Need a way to make a one-to-many daily announcement. How?

September 18, 2018 10:28 AM

I deal in (rare) vinyl records. Each day, I list 3 on my site for sale. When I list the records, I send a text to my subscribers (which I've gathered into a "Group" on my texting app, Textra). "Today's records are up!" and then they all have the same opportunity to purchase. Some literally sell within 30 seconds of being listed. Lately, multiple people have complained they're not getting the texts and they're missing out on records. I fear I need another solution, especially as the list grows, but what?

I would prefer to avoid Twitter or Instagram or any other social media (my business is not on Facebook or other outlets).

Is there another way to handle this scenario?

Obviously, I could solve the problem by just listing the records at the same time every day, but that's simply not desirable.

Many of my customers would not have a problem downloading a third party app, as long as it's free and available on all platforms. However, some apps I've checked, like Slack, allow people to also talk amongst themselves, something I need to avoid lest they start selling amongst themselves.

Also, services like Mail Chimp aren't of use because I wouldn't control the sending (things there get stuck in a queue and sent out at the Chimp's convenience).

Any suggestions?

Thank you.

posted by dobbs to Computers & Internet (14 answers total)

Have you considered sending an email? You don't need to use Mail Chimp. You could just make a group of contacts in gmail or something and send it that way.
posted by bbqturtle at 10:34 AM on September 18, 2018

How many subscribers do you have?
posted by caek at 10:35 AM on September 18, 2018

RSS feed.
posted by sammyo at 10:43 AM on September 18, 2018 [2 favorites]

The trouble with an ad hoc email list is that you may run afoul of anti-spam legislation where you live btw.
posted by Calzephyr at 10:54 AM on September 18, 2018

... and Canada's anti-spam laws, though seldom applied, have somewhat fiddly compliance and administration requirements. You'd probably not enjoy that.
posted by scruss at 11:13 AM on September 18, 2018

Is it not feasible to post the records at the same time every time you post them? Have your new record posts drafted and ready to go, maybe even automate posting at the exact same time?
posted by filthy light thief at 11:15 AM on September 18, 2018 [1 favorite]

Best answer: Send me the link, and I'll disseminate it. ahem Worth a shot.

An ad hoc email list will also have the same issue as a group text. Some folks are going to get the email nearly instantly, others may have it land in the spam folder or just suffer a slow server.

If people are OK with an app, maybe Telegram? Telegram has channels that are public + allow unlimited read only one-to-many messages from the admin(s).
posted by jzb at 11:16 AM on September 18, 2018

I use Textra and it's somewhat easy to inadvertantly blacklist a sender and then it seems like you're not getting texts unless you specifically search for the sender. It's easy to undo in settings once you realize it's happened.
posted by quince at 11:42 AM on September 18, 2018

Best answer: Some literally sell within 30 seconds of being listed. Lately, multiple people have complained they're not getting the texts and they're missing out on records.

Should you be auctioning records, or otherwise making them available for longer periods of time? Or a random drawing, to pick who gets first dibs? If things sell that quickly when people are missing out, I wonder if there's a solution on the business side rather than the technical side.
posted by Nonsteroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug at 11:52 AM on September 18, 2018 [6 favorites]

Best answer: I think NSAID is on the right track. I can't think of any generally-available mass communication medium that can reliably get messages to a group and have them all be received within less than 30 seconds of each other. Some people are going to get screwed just on the basis of their message showing up a tad later than someone else's. Possibly even the same people again and again, for geographical and networking reasons.

Some kind of drawing for the records seems likely to be the fairest way. Have a one-hour window in which interested buyers can put their claim in, then pick the winner at random if more than one person wants it.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 1:04 PM on September 18, 2018 [3 favorites]

Best answer: An artist whose work I like does this when she has work for sale:

She sends an email to every subscriber 24 hours prior to the sale with pictures of the pieces for sale, the URL and the start time of the sale. Then the sale goes live at the appointed time. It's not an auction, just a notice and then sale at the appointed time. It helps alleviate some of the worry of people not all getting their messages at the same time or not being near their computer when the notice of sale goes out.

Until the sale goes live, her sale page shows a "Next sale on [date] and [time]" or "Next sale details will post when they are available."

If you have a couple days lead time getting your sales ready, would that work?

Otherwise, that random pick from all people who've pledged to buy the item is also something I've seen artists use.
posted by crush at 1:41 PM on September 18, 2018 [13 favorites]

Why not send a message saying "records will go on sale at X time!" a day in advance?
posted by oneirodynia at 3:27 PM on September 18, 2018

Response by poster: Thanks for the answers, folks.

I think NSAID, crush, and AOANLA have it and I will combine those ideas for a solution.

Those who mentioned putting things up at the same time or announcing the time in advance -- I'm trying to play each day as it comes and not commit to a schedule beyond "daily".

Thanks!
posted by dobbs at 3:31 PM on September 18, 2018

What's wrong with a simple WhatsApp broadcast?
posted by turkeyphant at 6:44 PM on September 18, 2018