Phone users should get the message

IRISH mobile phone users want to be given more information about free text services, according to a report published yesterday.

Many people are unaware of the availability of text services that are similar to the 1800, 1850 and 1890 free and reduced rate phone services, said Brendan Foley, sales and marketing director of Txt4Info, a Dublin mobile marketing company.

Mr Foley said increased awareness of these text services would allow people to get better access to information and that, over time, every business with its own website would also provide a text message service to facilitate easier contact with customers. Txt4Info’s survey found that consumers were wary of sending text messages to the five-digit shortcodes used by many businesses. While texts to numbers beginning with 50 are free, like calls to 1800 phone numbers, mobile users who are uncertain of the cost of texts to other numbers are less likely to use them. The survey discovered a perception that sending messages to premium rate services was high cost and that consumers disliked paying a business to be part of a marketing campaign.

“Charging the consumer to interact with a brand through text is like charging them to look at an outdoor poster or listen to an ad on the radio,” Mr Foley said.

He added greater information would lead to text services becoming a common business tool and called on ComReg, the telecoms regulator, to promote the use of shortcodes. Ireland has the highest level of text message usage in Europe, which suggests that businesses looking to communicate with customers could be successful using the system. Txt4Info also found significant appetite among users for free or low-cost text services from established brands.

Txt4Info quoted the widespread take-up of a new service from the Crisis Pregnancy Agency, which recently launched a free text service and has recorded over 50,000 requests for information in the last three months.