Mobilet.Cafe
Customer: Communication Projects Agency Mobilet
Situation
Communication Projects Agency Mobilet delivers a new service on the Moscow market: SMS messaging management. The service is dedicated to retail trade firms working on highly competitive markets such as pizzerias, fast food, etc. Mobilet.Cafe is an additional tool of marketing communication improving customer service.
However, the new service should be user-friendly and financially reasonable to attract clients. But only a few clients are ready to purchase an expensive special software product. It’s much easier to look for a company providing such service support, development and administration as well as consulting in this area.
Thus, the way to promote SMS messaging management system is to develop a special software product with maximally user-friendly interface and distribute it using ASP (application service providing) model.
Key objectives
- Development of convenient workplaces for SMS messaging organizers. The workplace should include settings of mailing groups, distribution schedule and status tracking settings.
- Easy-to-use tools for work with lists of mailings, receivers, key words, etc.
- SMS sending/receiving processing
- Easy step-by-step mechanism of mailing. Partly automated by mail templates and distribution on the basis of the existing ones.
- Automatic user payment and balance accounting
- Work via web interface from any PC connected to the Network
- Automatically generated reports on tariffs of different mobile phone operators; user data reports
Solution
Mobilet Agency carried out a competition among software development companies focused on .Net programming. The Agency chose Business Software as the contractor for this project and C-Gator software as the development platform.
Business Software worked out the interface conception successfully used in many subsequent projects. The system has the web-based user interface closed by the authorization page. The application administrative interface is combined with the administrative part of C-Gator. Thus, both interfaces have light laconic design without any superfluous elements.
In the first place, Mobilet.Cafe is unique software due to its functioning at the turn of computer and mobile phone technologies. The system is integrated with some special-purpose web services for work with SMS. Clickatell and smstraffic are used for messages sending; isms is used for receiving. The system users have no idea about codes, transfer protocols and gateways. The users simply create messages; specify receivers and time of distribution.
Also, the users should not think about the system administrating. Presently, the system is installed on the Mobilet Agency server. To start working with the system, the users place minimum amount on their personal accounts and then get access to the system. If clients have some doubt in the efficiency of the service, they can send and receive 20 messages for free, i.e. try Mobilet.Cafe test version. Clients can download the System User’s Guide from the web site. The user interface additionally contains help of basic functions.
Mobilet.Cafe is a convenient marketing tool. Groups of receivers can be generated from different criteria. Thus, campaign organizers can deliver messages to every target group. The system stores any number of groups and distributions.
Benefits
- One of the fastest growing and most targetable marketing service for dynamically developing companies.
- Personal contact with customers via SMS as the most popular mobile service.
- Flexible channel of targeted messages distributions.
- Availability to send messages to 183 countries and receive messages from 170 countries.
- High speed of distribution: sending 10 SMS/sec and receiving 20 SMS/sec.
- The SMS rate meets the user’s current tariff. Contact with a brand costs not more expensive than correspondence with a friend.
Architecture
Mobilet. Cafe is a multi-tire ASP.NET application created on the basis of the C-Gator software: web-projects management, integrated with multi-channel cellular communication operator.
Key capabilities
SMS sending
- Step by step process of messages creation and planning of time and queue of distribution.
- Flexible mechanism of mailing groups forming.
- Availability to create messages on the basis of templates created before.
- Availability to distribute mails on the basis of key words. Messages are sent to the users subscribed on a certain key word.
SMS sending via clickatell and smstraffic services.
- Page display of all system lists, sorted by the alphabet with filtering and sorting options.
SMS receiving
- Feedback with mailing receivers: SMS replies with key words.
- Automatic processing of the «Decline mailing» command, sent by a user.
- SMS reseiving via isms service.
Reports
- SMS rates for different mobile phone operators
- List of received SMS
- List of sent SMS
Administrative interface
- Easy procedure of users registration.
- User account balance management.
- View and change in the Inbox messages journal.
- Moderation: switch on/switch off messages moderation, setting moderator’s notification about new mailing, view of the mailing being moderated and sending approval.
Development technologies and tools
ASP.NET
VB.NET
MSSQL
XML
XSLT
MS SQL Server 2000
Web-service
Project implementation phases
Project start: April 2006
Project duration: 15 weeks
Project participants
Project manager — 1
Programmers — 3
Testers — 2
Technical writer — 1
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