SMS marketing is far from a ground-breaking new concept. While SMS marketing has been a niche channel for some time, we saw more brands profiting on this channel last year than ever before.
In fact during the recent holiday shopping season:
Ecommerce brands earned a 14% CTR with SMS
SMS also earned 592% higher order rates than email
We saw 21% more orders coming from SMS vs email
47.7% of Omnichannel campaigns involving SMS ended in conversion
Before running into the details of promoting the business using BULK SMS Tips and Ways, let us first start understanding what Bulk SMS is.
As the name itself suggests, Bulk SMS is simply sending a meaningful number of SMS simultaneously. The use of bulk SMS can be very wide and depends on the nature of business and usage.
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There are a few aspects of SMS marketing that make it stand out as a unique channel and give brands that use it correctly a competitive edge.
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While SMS isn’t a new tool, it’s a channel marketers are only now beginning to use and refine. While there’s a bit more learning curve than the best practices already cut out for email marketing, you don’t have a large margin for error.
Given the proximity of SMS for customers, it’s important to get it right the first time around. Lucky for you, we’ve got some best practices to keep your SMS marketing campaigns relevant.
#1. Get Permission (and keep it)
Just like email marketing, it’s important to get explicit approval from your customer for SMS marketing. This is simple enough, as you can add the option of including a mobile number with your newsletter subscription field.
The real challenge, however, will be keeping the permission you’ve tentatively earned. Start with full admission: tell your customer what kind of text messages they should expect to receive from you.
Second, don’t abuse the permission granted to you! SMS is intimate, immediate, and overt in getting your customer’s attention. Use your SMS marketing campaigns for time-sensitive and critical information. Overusing this channel is the fastest way to kill it for your customers.
On that note, include a way for customers to opt-out with every message. Just like email, you need to make sure you give customers an unsubscribe link or a number they can text STOP to.
Sending messages to people who don’t want them does nothing for you or your brand.
#2. Use an SMS Marketing Tool
SMS marketing might get you inspired, but before you whip out your phone and start sending manual messages to your customers, know that you should be using an SMS marketing software for this.
A great SMS marketing tool can help you nail your strategy in several ways:
- You’ll be able to automate your SMS marketing messages and send several at once.
- Certain SMS marketing tools will allow you to add SMS directly to your email automation workflows, saving you time.
- SMS campaigns can be triggered the same way emails are, with the same level of segmentation that allows you to target your campaigns.
- If you don’t have SMS verification, you can substitute email or another channel so your customer still gets the message you want to send.
An SMS marketing tool will also afford you important metrics and reporting so you can see exactly how impactful your campaigns are. With that list of data, you can adjust your campaigns to try different tactics to get the highest ROI possible.
#3. Add Value to Your Customer
Before you send your SMS campaign, ask yourself one simple question:
How will this SMS add value to my customer’s life?
If you can’t answer that question, put the phone down. SMS marketing should only be used when you’ve got a good reason.
This is a channel that can burn out very quickly if you don’t know what you’re doing or if you send too many messages too quickly. That’s the quickest way to turn off potential customers.
#4. Keep it Short, Valuable, and to the Point
Not only should you keep your SMS campaigns few and far between, but limits on characters and your customers’ attention spans means you need to get to the point, and quickly.
If you have an offer, lead with that. If your information has important information about their order, include it in the message. Always include a link so they can get more detailed information about the offer/update you’ve sent.
This factor is very much reliant on the nature of the business. Just as we discussed the food chain marketing needs multiple suggestions and constant efforts to keep the customer. More the frequency of the Bulk SMS, better is the result of your campaign.
Another great practice is to follow up with an email later. If you’ve sent something timely and important, make sure you’re sending more complete information via email in case the customer needs it. Emails are less aggressive than SMS, so there’s little risk in conducting a follow-up.
#5. Personalize Your SMS Marketing Campaigns
While the ultimate goal is to make sure your SMS campaigns are consistent, it’s even better when they’re personalized.
I mentioned earlier that a great SMS marketing tool will allow you to use segmentation for your best SMS campaigns. If you can target them the way you do your emails, you’ll already be one step ahead of your competition.
SMS is a more intimate channel, so sustain that closeness with your customer by using their first name, or personalizing your messages. Send offers that are relevant based on location, or previous purchases.
This helps build and maintain the relationship you have with your customers.
This also means thinking about when your customer will receive their SMS. Remember, many people have their text message notifications enabled on their phones. This means that sending a text message at 3 am is going to result in a very irritable customer.
As a typical channel, SMS marketing offers e-commerce marketers a different opportunity to build a relationship with their customers.
As long as you follow the best methods, and use SMS when it’s going to make the biggest impact, you can drastically improve your ROI. With these takeaways, you’ll be able to make SMS marketing work for you and your e-commerce store.
SMS marketing has so many advantages and at little cost to you, there’s no reason not to give it a try. Also, these tips if developed correctly your company can achieve its desired goal instantly.
Especially when the benefits of SMS marketing give your business that extra edge it needs to stand above all of the competitors.