In the marketing world, there are now more solutions and channels with which to market yourself than ever before. With so many choices out there, it can be difficult to know where to put your money so that you have the best foot going forward. Some still rely on email as their main source of customer engagement, while others prefer newer trends like social media or SMS advertising.
Each of these channels can be fully optimized by following best practices related to them. Today, we are going to look at 4 secrets to running a successful SMS advertising campaign. With this knowledge in mind, you will be well equipped to be successful in your SMS endeavors. Let’s get started.
Treat your audience like VIPs
The first thing you need to understand about running an SMS marketing campaign is exactly how powerful mass text messaging can be. Right off the bat, your campaign’s audience is much more selective. In order to even send an SMS to your customers they will need to opt-in to receiving them, meaning that they are serious about their request.
Next, SMS advertising is notorious for its high open rates, over 95%! This means that almost every single person you send an SMS message to will open and read that message. These are just a few of the reasons why you need to treat your audience like VIPs.
Not only are they more engaged than any audience you have worked with before, but they have the expectation that you can add value to their customer relationship through this program. Treat them well from the beginning and you will be off on the right foot.
Use all available tools
While SMS advertising is becoming a more popular tool than ever, what many don’t realize about it is the tools that are available to aid your campaign. Part of having a successful plan for your mass text marketing is to use each of these tools when appropriate to get the most out of each message. One such tool is known as MMS.
What is MMS? MMS stands for multimedia marketing service and it can be a very powerful addition to your tool belt. MMS allows for marketers to send images, videos, and other multimedia via SMS to their audience. Not only does this make marketing messages more interesting, but MMS messages have been shown to have even higher open rates than traditional SMS. Using this tool can give your campaign an added boost.
Run customer support through SMS
Another secret to using SMS successfully is to run customer support through your platform. An increasing number of consumers now prefer to communicate with a customer support team by simply sending SMS messages to get the help they need. Not only can this be a quick way to resolve problems, but it keeps customers far more engaged than traditional means.
The important part here is that you need to have someone on top of replying to customer issues. Either that or setting up automations for this process are necessary for not dropping the ball when it comes to customer success and, by extension, customer retention.
Get it right the first time
The final secret to SMS advertising is multi-faceted and ties the rest of these best practices together: get it right the first time. SMS is powerful, yes, but it can also be a double-edged sword. If the first message that customers receive after opting in to your campaign doesn’t blow them away, you might lose your audience before you have a chance to prove your value.
In order to help you make sure you get it right on the first try, along with the secrets we have already covered, here are some additional pointers to keep in mind for your campaign.
Choose one call-to-action to focus on
Don’t overcomplicate your messages. With only 160 characters to work with, you need to get in and get out. One way to avoid unnecessary clutter and increase mobile user engagement is by focusing on just one call-to-action.
By making your intentions clear and concise, users are more likely to see the value you are offering and engage further. Imagine receiving a text yourself and how little time goes into deciding whether it is important enough to take action. You need to capture their attention in that short time, so don’t waste any characters in doing so.
Know your audience
Knowing who your messages are going to is vital to having a successful SMS advertising campaign. First you need to segment your audience so that the right messages get to the right people. Next, you need to understand user engagement metrics from your audience so that you know the best way to approach each segment.
From there it is simply about catering to the audience you are hoping to target. A good rule of thumb here is to use professional language at all times. Even though SMS is seen as a casual platform, you still need to be professional if you want your audience to respond well to your messaging.
Less is more
A basic component of SMS advertising is the maxim “Less is more.” However, it happens to be absolutely true in this case. SMS is powerful because customers expect texts to be important, but if you fill up their phones with unnecessary messages, that power quickly fades.
For this reason, SMS marketing professionals advise that you limit your messages to at most 8 per month, meaning around 2 per week. By spacing out your SMS messages, customers will know that when one comes through, it means business. This should be your goal.
Make it worth their time
The final thing we will mention about SMS advertising is make it worth their time and provide value with every message. Another good rule of thumb is that unless you have something of value to offer your customers immediately it can either wait or be sent in an email.
SMS advertising is extremely effective and powerful, but only when done correctly. If you are able to use each of the secrets and tips we just went through with your campaign, you should have no problem with customer engagement or retention. It may not be easy, but trust us when we say that it will be worth it.
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