If your business isn’t using short message service (SMS) marketing, you could be missing a huge opportunity to connect with customers and clients. Sending an SMS or texting not only delivers impressive returns on investment but also creates loyal customers who feel valued. Whether you’re operating in real estate, finance, insurance, legal, or recruitment, you can improve your customer experience with a solid SMS marketing strategy.
Table of Contents
What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing involves using text messages to communicate with customers about campaigns, promotions, news, and more. It’s similar to email marketing, but it uses permission-based text messaging instead of emails.
Here are some ways that companies can use SMS marketing (also known as text marketing):
- Account updates
- Birthday and holiday wishes
- Proactive customer service
- Thanks-for-signing-up discounts
- Time-sensitive offers
What are the benefits of SMS marketing?
Businesses have an excellent opportunity to reach customers with SMS marketing because many people still rely on texting. The following statistics about Americans’ texting habits show why SMS marketing can be a profitable venture for your business:
- Americans check their phones an average of 47 times per day.
- About 90% of all text messages are read within three minutes of being received.
- About 63% of people use their phone’s native texting app. Around 15% use Facebook Messenger followed by WhatsApp (8%) and Snapchat (5%).
- More than 60% of consumers say appointment reminder texts were the most valuable SMS updates they receive.
Most people take their mobile phones everywhere which is why SMS marketing can be a very powerful way to connect with your customers. Here are some benefits of using SMS in your marketing mix:
Higher open rates
As the statistics above show, Americans check their phones almost 50 times per day and 90% of them read messages right away. People tend to read virtually every text they get — unlike junk mail or spam that can be ignored. Emails pile up in inboxes but text messages have a much higher open rate.
Simple and affordable
SMS marketing is so effective because it’s simple. You don’t have to write an entire newsletter’s worth of copy or even create visual elements to send a text. All it takes is clear language with a call-to-action (CTA). Sending SMS messages saves you time and money. A well-planned SMS marketing campaign can be executed at a fraction of the cost associated with more traditional marketing methods.
Mobile-focused
Americans spend an average of 5.4 hours on their mobile phones daily. Reach your customers where they’re at by sending them text messages directly and creating long-term relationships with them.
Improved engagements
SMS marketing is an easy way to keep customers engaged without bothering them too much. They’ll appreciate your appointment reminders or back-in-stock updates and keep your business top-of-mind.
Personal and customizable
Relevancy and personalization are crucial to ensuring an effective text campaign. You can easily customize texts for certain segments of your audience. Text subscribers are much quicker to unsubscribe than email subscribers, which is why it’s important that every text message you send offers some value for your recipients.
Better data insights
When you use the right SMS marketing tool, you can easily see how well your texts perform and gather important insights for the rest of your marketing efforts. Detailed response data allows you to monitor the performance of each SMS campaign and optimize messaging accordingly to bring in better ROI.
How can you create a profitable SMS marketing strategy?
Even if you’ve never done SMS marketing before, getting a campaign or two started is easy. You will find great success if you have the right tools and people to help you manage it. Keep the following tips in mind, too, as you craft your winning SMS marketing strategy.
Know your customer
Before you start sending clients and customers marketing messages, you need to know who they are. For example, your real estate agency likely won’t benefit from sending an SMS about your most recent home listings to a 20-year-old college student. Analyze your audience to determine which messages will be most relevant to them.
Segment your SMS marketing audience
Gathering customer insights won’t do you any good if you don’t segment your audience appropriately. Split your customers into groups, and send each group messages tailored to their profile. By profiling and segmenting out numbers that are least likely to respond, you have a higher chance of fueling conversions and improving marketing ROI.
Write engaging and direct messages
With SMS marketing, you only have words and a link to rely on. The copy of your text should be engaging and to the point. Keep messages short, and use clear, plain language. Alternatively, you could use a business texting tool that allows you to send multimedia messaging service (MMS) messages, so you can send images and videos to make your campaigns more engaging.
Use clear CTAs
SMS marketing is only effective when you use concise and engaging copy. Keep your messages short and provide a strong CTA. For example, you can direct customers to call you to discuss their upcoming appointment, visit your website, or sign up for your referral program. Make your goal clear.
Add SMS opt-in options across your channels
Give customers a chance to opt in to receiving SMS messages from you at as many points of contact as possible. Add an SMS opt-in feature to your Facebook page, website, and email newsletter. When your employees make a sale, they should also ask customers if they want to sign up for SMS updates and offers.
Offer exclusive value adds through SMS
Use your text messages to incentivize customers to opt in, sign up, or make a purchase. Send updates about exclusive deals, contests, giveaways, and referral bonuses. Texts are perfect for time-sensitive offers and promotions.
Schedule texts at strategic times
Sending your texts at the right time of day is integral for the success of your SMS marketing campaign. For appointment reminders, one of the best things you can do is send a text message 24 hours in advance. Their chosen schedule suggests when they are active and available to be contacted. Generally, it would be best to avoid sending texts before 9:00 am or after 9:00 pm.
Send personal follow-up messages
Text messages create the ideal opportunity to personalize your messaging. Follow up after an email, a purchase, or appointment with a custom message to remind your clients that you’re dedicated to providing them with an exceptional experience.
Need help in crafting and organizing a winning SMS marketing strategy?
Running a successful SMS marketing campaign takes the right strategy and the right tools. With the tips outlined here, you can develop a campaign that spreads brand awareness and boosts profits.
You can also keep your campaign organized with a sophisticated SMS marketing tool. You can boost engagement rates with two-way texting and using it in conjunction with voice calls. Find out how Aloware’s business texting solution can let you create SMS and MMS campaigns and send them at scale. It allows you to formulate and schedule text messages beforehand so you can save time in executing your campaign. You can also use customers’ buying behavior to set up triggers for SMS follow-ups.
Book a demo to learn how you can leverage Aloware’s cloud-based communication platform that can seamlessly integrate with your existing CRM.
