Because it seems so simple, marketers may be tempted to think that as a marketing channel SMS marketing is pretty straightforward, however, blasting your audiences with irrelevant or intrusive text messages can lead to subscriber dissatisfaction, boost the unsubscribe rates, and result in an unacceptable ROI. Like any other marketing initiative, text marketing also needs to be strategic, which means that campaigns need to well-planned and well-executed so that the messages provide value to even the busiest of consumers bearing the brunt of a daily barrage of texts. However, by adopting the best practices of SMS marketing, it is possible to conduct text campaigns that are highly successful. Some of the best practices that can make your SMS campaign more productive:
Best Practices for Making Text Marketing Campaigns
Consistency
Perhaps one of the most important elements of success in text marketing is consistency. Marketers tend to live from campaign to campaign and this can result in periods when your business becomes completely silent while sometime later, customers could be receiving a lot of messages in a short duration. This kind of erratic behaviour is a big turnoff for most customers because everybody wants consistency and regularity in their lives. Consistency of messaging, advertising, product behaviour, etc. are extremely important for customers and it is this consistency that is one of the biggest reasons for customer loyalty. When they know, your text messages deliver value, they will begin to look out for them and end up being disappointed if they are missing for some time.
Exclusivity
Text messaging campaigns are the most productive when customers know for sure that the messages that they receive are exclusive to them and not something that is being recycled from social media posts. When customers opt-in to receive your text messages, it is actually a huge vote of confidence in your business and its products and services. It is also an indication that they are committed to you and it is absolutely imperative for this trust to be reciprocated by the business by offering them deals and special offers that are exclusive to them.
Responsiveness
Marketers who have experience of text marketing know that of all the channels of communication, SMS elicits perhaps the most immediate response. According to studies, the average response time to an SMS is only 90 seconds, many times less than the 90 minutes it takes customers to respond to emails. While this means that you can derive the benefits of the SMS campaign almost immediately after conducting it, it also means that you should be adequately geared to handle all the responses equally fast. The response rate is also better as the open rate of an SMS is nothing less than 98% dwarfing the open rates of email by a large margin. According to www.entrepreneur.com, 79% of all mobile users rely on opting-in to SMS to help them in making shopping decisions.
Visibility
To make your campaign a success, it is important that your target audience knows about your text alert or marketing services. The more visible you make this feature; the more likely it is that customers will start participating in the program. To drive participation, you should try and publicize your toll free SMS number, shortcode, or keyword as much as possible on every channel that your brand is present on. This includes print advertising, email campaigns, outdoor media, TV advertisements, social media, and even posters and flyers if you are using them. Due to their ubiquitous nature and widespread popularity, websites and social media are usually the best places to get opt-ins.
Memorability
Creating and using a keyword that is memorable is a very productive way of getting new customers to participate in your SMS campaigns. By using a word that is trending or a word that is adapted from a very well-known term, you can make your SMS campaign very easy to remember, which means that even if the target audience is not participating at the time the campaign is being run, it is more likely that they will remember it down the line. Clever keywords involving a play on well-known words are usually effective; however, the play should not be so obtuse that it escapes most of the target audience.
Incentivize
Even the best of marketing campaigns can be made more productive by offering valuable incentives to customers signing up. While there is a thought that if your product or service delivers tangible value addition, such incentives are redundant, however, a majority of marketers will agree that customers often respond better to freebies and incentive that they perceive as having value. According to social scientists, the secret behind the better response is that the chance of getting something for free emotionally charges customers’ perception and makes them believe that what they are getting is actually more valuable than it actually is.
Consent
Securing consent from your target audience to receive your text messages is fundamental to SMS marketing. Only when a person has agreed to receive your texts can you send them messages on their phones. The consent can be given by a person by filling up a form in writing or online or even texting a keyword to a designated number. However, transactional messages may not require express consent. For example, if you use an ATM to withdraw cash, your bank will send an SMS alerting you. It is mandatory, however, for all text messages to have a provision of unsubscribing or asking for help.
Frequency
Texting too frequently or more than what most customers expect can be extremely annoying. Customers who are annoyed or frustrated rarely make the right decisions and as a result, your SMS campaign is unlikely to achieve the desired results if you send too many text messages. According to experts, you should restrict your text messages to around two to four every month; however, it really depends on your business niche and the expectations of your customers. If you own a restaurant, you may like to send a message with the offer of the week; however, if you are a stockbroker, you could be sending multiple messages every single day. It is a good idea to give your customers some idea of the volume of messages they can expect to receive when they sign up.
Conclusion
Every business has unique goals and objectives so it becomes necessary for marketers to adapt their marketing campaigns accordingly. SMS marketing can be extremely advantageous; however, it is necessary to deploy the best practices to maximize its impact and the return on investment.