Advantages of SMS
SMS has a maximum of 160 characters including spaces that you can send and receive through mobile devices, so your audience can read your short message very fast.
According to the Mobile Marketing Association, recipients open 95 percent of all SMS messages. Mobile text messaging is perhaps the quickest way to communicate with your target audience. The New York Times says SMS is relatively uncluttered and spam-free, and the biggest opportunity is ahead, considering the fast growth of mobile device users. Forbes reports over 4 billion people worldwide — and 75 percent of Americans — regularly send and receive text messages.
SMS marketing is an open frontier. With a few strong strategies you can boost your sales and enhance customer loyalty. Here are some ideas you can use to help you add SMS strategies to your marketing mix:
Strategy #1: Build Your Mobile List
Before you can send out text messages, you must first have a database of contacts. As with email, you should ask your audience members to opt in to receive SMS. All you need to do is ask them to text a keyword to your short code, which is a five- or six-digit number.
You can build your list of contacts who opt in to receive SMS from you by doing this in other forms of media too. This may include your website email. A good strategy to increase your opt-in rate is to offer a free gift such as a report or a discount off your product. The best way to deliver this report is to send your new contact a text message with a link to the document.
Always ask your audience at what hours they are willing to receive text messages. Make sure you know what time zone they are in so you’ll know how to schedule SMS campaigns accordingly.
Strategy # 2: Engage Your Audience
Since many people may pay to receive texts, you should only send messages to those who opt in to receive text messages. Even if they opt in, people respond most when you engage them personally. Your response will greatly increase when you include messages that are more personal, rather than messages that seem like spam.
Sending your audience a promotion about a product or service may not get you a good response with SMS. However, your audience would more likely appreciate receiving promotional codes for discounts or coupons toward your products and services.
Another way to engage your audience is by sending them a text message when they are within a certain distance of your location. This is especially true if you are a retail operation and want to get them into your store or venue.
A third way to engage your audience is by offering them a free gift in return for a referral or short testimonial of their experience with your company. This is one step toward enhancing customer loyalty. SMS can help you to quickly build customer relationships.
Strategy #3: Increase Your Reach to a Younger Audience
The 18 to 49 year old market is the sweet spot for many television advertisers. This is an ideal market for SMS too. Compared to baby boomers, Gen X and Gen Y segments of the population grew up with mobile phones and are bigger users of text messaging, so it makes sense to use this medium to reach this audience.
Strategy #4: Link SMS with Other Types of Advertising
The best advertising strategy integrates different types and forms of media. Including content in your print and digital ads and social media sites about opting in to SMS can help you increase your audience with whom you can communicate through text. On the other hand, you can share links in your text messages that take your audience to new videos, articles or other content you publish. This can help build your credibility and customer loyalty.
Strategy # 5 Send Your Messages at the Right Time
Timing is everything. Just as with email, your response rates can differ by the time of day you send your text message. The best time depends on the behavior of your audience. Nonetheless, you want to send your messages at a time when your audience is free to receive and respond to your message. An ideal time is before and after work hours and during lunch hour. You’ll need to test market to see what times are best for you. Nonetheless, as a general rule do not disturb your audience members after 9 PM their time.
Strategy #6: Send Previews to Emails
People carry their smart phones wherever they go. Unlike email, which you may check every few hours, text messaging is something you know you’ve received almost immediately. Texting your contacts to give them a heads up about an email you’ve sent can be a welcome message. This is especially true if your email contains a report your audience would like to get as soon as possible, testing results, changes to a scheduled event or a contest.
Strategy #7: Follow Up Email Campaigns
Sending an SMS message after you send an email is like a one two punch. According to Constant Contact, sending an SMS after you send your email canboost your response rates. Your audience can receive both of these messages on the mobile device. And since both types of media enable two-way communication, you are able to engage a conversation that you otherwise would not get with other types of media.
Strategy #8: Local Reach
SMS is a viable media to communicate with your audience when they are in close proximity to your product or services. It’s also best to know ahead of time where and when your audience will be. According to a report in Mobile Marketer, Southwest Airlines connects with its opt-in audience in airports through SMS. The airline acquired new customers in a three week promotion campaign. Southwest continues to communicate with these customers through SMS to confirm flight information. With further opt-in from the customer, Southwest sends them other promotions.
Retail stores can do the same. For example, you could send your opt-in customers who are in the store special promotions of products that have a short expiration, and you can also send your audience specific information about new product trends to get them to ask questions to the sales representative who in turn can close the sale.
Strategy #9: Send Exclusive Offers Not Found Elsewhere
People like to feel special, and there is no better way to make your audience feel special than by making them part of an exclusive club. You can do this by promoting exclusive offers through text that you do NOT promote in any other marketing channel or on your website. Sending your audience these exclusive offers through SMS is called “positive disruption,” according to a report in Marketing Profs. You see, you are disrupting the activity of your audience with your text, yet it contains vital information that they appreciate receiving.
Strategy #10: Follow Up eCommerce Sales with SMS
Building customer relationships is not just about what goes on before the sale. In fact, more of it must go on after the sale if you want to create loyal customers and generate repeat sales and new revenues from referrals. Few and far between are those companies who follow up with customers after the sale. SMS is the perfect medium to communicate your after-sale message.
There are a few ways you can use SMS for sales follow-up. One strategy is to alert them about when you ship out their order and the shipper tracking number.Responsys recommends you add an SMS opt-in in your shopping cart at checkout telling your customer that you will send them an alert when you ship out and deliver their package.
Patrick Abboud
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