We have compiled 10 basic rules for an effective SMS campaign that will keep both you and your customers happy - if the channel is used correctly.
1. Always send super sharp offers
Customers go for the best deals. So always remember that the SMS you send out is an offer your customers can't miss. Before you commit to an offer, ask yourself if it will drive customers to visit your store, get them to checkout, book an appointment with you, etc.
When consumers are asked which messages they respond to the most, they answer the following:
- Price sensitive offers
- Time-limited offers
- Product specific offers
Therefore, we recommend that you use your limited speaking time with your customers to promote messages within one of the 3 categories to maximise the impact of your SMS messages.
2. Start your SMS message with your offer
SMS marketing messages are built to be sharp and to the point. Your customers are busy people, so if your message doesn't grab them right away, you're forgotten right away.
Placing your message at the start of the message ensures you grab people's attention as much as possible. If you keep your text sharp and to the point, you'll ensure that your message doesn't get lost in meaningless entertainment.
3. Make it exclusive
To get the most out of your SMS campaign, make sure to make the offer seem exclusive to the individual recipient. Make your recipients feel like they have been given the opportunity to receive something special just for them. If the offer applies to everyone, it becomes less urgent and less attractive. Creating a sale via SMS is all about making the recipient feel unique and valuable to your business.
Make every SMS worth reading. Your customers give you approval to send them messages in return for the expectation of receiving value from your business. Make sure not to send them vague offers every week, but instead utilise each SMS message to pass on something valuable to the recipient. This can be anything from unique discount codes, important news, special events - all of which is useful information to share with your customers.
Worth remembering:
- Make sure the customer doesn't come across the same offer in an advert on Facebook or in a new SMS a few weeks later.
- Unique discount code - it seems more personalised if the code is made up of random characters. For example, do not send "BLACK18" but instead "QX18TYU".
- By including the recipient's first name, your business shows presence and that it is exclusive to the recipient.
4. Create urgency
By time-limiting your offer, you have a better chance of getting a response from your customers. Your customers will prioritise your business in their busy lives if you give them enough reason to do so. An offer is relevant if there is an expiry date or if there is a limited quantity and if this is clearly communicated.
If you send SMS messages with offers too frequently, you risk diluting the urgency of the offers. We recommend that you send between 2-4 offers per month. If you send more than that, you risk diluting your offers and ultimately annoying your SMS recipients.
5. Location, location, location
One of the most important elements of your SMS is to make it clear where your customers can redeem the offer. Make sure you always state where the offer is valid - even if you're a webshop owner. Your customers will quickly lose patience with your marketing if you grab their attention without telling them where they can get the offer.
Remember:
- Include the link to your campaign in the SMS message. It always seems super sloppy and unprofessional to have to send a new SMS message with "Sorry, we forgot the link…"
- Be careful with your links. If you keep your links short, simple and think about credibility, you'll find that more people will click through.
- Beware of URL shorteners. We recommend that you do not shorten links with Bit.ly, for example. This makes your customers feel more confident when they click through and can see that your company is the sender.
6. Remember a call to action
A call to action (CTA) is an important element to get your customers through the sales funnel. It's important that you keep your CTA short and simple and easy to follow. Assume that your customers are not interested and that your CTA will get them out of the starting gate.
Here's how you do it:
- Make sure to utilise the rhetorical tools that increase conversion rates; access, secret, limited time, exclusive, premium, etc.
- Make sure you express yourself clearly rather than cleverly. When writing your CTA, it's tempting to come up with a clever statement or bold wording to get the recipient to respond. But make your CTA text clear rather than clever.
- Be specific in your wording about what your offer is about. For example, if you're running a promotion with 50% off the entire shop, write something concrete like "Click and get 50% off the entire shop! Valid today only." than something non-specific like "Get 50% off today".
7. Make your brand name clear
Make yourself clear. Nobody likes to receive anonymous messages. There are different ways to make your brand clear to the recipients of your SMS messages.
The sender ID can be used for this purpose, but what your recipients read when they open the message is the message itself. That's why it's a good idea to end the SMS message by making it clear who the sender is.
When you send SMS messages via inMobile, you can choose your own sender ID. For example, we send as "inMobile" so the recipient can easily see that we are the sender. This creates credibility and avoids your business being perceived as a scam.
8. Send your SMS message at the right time
When should you send your text messages? Not too early and not too late.
Marketing messages are generally best received between 8am - 9pm, no earlier and no later. And it's important to note that this is the time zone of your recipients and not your business. So if you're sending SMS messages across different countries, it's important to remember the different time zones your customers are in.
Now that we know the best time to send SMS messages, we can talk about when to send your messages. Did you know that 90% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes of beeping on the recipient's mobile? With SMS messages being opened so quickly after they are received, it's a good idea not to send your offers too early. There shouldn't be too much time between your SMS being received and the offer being valid.
9. Avoid cancellations
Weekend vs. weekday…? Unsubscribe rates for SMS offers sent on weekends are higher than when sent on weekdays. However, there is no golden rule as to whether it's best to send text messages on weekends or weekdays.
That's why it's best to look at what times your business experiences the most cancellations. Take a look at your data and learn more about when your customers want to hear from you. Look at whether it applies to specific days, specific times of the week or weekends. This is hugely valuable information for maintaining a good SMS customer club and getting the most out of your SMS marketing.
10. Track your SMS campaign
The value of using the right links is highly underestimated. In addition to the fact that your recipients don't have to click around looking for your news, offers and stories, a link is also a great tool for tracking the popularity of your individual SMS messages, as you can measure how many people click through to a specific story or offer via the SMS message. This is done by creating your link with a built-in analytics tool that can quickly give you an overview of how often that link is clicked. The tool calculates how many people click through to your website via the link in the SMS message, giving you an overview of how well your SMS marketing is actually working.
With an utm tag in your link, you can identify the traffic originating from a specific SMS message that is part of a specific campaign. You can see how much your SMS message has contributed to the overall campaign result.
If you own a webshop, it's important to set up e-commerce tracking in your Google Analytics account. This tracking allows you to see how much you've spent on sales - quite relevant.
If you use a discount code in your SMS campaign, it allows you to see how many people have used the code and thus how well your SMS message has performed. The discount code must be unique to the specific promotion. If you use the same discount code for your campaigns, you lose track of how each campaign has performed.
