FREE SMS Zimbabwe allows sms signature advertising on every outgoing message. FREE messages being sent by registered users are limited to 100 characters leaving the 60 (A single message has 160 characters) for commercial advertising. Companies can then buy this advert space (60 characters) and have advert campaigns attached as a signature to the initial 100 being randomly sent out to millions of users thus capturing a heterogeneous market. See the example below this table:
| Quantity | Pricing (rate) |
| < 1000 | N/A- min 1000 |
| 1000- 9999 | 1.0 c/msg |
| 10 000- 19 999 | 0.95 c/msg |
| 20 000- 49 999 | 0.9 c/msg |
| 50 000- 99 999 | 0.85 c/msg |
| > 10 000- 19 999 | Contact Us |
How Does It Work-Example
Nkomo and Shumba are one of the many users using our FREE SMS service for texting while XXX Bank is a client that has subscribed to our SMS Signature advertising service. On this occasion, XXXBank has opted for the weekly subscription package. FREE SMS Zimbabwe has prepared the following 60 character sms signature on behalf of XXXBank for the duration of the week:
0.00% interest rate loans at XXX Bank for the first 6 months
Now Nkomo like many other users logs onto www.text.co.zw and texts his Friend, Shumba the following message:
"Shumba, are we still set for our meeting at 12 tomorrow."
When the above messages gets delivered to Shumba, it will look like:
Shumba, are we still set for our meeting at 12 tomorrow- 0.00% interest rate loans at XXX Bank for the first 6 months
The XXXBank advert goes out as a signature not only on Nkomo’s message but on all the 5000 messages being sent out every day. This number is increasing at an exponential rate (This figure was measured on Tuesday the 26th of April 2011). This means the advert will be seen by 5000 readers not forgetting the forwarded messages. With potential thousands of users texting to friends and family for FREE at any given day and time, signature adverts can potentially reach thousands of users with a 94% readership rate. Research shows that:
> Text messages have a 94% read rate!
> 90% of texts received are opened within 3 minutes
> 25% of text messages received are forwarded to other users who can alternatively forward to others and so forth. When the message contents are particularly interesting or the message is written in an interesting way then the forwarding rate can easily reach 40%
> Compared to the ineffective email or bulk email advertising with bounces and spam etc, text message campaigns have cost savings of up to 500%
>Offers sent via text convert 10-20 times higher than email/direct mail.
> 90% of all cell phones in Zimbabwe can be reached via sms.
> Approximately 12% of mobile subscribers who receive a text advert always respond to it.
> Text messaging campaigns increase customer acquisition by 5-15%.
> Over 90% of Zimbabweans will not leave home without their cell phone.
> Everyone including big companies is going mobile thus capturing a potentially growing market.