Introduction
Using SMS marketing to boost Your Business is often thought of as another term for text messaging, but in reality, it’s so much more than that. SMS stands for “short message service.” These messages are limited to 160 characters and cannot contain images, which means that using SMS marketing requires clever, concise messages.
Some of the things that make SMS marketing so important include its high open rates, timeliness, and delivery to generally-receptive audiences. It’s a very powerful strategy — so much so that it’s expected to grow into a $12.6 billion industry by the year 2025. By (Grand View Research)
SMS (short message service) marketing is an underrated channel in marketing strategy. Still, its strength lies in its ability to engage target customers in a non-intrusive and more personalised manner.
Over the years, our team has helped a lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses build their visual brands and improve their marketing, through SMS marketing campaigns. contact us now and let’s get started.
Whenever you send an SMS message, there are certain best practices worth knowing. For example, while your customers may have their phones on them 24 hours a day, they likely don’t want to hear from you at all hours of day and night. It’s courteous to limit SMS marketing messages to normal 9-5 office hours so you don’t wake your customers up or interrupt their dinners.
It’s also important that your SMS messages always include an opt-out option. This keeps your messaging from feeling spammy and ensures that only your most receptive customers are receiving your SMS marketing messages.
SMS marketing is more personal
What’s the first thing people do when they wake up? It’s probably not surprising that most of them reach for their phones. 74% of people do this as a daily habit.So when a customer opts-in and shares their mobile number with your business, this opens a connection that allows direct, immediate, and one-on-one conversations with them.
SMS marketing is easy to track
Because SMS marketing is permission-based, you’re off to an excellent start. When you use text messaging apps for business to contact your customers, you will not come across as intrusive or overstep your customers’ privacy. And, because you send SMS messages to specific phone numbers, you can easily track those messages rather than rely on marketing channels (like display ads) with limited or no tracking.
This helps you build up your customer persona more accurately because you know exactly who you are messaging. Your campaigns can be improved to become more precise and tailored toward your target audience.
SMS marketing can be precise and accurate
You aren’t wasting your marketing efforts on people outside those metrics because you are reaching out to specific people who you know fit your geographic, demographic, or psychographic target profile. This helps you run lean and accurate bulk SMS marketing campaigns. And you are assured that everyone you’re sending campaigns to is already interested in your small business since they opted to give you their number from the start.
7 Benefits of SMS Marketing for small Businesses
1. Welcoming new subscribers
This is where the adage “strike while the iron is hot” applies. When a prospective customer has just agreed to give you their number, it’s better to reach out as soon as possible and start building that relationship. Welcoming new subscribers is a valid reason to contact your customers and breach that distance. Likewise, it is your chance to share information about your business or brand – who you are, what you do, and why they should buy your products. This is an excellent way to start building brand equity and brand awareness.
You need not wait a day, a week, or a month to send your welcome message. The danger of waiting is that subscribers might have forgotten you by then. They might also be less likely to engage with your brand with time. Take it from Brooklyn Biltong’s welcome message that immediately reinforces the benefits of signing up:
2. Promoting product & Services launches
Promote your hottest new products via SMS marketing messages. Conversational marketing is all well and good. However, sometimes it makes sense to push for an immediate sale. For example, a successful product launch gives your small business valuable momentum and leverages word-of-mouth marketing benefits. But while a product launch’s point is to drive sales, it should be noble and casual.
This is where SMS marketing comes in to help you balance getting in front of clients to drive sales while still keeping a casual and unobtrusive personal tone.Whimsy + Wellness’ product launch SMS is an excellent example of how brands can attain that right balance:
3. Optimizing the post-purchase experience
One way to effectively use SMS marketing is by meeting your customers in the moments that are important to them. Think of appointment reminders, birthdays, and even membership anniversaries. This SMS automation by Serenity is an excellent example of using the platform to reinforce customer loyalty through a personalized birthday greeting with a discount that sweetens the message: Additionally and strategically, you can also be a step ahead in planning your holiday campaigns by sending timely and personalised SMS alerts for seasonal or peak season sales, as this sample from Gymboree:
You can also leverage SMS marketing by sending text alerts for order confirmation, shipping, and delivery. Because most customers get a lot of emails, people tend to ignore an email confirming an order, shipping, or delivery. But they nearly always check their SMS messages. Remember, informed customers are happy customers.
4. Follow up with cart abandoners
According to research conducted by SaleCycle, 81.08% of website users abandon their carts in the retail, fashion, travel, and utility industries. Cart abandonment is a significant problem for eCommerce companies. And while addressing abandoned carts as a part of their email lifecycle marketing is a good strategy for small businesses, adding a layer of SMS messaging is a viable option too. Text messages provide a sense of immediacy that an email cannot give. Text messaging also allows you to act moments after someone has ditched their cart.
5. Keep in touch with content-driven communications
It’s not all about discounts and promotions. Sometimes, SMS can add value to your customer’s experience. You can enrich your customer’s experience with value-driven engagements, which you deliver straight to their device through text messaging. For example, ask about their experience with your product or service. Or, provide them with actionable tips and life hacks by sharing a blog or a video on creative and inspired ways they can use your product.
6. Promote Time-Sensitive Sales & Discounts
Using SMS to promote sales and discounts is one of the easiest ways to build your business by creating a branded, personal sales channel. Using targeted text message marketing techniques enables you to reach out to customers where they are, letting them know you’re ready to meet their individual needs – sometimes anticipating those needs before they’re even aware of them. Tracking buying patterns helps you create customized promotions that make people feel seen, increasing customer engagement and loyalty. In addition, cross-promoting sales and discounts on your social media channels is an effective way to build traffic both online and on the move.