It’s easy to get overwhelmed when looking for a platform to run your SMS sweepstakes. Follow these tips and you won’t forget to ask vendors these important questions regarding pricing and fees.
1. Do I pay for each text message, even auto replies?
While some vendors charge you for each message, Sweeppea’s pricing includes all text messages. If you’re considering a vendor, make sure to ask if there are any additional fees related to sending text messages and auto replies. Many vendors charge a monthly fee with a text message limit.
2. Do I have to pay extra for participants or per campaign?
Other platforms offer plans based on the number of entries or texts allowed per month. This may limit your campaign. Our platform includes unlimited participants and unlimited campaigns. Regardless of the number of entrants you get or the number of campaigns you want to run, we’ve got you covered at no extra charge!
3. Do I need my own short code?
A short code is the “phone number” receiving messages. For example, if you ask readers to “Text WIN to 65047 to enter our sweepstakes,” the number 65047 is the short code. It’s a special, shorter phone number used specifically for bulk text messaging.
Various companies share the “phone number” or short code of 65047, but each company’s promotion has its own unique Sweepkey or keyword. So the word “WIN” in the example above is the Sweepkey and no other company would use the same word to collect entries.
Like others, Sweeppea uses a shared short code, which is ideal for short-term promotions. This helps reduce your costs as well. We do offer the option to buy your own short code, but, it’s much more costly ($15,000 or more). We only recommend this if your business will be running text promotions regularly in the foreseeable future.
4. Do I have to continue paying once my promotion has ended?
Once the promotion is over, you can download your data and close your account. If you want to keep your account active and your data available, however, there is a small monthly fee. You can also cancel at any time with one click.
5. What’s the difference between text message marketing and text sweepstakes?
A text message marketing platform is mostly set up for outbound messaging, to send special offers, deals, or coupons by text, for example. A text sweepstakes platform like Sweeppea, however, offers features specifically for building sweepstakes.
Since our software is built just for sweepstakes, it…
- Accepts entries by text
- Auto replies to confirm each entry
- Allows you to build Official Rules
- Allows you to build a custom entry form
- Hosts all forms and data for your campaign
- Draws winners immediately or at a set time
- Provides reports on entrants after the sweepstakes
With text message providers, you’ll be paying per month for a certain number of text messages. Our pricing includes everything (all features and unlimited texts) for the length of your campaign.
This is an important distinction because our pricing includes specific features you won’t get with a text message marketing platform.
Make sure you understand what you’re actually paying for before you sign up.
Launch your next SMS sweepstakes without the extra overhead by working with Sweeppea! To get started now, see features and pricing.