5 Tips for Effective SMS Message Marketing
Increasingly, companies are leveraging SMS Marketing as a way to communicate with customers. Trillions of texts are sent and received across the world every year. Because of this high rate it’s no surprise that businesses began to take advantage of bulk SMS messaging. Consumers are more likely to read your text versus an email or in-store display. Most basic mobile phones will allow for SMS messaging making it an accessible option for anyone. However, just because a consumer may open and read your message does not mean that they will take advantage of the offer or take any action for that matter. It is how your SMS messages come across that will determine your success.
1. Your Timing
The timing of your message will have a significant impact on how many people actually open and read it. Most people have jobs and aren’t able to check their messages much throughout the day even though they almost always have their phone with them. That said, if you want to increase your chance of a consumer taking action from your SMS message you should aim to send it mid to late afternoon. Most people are done working for the day or will be more likely to open it once they arrive home.
2. Clear and Simple
Trying to get a lot of information in one text can be rough, for both businesses and individuals. Managing to create a powerful message in under 160 characters is challenging but there is no need to make the message more complicated than it has to be. Keep your messages clear, simple and to the point if you want to increase the chance of a response. Include the highlight of your offer or news and an easy to understand call to action.
3. Friendly Identification
Always make sure to identify your company or name so that people know who is sending the offer. Not all SMS systems will display the mobile owner’s name and the last thing you want is to miss out on potential customers. This is also important for companies with multiple locations when sending an offer for only one location. You want to clarify the location in your message. If your company name is rather long and your SMS provider doesn’t include your name automatically consider a way to shorten the name so you aren’t wasting too many of your already limited 160 characters.
4. Redirect Customers
Unable to fit your message into one single text? Redirect them to your website with a call to action. This way they get a glimpse of the offer and go to your website to learn more about it. In addition they may discover more new information on your website and be that much more likely to take action.
5. Testing: 1, 2, 3
As with any marketing campaign SMS marketing is no different when it comes to testing. Before you send a text to every customer you have, send it to your own phone first. Ensure it displays correctly and that you did not leave any pertinent information out. Should it display incorrectly revise it until it appears the right way. Your customers will be very grateful as will your business.
SMS marketing is a great way to reach existing and new customers across the world. If you haven’t taken advantage of it yet you should look into it and how it can help your business. You don’t need to send multiple messages a day as you risk losing customers by being a nuisance rather than being informative. People love to get great offers quick and SMS messaging is a very effective method for doing just that.
Ed Maklouf is co-founder and CEO of Siine, a free, icon-based keyboard for the Android market.
