Out of all the marketing channels available to small businesses today, text message marketing is the front-runner. The high (98!) open rates SMS messages achieve means you get the most bang for your buck and results from your marketing efforts. Text messages are short and simple, and go straight to the phone notifications of your customers without having to combat an algorithm like on social media and other digital marketing channels.
At Podium, we help small businesses market to and communicate with new prospects and loyal customers so they can generate more sales and essentially make more money. Text messaging is a key part of that communication so we’re sharing with you the proven best practices to make text message open rates even higher and improve your conversions.
What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing (SMS stands for short message service) is when businesses use the communication channel everyone has on their phones, texting, to send marketing messages to leads and customers. This can be done in bulk, sending one personalized message to a whole contact list or a segment of it.
It generates interactions and sales by sharing business updates, spreading the word on special offers and new products, improving the customer experience through appointment reminders, and on a whole creating multiple touchpoints between customers and the business which builds the relationship. Businesses use a tool to store contacts, organize SMS marketing campaigns, personalize and automate messages, and create opt-in forms to collect contact details.
But you may still be wondering what the big deal is about using SMS marketing messages to reach your target audience.
Benefits of SMS Marketing
As a marketing channel, SMS text messaging brings a lot of benefits to the table including:
1. Instant Reach
Text messaging is an instantaneous communication channel as messages are delivered in a matter of seconds and often opened by the receiver in a matter of minutes. Through SMS marketing messages, you can reach customers in real-time and receive a response in real time. We always have our smartphones on us! As text messaging is a two-way communication channel, customers can respond to the SMS messages they receive and have a real-time conversation with your business.
2. High Open Rates
While customers might check their email inboxes a couple of times a day, customers are consistently engaged with incoming SMS messages. Compared to email marketing, customers are more likely to see texts, open them, and respond to them. That’s essential if the interaction is ever going to turn into a sale, especially if running a time-sensitive promotion.
3. Personalized Engagement
Alongside being able to send mass texts to a large number of contacts, businesses that use text message marketing can personalize the message to include the name of the receiver and other relevant details from your database.
The text campaigns sent can be personalized to a specific segment of your customer base or individuals if it is something like an order confirmation and even be scheduled to be sent during the optimal time for each time zone. This creates a highly personalized and engaging customer experience.
4. Immediate Call-to-Action (CTA)
With marketing campaigns, the more complicated it is to follow a call to action, the less likely it is they will do it. You don’t have to worry about that with SMS marketing campaigns. You can make it easy for your SMS subscribers by directly sending them a link, image, or attachment, or setting up an automation so if they respond to the text campaign with a certain word, they’ll automatically receive a certain response.
5. Meet Customer Demand
Generally, consumers prefer to text businesses rather than call them. It’s a lot more convenient because they can get on with other things at the same time while they wait for a response even when on the go. On the other hand, with a phone call, they have to wait for an available customer service representative. They choose text messaging because the response to their query is still quick, just not as time-consuming.
That’s just some of the reasons why text message marketing should be part of your marketing strategy. Here’s how to get the amazing open, response, and conversion rates we’ve been promising from SMS marketing campaigns.
9 SMS Marketing Tips and Best Practices
When creating your SMS marketing strategy, keep these best practices in mind to get the best possible results.
1. Obtain explicit consent.
You can’t just start messaging random phone numbers. Everyone on your text messaging contact list needs to have opted in to receive text message marketing from you. Just like email marketing, it’s a matter of privacy.
It’s not just about abiding by legislation but maintaining your reputation in your customer’s eyes. No one likes random messages they didn’t ask to receive. Set up an opt-in form in your SMS marketing software to collect phone numbers and customer contact details.
2. Optimize timing.
While consumers are very responsive to SMS marketing campaigns because we tend to spend a bit too much time on our smartphones, there are specific times when the highest proportion of your target audience is going to be active. That’s when you send them your SMS marketing messages to optimize open and response rates.
If your business operates internationally or across time zones, this can complicate things. Segment your contact list in your CRM by time zone so you can send texts at the optimal time for each time zone.
3. Keep messages concise.
Text messages are so popular because they are convenient. They take a matter of seconds to receive, read, and respond to. So work within those parameters. Provide key information in as few words as possible without sacrificing clarity and while keeping it in your brand voice, of course. Mobile marketing works best when it is short and snappy.
4. Personalize messages.
Increase your open and response rates even more by personalizing each SMS message you send out. This could be done by including the customer’s name, a reference to their most recent purchase, or some other relevant detail. You could make it super special and send all your customers a personalized birthday message each year. It’s an extra effort that pays off through customer loyalty.
5. Provide value.
Generally, we only read marketing messages when we believe there is something we can take away from it. There are plenty of other things your customers could be doing on their mobile devices other than reading and responding to your messages so give them an incentive to engage.
Transactional messages like appointment reminders, order confirmations, and sale announcements have their time and place. In between, add value through quick tips and tricks or direct them to secondary resources of value like a guide or webinar.
6. Use URL shorteners.
When linking to a web page, the URL can be quite lengthy and look like it takes up most of the text message. Shortening the URL makes the message look cleaner and more professional. When you’re working with such concise marketing messages, even little details like this count.
7. Monitor frequency.
Yes, text messages are concise and easy to digest. Still, your contacts can get overwhelmed if you’re sending them too many messages. What was useful can quickly become a nuisance. Be mindful of this.
During important and time-sensitive marketing campaigns, you will want to send more text messages. Monitor how that changes open, response, and conversion rates so you know where your customers draw the line when it comes to frequency.
On the other hand, you might not be sending as many SMS marketing campaigns as you could and you might be leaving money on the table so frequency is something to experiment with.
8. Leverage templates.
Don’t make text message marketing harder than it needs to be. As the content of SMS messages is concise and to the point, you can easily use templates to construct them and get them scheduled in a matter of minutes.
Check out the 500 text templates we have created, pick out the ones that stand out to you, add your business details and tone of voice, and then schedule them in your SMS marketing platform.
9. Provide opt-out options.
Just as SMS subscribers need to opt in to receive SMS messages from you, allow them to opt-out. Again this aligns with legislation when it comes to privacy. It also shows respect to the customer and it makes sense for your overall marketing efforts.
What is the point in sending marketing messages to people who don’t want to receive them and are therefore very unlikely to buy from you? It will only skew your metrics. Make sure you have an easy way to unsubscribe from receiving your SMS marketing campaigns.
With these SMS marketing best practices in mind, you’re almost ready to get started with texting your target audience.
Get the Most Out of SMS Marketing With Podium
At Podium, we recognize that text message marketing is one of many things on your to-do list. So if you’re going to have the capacity to do it and do it well enough to get the best possible results, it needs to be easy. That’s why we created an SMS marketing software that makes it super easy for small businesses to generate leads and make money from SMS marketing campaigns.
As an all-in-one conversion and communication platform, our SMS marketing features include templates, personalization, automation, and integration with all your other marketing channels through our omnichannel inbox.
We even have an AI assistant to make communication and conversion as quick and easy as possible. This allows you to provide a high standard of customer service however a customer wants to contact you on a given day and however many contacts and different client profiles you’re managing.
If you’re a small business ready to make SMS marketing work for you and your growth goals, choose Podium.
SMS Marketing FAQs
Q: What is the best length for SMS marketing?
A: Keep your SMS messages to a few lines or a short paragraph. That’s around 300 characters for a single message.
Q: What not to do in SMS marketing?
A: There are some major mistakes to avoid when using SMS marketing to reach out to your target audience. These include:
- Don’t text contacts without explicit permission such as an opt-in form.
- Don’t send them irrelevant marketing messages that don’t apply to them. This could be promoting a product they have no interest in or sending a new customer offer to a customer who has shopped with you for years.
- Don’t overdo it. You can send SMS messages relatively frequently because they are short and sweet messages. But your customer base could tire of you if you’re messaging them every day. Track your metrics to establish the right frequency.
Q: What are the weaknesses of SMS?
A: The main drawback of using SMS text message marketing is that the messages have to be short. If you try to make it too long, it won’t get read or responded to. That means messages can be less personal and there’s less opportunity to build a memorable relationship. This issue can be combated by sending frequent short texts, using personalization, and inviting customers to reply to messages so you can have a two-way conversation with them.
Q: What is SMS etiquette?
A: Even when texting, it’s important to maintain professionalism as you communicate with your customers. SMS etiquette principles include:
- Don’t message someone until they have opted-in to receive text message marketing from your business. Unwarranted messages aren’t welcome.
- Don’t assume contacts recognize your number. Identify your business in some way within the text.
- Double-check your SMS message for spelling, grammar, and clarity. You can use emojis and even GIFs here and there. Just make sure it doesn’t take away from the point of the message.
- Allow SMS subscribers to opt out of receiving marketing messages. Let them control who they are receiving communications from.
