If you’re looking for ways to increase member engagement, customer satisfaction, or create greater brand awareness, bulk SMS messages for your organisation might be the best strategy.
Bulk short message services, or ‘bulk SMS,’ uses standardisation communication protocols to exchange short text messages. When companies and organisations need to reach a wider audience all at once, they can send their message in ‘bulk’ by sending a text to several numbers at once in a ‘blind carbon copy.’
Businesses struggle with getting their message in front of their target audience, which makes sense when consumers are inundated with spam messages and emails. And when most of the world we interact with is on screens, consumers don’t pay as much attention to traditional advertising.
When you use bulk SMS messaging services, you increase your chances for brand recognition and engagement from your target audience.
What Is Bulk SMS?
SMS messages are no different than a standard text message, are text-only, and have a 160-character limit (although this limit may go up to 450). Bulk SMS allows businesses to send mass text messages both nationally and internationally.
It’s a simple, straightforward way to get your message across to a specific audience without running the risk of winding up in a spam folder. Learning how to do bulk SMS marketing can increase your return on investments because studies show that over 98% of SMS messages are opened compared to between 20% and 30% of marketing emails.
Some of the best uses for bulk SMS marketing include:
- Offering promotional discounts
- Sending reminders for events or upcoming products
- Updating clients or customers on scheduling changes or other time-sensitive updates
- Increasing sales with ‘call to action’ messages
Successful bulk SMS message marketing can keep your clientele and customers up-to-date and engaged with your brand, offering a higher return on investment than other digital strategies, like email.
How to Send Bulk SMS Messages
If you’re ready to broadcast your messages to clients, customers, and even your own employees, getting started with 160.com.au is simple. When you get started with our free trial, you have access to all of our available features, including:
- Our intuitive SMS platform
- SMS reminders and alerts scheduler
- Our contact import tools
- Automated opt-out features
Here’s how you can get started:
Grow Your Messaging List
In order for your SMS bulk messaging campaigns to be successful, you need a list of contacts. Offering customers incentives to sign-up for SMS messages with a ‘10% off’ code or coupon is a popular way for companies to build a messaging list with consent.
Other options include offering the opportunity to opt-in for SMS messages when customers are completing a transaction, or offering exclusive updates to customers who opt-in.
Draft Your Messages
Next, you need to write the messages you want sent out. Keep it short and simple, ideally under 160 characters, and include a call to action, such as ‘text YES for future updates’ or ‘text RSVP to secure your spot!’
Think about what the intention of the message is–is it to drive sales for an upcoming promotional event? Are you updating employees about changes to store hours? Whatever your goal, there’s a bulk SMS messaging template out there for you.
Schedule Your Messages
Whether you’re scheduling a one-off bulk SMS message or weekly reminders, 160.com.au makes scheduling your messages easy.
For one-off messages, go to draft your message and select the ‘Schedule’ button next to the ‘Send’ button. Next, select the date and time you want the message to send on the first bullet point option labelled ‘…on.’ Then, hit ‘Schedule.’
For recurring scheduled messages, select ‘Schedule SMS’ and select ‘Periodically.’ You will see the same options from the one-time scheduling screen, only this time you will select the second bullet option labelled ‘… periodically.’ More options should appear below, allowing you to schedule messages to be sent everyday, every week on the same day and time, or once a month.