SMS messages are read more often than email: according to statistics, in four out of five cases they are opened immediately. And the email open rate is only 9-23%, depending on the industry. SMS text marketing simplifies the transmission of important information – it is more likely to be read. Therefore, many marketers combine short message services and emails. This material is a getting started guide, in which we have compiled everything you need to launch an effective SMS mailing list, whether it is text message marketing for real estate or retail stores.
What is the Main Purpose of SMS: Basic Strategies
SMS mailing lists are a fast interaction method often used separately or combined with messengers and emails. Marketing tasks, for which SMS is most often used, are sales, collecting customer feedback, customer service, information about some events and creating relevant offers.
The sending of service messages through automated text messages informs the customer about placing an order, receiving a package at the collection point and verification. They contain important technical information for orders, for reminders of scheduled meetings, and can be a newsletter about promotions, a new collection or sales. As a general rule, more than 50% of people are willing to subscribe to an SMS newsletter for the sake of service messages. Mailing not only increases loyalty, but also allows you to receive much more profit.
When creating relevant offers, SMS submissions are used alongside email submissions. The messages say that the products in the basket have dropped in price and offer personal collections of products or promotional codes based on recent actions.
How to send a mass SMS: technical solutions
There are two different ways: work directly with the operators or through the mail services.
Operators offer to load a database of numbers and send messages on your behalf: for example, you can specify the name of the store. It is impossible to create automated message chains and segment the subscriber base by interests, number of purchases and other parameters. In addition, you can find mail offers from operators in their databases. This does not work like a standard SMS newsletter, but rather like targeted advertising.
In mail services, it also uploads your number database and delivers messages on your behalf. There are more possibilities: you can divide the audience and set up automatic chains to send relevant services or messages.
SMS for Real Estate Marketing is an impressive and easy-to-use text marketing tool that helps businesses communicate effectively with their customers. This SMS marketing service offers many options with a user-friendly interface, integrated CRM, and reusability. Upload your database and save a lot of time on phone calls in several clicks. Initially, it was designed for text message marketing for real estate investors, but now it is a pervasive solution for all spheres of business, providing not only SMS marketing for real estate, but much more.
Also Read: Newsletter for Marketing Newbies
How to analyze the effectiveness of SMS sending
Operators and mail services usually provide minimal analysis. Some services offer detailed analytics. Text message marketing is now developing a feature to constantly check SMS text marketing activity and effectiveness and it will be available soon.
There are also other analysis methods and tools:
- UTM labels. Links in messages are marked with unique tags: a sale – for some, information about a new collection – for others. Then they compare the number of clicks on links with tags and understand which message generated the most traffic and sales.
- Different phone numbers for different advertising channels, promotions or segments. After dispatch, they compare the number of calls they receive and count conversion to appeals.
- Special landing pages for different communication channels, including SMS. This way, you can also estimate how many people came from the email list, how many from the SMS messages, and what specific actions they took.
In case the message does not contain a link or phone number, analysis is not possible. You can only assess the effectiveness of SMS marketing activities in general.
How to write texts for SMS sends and what else you need to know about them
- Write briefly. There are two reasons for this:
SMS has a limited restriction: a message cannot contain more than 160 symbols.
The text of the message should be concise and informative, and most importantly, attractive from the first second. Otherwise, the person will just swipe the notification and not even open the message.
- Use customization. Contact recipients by name and include personal information in messages: for example, the expiration date of the discount. This increases the conversion rate.
- Call to action. Some mail services recommend limiting the time: give a discount only for the next few days.
- It is very important not only to compose an effective text message, but also to deliver it on time. Some mail services have a function to track the time of the recipient: set the delivery at 13:00: the person will receive the text message at 1:00 in the afternoon, even if he is in a different time zone.
- It is also important to segment the subscriber base. This will allow you to send relevant offers that will also drive conversion and reduce costs.
What is necessary to understand to work with SMS shipments according to the law
You can’t just send text messages to the customer database – it’s illegal. It is also impossible to take other people’s databases of numbers and send them a newsletter. Briefly about what it is necessary to do in order not to interrupt the requirements of the law:
- to obtain the consent of all subscribers to receive advertising, for example, to offer to check a checkbox when registering on the website;
- you can also obtain the consent of all subscribers for the processing of their data through the checkbox;
- notify the state authorities that you will process personal data and prepare documents: confidentiality policy, obligation of non-disclosure, and others.
Let’s summarize
SMS text advertising is used as one of the ways to improve the number of sales, send personalized offers, collect feedback and other tasks.
Mass mailing can be sent through an operator, but this will not provide detailed analytics or user base segmentation. Another way is to use mail services: they have more opportunities for analysis and segmentation.
Categories: Technology
Source: SCHOOL TRANG DAI
