Developing relationships with customers is a time taking process as it requires repeated positive experiences, consistent good service, and care on behalf of the brand. If you want to connect with your customer, you don’t need to sit and wait till they come to you. You have to be proactive and go where they are.
People are busy and they rarely have time to sit and go through emails. Therefore, reaching them out through their mobile devices that are always with them and where they spend most of their time is a convenient, efficient, and more direct way to connect and build relationships.
Text messages have a 98% open rate that is five times greater than the open rate of marketing emails. Despite its interruptive nature, SMS allows businesses to communicate with consumers in the most intimate and instant way possible.
Scott Cohen, CEO, InboxArmy made following remarks about SMS marketing campaigns:
Given its interruptive nature, customers who sign up for SMS are more likely to convert simply due to the fact they’re okay with you interrupting them from time to time in a way email doesn’t.
This shows that prospects contacted via SMS marketing show a high level of engagement as compared to other types of marketing campaigns.
Moreover, SMS marketing is simple and affordable because there’s no need for flashy graphics or design teams. Instead, a well-written, concise message can yield results driving customer engagement and sales.
SMS marketing is highly scalable and allows marketers to reach a wider audience without investing much while adding a personal touch by sending tailored messages and offers that are reasonable on an individual level.
As people notice and read text messages faster than other messages therefore it can be the most convenient way to announce a flash sale, introduce a new product, or perform customer service tasks.
Keep reading this post to learn more about SMS marketing, its benefits, and how it works.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing or short message service marketing is a type of marketing campaign in which businesses communicate with their customers via direct text messages to deliver information about time sensitive offers, updates and alerts. They can send messages to only people who have consented to receive them.
Businesses are duty bound not to send messages to their prospects and customers without consent. If they do so, they violate law and have to pay heavy fines and penalties.
Types of SMS Marketing Campaigns
SMS marketing is not done solely to promote sales, there are many other purposes of doing it, too. Let’s discuss some of the main types of SMS marketing campaigns and their purposes.
Promotional SMS
Promotional campaigns have the sole purpose of boosting the sales of the brand. In such campaigns businesses share special offers, new product drops, or limited-time deals. For example, an ABC store wants to increase its sales during the holiday season, so it sends 20% off code to customers to evoke their interest to buy from them. Promotional messages are sent in bulk to many people and have least to no customization.
Transactional SMS
Transactional messages are sent to customers individually in response to triggers like placing an order or making a payment. These messages provide relevant information to customers to ease their purchase journey. For example, you have placed an order from an XYZ store. After your order confirmation, the store sends you messages to tell you where your parcel has reached, what is its tracking ID etc.
Customer Engagement SMS
Such campaigns are done to engage customers rather than to make sales. Engagement campaigns are put in place to gather feedback from the customers about their experience with the brand and to know about their needs and preferences. This helps businesses to gather important data about their customers. This data gives businesses the opportunity to improve their product and services according to the feedback from customers. Engagement campaigns can also be in the form of short surveys sent via text messages.
How to Initiate SMS Marketing Campaign
Although SMS is a powerful and effective way to connect with customers, yet it comes with many constraints. As it is the most personal form of communication as compared to other marketing types therefore customers have very low tolerance for unwanted messaging and over-communication.
To get maximum advantage from your SMS campaign make sure to SMS carefully and with a clear plan that fits well with your other marketing efforts instead of using it randomly.
Build and manage SMS Subscriber Lists
Before initiating your SMS campaign, you need a subscriber’s list who have consented to receive messages from your business and brand.
To obtain consent, you can use opt-in mechanisms like forms. Make sure that your customers must know what they are signing-up for. And as a business, you must abide by existing laws.
Moreover, give your subscribers an easy way to opt-out. For this purpose, with every message they receive, give them options like if you don’t want to receive messages any further, dial 1 and send it to 125577.
Also, update your subscriber’s list from time to time. To do so, remove the numbers from the list that show zero or least engagement. There is a possibility that subscribers might have changed their number, so it’s beneficial to remove such numbers from the list. Keep on adding new subscribers who have recently consented to receive messages.
Craft Compelling Text Marketing Messages
SMS marketing comes with many constraints and one is conciseness. You have to be very concise and effective. Different platforms allow different lengths of characters within which you can send messages. Most of the platforms have a maximum limit of 160 characters in which you have to deliver your whole point in a very engaging way.
To establish a stronger relationship with your recipient, it’s very important to personalize your message. You can use the name of the recipient, refer to past purchases or interaction to make the customers feel that the business knows them as an individual.
At the end of your every message, use a clear call to action to tell your customers what to do next. CTAs help customers decide whether they want to take action or not.
If you have included all these elements in your message, your campaign will obviously be engaging. But in addition to all these elements, you should test and optimize your campaigns, too. You can rely on A/B testing for optimization. For this purpose, make different copies with different keywords, offers, CTAs, and formats to find out which one resonates more with your audience. For example, you can test the “Get started” versus “Sign up now”, “Limited time offer” versus “Special deal” in your message copy to see which drives more conversions.
Choose the Right Time for SMS Campaigns
Before sending a message, understand your customers properly. Get information about where they live, what is their time zone etc. When you properly know them, you will be able to send messages at the right time and in the right way. For instance if your customer’s time zone is China Standard Time (CST, UTC+8) and as business your time zone is Hawaii-Aleutian (HAT), you have to send a message at a time when a marketing message is not considered inappropriate.
Moreover, analyze past data of your campaigns and determine the best time to send SMS messages to your customers. For example, if your past data shows that messages sent at 10.a.m showed better engagement than optimize your new campaign’s messages at 10 a.m., too.
Compliance and Regulations
One of the best practices for running SMS marketing is to stay compliant with regulations. Send messages to the subscribers who have expressed written consent. Sending messages without compliance or any misstep can lead to legal repercussions and a poor brand reputation.
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires businesses to obtain written consent before sending promotional SMS campaigns and make it necessary to add an opt-out mechanism in every single message.
For European audiences, follow General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). According to it, people must give clear consent before their data is used, and they have the right to see, change, or delete their information.
Best Practices for SMS Marketing
- Make sure to stay compliant with rules and regulations. As a responsible business, you are duty bound to send messages to only people who have expressed written consents to receive messages. Always provide your customers with easy options to opt-out of the campaign.
- As SMS is a more personal and interruptive form of communication, it is your civic duty to send messages at most appropriate time especially during working hours to avoid disturbing or frustrating your customers. Some countries even have laws about when you can send marketing text messages. For example, France does not allow SMS marketing on Sundays, holidays, or anytime after 10 PM.
- It is necessary to mention the name of your business and brand in text message because most of the SMS service provider send messages through short code rather than your business name or phone number due to which recipient won’t know where it is coming from until or unless it is mentioned clearly in the message
- Always add a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your text message as it urge people to take necessary actions like visiting your website
- Don’t use SMS marketing as the sole campaign for your business. Opt for omnichannel approach and use SMS to complement the rest of your digital marketing strategy
FAQs about SMS marketing
1. What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing or short message service marketing is a type of marketing campaign in which businesses communicate with their customers via direct text messages to deliver information about time sensitive offers, updates and alerts.
2. Why is SMS marketing more effective than email?
SMS marketing is more effective because people are busy mostly and they rarely have time to sit and go through email. Therefore, reaching them out through their mobile devices that are always with them and where they spend most of their time is a convenient, efficient, and more direct way to connect and build relationships. Moreover, Text messages have a 98% open rate that is five times greater than the open rate of marketing emails.
3. What types of SMS marketing campaigns can businesses run?
Businesses can run all types of marketing and sales campaigns via SMS but the most common campaigns are promotional, engagement and transactional.
4. Do customers need to give permission before receiving SMS messages?
Yes, legally businesses are duty bound to send messages to only those people who have expressed written contents to receive messages. Otherwise, they can face heavy fines and penalties.
5. How do I measure the success of my SMS marketing campaigns?
To track the success of your campaign, keep an eye on the metrics like open rates, click-through rates, and ROI. The higher the value, the more effective the campaign is. Moreover, some platforms provide analytics dashboards for easy tracking.
