What is SMS marketing and How to Use it for your business?
Modern consumers like modern methods to connect to businesses. SMS marketing is one of the best ways to do so. Olden marketing techniques have become ineffective now, consumers expect businesses to use the contact info and provide them with the best experience.
SMS marketing is a complementary method of social marketing. It helps the consumers to connect to the business and vice versa. Businesses can reach their potential consumers in real-time with the help of Bulk SMS.
What is SMS marketing?
Sending marketing messages in the form of bulk text messages to one’s customers is called SMS marketing.
Bulk SMS marketing is a form of opting marketing that requires consumers to subscribe. The difference between social media Marketing and SMS marketing is that Social media marketing marketers post public content that people choose to follow or like however in the case of SMS marketing consumers subscribe to a business’s website for updates and offers announcements.
Common types of SMS marketing are as follows:-
Personalized SMS marketing
Offers and discounts
Remarketing
Surveys
Consumers are becoming more comfortable interacting with businesses through text messages on their mobile phones.
This is why even back in Covid era
U.S. retailers increased their investment in digital marketing through SMS and messaging. This step was taken by more than half US retailers.
The number increased by 56% outranking any other area for potential investment.
What are SMS customer services?
SMS customer service is the method of serving customers via text messages. Businesses can reach their customers for new updates and best offers via messages itself.
According to global research, it was discovered that global Mobile business messaging increased by 10% in 2020 which was about 2.7 trillion messages.
It was found that retailers primarily used bulk messaging for:-
Confirming orders
Dispatch notifications
Tracking orders
Delivery Updates
New offers
Discount sale updates
New product updates
All these fall under bulk SMS marketing
According to a prediction by Gartner, it’s said that by 2025, 80% of customer service organizations will be using SMS and messaging, rather than native apps.
These messages are considered valuable by the customers when sent by the businesses. In their busy schedule, they tend to forget about their order updates, delivery updates, booking confirmation, etc all of these provide necessary assistance to the consumers and makes it easy for them to avail all the benefits.
So if a company is planning to incorporate text message marketing it’s wise to use SMS customer service. This attracts consumers and motivates them to stay with your company. Bulk SMS marketing is not just about automated reminders but it’s about customer service and engaging with consumers on one to one basis.
SMS marketing techniques for one’s business
Take permission – Don’t send without a clear opt-in
Businesses do collect the phone numbers of consumers. However, taking permission for bulk SMS is necessary. One must ask for a clear opt-in.
Opt-in to text messages permission should be taken on the website itself or other online platforms. Before sending an SMS one must confirm in text form about their consent to subscription.
The solution for this can be to send only one thanks message to the customer and a supporting email asking them to click on Yes or No. If the customer responds that’s beneficial and if not no further SMS should be sent to them.
One smart strategy for receiving a consumer subscription is to offer a 10% one-time-use discount coupon for subscribing to text messaging.
Include instructions to opt-out
It is necessary (and often a legal requirement ) for all marketing communications and most importantly for SMS marketing. Sending bulk SMS without the permission of the consumers can lead to a loss of consumers and sales.
The options for unsubscribing text messages must be given. Not everyone wants to get these kinds of details by text.
Identify yourself
No consumers will have the contact of all the brands they shop with thus businesses can’t expect their customers to have their contacts. This means the messages will appear from an unknown number with no inherent identity. So to grab attention and gain trust one must identify themselves.
One method of doing this is placing the name of the brand just in the starting itself and placing a colon after it before starting the message.
Send on the right
Selecting the best time is necessary for Bulk SMS Marketing. If the messages don’t reach the consumers at the right time they might be irritated and unsubscribe from the services which will lead to a loss of customers and sales.
Area codes make it relatively easy to identify one’s target audience’s time zones. Instead of sending a blast message to everyone at once, choose the correct time zone and send messages according to the target audience.
However, those who are in an in-person business can opt to send SMS messages right after an appointment.
Know your character count
SMS messages have a character count of up to 160 words which is no big deal when one has to mention his identity and provide an opt-out option.
Say exactly what you want to exactly to the point. One must use link shorteners to shorten the link and save the character, Count.
SMS Gateway
The use of an SMS Gateway is necessary for effective SMS marketing.
What is SMS Gateway?
SMS Gateway helps users to send bulk SMS from a browser to a Mobile phone served gateway.
It can prove to be useful for businesses, brands, or companies who opt for SMS marketing as it allows them to send messages Via the computer itself.
Conclusion
SMS Marketing is one of the best marketing strategies that allow one to gain customer engagement easily. Companies that invest in personalized SMS marketing campaigns get the most results.