Grab Their Attention with SMS Marketing
How can SMS (text messages) marketing help my business?
How does SMS marketing add value to my customers’ experience?
How should I collect my customers’ phone numbers?
Imagine the Ann Arbor Aardvarks are a minor league baseball team that wants to be more engaged with their fans.
The Aardvarks’ marketing team thinks it’d be fun to let fans decide which special events to hold during the season. So they prepare a short survey with options like a stuffed aardvark giveaway and bring your dog to the ballpark day.
The Aardvarks have contact information for thousands of fans who have signed up to receive updates. The team wants to get as many of them to respond to the survey as possible. How should they reach out to their fans?
SMS marketing is a great way to engage directly with your target audience and get people to interact with your brand.
SMS messages have an open rate of 99%, far higher than other forms of communication. So almost everyone is likely to see your SMS messages.
Americans spend 14% of the time on their phones texting, and unlike push notifications, texts don’t disappear immediately after they’re read.
SMS marketing is also a great way to send time-sensitive information and receive time-sensitive replies. 90% of SMS messages are read within just 3 minutes, so it’s an almost immediate channel of communication.
Another big advantage of SMS marketing is that it feels personal, but can be done on a large scale with automated responses.
With automated SMS responses, you can send information to thousands of people without needing to monitor all the replies. If you send a yes or no question, most replies will be one or the other and you can easily collect that data.
If someone sends something else, like “Maybe” or “This issue is far too complex for a yes or no answer and requires a lengthy philosophical discussion,” the message is “out of flow,” or out of the automated response system.
Dosomething.org has found that fewer than 1% of SMS replies are typically “out of flow.” When that happens, being able to respond personally can create a better relationship between individuals and your brand.
“Out of flow” messages should be sent to someone on your team who can address people’s questions and concerns with friendly, personal responses.
Obviously SMS marketing won’t do you any good if you don’t have the phone numbers of people in your target audience. So you need to collect them.
You can ask customers to opt in to receive texts during an online registration or checkout process. And you can put calls to action (CTAs) in your marketing materials to sign up for things like text alerts, special offers, or your newsletter.
You can also ask people to sign up for your SMS alerts by texting a number. For example, a vampire show might flash an on-screen CTA asking viewers to text a number to get recaps, deleted scenes, and tips for escaping the undead.
Many people are reluctant to give their number, so it’s important to explain the value of SMS messages to your customers. Tell people exactly what types of texts you’ll be sending and why they’ll provide a real benefit.
LISTEN UP
When it comes to collecting contact information, “mandatory” and “required” are dirty words. People usually don’t like being told what to do by a brand. Dosomething.org has found that people are far more likely to give you their information if doing so is optional.
In addition to collecting numbers, think about which platform to use for your SMS marketing needs.
There are many agencies and software programs that can help you run and organize your SMS campaigns. mGage, Twilio, OneReach, and SignalVine are a few available platforms.
Some agencies specialize in large-scale, automated campaigns that have a lot of data to collect. Others focus on individual response campaigns that ask people to send open-ended responses that require personalized replies.
Once you’ve settled on an SMS marketing platform and collected phone numbers, it’s time to think about the texts you want to send.
SMS only allows for 160 characters, so your messages need to be brief, direct, and in your brand’s voice. It’s also best to avoid overwhelming people with too many messages.
Make sure your customers also know how to unsubscribe from your SMS alerts. The first text someone who opts in to your service receives should also let them know how to opt out, by replying “stop,” for example.
You can make sure your SMS messages are valuable to your customers by giving them useful information or a chance to engage with your brand.
Most SMS messages are read quickly, so they’re ideal for delivering timely information. For example, airlines send text alerts when flight statuses change so people know in real time if they’re going to be stuck at the airport all day.
You can also give customers the opportunity to get in touch with your brand and give personal feedback, like when the Ann Arbor Aardvarks ask people which events to hold.
Make sure to provide context for why you’re sending your SMS messages. Explain why your message is valuable and make it clear if there’s an action the person can take.
To make your SMS messages relevant to your audience, you can segment and test your campaigns.
You can try sending different messages to different demographics (age, gender, location, purchase history, or other factors) at different times and see which combinations generate the most responses.
See what does and doesn’t work and make necessary adjustments so people in your audience are only receiving the messages that they’re most likely to respond to.
It’s also good to test how many messages you can send before you see a drop off in replies and engagement. Maybe your audience likes receiving messages every week, or maybe that will annoy them. You have to test to find out.
DO THIS NOW
Let’s get your SMS marketing started by writing a sample message promoting an exclusive offer to people who have given you their phone number.
If you’re participating in the course, go to the next section to access your self assessment.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
SMS marketing allows your business to engage directly with your target audience in a timely, interactive way.
SMS marketing add value to your customers' experience by providing useful information like status alerts and/or way for people to engage with your brand.
Collect phone numbers by selling the value of SMS messages to your customers and including CTAs in your various marketing channels.