These days, our mobile phones go everywhere with us. Companies world-wide are capitalising on this fact and sky rocketing their revenue. Mass short message services (SMS) stand out as the most effective form of direct marketing because they allow companies to send targeted and effective messages to their customers on a large scale.
If you’re a business owner in today’s market, you can’t ignore this trend. Strategically tailoring your text messaging ensures that you’re sending your customers relevant and valuable information. But what are some of the best practices for mass SMS marketing?
In this article, we’ll be answering that question as your company enters into the arena of SMS marketing.
What Is Mass SMS?
Companies want to connect directly with large numbers of people in a way that will impact them the most. Mass SMS marketing is exactly how companies do this. SMS–and specifically mass SMS–marketing is when companies send targeted bulk text messages to their customer base, typically with the assistance of an online SMS gateway provider, like 160.com.au.
Best Practices
These will be some helpful best practices to consider as you’re navigating the waters of SMS marketing:
Get Permission
Regulation around SMS marketing requires explicit consent from your customers before you can start sending them text messages. If they choose to opt-in, you can set up an autoresponder to send them a follow-up confirmation. Monitor your response rates to see if you can adapt your messaging strategy to encourage more opt-ins.
Identify Yourself
There’s a good chance that your customers may have agreed to opt-in, but haven’t added you to their contacts list. So, be sure to identify your company or brand in the beginning of the messages. Other marketing channels offer far more up-front brand visibility than SMS marketing. With a text, all customers have to go off of is a seemingly random phone number. If you choose to use this form of marketing, remember to clearly identify your company to the customer in every text. This can be done by sending your text with an alphanumeric Sender ID so that your business name or a word that identifies your business shows as the sender on the SMS recipient’s mobile phone rather than a random phone number. This feature is only available when sending SMS through an SMS gateway provider like 160.com.au
Easy Opt-Out
Subscribers need to know they can opt-out from your messages at any time. Always include the phrase, “text STOP if you no longer wish to receive these messages” somewhere in the flow of your communication to give your customers the option to opt-out of future messages. This can build brand credibility by not burning bridges with undesired text messages.
Set Expectations
Be open, honest, and clear about what your customers can expect from opting-in to your SMS list. Be clear about what a subscriber is getting and then follow through. Text messaging is very personal to people and you’ll want to honour that.
Keep It Short
The most effective SMS is short and sweet, which means text messages should typically stay around 115 to 160 characters. In this short communication, make sure to use a clear call to action (CTA) that gives your audience marching orders on what to do after reading your message.
Targeted and Specific
Resist the urge to send random messages to your subscribers. Unsolicited messages are not necessarily the best performers, but contextually-relevant texts are more likely to get a click-through, which can bring a higher conversion. You must keep topics relevant so you don’t get pinged as spam. Keep in mind that timing is everything.
Drive to Other Channels
By working with an SMS provider like 160.com.au, you’ll be able to seamlessly drive your SMS traffic from text messages right to your website. You’ll want to make sure your website is optimised for mobile before you do this.
In Conclusion
These are some best practices that you can employ in your next campaign. Consider signing up and creating an account with 160.com.au today, and let us help your company’s next mass SMS marketing strategy campaign!