Keynote Introduces Industry's First Benchmark on Performance of SMS Messages Addressed to Common Short Codes
-- Keynote Common Short Code Study Includes Top Findings on
Performance, Availability and Success Rates of SMS Messages
Addressed to Common Short Codes (CSCs)
-- New Study Sets Industry Standard and Competitive Benchmark for
Measuring Reliability and Responsiveness of Common Short Codes
-- CBS and Coca-Cola Rank First in Overall Reliability; Obopay
Ranks First in Overall Responsiveness
SAN MATEO, Calif.--(Business Wire)--
Keynote Competitive Research, the industry analysis group of
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq:KEYN), today announced the availability of the
industry's first study on the performance, availability and success
rates of SMS messages addressed to Common Short Codes (CSCs).
The Keynote Common Short Code Study is a first-of-its-kind study
that compares the round-trip delivery time and average availability of
SMS messages sent to 24 popular CSCs. Common Short Codes represent a
fast-growing channel offering companies direct communication with
millions of consumers through SMS. The Keynote study unveils
significant reliability and variability issues for many CSCs and
establishes the industry's first CSC benchmark.
Important highlights from the study include:
-- Benchmark for Response Time: The study found that the industry
average for a SMS response from a CSC was approximately 9
seconds. The fastest CSC responded in less than 6 seconds,
while the slowest averaged more than 19 seconds.
-- Reliability and Variability Issues Persist: Many of the CSCs
monitored showed significant reliability issues; several
reported more than 10 hours of outage while one reported more
than 50 hours. Also of note, response times for some short
codes degraded severely during the busiest hours of the day;
one CSC showed a 60 percent peak-period slowdown every day,
indicating a major capacity issue was present.
-- Wireless Carriers Can Impact Performance: The study findings
revealed that wireless carriers can have an impact on overall
performance. In general, CDMA carriers had slower send times
than GSM carriers, and for some short codes, response time was
more than twice as slow via one carrier compared to another.
"Common Short Codes have become a vital channel of communication
for companies using the mobile Web," explained Nisheeth Mohan, product
manager of mobile at Keynote. "While it's surprising to see the
performance issues revealed in this study, companies can take steps to
optimize their service and minimize reliability and variability
problems. For the industry to successfully leverage the lucrative CSC
channel, competitive benchmarking and performance monitoring will be
imperative to continuously improve the end user experience."
Common Short Codes are four-to-six digit numeric codes to which
end users can send a text message for a host of applications such as
accessing or buying mobile content (e.g. horoscopes, games, ring
tones, coupons, etc.), voting for a favorite TV contest or
participating in a poll. Common Short Codes can be leased by any
company through the Common Short Code Administration.
The 24 popular common short codes monitored during the study
include: 4Info, CBS (NYSE: CBS), Chase (AMEX: CCF), CNBC (NASDAQ:
CNBC), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), Cosmopolitan, Elle Girl, Fandango,
Flycell, Google (NASDAQ: GOOG), NBC (NYSE: GE), NY Times (NYSE: NYT),
Obopay, Paypal, Pepsi (NYSE: PEP), Reuters (NYSE: TRI), Seventeen,
Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX), Thumbplay, Universal Music Group, UPS (NYSE:
UPS), USA Today, The Weather Channel, Wells Fargo (NYSE: WFC) and
Yahoo (NASDAQ: YHOO).
The top five common short codes for overall reliability (i.e.
availability and the number of outage hours) and overall
responsiveness (i.e. average performance, carrier consistency,
performance variability and load handling capability) are as follows:
-0-
*T
Overall Reliability
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Site and CSC Score
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 CBS (99888) 1000
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Coca-Cola (2653) 1000
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3 Chase (24273) 991
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 NY Times (698698) 988
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 Obopay (62729) 988
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T
-0-
*T
Overall Responsiveness
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Rank Site Score
----------------------------------------------------------------------
1 Obopay (62729) 984
----------------------------------------------------------------------
2 Wells Fargo (93557) 938
----------------------------------------------------------------------
3 NY Times (698698) 924
----------------------------------------------------------------------
4 Thumbplay (48000) 895
----------------------------------------------------------------------
5 Chase (24273) 891
----------------------------------------------------------------------
*T
Methodology
The Keynote Common Short Code Study was compiled using Keynote
Mobile Application Perspective (R), a commercially available SaaS
(software-as-a-service) product. SMS messages were sent to each of the
24 common short code addresses every hour for a four-week time period.
Measurements were taken from New York and San Francisco over AT&T,
Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon networks during the four-week time
period. The round-trip delivery time was then calculated, replicating
the end-user experience.
Availability and Pricing
The Keynote Common Short Code Study is available for purchase. For
more information, please visit:
http://www.keynote.com/keynote_competitive_research/industry_studies/m
obile.html.
To learn more about Keynote's mobile quality test & measurement
products please visit:
http://www.keynote.com/products/mobile_quality/index.html.
Social Media and Related Links:
-- WEBINAR: Growing Text Messaging Revenues: Short Code
Performance Study:
http://event.on24.com/eventRegistration/EventLobbyServlet?targ
et=lobby.jsp&eventid=112075&sessionid=1&partnerref=fm&key=851C
D491098A2F5C3925F7666E191111&eventuserid=17356941
-- BLOG: Keynote Mobility Blog:
http://blogs.keynote.com/mobility/
-- WHITEPAPER: How to Implement a Successful Common Short Code
(CSC):
http://www.keynote.com/docs/whitepapers/Implement_CSC.pdf
(Long URLs in this release may need to be copied/pasted into your
Internet browser's address field. Remove the extra space if one
exists.)
About Keynote
Keynote Systems (Nasdaq "KEYN") is the global leader in on-demand
test & measurement solutions for continuously improving the online
experience. As an independent and trusted third-party, Keynote
provides IT and marketing executives with an unbiased view into their
Internet services from around the world. For over a decade, Keynote
has been providing measurement data and testing capabilities that
allow companies to understand and improve their customers' online and
mobile experience. Keynote has four test and measurement businesses:
Web performance, mobile quality, streaming & VoIP, and customer
experience/UX. In addition, Keynote's industry analysis group called
Keynote Competitive Research publishes proprietary studies measuring
customer experience and service levels across a wide range of
industries.
Known as The Mobile and Internet Performance Authority(TM),
Keynote has a market-leading infrastructure of 2,400 measurement
computers and mobile devices in over 240 locations around the world.
Keynote also maintains one of the most representative panels of online
users consisting of 160,000 consumers. Keynote's on-demand,
hassle-free infrastructure allows businesses to access services they
need, when they need them to pinpoint and fix mobile quality and
Internet problems before they impact customers.
Keynote helps over 2,700 corporate customers become "the best of
the best" by helping them improve online business performance and
mobile communications quality. Keynote's customers represent top
Internet and mobile companies including American Express, BP,
Caterpillar, Dell, Disney, eBay, E*TRADE, Expedia, FedEx, Microsoft,
SonyEricsson, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon and Vodafone.
Keynote Systems, Inc. is headquartered in San Mateo, California
and can be reached at www.keynote.com or by phone in the U.S. at (650)
403-2400.
Keynote, The Internet Performance Authority, Perspective and
WebEffective are registered trademarks and The Mobile and Internet
Performance Authority and True Experience are trademarks of Keynote
Systems, Inc. Other trademarks are the property of their respective
owners. (C) 2007 Keynote Systems, Inc.
Keynote Systems, Inc.
Dan Berkowitz, 650-403-3305 (Media)
dberkowitz@keynote.com
or
Citigate Cunningham
Susan Vander May, 415-618-8721 (Media)
svandermay@citigatecunningham.com
Copyright Business Wire 2008
