Best Practices for SMS & Text Marketing.

Posted February 25, 2022

In Customer Service, eCommerce, Marketing

SMS or Text marketing is an integral part of an organization’s overall marketing efforts. But there are some challenges specific to email, including deliverability hurdles. Emails are at the mercy of email services that control the delivery of messages. Although emails are still relevant, SMS has an upper hand in terms of near-instant communication. Text messages are read almost immediately by recipients after their arrival. SMS is certainly a powerful tool to connect with consumers and provide superior customer service.

Relevance of Text Messaging

Many eCommerce businesses use SMS service to provide basic order updates to shoppers. As a strategy, a brand can motivate a shopper to share their contact number if they are interested to receive shipping details.

SMS marketing works better when customers are keen to receive messages. Make sure SMS sign-up options are available throughout the site. Alternatively, it is important to keep the instructions clear for opting out. When you provide value for customers in exchange for a contact number, it motivates them to sign up.

SMS Marketing Strategies

Text messaging is a powerful communication means to immediately send messages to receptive users. Since SMS enjoys a 98% open rate, it has a much quicker response rate than push notifications from Apps or browsers. You can engage customers better through MMS, polls, emojis, surveys, and calendar invites, all sent via text messaging.

Get permission to send text messages. Stay ethical and follow best practices before sending text to customers. Additionally, don’t forget to include opt-out instructions with each SMS. In order to do so, you want to entice them to sign up for SMS messages via an online form or texting a keyword or code to a mobile number.
Introduce yourself each time you send a text message. Recipients might not know who the sender is since they will see a number. So straight away hit the nail on the head and identify your brand with each text message. Better still, consider opting for a brand-friendly code, which is a 5- or 6-digit number for commercial use. This might come in handy for large-scale marketing.
Limit the frequency of messages. This is important to minimize opt-outs, which will help drive engagement. Write a brief and engaging message with an offer they don’t want to let go.
Don’t overdo promotional messages. In fact, your SMS marketing strategy should have a balance between promotional and transactional. Unless you strike the right balance, there is a high risk of depletion of your precious contact list.
Choose contextually relevant keywords to encourage recipients to use while texting to your short code.
Don’t waste a minute to respond to a text message from a customer. In fact, try to keep them engaged so act immediately and this is the time for a productive conversation. An auto-responder might be a great option for instant messaging.

Lay the Foundation Now and Grow!

With the right SMS solution handy, you can determine what promotions work and identify those that do not. Here is an opportunity to refine your text campaigns to improve your marketing strategy across all channels. One way to do so is to gather customer responses and inquiries.

Text marketing is a quick way to communicate with the audience, increase engagement, improve customer service, and boost conversions. But many consumers see SMS as a personal form of communication. Done effectively, SMS marketing opens up an array of business opportunities for brands.

Any kind of messaging, be it voice messages, email, push notifications, or Messenger, requires a solid marketing platform from where you can evolve with the needs of your audience. The strategy should be to start the right conversation at the right time and do not delay in responding to customer queries and inquiries.

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