Telcos Can Tackle Unsolicited SMS Via Targeted Marketing- Juma

Although, issues relating to unsolicited SMS should not be dumped on the shoulders of the telcos alone, Nadeem Juma, founder and chairman of AIM Group, said that they have duties to perform to end the menace detested by majority of the subscribers. 

Juma who was speaking to Nigeria CommunicationsWeek recently said that a lot of companies offering value added services leverage the services of mobile network operators to market their services to targeted customers; however, telcos have the duty to adhere to subscriber’s satisfaction.

He said that AIM group has the technological competence to develop solutions to help telcos checkmate the rising cases of data miners breaking into their systems to perpetuate illegal acts. 

He said, “telcos are in business; they wouldn’t say no to a business that needs their services. We should not forget the activities of fraudsters or unethical hackers who ride on the network to perpetuate some cybercrimes.

“However, the telcos have a duty to prevent frivolous SMS. How can they achieve that? At the point of registering a customer, you can make provision for them to opt in for mobile marketing, alluding to receiving messages about your products/services, be it beer, food items, vehicles, hotels etc this communication can be sent by SMS, MMS, IVR, ring-back tunes, etc For instance, a certain message that appeals to a 60-year old, might be annoying to a 25-year old. That is why, through proper opt in, segmentation and our data analysis, you can make predictions about your customers.

“Proper SIM card registration provides you with such opportunity to know your customers well; that is why the regulator would always insist on getting it right. Some customer might prefer calling them to SMS. So engage with them in the manner they choose and not pushing communication or marketing messages blindly,” he said.

Juma added that a well filtered bulk SMS will also help dispatch messages at the right time.

“Some people would prefer late night SMS, others early in the morning, while others would say, send it during lunch time. Our technology will help you get it right. You can tie some benefits to your message: if you accept my SMS, I will give you one minute free airtime. So, you can monetize what you are doing with mobile customers. The packages have to be compliant and communicated directly to the consumers. If given opportunity in the Nigerian market for instance, we can help the telcos address come of these problems,” he added.