How to Optimise SMS Marketing Efforts For Your Business

SMS marketing is one of the most underrated strategies in the business landscape. The introduction of social media and other digital platforms has seen many marketers shift to these mediums when promoting their brands. However, SMS still remains one of the most effective and impactful marketing tactics today.

Platforms like social media and email are popular choices for building an audience and generating sales. While using both mediums is effective in increasing ROI, there's still a flaw in these strategies.

To use email, for example, users have to be able to connect to the internet in the first place. Only then can recipients check their inbox and respond immediately. The same applies to social and OTT messaging app notifications like WhatsApp. However, that's not the case with SMS.

SMS doesn't require an internet connection to activate or use it. Instead, it uses a cell network or provider signal. And unlike other communication channels, text messaging functionality is pre-built into all mobiles. The accessibility of SMS signifies an unmissable opportunity for marketers to reach a broad audience immediately.

Why use SMS marketing?

Before the advent of the internet and social media, many businesses considered SMS as one of the best marketing strategies. SMS can reach everyone in the space of a short time. You can blast bulk SMS or text messages to hundreds and even thousands of mobile phone users at the same time (as long as they’ve opted-in to your database).

Government organisations still use SMS as a timely method to inform citizens about urgent situations. Why? Because SMS can capture attention right away. Thanks to instant notifications that are delivered right into recipients’ handsets, text messages grab attention in seconds.

Moreover, SMS has a 98% open rate—way higher compared to 20% for email. Not to mention that people spend a shorter time (about 90 seconds on average) to reply to a text message than an email. With almost instant engagement, utilising SMS marketing will improve your chances of reaching customers and increasing conversions.

Five methods to improve your SMS marketing efforts

SMS is not only still relevant, but it’s also essential. People receive incoming text messages almost immediately even when internet access isn’t available. This signifies how effective SMS marketing can be for your business. The following are some proven methods you can use to make the most of SMS in your strategy.

1. Event promotions

Incorporating SMS marketing is one of the most effective ways to inform people about your brand's event. You can send text messages notifying your audience to attend the event that you're going to hold. Plus remind them a week before the event to increase attendance.

With a limit of 160 characters, SMS keeps your message short and concise, allowing recipients to grasp information fast. Instead of rambling about your event in a long email, you can send them a short SMS and include a link to your site.

For your event or promotional landing page, make sure to insert an explainer video rather than a bulky article. Recipients expect to get compelling information when they click on the provided link. In this case, video content can help deliver your messages in a meaningful way.

You might add a sentence like "Click here for more information about the event" in your text message. That way, people will be intrigued to visit the page and click-through the link provided.

2. Quick polls & surveys

Given the impressive open and response rates, you can use SMS marketing to conduct customer polls. It's one of the fastest and most accessible methods to generate feedback from your audience.

When it comes to market research, feedback is essential to make a final judgment. It's vital to define the market fit before developing the product. Hence, utilising SMS for these purposes can help businesses collect valuable information quickly.

SMS is also ideal for customer satisfaction surveys that don't require a long reply. Asking recipients to respond with a simple 'yes' or 'no' would be enough to generate valuable results. Most people won't mind answering questions if it doesn't take long to respond.

3. Giveaway alerts

Giveaways are a common practice on social media platforms. However, it can be tricky because you need extensive resources and reach to promote your 'giveaway' on social media. You might miss capturing the right audience as everyone simply wants to join in the bandwagon. This often results in a yo-yo effect, where you gain and lose the audience fast.

Creating a giveaway may drive significant traffic to your social account, as well as your landing page or website. However, only a small segment of that audience will stay after the giveaway.

Incorporating SMS marketing will give you different results. You can send giveaway texts to your targeted database, who are more likely to stay opted-in as they have given express consent to receive messages from your brand. That way, you save more on customer acquisition costs.

4. Special offers

Sending special promotions to your audience is one of the most effective ways to increase conversion rates. When the offers are time-sensitive, the fear of missing out can prompt your recipients into swift action.

With SMS marketing, you can send vouchers directly to your audience's mobile device. The push notification allows them to receive the information quickly, surging traffic to your discount page. This is another benefit of promoting your product via SMS.

Moreover, you can host text-to-win competitions, where customers are encouraged to send specific keywords to win a coupon. With an SMS service provider like SMSGlobal, you can select the time and date the keyword entries end. From there, you can choose from random numbers that have entered and send out texts to the winners.

Using this text-to-win marketing tactic, you also benefit from collecting new leads for your database. Once they've texted in, you can send follow up messages to thank them for entering and even for future promotions.

5. Automation triggers

SMS triggers automate text messages that are sent after your customers send particular keywords to your shortcode or virtual number. This automation allows you to quickly respond to customers without any manual work. That way, customers can receive important replies in a timely manner.

You can navigate your leads to send specific keyword messages to a virtual dedicated number. The SMS trigger will respond with a pre-configured message that tells them the next logical steps or asks them to call a sales representative. With this approach, you can bridge the gap between leads and sales members with a seamless communication method.

Automation triggers can be used to send information, such as giveaways, surveys, confirmations, follow up messages, and many more. However, integrating SMS keyword triggers within your CRM software can help you reap more benefits.

With a plugin like SMSGlobal for Zapier, you can integrate SMS functionality with your favourite tools within a couple of clicks. SMS integration via Zapier enables you to trigger automated messages directly from your business platform. Rather than following up every giveaway message manually, it can be done with an automated trigger, sending a relevant reply to the right recipient at the right time.

Conclusion

SMS marketing is often looked down on because of the advent of new technologies. However, its long history shows that this marketing strategy is effective in generating and nurturing customers. Not to mention its ability to reach recipients even when people can't connect to the internet. Text messages can directly reach a broader audience better than any other communication channel available.

If you're looking for an easy way to engage customers or gather customer feedback, SMS marketing is an excellent choice. You won't be surprised that over 98% of people you send a text message will open the text immediately, giving you a higher chance of obtaining new customers and influencing purchases.

This is a guest post written by Andre Oentoro.

About the author:

Andre Oentoro is the founder of Breadnbeyond, an award-winning explainer video company. He helps businesses increase conversion rates, close more sales, and get positive ROI from explainer videos (in that order).

Twitter: @breadnbeyond

Email: andre@breadnbeyond.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/andreoentoro/