These businesses are, of course, also generating more income by means of their SMS marketing program; but, they are also driving more revenue by means of their owned marketing channels in general.
The reason for this is that SMS marketing should not be a batch-and-blast channel that is kept separate from the rest of your marketing activity. In fact, microsoft 365 sms integration is most effective when it is used in conjunction with email marketing and tailored on-site interactions to produce exceptional customer experiences that raise the customer retention rate as well as the average order value.
Building true relationships with your clientele is the ultimate goal of SMS marketing, also known as text marketing. As soon as you have an understanding of the many sorts of text message marketing that are accessible for brand communication, you will be able to optimize the channel and target the parts of your audience who are the most engaged.
What is SMS marketing and what does it actually mean?
The practice of a company sending a text message containing marketing campaigns, promotions, news, updates, and other information to clients who have opted in is an example of SMS marketing.
This type of communication, which goes by the abbreviation “SMS” (which stands for “short message service”), is utilized by companies in order to engage their clients on a more individual level.
SMS marketing, often known as text marketing, now has a number of early adopters, one of whom is Gary Vaynerchuk, who has been impressed by the outcomes.
On the website for Community, he makes the following comment: “This is the most powerful sh*t I’ve seen since early email.” I’m getting a 98 percent open rate and a 90 percent engagement rate from somebody who has hundreds of thousands of contacts on text.
SMS marketing, just like email marketing, is a channel that may be owned. This indicates that you have full control over who receives an SMS marketing message, as well as the content of the message as well as the time at which you choose to send it.
When you use text marketing, you have complete control over the experience you provide for your clients throughout the entirety of this marketing channel, from the very beginning to the very end.
You may also send your consumers MMS messages, which stands for “multimedia message service,” in addition to SMS texts. The term “MMS” refers to the transmission of text messages that include still images, GIFs, and other types of animated graphics as attachments.
What are the types of SMS marketing?
When you use a short message service (SMS) as part of your marketing plan, you have the option of sending two different kinds of communications to the people in your target market: promotional text messages and transactional text messages.
SMS marketing or marketing done via text messaging, for promotional purposes.
Promotional short messaging service (SMS) marketing consists of sending messages or texts to your audience in order to raise brand recognition, promote a product, or enhance sales. In the same way that you may send campaigns as opposed to flows in email marketing, they can be one-off SMS campaigns or built out as processes via SMS automation.
These sorts of communications may be used to inform clients about the release of a new product, provide a special deal or promotion, share business updates, promote branded events, and even provide advice on how to make the most effective use of the things that you are selling.
Event-triggered promotional SMS messages are communications that may be sent to your consumers based on the activities they take on your website. You can trigger the sending of these messages based on certain events.
If a customer shows interest in receiving text messages from your company by subscribing to your list or by adding an item to their shopping cart on your website, you might send them a text message saying “welcome” or “abandoned basket” to urge them to complete their purchase. According to data conducted by Klaviyo on over 400 SMS accounts, these particular kinds of SMS processes are among the most lucrative.
The sending of messages or texts to your customers that provide the information they require, such as purchase confirmation data or shipment information, is an example of transactional SMS marketing. If a consumer makes a purchase, sending them text messages with delivery updates might be an excellent method to keep them informed, which could also help you establish customer loyalty.
In contrast to emails, transactional text messages do not provide a great deal of room for creative expression in terms of either the content or the appearance of the message. These messages are often short and to the point.
Is the newly introduced text marketing channel efficient: 3 benefits of SMS marketing
There is mounting evidence that sending marketing messages to customers via SMS is one of the most successful ways to reach those customers. That is true for a variety of different reasons. Let’s take a look at them one by one.
1. High text open rates and increased customer engagementÂ
SMS is able to evoke exceptionally high engagement numbers—think open rates of 98 percent.
Remember that a lot of customers may simply read a text message to get rid of the notice on their phones, so even if this figure could look exciting, it’s important to keep that in mind. Because of this, it is essential to place a greater emphasis on engagement metrics such as clicks and conversions.
What’s the upbeat report? Text messages may surpass emails in terms of click rates and conversion rates, however, this is very dependent on the content that is shared with the audience. For instance, GhostBed’s SMS messages have click rates of 32 percent of the time. Keep in mind that the average click rates on SMS messages were 8.3 percent in the first quarter of 2022.
Because text messages are frequently conversational, or at the very least, they can be automated to be conversational, you may encourage your subscribers to react to your texts as well.
2. Text message marketing allows brands to reach customers instantly
When people get SMS, they frequently read them in a short amount of time. In point of fact, they open the vast majority of them in under three minutes.
If you want your subscribers to take rapid action on a special offer you have, telling them of it by email implies there is a chance they may miss your message and will not take the action in time to achieve the results you want to see.
Instead, you should send them this important communication by text message so that they will notice it sooner and be more likely to carry out the behaviour that you want them to carry out.
3. SMS marketing creates more personal customer relationships
Because texting is the primary method through which individuals contact with their family members, friends, and significant others, people frequently keep their phones within reaching distance.
Because texting is so intimate, you can utilise it as a more exclusive channel to contact with your highly engaged portion of clients, much like a VIP programme would, because to the fact that SMS is so short.
When should firms that deal in e-commerce employ marketing via text message?
The use of text message marketing is a chance for you to strengthen the ties you have with your clients; however, before you get started, there are a few things you should keep in mind.
Because it is a more personal medium than email, you need to give careful consideration to both the content of the messages you send to your SMS users as well as the frequency with which you deliver those messages. If you overuse this communication channel, you run the risk of alienating your consumers and reducing the likelihood that they will remain loyal to your business.
You will have a far better understanding of how to text your consumers if you become more knowledgeable with SMS and collect data on what your subscribers respond to.
2 steps to get your SMS marketing programme launched
Even if you need to do some strategic thinking about how to use and integrate SMS marketing into your existing marketing mix and plan, there are certain fundamental things you can do right now to get your SMS marketing programme off the ground and running smoothly. After conducting an in-depth analysis of 400 Klaviyo SMS accounts, we found that the most successful accounts all shared three common characteristics:
Use SMS forms for compliance
The manner in which you gather phone numbers from your clients is of the utmost importance, both to the success of your SMS marketing campaign and to your continued compliance. When it comes to the information collection, the following are the four practices that the most effective SMS marketing businesses are employing:
- In order to adequately educate the subscriber and maintain compliance, they developed forms with many steps.
- They develop separate mobile and desktop versions, then test each of them using A/B testing.
- They provide the promised discount for new customers right after they sign up, which is a percentage of the original price.
- They employ sophisticated design and imagery that is in keeping with the appearance and feel of their brand.
Start with SMS Campaigns
And when it comes to SMS campaigns, the most successful businesses — that is, the brands that generate the most income from SMS marketing – are employing SMS campaigns to supplement their efforts in email marketing in the following ways:
- Sending 2-3 per week
- Announcing sales
- Using vacations
- Introducing new items to the market
SMS will be essential for brands that want to stand out, deepen engagement, and create exceptional customer experiences. Customers are looking to brands to serve them more personalized communications, and ecommerce marketers are focusing on creating stronger connections with customers. SMS will be essential for brands that want to stand out, deepen engagement, and create exceptional customer experiences. The SMS platform that you decide to use will also be a significant consideration.
Follow Technoroll for more!
Editorial Staff of the TechnoRoll, are a bunch of Tech Writers, who are writing on the trending topics related to technology news and gadgets reviews.
