SMS Marketing – Reach People Where They Live – Their Phones!

Who would have thought that text messaging, which was generally the land of the pre-teens, would morph into anything as valuable and powerful as SMS marketing? In just a very short time, SMS (simple message service) has shown to be a proven alternative option to email marketing. Achieving more and more popularity, it’s challenging to find anybody who is not using text messages in one way or another.

Why SMS marketing deserves a serious look

Without a doubt, the main reason marketers are giving SMS a try is because of how folks are responding to texts. Reported by CallFire SMS text messages boast a 98 percent open rate as well as an eye-popping 83 percent are opened in the first three minutes of getting them! What’s more, marketing promotions utilizing text messages are being redeemed at 20 percent or higher, in contrast to traditional media such as coupons, newspaper ads, radio, or direct mail, that average redemption rates of a paltry two percent. CallFire also says that your ROI (return on investment) could be far greater than in traditional media. As an example, a campaign with a monthly cost of less than $30 to send 1000 text messages, and redemption rates of 20 percent or more, works out to be less than .30 cents per customer acquisition. Not bad.

4 Recommendations for successful SMS marketing campaigns

1. Be certain to deliver value – Be sure that you’re not wasting their time! Give great value, whether you’re delivering a palpable offer or just directing them to somewhere where they can consume more great content. Deliver Value!
2. Keep it short, sweet and personal – Personalizing your texts and keeping them friendly and brief is a good recipe for success with SMS. Something such as, “Hi Mandy, thanks again for shopping with us! We look forward to seeing you again soon. Show this msg to receive 20% off your next purchase at [STORE NAME & PHONE NUMBER].”
3. Include a call to action – Make sure you ask for the action you want them to do. Saying something like “Text SaveNow to 123456 to get a 10% off coupon today” will set their mind to action mode.
4. Track your results – SMS is awesome when it comes to measuring metrics. There are a variety of things you can monitor on your campaigns, from click tracking to who opened what. So make sure you track and measure your results, to properly plan the next campaign!