SMS marketing is an exceptionally powerful tool through which businesses can reach their customers – as long as it is utilised correctly. It’s often the case when a particular marketing medium becomes popular that companies ‘jump on the bandwagon’ as it were, without fully considering how to get the best out of their efforts. With that in mind, here are a few guidelines to help you maximise the results of your SMS marketing.
Keep it short and relevant
SMS texts are by their very nature relatively short, but it’s important to keep your messages to exactly the length they need to be. SMS marketing messages have an unparalleled open rate, so you have a much higher chance of those opening lines being read by almost everyone who receives the message. But it only takes a press of a button for recipients to leave/delete your message out of boredom or annoyance. So as well as avoiding unnecessary waffle, you should keep your messages on topic and always relevant to what the recipient is expecting from you.
Always ask for permission before you send
Most people enjoy receiving text messages, but only from people whom they have given their number to. While many mobile users are now quite open to the idea of receiving marketing messages on their phones, they still want control over who sends them. The most common responses to unsolicited marketing messages are anger and annoyance – two emotions which are never conducive to good customer relations. Always ask permission before you send marketing messages to a customer’s mobile phone, and make sure they understand what these will entail. TextMagic’s Mobile Marketing forms are a great way to get some extra mobile subscribers out of your website.
Offer value
It’s not enough to simply promote your company and its services via text message. You need to offer them something that is both useful and beneficial to them. That could simply be notification of when your latest product is available, service messages relating to customer appointments, or some other message which provides them with useful information. SMS coupons or voucher codes that can be exchanged in-store or online for a discount or special offers are also particularly effective at creating added value. Offer value and they will come, go for the hard sell and they will likely go elsewhere.
Show respect
When people give you their mobile number and the permission to use it, they expect you to show respect when taking the opportunity to send them messages. As well as avoiding overt sales messages, you should pay close attention to the details of the messages your send. For example, ensure that your SMS messages are sent during normal business hours, or at least no later than mid-evening. However polite and respectful the actual content of the message, it will be met with hostility if received at two in the morning.
Make it easy to opt out
Obviously you don’t want people to decide to stop receiving your messages, but it’s important that they feel they are able to leave whenever they want. In fact, in some countries (notably the UK, US, Canada and Australia), you must give them a clear ‘get out’ option by law. When you send message using TextMagic, your recipients can unsubscribe by simply replying ‘STOP’ to your message.
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