SMS Marketing 101

February 10, 2022

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Written by Ampry

As more businesses look to target customers on the go, SMS marketing is becoming an increasingly crucial part of successful multi-channel marketing. However, with few brands featuring SMS as a core marketing strategy, most companies miss out on customer communications and increased revenue. Most companies mistakenly believe that text message marketing requires heavy investments in apps, doesn’t allow for targeted and personalized communication, and lacks robust analysis to support revenue growth. However, mobile marketing is far easier than perceived, and gaining access to mobile consumers is as simple as sending a targeted, personalized text message. Moreover, facilitating a two-way SMS messaging between a brand and mobile users is crucial in building credibility in households around the globe, provided consumer privacy is guaranteed via legal requirements for opt-in.Are you looking to create high-performing sign-up pages that convert web visitors into email and SMS subscribers and ultimately generate sales? Claim your personalized strategy call with one of our seasoned conversion specialists.

Benefits of SMS marketing

SMS marketing is one of the easiest and fastest ways of business communication. However, its true potential hasn’t been harnessed completely. Until recently, SMS marketing was primarily used for personal conversations. However, when the world experienced a steep increase in smartphone usage, brands realized the magnitude and value of text messaging.

75% of consumers want to receive promotional offers through SMS. [1]
60% of consumers read SMS within 1-5 minutes after receiving them. [2]
Text messages are the preferred channel by most consumers to talk to businesses. [3]
9 out of 10 consumers choose text messages to stay informed about business communication. [4]

Further, brands can use SMS marketing to keep existing customers engaged and explore new markets. The benefits of SMS marketing for brands are too good to be ignored. Here are three more benefits of text messaging that will help you strengthen your business:

Higher open rates. One of the primary benefits of bulk SMS marketing is that text messages have higher open rates than emails or phone calls. For example, 98% of the text messages sent are opened [5], making text messaging a boon to all businesses seeking to deliver quick customer support.
Greater market reach. With a steep increase in smartphone usage, Statista reported that in the third quarter of 2018, 52.4% of all online traffic was through mobile phones across the globe [6], making text messaging a better choice of communication for many companies. The primary benefit of SMS marketing is that receiving text messages doesn’t require internet connectivity; only a working phone is needed. With the increased usage of mobile phones, SMS marketing is a goldmine. You can leverage the opportunity to reach your target audience right at their fingertips, which gives you the advantage of reaching a larger customer base.
SMS marketing is cost-effective. That's because cloud messaging services make it a highly inexpensive marketing option. Businesses can contact thousands of consumers in a few steps using BULK SMS options. As a result, SMS marketing is more cost-effective than other marketing channels.

How to Get Started

Want to dive right in? Here are five quick tips that can help you get started with SMS marketing successfully:

Know what you want to accomplish. Like any other marketing strategy, you need to have an end goal in your mind. Your ultimate goals for your SMS marketing strategy must be clear before you jump in, and they must align with your broader marketing and business goals.
Segment your target audience. Blasting your entire opt-in list with the same marketing content and hoping some of it resonates with your target customers is like searching for a needle in the sea. So, you must narrow it down by segmenting your target audience. Then, integrate your CRM with your marketing platform to achieve a much more precise match between your target audience and marketing messages.
Add a call to action. After defining your marketing objectives and segmenting your target audience, ensure you add a call to action as part of your marketing message. It’s no use knowing what you want to achieve if you don’t invite your target audience along with you on the journey.
Deliver clear value. To increase your odds of customers acting, infuse your offers with clear value for your target audience.
Monitor your metrics. If you want to implement or upgrade your text message marketing strategy, measure some baseline metrics and monitor them regularly to see what’s working and what’s not. To track your SMS marketing strategy, here are four crucial metrics:

Contact list growth. The number of potential customers joining your campaign or list.
Customer churn rate. The rate at which customers stop subscribing to your contact list.
Redemption rate. How many prospects respond to your campaign with an action such as a sale?
Cost per redeeming subscriber.

Free Tools to Help

SMS marketing requires more than simple messaging apps on your smartphone. Here are two SMS marketing platforms to help you integrate SMS into your customer service and marketing strategies.

1. EZ Texting

This SMS marketing platform allows you to send a broadcast SMS marketing campaign to your opt-in list. Your SMS marketing campaign may involve promo codes, contests, and coupons, as well as transactional text messages, such as appointment reminders.EZ Texting also offers a built-in web form that can help you convert web visitors and email subscribers to SMS subscribers. There are flexible plans for online text message marketing with monthly plans starting at $19 per month, or you can select their free trial, which allows you to send up to 100 text messages per month.

2. Ominisend

It has pre-built SMS workflows and templates for birthday offers and cart abandonment, as well as shipping and order confirmations. Ominisend also offers SMS opt-in tools, such as landing pages and pop-ups. It also supports MMS, allowing you to send images and GIFs with your text messages. With Ominisend’s free plan, you can reach up to 250 contacts, send up to 60 text messages per month, send 500 emails per month, and up to 500 web push notifications.

SMS Opt-Ins for Your Site

Often, your site is the first touchpoint to capture potential customers’ attention. Also, it's a perfect way to collect opt-ins from prospects who haven’t made any transactions yet and can even act as a means to convert leads into paying customers.

1. Contact forms and sign-up pages

Creating landing pages that are solely dedicated to collecting opt-ins. Your site can generate location-specific pages and share them through QR codes or URLs with these touchpoints. However, all sign-up pages aren’t equal. Effective sign-up pages provide contact fields to collect phone numbers and names, use clear legal language to communicate that they’re gathering information for SMS marketing reasons, and must be personalized to fit your brand image.

2. Pop-ups, Banners, and Prompts

This collection type allows customers to opt-in by filling out banner pop-ups that appear on your web pages after specific time delays.

3. Site Chat

Website chats are opt-in tools where web visitors can do things such as set appointments, ask questions, and check for availability. You can easily use your website chat to add an opt-in touchpoint whenever a prospect leaves an inquiry. This may involve using a “Contact us” form or an embedded lead form with proper legal consent.

4. Point of Transaction or Sale Opt-Ins

Collecting opt-ins at the point of transaction is a game-changer, especially if you make it relatively easy, like giving the option after a customer makes a transaction via an SMS invoice. You may also consider adding an opt-in touchpoint within a check-out cart.

5. Review

This type of opt-in closes the loop. If you’re already using reputation management software, you can capture opt-ins after customers send their reviews. Customers who leave positive reviews are more likely to be receptive to future promotions. If you’re looking to convert more website visitors into leads and generate more sales through customized on-site experiences, schedule a customized strategy call with one of our skilled conversion experts.

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