
This will keep you from wasting time and money sending messages to numbers that are invalid or inactive and thus will make your data and insights more accurate. Any invalid numbers on your list will skew your results and show that your SMS messaging isn’t as successful as it actually is. Since you don’t want that, you’ll love the HRL Lookup option offered by Octopush. It will tell you whether a number is:
Active. You can check if a mobile number is active or valid.
Turned on. Is the number turned on? Knowing this can help you determine whether an SMS gets sent successfully.
Roaming. Is the recipient roaming? This feature helps you determine that, as well as what country they are roaming in.
Attached to a network. This feature lets you see the name of the customers’ network operator and what country the mobile number belongs to.
Octopush Pricing and Package Options
If you are interested in testing out Octopush before committing to purchasing anything, they have a free trial that gives you a sneak peek at the differences this platform may make in your company’s outreach.
Or, if you like how everything about sounds via what we shared above, and are ready to dive into the platform, here are the pricing details.
Octopush’s pricing is per SMS, and the prices change from country to country. There are options for bundles as well.
Because this is not an American company, prices on their website are listed in GBP and Euros.
To give you a rough estimate of what you’re looking at in U.S. dollars, here are prices (vary depending on exchange rates at the time):
- 300 SMS: $0.037/SMS
- 1,000 SMS: $0.035/SMS
- 2,500 SMS: $0.035/SMS
- 10,000 SMS: $0.034/SMS
- 50,000 SMS: $0.033/SMS
- 150,000 SMS: $0.032/SMS
If you plan to send more than one million SMS messages per month, Octopush has a Premium package that will be the best deal for you. With this package, each SMS message is $0.027.
The prices for sending text messages to the nearly 200 different countries that Octopush allows vary from country to country. You can look at the more detailed individual prices here. Note that they are priced via the country’s destination, not origin. So, regardless of where you are sending the text from, the prices listed on the page reflect where the SMS message is going (aka where the customer is located).
Another price package that varies from country to country is the virtual number feature. Each country that Octopush works in has a different setup fee to get things started as well as a monthly fee to keep things going.
The setup fees vary from 3 Euros (around $3.66 USD) for setup in the United States to 150 Euros (around $182.89 USD) for setup in Portugal. As you can see, that is quite a wide range.
The monthly fees also vary from 2 Euros (around $2.44 USD) in Canada to 150 Euros (around $182.89 USD) in Portugal.
Thus, Octopush may not be as great of a deal for someone living in Portugal as it is for someone living in the United States. Be sure to check the pricing for your country before deciding whether this platform is best for your company.
Octopush Reputation
Octopush is trusted by all sorts of tech marketplaces and review websites that specialize in taking a look at platforms such as this.
The reviews of Octopush across the board are good. There are some things that people really love about this platform, and only a few things it seems they would like to change.
One of the main reasons that this platform is well-loved is because it is easy to set up and easy to use. It takes less than 30 minutes to get Octopush set up and ready to send SMS messages out to customers. And, once you’ve got it set up, figuring out how to utilize the platform to make messaging easier for you take minimal time as well.
This is a huge bonus for busy companies that are looking to streamline the process of connecting with customers and are also looking for ways to make that communication more simple and less time-consuming.
The price of Octopush is also something that people are happy about. It seems reasonable for what you get, and customers unsurprisingly appreciate that.
The main complaint, it seems, is that Octopush is not as strong in UX and UI as it could be. The simplicity is nice when it comes to ease of use, but Octopush customers feel that it could be a bit more robust and offer additional features and an improved design.
Overall, Octopush has been well-received by all kinds of reviews and is a product that many people recommend.
Octopush is an SMS messaging platform that does much more than just help you send SMS messages to your customers. It also allows you to send voice messages, create mini-websites to share with them, and more. If you are a company for whom customer messaging is important, Octopush helps you achieve that with minimal effort.
For some companies, messaging with customers is a major driver of sales and an important way to establish strong relationships with customers that keep them coming back. This platform provides you a way to do those things, all while making things easier on your end.
Sounds like a win-win situation, doesn’t it?
For a reasonable price, you can get this SMS messaging platform that may have the power to change how your company communicates with customers.