According to https://www.forbes.com, texting has become very common all over the
world ever since the very first SMS was sent around 25 years ago. With mobile phone
becoming ubiquitous, SMS marketing has gained a lot of momentum and today even
after other forms of messaging have come into existence; it remains a preferred way of
communicating by leading marketers. Typically, with an open rate of 98%, it gets far
more eyeballs than even email that has a maximum of 30% open rate. Because people
are rarely too far away from their phones, SMS is just the perfect way for brands to
reach out to customers and prospects, however, you do need to keep in mind a few
important tips for maximizing the impact of your SMS campaign.
Obtain Permission of Recipients before Sending
The General Data Protection Regulation enacted by the European Union and similar
data protection policies followed in America make it mandatory for marketers to obtain
the permission of the recipients so that you can send SMS to them. This is necessary to
prevent unsolicited messages from disturbing the peace and privacy of the public at
large who may not be interested in receiving your messages. Gaining consent is not a big
issue if you use the right SMS platform that sends the request message to the recipient
asking for a single word response like “Yes” back to your number as consent for opting
to receive messages from you. Tracking the opt-ins on your CRM platform will ensure
that you send messages only to those who have given their consent.
Make It Easy to Give Consent or to Opt-Out
To make your list of recipients grow fast, you should focus on making the process of
giving consent to receiving messages form very simple. Most contemporary SMS
platforms or texting service providers like simpletexting.com will be able to give you the
facility of sending out a message, which if replied in the affirmative, will make the
recipient eligible to receive messages. As a responsible and ethical marketer, you should
make it equally easy for recipients to opt-out of your SMS list. Not only do you
demonstrate your willingness to respect the privacy of recipients who indicate that they
wish to quit but also you make your SMS list more refined and save yourself the trouble
of sending messages to recipients who are not interested in your brand. Every SMS that
you send out should have the necessary opt-out procedure information in simple
language, for example, “If you do not want to receive messages in the future, send OPT-
OUT” to any number you specify.
Ensure Messages Are Brief and Succinct
Nobody likes to receive rambling or unnecessarily lengthy messages. Often SMS services
have a limit of 160 characters per message and messages longer than that are cut and
delivered in succession, which is annoying to the recipients. By ensuring that your
messages are short and crisp, you can maximize their impact and ensure that your
communication is clear to the recipient.
Limit the Number of Messages per Recipient
Even though the recipients might have indicated their interest in your brand by giving
their consent, you can be sure that bombarding them with messages will annoy them
and they will opt-out very quickly indeed. It is extremely important to be selective about
the messages that you send to ensure only communication that has some real
importance are sent. According to best practices of SMS marketing, you should send not
more than three or four messages per month to a single recipient. By restraining
yourself and sending only messages that are of value to the recipient, you will find your
conversions increasing and delivering better ROI.
Never Forget to Include a CTA
The principal reason why you undertake an SMS marketing campaign is to encourage
the recipients to do something specific. Often, marketers fail to provide a compelling
CTA in the message, which takes the impact out of the message and the conversions are
not maximized. Since most users use smartphones, you can link the CTA to your
website, which can then take recipients to a special landing page on your website that
can add impetus to the conversion process. If you are using an integrated CRM system,
you can very easily track the performance of your SMS marketing campaign by
measuring the number of unique visits to your landing page.
Personalize Your SMS
It is well known that when you personalize your marketing communication it produces
a far higher level of engagement. Even though most messages sent by marketers have
tended to be the generic type, it is actually quite easy to set up the SMS platform to
address recipients by name and even to make the contents of the message personalized
depending on earlier interaction and past purchase behavior. A modern CRM platform
can customize messages taking into account multiple parameters like the geographical
location, interest in a particular product and more in addition to the recipient’s name
for the best impact on conversions.
Use Short-Code for SMS
The normal 10-digit mobile numbers are not only cumbersome to use in your marketing
messages but also very difficult for customers to remember. Using a short-code that is
normally a four digit or a six-digit number makes it easier for customers to respond to
you, as they need to only remember a lesser number of digits. It is a marketing
convention to use separate short-codes for separate products so that people interested
in one specific product can opt-in to receiving messages only for that product and not
for others that have no interest in. Marketers should use every opportunity available to
them for popularizing their short-codes; displaying them on the website, social media,
email, or even billboards can be particularly effective in making your SMS list grow and
increase the number of conversions.
Conclusion
SMS marketing campaigns can be incredibly effective in spreading your brand message
and encouraging conversions. The smartphone revolution has made it even more
effective because now even more powerful CRM platforms can be used to integrate SMS
messages with the web and social media. As effective as SMS is, marketers have to
remember that the privacy needs of the recipients are paramount and they should only
be sent SMS after they give their consent.
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