What are SMS Forums?
Mteja enables you to set up SMS forums where your members can communicate amongst themselves using SMS. This is made possible via two-way messaging on the shortcode service. Forums can be used to conduct research and easily gather feedback over a service or product or as a notifications channel.
A forum can be closed or open. Open means members can join using a subscribe keyword, while closed means only the forum moderator can add members.
Features of SMS Forums
Subscribe Keywords: These are keywords such us; Join, Interested, opt-in, Yes, etc. that recipients can send to the shortcode in order to successfully join a forum.
Unsubscribe keywords: These are keywords such us; leave, opt-out, etc. that recipients who are already part of a forum can use to leave.
Moderator: This feature allows the owner of the SMS forum to monitor members’ activities. A moderator can add and remove members from the forum, as well as broadcast messages to all forum members.
Analytics: The feature allows the owner to view; the total number of SMS interactions, the number of members who joined or left the SMS forum, over a period of time i.e. daily, weekly, etc.
Automatic response: This is a message that is sent every time a member joins or leaves a forum.
Commercials
Below are the costs associated with setting up and running an SMS forum.
Toll-free shortcode
Toll free shortcode set up - KES 20,000 (caters to all networks
Monthly Maintenance per Telco (Safaricom, Airtel, Equitel and Telkom) - KES 20,000
2. SMS cost for every SMS
Every SMS sent by a forum member gets broadcast to every other member. The rate of an SMS is KES 0.90 cents, and is calculated as:
Total cost = (Total no. of forum members - 1) multiplied by the rate of SMS. For example; if your forum has 10 members, the total cost for each SMS received by your members = (10 - 1)* KES 0.90 = KES 8.1
Reach us at support@mteja.io to learn more about how this feature can benefit your business.