As digital communication has increased our options for connecting with each other, more companies are turning to text/SMS marketing as a way to connect with customers through short, attention-grabbing marketing messages that inspire people to quickly take advantage of new product releases and special deals.
But like every other marketing channel, text/SMS marketing has its own unique advantages and limitations. As you start planning your next text/SMS marketing campaign, here are five tips to help make the most of your marketing budget and maximize your chances of success.
1. Keep it Short
Everyone knows someone who sends long, rambling SMS messages that make them hard to read and even to respond to. Keep in mind that SMS messages are almost exclusively read on small screens while people are in the middle of doing something else. Long messages that go on for more than a few lines look intimidating to most people, and they’re more likely to be ignored or blocked.
Here’s a rule of thumb: the most effective SMS marketing copy should take customers no more than a few seconds to read, process, and act. If you need to break up your message into paragraphs or if you want your customers’ full attention, then consider other marketing alternatives.
2. Have a Focused Call-to-Action
Once you’ve captured customers’ attention with an SMS marketing message, you have a limited time frame to get them to act on something. As you plan out your next text/SMS marketing campaign, ask yourself and your marketing team: What do you want customers to do after they’ve read your SMS message? This is known as the call to action or CTA. Examples of CTAs can include:
- Visiting the company website for more information.
- Completing a survey or questionnaire.
- Calling or texting back to take advantage of a special deal.
- Posting or commenting on the company’s social media pages.
- Signing up for a contest or promotion.
- Book an appointment with a booking app
Whatever you decide for a CTA, make sure that it comes at the end of the message and that it’s clear what customers should do. This is why so many successful text/SMS marketing campaign messages end with special links — interested customers just need to tap their screens to move forward.
3. Get Personal
A text/SMS marketing campaign might mean sending messages to hundreds or even thousands of different customers. But that doesn’t mean that everyone should get the same message. In fact, SMS campaigns that involve one-size-fits-all form messages are more likely to get ignored. Such messages that try to connect with everyone end up appealing to no one.
Instead, integrate personalized marketing tactics into your next text/SMS marketing campaign. Here are a few ways to add personalized marketing to your SMS marketing messages:
- Tailor messages for different age groups and customer preferences (for example, addressing younger customers as “Jane” and older customers as “Ms. Smith”).
- Recommend new products and services based on customers’ past shopping habits.
- Direct customers to different social media platforms based on age, interests, and other relevant factors.
- Time messages to align with the times of the year or even times of day when customers are most likely to make a purchase.
Today’s consumers are savvier and more informed than ever — they know the most common marketing strategies like cold-calling and mass emails. At the same time, companies have unprecedented access to customer data and habits. By effectively leveraging this data, businesses have the power to offer customers something new: a customer journey and marketing experience tailored to the individual rather than to the whole group.
4. Maintain and Respect Your Opt-Out List
Every SMS marketing campaign should include an easy way to opt-out of current and future messages. The most common practice is to automatically place customers on an opt-out list when they reply STOP.
Once someone opts out of SMS marketing messages, respect your customers’ wishes and maintain your opt-in/opt-out lists. Keep in mind that a customer who opts out of SMS marketing doesn’t necessarily want to stop doing business with you — they simply prefer not to be contacted via SMS. But if you keep sending unwanted text messages, chances are that you’ll be driving away customers and eroding your brand’s loyalty and reputation. You could even be blocked from future SMS marketing campaigns if enough customers complain to their wireless carriers.
5. Use the Best Tracking Tools
It’s easy to tell whether an SMS/text marketing campaign was successful or not. The bigger challenge is understanding which factors helped with the campaign’s success so that you could repeat them in the future. Tracking tools help you gather the data you need to make informed decisions and take the guesswork out of managing your marketing campaign. By tracking SMS marketing metrics in real-time, you also get an early warning about what’s hurting the campaign so that you can address issues before they become major obstacles.
When you sign up for a vanity number with call tracking and business texting, you’re giving yourself all the tools you need for a successful text/SMS marketing campaign: the flexibility to connect with customers in a new way and the visibility to keep your marketing campaign on track for success. All it takes is a few minutes to get started with your 800 vanity number today!
