Convergence Plus Journal

SMS GupShup enables users to create communities in a wide range of categories such as finance, entertainment, lifestyle, health, sports, technology, health, social awareness and so on. Users can then join the communities that they are interested in and can engage and interact with each other.

Convergence Plus spoke with Beerud Sheth, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer, SMS Gupshup to know more about the product, and its functions. Few Excerpts—

How does SMS GupShup work?

SMS GupShup is the world's biggest social SMS platform. It pushes the limits of the SMS protocol to go beyond personal 1-to-1 messaging to social messaging i.e. 1-to-N, N-to-1 and N-to-N messaging. The platform enables creation of Mobile Communities and Reply-All Chat, a revolutionary product that allows people to use SMS for communication in smaller groups. Mobile communities allow people to create large groups and broadcast messages to them using just SMS. SMS GupShup today has almost 40 Million users with over 3 million groups and communities that share content on topics such as finance, entertainment, lifestyle, health, sports and technology. Brands and enterprises use the service to connect to their customers. The unique Reply-All Chat service enables the CC like functionality of e-mail on SMS and allows multiple people to chat simultaneously in smaller groups. Carriers are using this service today to increase ARPU and offer their customers a truly mobile solution for social networking.

How does it help in targeted advertising and focused messaging?

The SMS GupShup platform is a must-have tool for brands and advertisers. SMS GupShup enables both massive reach and deep engagement, both of which are critical to the success of any brand.

The massive reach comes from the fact that the mobile medium provides direct and personal access to anyone, anywhere, anytime – there are 600+ million mobile subscribers in India. In addition, demographic and behavior data enables better targeting compared to mass media. The deep engagement happens through the creation of mobile communities, which enables brands to connect with and engage interested users on an ongoing basis through interesting content, games, contests, polls etc.

Mobile communities are a powerful way for brands to engage their customers on an ongoing basis, as well as increase the customer base through viral growth. Engagement drives loyalty, converting customers into advocates, driving repeats & referrals- which can be far more effective than regular advertising. Brands can get direct feedback from their customers as well as inform, interact and transact with them.

Brands have so far been running SMS campaigns and creating mobile communities. However, there is a new opportunity that has emerged in the form of SMS Applications. These apps can be customized based on the brand’s needs, and as the marketing fraternity recognizes the power of SMS in this country, the demand for customized apps and solutions will keep growing.

Any USP of the product that you would like to share.

We see mobile as an emerging medium in addition to the tremendous growth opportunities at the bottom of pyramid. Today, there are about 1.5bn web users around the world vs. 4bn+ mobile subscribers. The gap keeps getting bigger every year, especially in countries like India. These metrics all point towards the need for a service that could connect hundreds of millions of individuals who have nothing but a basic handset.

Besides voice, the only other feature that works on every single handset is SMS. This is what makes us so unique. By removing the limitations of SMS, we believe we can recreate services that have so far only been available through the web, and make it accessible to the lowest common denominator.