Let’s explore how SMS marketing can make your life a whole lot easier. We look into what SMS marketing is, how it works, and how your business can use it to attract and engage new customers.
SMS marketing, also called text message marketing, is one of the best ways to reach your audience directly.
Connecting with current and potential customers with text messages offers many valuable advantages. Most important, it’s one of the most direct and efficient ways of reaching people and getting your marketing messages across.
This guide explores what SMS marketing is, how to use it, and some examples and best practices you can apply to your SMS marketing strategy.
- What is SMS Marketing?
- Benefits of SMS Marketing
- How to Use SMS Marketing for Your Business
- 8 Great SMS Marketing Examples
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is a digital marketing strategy that involves sending promotional or informational text messages to your audience.
It allows businesses to reach their target audience directly on their mobile devices, engaging them with time-sensitive offers, updates, and other relevant content.
SMS marketing takes advantage of the widespread use of text messaging. It offers a high open rate, making it an effective way to communicate with customers and drive engagement.
Benefits of SMS Marketing
Why focus on using SMS as a marketing channel? Here are some of the main reasons.
Impressively High Open Rates
SMS marketing boasts 98% open rates – which is way higher than the 20% average open rate of email marketing.
Not only this but SMS messages are checked almost straight away. This makes it one of the fastest and most efficient strategies for getting in touch with your audience.
People Always Check Their Phones
People use their smartphones daily, and SMS marketing takes advantage of this widespread usage.
Because people are always checking their phones, it’s one of the easiest and most direct ways for businesses to reach customers.
With billions of SMS messages sent in the US alone, text messaging is an integral part of everyday life, providing a perfect medium for businesses to reach prospects.
It Works With Other Strategies
SMS marketing works well with other marketing strategies.
It can complement and emphasize messages from campaigns such as email marketing. By using SMS and email together, businesses can enhance their marketing messages and increase the chances of conversion.
And as SMS marketing is easy to apply with the right software, it’s one of the simplest ways to take your marketing strategy to the next level.
Direct Reach
SMS marketing allows for direct reach and engagement with prospects.
Unlike other channels that require app opening or browsing, text messages are seen immediately on recipients’ lock screens. This direct reach increases the likelihood of message visibility and engagement.
Basically, if your brand has a message it needs to get out to its audience, then SMS is probably the best way to do it.
Prompt Action
SMS marketing drives prospects to act quickly.
The focused and concise nature of text messages ensures clarity of purpose, encouraging recipients to take immediate action, such as making a purchase or redeeming a special promotion.
It’s Versatile
There’s a lot you can do with SMS marketing.
Use it to promote products and giveaways, recover abandoned carts, send timely updates, transactional messages, and more. Although SMS may seem simple, the marketing possibilities are enormous.
How to Use SMS Marketing for Your Business
Developing an SMS marketing strategy for your business is pretty straightforward. Although, you need to follow a few best practices and tactics to get it right.
Here are some of the most important things to do when implementing SMS marketing.
1. Create a Strong Opt-In
When using SMS marketing for your business, you need a strong opt-in process.
Collecting phone numbers from your customers does not automatically grant permission to start sending them text messages. It’s important that people explicitly opt in to subscribe to your messages.
To encourage opt-ins, you can strategically invite people to subscribe to your text messages through various channels. Your website, emails, and other online platforms can serve as effective touchpoints to invite potential subscribers.
However, it doesn’t end with obtaining their initial consent. It’s a good idea to confirm and ensure that subscribers genuinely want to receive texts from your business. Before sending any promotional messages, consider sending a confirmation text to verify their interest in receiving texts from you.
This step ensures that you maintain a list of subscribers who genuinely want to hear from your business, enhancing the effectiveness and engagement of your SMS marketing efforts.
By prioritizing a strong opt-in process, you build a foundation of engaged subscribers who are receptive to your messages, resulting in higher response rates and a more positive overall SMS marketing experience.
2. Identify Your Business in Every SMS
Be sure to consistently identify your brand in every text message you send to your subscribers.
Customers won’t save your number in their contacts or remember it off the top of their heads, so you need to make it clear that the message is coming from your business.
To achieve this, always ensure that you prominently identify your business right at the beginning of the text message. By including your name or brand at the start, you immediately establish a connection and make it evident who is sending the message.
This practice serves multiple purposes. Firstly, it eliminates any confusion or uncertainty for the recipient, ensuring they recognize your business as the sender. Even if they delete the message after reading it, they will still associate the content with your brand.
Consistently identifying your business in your SMS messages also helps build and reinforce the brand association. By consistently seeing your brand name at the forefront of the texts, recipients are more likely to remember your business and keep it top of mind.
So, by ensuring that your brand is clearly identified in every SMS you send, you not only establish trust and recognition but also contribute to long-term brand building. It reinforces your brand presence and fosters a stronger connection with your subscribers, ultimately leading to increased engagement and conversions.
3. Make it Easy to Opt-Out
An essential aspect of SMS marketing is making it easy for subscribers to opt out of receiving texts. Provide a clear and hassle-free process for individuals who no longer wish to receive your messages.
Right from the beginning, inform your subscribers about how they can opt out of receiving messages from your business. Transparency is key to maintaining a positive relationship with your audience.
Most businesses offer a simple opt-out method, such as allowing users to send a text with the keyword “STOP” to cancel their subscription and stop receiving texts.
Remember, if someone unsubscribes from your texts, respect their decision and promptly cease sending them further messages. Continuously sending texts to individuals who have opted out can lead to negative experiences and harm your brand reputation.
By prioritizing an easy and straightforward opt-out process, you demonstrate respect for your subscribers’ preferences and uphold their trust. It also ensures compliance with regulatory guidelines and contributes to building a positive and sustainable SMS marketing strategy.
4. Don’t Only Send Promotions
When it comes to SMS marketing, don’t limit yourself to sending only promotional codes or discounts. Take advantage of this communication channel to inform your audience about other valuable aspects of your business.
For instance, consider using SMS marketing to promote your loyalty programs, charity events, or other exciting initiatives. It’s an excellent opportunity to reach out to your subscribers and let them know about the diverse offerings and experiences your business provides.
By diversifying your SMS content, you can engage your audience with a variety of updates and opportunities beyond just promotional messages.
This approach allows you to build stronger connections with your subscribers and foster a sense of community, enhancing their overall experience with your brand.
Remember, SMS marketing is a versatile tool that goes beyond promotions. Utilize it to showcase the breadth and depth of your business, providing valuable information and engaging content that keeps your subscribers excited and involved.
5. Use SMS to Bring Back Customers
SMS marketing provides a powerful opportunity to re-engage customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while. By sending personalized text messages with custom discount codes, you can invite them to shop with you again.
Reach out directly to these prospects through SMS, delivering a tailored message that entices them to return. This approach is highly effective in retaining loyal customers and reigniting their interest in your business.
With SMS, you have a direct line of communication to reconnect with past customers and provide them with an exclusive incentive to revisit your offerings.
Take advantage of this opportunity to bring back valuable customers and drive repeat business for your company.
6. Make Sure You Have a Mobile-Friendly Website
Your website needs to be mobile-friendly. If recipients of your SMS messages are interested in making a purchase, you don’t want to direct them to a website with a poor mobile experience.
Integrating responsive design into your website is essential. This design approach allows your website to adapt and provide an excellent user experience across various mobile devices. By optimizing your website for mobile screens, you can deliver a seamless browsing experience for users.
Of course, this is something you should have in place regardless of your SMS marketing strategy. With the right website builder, creating a mobile-friendly website is easy.
7. Use the Right SMS Marketing Software
You can’t do SMS marketing without the right software – it’s that simple.
It’s important to opt for a user-friendly platform that offers features like contact management, message scheduling, and analytics.
Winback is a top choice for small businesses, providing a simple yet powerful SMS marketing tool.
With its intuitive interface and robust capabilities, Winback helps you engage customers, drive conversions, and maximize your SMS marketing efforts. In fact, various WInback users have doubled their sales using the platform (yes, doubled).
8 Great SMS Marketing Examples
As we mentioned earlier, there’s a lot you can do with SMS marketing.
To help you understand the use cases a bit better, here are eight SMS marketing examples to inspire you.
Product Launches
Generate excitement and immediate interest by announcing new product launches via SMS. Share key details, exclusive previews, and special promotions to drive anticipation and encourage customers to be among the first to purchase.
Customer Service
Provide exceptional customer support through SMS. Offer quick responses to inquiries, order updates, and personalized assistance, making it convenient for customers to reach out and receive prompt resolutions to their queries.
Exclusive Offers and Discounts
Boost sales by sending exclusive offers and limited-time discounts via SMS. Reward loyal customers with special promotions, incentivize repeat purchases, and create a sense of urgency that drives conversions.
Customer Feedback
Gather valuable insights and feedback by sending SMS surveys to customers. Ask for their opinions, suggestions, and overall satisfaction with your products or services. This helps you improve your offerings and enhance customer experiences based on their valuable input.
Abandoned Cart Recovery
Send SMS reminders to customers who have abandoned their carts. Offer personalized incentives or discounts to motivate them to complete their purchase, reminding them of the items they left behind and encouraging them to take action.
Event Invitations
Use SMS to invite customers to exclusive events, such as store openings, product demonstrations, or VIP sales. Create a sense of exclusivity and foster a closer relationship with your audience by offering them an opportunity to be part of special gatherings.
Flash Sales
Create a sense of urgency and excitement by notifying customers about limited-time flash sales via SMS. Provide a unique discount code or offer, enticing them to make an immediate purchase before the sale ends.
Appointment Reminders
Reduce no-shows and improve customer engagement by sending SMS appointment reminders. Ensure customers are well-informed about upcoming appointments, meetings, or service bookings, allowing them to plan accordingly and increase their commitment to attending.
Ready to Get Started With SMS Marketing?
No matter what type of business you run, using SMS marketing is always going to offer loads of value. Of course, you’ll need to use the right SMS marketing tools in order to take advantage of SMS marketing.
With a comprehensive solution like Propel IQ, you get access to powerful SMS marketing software, as well as every other marketing and sales tool you need, all in one connected platform.
Get in touch with us to see how we can get your business set up with a killer SMS marketing strategy.
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