What is SMS marketing? SMS marketing (sometimes known as text message marking), also known as text messaging marking, has quickly gained ground as more companies realize its power for customer engagement and recognition of its benefits.
Recent surveys project that the SMS marketing market will reach $12.6 billion by 2030, and experts believe SMS advertising will replace other forms of ads as the primary form of promotion. If you're eager to launch an SMS campaign, this resource provides insightful advice for getting underway.
SMS Marketing: What Is It?
SMS stands for Short Message Service, and text message marketing is its use to market brands, products or services directly to target audiences through text messages sent directly to consumers' mobile phones - usually for engagement or lead generation purposes but sometimes simply with revenue growth in mind.
Text message marketing takes advantage of SMS's widespread availability and ease of use to deliver targeted and timely promotional messages to recipients. SMS was initially popular when text messaging service first gained widespread adoption in the 2000s; its primary form was a short message service (SMS). SMS has been around even longer, with its first messages sent in 1992. SMS marketing can be defined as quick message services that involve businesses sending special offers, SMS updates or reminders directly to consumer mobile phones using brief texts.
Reasons For The Importance Of SMS Marketing?
Emails and letters may both be easily mishandled or marked as spam. Still, text messages have an edge in terms of engagement rates due to having filters for spam detection.
Later, we will talk more about that aspect. While whether recipients respond is ultimately up to them, you can ensure your message has at least been heard, which is half the battle won. Launching a text message marketing campaign is essential because of its versatility - even if you don't fully trust its effectiveness yet. It is okay if this has yet to sway your opinion.
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Essential Metrics Are Trackable
Texts sent without understanding where they will end up can quickly become an unbridled Wild West. With "read" receipts available today on IP-based transactional messages, text message marketing enables ecommerce businesses to monitor key performance indicators that matter the most for them and their business; companies will typically prioritize text message metrics in their campaigns such as:
- ROI: You can examine your return on investment throughout one or more drives. Your campaigns are more successful the more money they generate.
- Cost Of Acquisition For Each Subscriber: This one needs a more convenient acronym. This SMS marketing metric lets you see how much you paid to get a new subscriber. In other words, what was the total amount of money you had to spend on text message marketing before you could turn that lead into customer satisfaction? Was it more or less than the amount you typically use for other marketing strategies to get conversions?
- Rate Of Response: The person who took action after reading your SMS message is what matters to an SMS response rate, not who saw it. Who would click on a link, for example, if you sent it?
- Attrition Rate: Not all data related to SMS marketing is favorable. The attrition rate measures the number of people who unsubscribe from your promotional text messages. While some SMS subscribers will inevitably churn, they shouldn't be quitting in large numbers. If so, it could result from the material you're sending. It's also possible that you need to message more frequently. Later on, we'll go over the ideal SMS frequency in more detail.
- List Length: The contact list size, opposite the attrition conversion rate, indicates the number of active SMS subscribers you currently have. This number should continue to rise gradually.
- List Growth Rate: You can monitor growth every week or less frequently, say once a month or once a year.
Increase Your Interaction With Leads And Customers
Engagement with clients is one aspect of business relationships you cannot ignore. Text messaging marketing efforts increase customer engagement by inviting recipients to see your deals, book appointments or get shipping updates about upcoming products or services.
Acquaintance With Your Audience
No one intends to conduct private text conversations with everyone in your audience; that would likely prove too burdensome and real time-consuming. Instead, use SMS marketing campaigns to show survey distribution; these surveys can yield constructive feedback and insights into your target demographics. According to digital marketing data, 31% or more of your audience may respond within five minutes after receiving your survey message - providing feedback almost instantaneously even though your sample size might be smaller.
SMS Works Well With Most Other Tools For Marketing Campaigns
Which tools are currently being used to propel your marketing campaigns? Whatever your response, SMS platforms can work well with those tools. SMS marketing texts can help your ongoing social media and email marketing campaigns. You may send a brief message urging readers to view your most recent email address or social media post.
Shortcodes Make Your Customers' Lives Easier
Businesses must go above and beyond to enhance customer retention because doing so increases conversion chances by making further action easier for leads/ loyal messages to customers to take. Therefore, extensive opt-in forms that require more time-sensitive information than your name and email address and email list should be avoided. Shortcodes will become your go-to when it comes to SMS-based marketing. Shortcodes come in handy when inviting your Text Message Marketing audience to opt-in, sign up for alerts or enter contests.
Read More: SMS Magic: Unveiling the Most Interesting Features of SMS Marketing
How To Write SMS Text For A Campaign
Now you understand how SMS marketing platforms can benefit your business; you know that only 160 characters are left for persuading readers about something in an SMS marketing text message. There are several strategies of SMS marketing like should adopting an informal, more conversational tone be preferred, or should professionalism always prevail? Remain calm if this is your first customer experience with SMS marketing, as there will no doubt be many questions and traps you must avoid in your pursuits.
Formal Rather Than Informal
You're a business, so even texting in a more casual tone might seem appropriate. You run the risk of alienating your clients if you act out of character. You've worked hard to develop your brand voice, and when you send SMS marketing messages with SMS strategy, it has to be heard clearly. You can get metrics from detailed analytics, like click-through rates and cart abandonment rates. That does not imply being personalityless, as that will result in your texts being removed immediately. Adding some personality to your readers is acceptable.
Personalize
Like any form of communication channel or marketing channel, SMS marketing strategy allows you to customize its delivery and message accordingly. For instance, saying, "Hello [name], I would like to write my text message here..." is just one way you could personalize SMS marketing messages for maximum impact.
Even more general demographic information such as pain points, occupation, gender, age or location of an audience segment may help tailor content more precisely for that audience segment. If you need guidance on dividing your audience, our blog posts on lead scoring and segmentation offer excellent advice.
Keep It Brief
This is the norm rather than merely a recommendation. You are allowed to use up to 160 characters, though we are unable to estimate how many words you will be able to get out of those. This depends on the word length. Then, it could break off in the middle of your SMS marketing message, which would appear unprofessional. In any case, this is a compelling argument for adhering to the SMS character limit. If you recall, you could only write 140 characters on Twitter in the past. They've increased it since then, but you were already familiar with the feeling of limitation.
Keep The Lead Alive
Writing a brief message and missing the point differs from what you want to do. Your text's central idea should be covered in the first or second sentences, depending on how you phrase it. Remember that you don't want to bury the lead when you write.
Add A Call To Action
An honest expression is also necessary when communicating your opinion; an SMS call-to-action (CTA) message may be appropriate for this purpose. Linking this is better than using precious characters for an extensive CTA; not only can it free up space, but your audience will now have access to it through clicking.
Once again, this solution simplifies the client's life. Just imagine receiving a CTA that said, "Visit our website for additional details". Yes, potential customer reviews could visit your website directly but would need to search and click for its URL first - an effort which might result in little reward or use for them. Once your reader receives the link directly, all they have to do is press it. Doing this should be easy since they only need to follow simple directions.
Successful SMS Marketing Campaign Design
Use Not Just SMS
Although we've discussed this before, it bears repeating. SMS text marketing is an excellent addition to your overall successful SMS marketing campaign, but other strategies should exist. It functions best with social media and email marketing, among different marketing strategies. Thankfully, our SMS marketing software solution is tightly integrated with all of these solutions.
Concentrate On Your Most Valuable Clientele
Your first test may involve sending SMS marketing out to only a limited group; once it is successful, you could use that approach with all segments of your audience. Your best clients have done substantial shopping with you, provided feedback, opened emails from you regularly, responded quickly when messaging you back, or recommended you (through SMS marketing programs or otherwise). It gives an impression of commitment; clients who have been with you for a while become your true partners in business.
Utilize Metrics To Your Benefit
Do you recall when we discussed the metrics to watch for SMS marketing at the beginning of this guide? These consist of SMS list growth, attrition, ROI, etc. However, make sure that these metrics are being generated and reviewed periodically. Doing it each week is unnecessary, but at least once a month.
Remember Your CTA
Yes, we did discuss it, but let me remind you again. The various CTAs you can include in your SMS text messages/bulk text messages is another topic we wanted to cover. These are win-win since they are short and have hyperlink functionality. Consider including these in your texts:
- "Text to vote" is a valuable tool for gathering audience feedback when you ask them to complete a survey.
- "Text to win," as in a giveaway or competition.
- Another simple call to action that works well with a hyperlink pointing to your online store is "Click here."
- "Show discount code" is designed for companies that have physical storefronts. You're requesting that the client come into the store, present the text to a staff member, and then receive a discount.
Make People Feel FOMO
Though we discussed the best times and places to contact SMS users, following these rules can sometimes be more adhered to. SimpleTexting's advice when considering when and how to send out texts: if you know you're having a weekend sale, avoid texting about it on Tuesday afternoon as most of your target audience would likely have forgotten by Friday night; instead, get back in contact Friday afternoon.
SimpleTexting noted that people tend to respond better when their actions are prompted. Furthermore, this might create FOMO (fear of missing out) since no one wants the possibility that something important might slip by them.
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Conclusion
SMS marketing plans have proven effective at increasing sales, retaining clients, and converting leads. Now is an opportune moment to implement SMS messages as part of your communication with audiences, with this comprehensive guide providing insightful advice, industry best practices, practical SMS marketing examples, and helpful tips that can help ensure its success in this form of promotion.
We offer plenty of resources, including SMS marketing services, at a highly reasonable cost. Even better, its SMS features are available to businesses of any size with our free-forever plan. But LiveHelpIndia goes far beyond SMS ads: its comprehensive solution covers sales, marketing, and customer service contact management - making your marketing and sales procedures more straightforward while helping manage relationships easily through its free integrated CRM feature.
