Contrary to popular belief, the hegemony of instant messaging applications has not relegated SMS to the sidelines. For businesses, this channel is doing more than just holding its own: it's establishing itself as a first-rate marketing lever.
SMS Marketing in the spotlight
For consumers, SMS is a preferred channel for communicating with brands. According to the Attentive Mobile Consumer report, 91% of consumers would accept text messages from brands to inform them of a promotion, new product launch or order status. This finding is confirmed by a Zipwhip study, which explains that SMS is "the most effective way of communicating with brands " for 58% of consumers.
When it comes to marketing, SMS is the unanimous choice. According to Attentive Mobile, 96% of marketers explain that the "text message" lever enables them to generate revenue. Beyond the intrinsic qualities of the format (less intrusive than a phone call), the success of SMS with marketers is also explained by its excellent deliverability and opening KPIs.
According to an article in the Journal of Accountancy, we consult our smartphones 47 times a day on average... a figure that rises to 86 times a day for the 18-24 age group.
As a result, 34% of consumers read SMS messages received within 5 minutes, and 96% consult them within 90 minutes of receipt (EZ Texting). So it's only natural that 56% of American retailers want to boost their SMS marketing budgets in the short term (eMarketer).
5 golden rules to boost your SMS campaigns
#1 Data cleaning: an iterative necessity
In your Data capital, the "telephone number" variable is both precious and sensitive. All it takes is one poorly calibrated SMS campaign to trigger a cascade of opt-outs.
The ROI of your SMS campaigns therefore largely depends on the quality of your database. Data cleaning is both a prerequisite for marketing campaigns and an iterative necessity.
So make sure you deduplicate your database, and take advantage of every exchange with your prospects and customers to qualify, enrich and update your database. Find out more about our value proposition in this area.
#2 Offer immediate added value
SMS is the format of the instantaneous and the immediate. So you need to deliver value in real time, possibly with a sense of urgency to trigger the famous Fear Of Missing Out. This could be an ephemeral discount code, the launch of a limited series, a flash sale, etc. SMS is not the format forDelayed Gratification.
Your target must therefore be able to "activate" your value proposition on the go. In the same vein, make the customer journey as short as possible, with a Call to Action that leads directly to a landing page designed for navigation on a mobile terminal.
#3 Exclusivity to reward audience trust
By agreeing to receive an SMS from you, your prospects and customers are giving you access to the most direct and personal means of communicating with them. So you need to "honor" this trust with useful, even exclusive, content. Treat SMS as a separate channel in your marketing arsenal. Ideally, avoid recycling offers relayed on social networks and email campaigns. Reward prospects and customers who've left you their phone number with exclusive content... and let them know.
In the latest edition of its Text Marketing Report, Simple Texting surveyed consumers (B2C) and buyers (B2B) to find out what motivates them to subscribe to SMS communications:
- Flash sales or promotions (49.1%) ;
- Product returned to stock (42.5%) ;
- Customer support (36%) ;
- Event reminder notification (34%) ;
- New product launch (23.5%) ;
- Relaunch for an abandoned basket (9.1%).
#4 Unify Data to meet the need for personalization
By subscribing to your SMS list, your prospects and customers have given you access to a direct and personal means of communication. Any misstep on your part will prompt them to click on the opt-out button. So forget mass campaigns with generic, undifferentiated content. You're expected to do some real targeting upstream:
- Analyze and interpret KPIs from previous SMS campaigns to identify best practices and approaches that don't work
- Identify opt-out triggers: indelicate timing, high frequency, generic content, vague targeting...
- Common sense is your best asset. If you sell cosmetics, it would be counterproductive to offer a coupon for an anti-wrinkle cream to a 20-year-old woman.
- Capitalize on your internal data to personalize your SMS campaigns: purchase history, content consumed, most-visited pages, etc. This work will enable you to micro-segment your list to find the best balance between personalization and automation.
Of course, if your offer is not necessarily sensitive to demographic criteria or purchase history, you can keep to a Bulk Messaging logic and limit personalization to the recipient's title and name.
#5 Use mobile-friendly CTAs
It's perfectly acceptable to stick with traditional CTAs such as " Learn more ", " Order ", etc., but it would be a shame not to use SMS-specific CTAs. However, it would be a pity not to use specific CTAs in SMS format. Bear in mind that your message was received on a mobile terminal that (almost) never leaves its owner's side.
If your offer involves a trip to the store or to an event, you can suggest that the recipient activate their "advantage" by simply showing the SMS received to a salesperson or the person in charge of admissions. Example: " Show this message and save 50% on your dinner today (excluding drinks) ". It's also an excellent way of streamlining the flow between your website and your physical store, where applicable.
You can also launch SMS campaigns that require a response from the recipient. In this case, opt for a " Text to Win " CTA to boost customer engagement. You could, for example, use this approach for a prize draw, to limit the offer to a limited number of people and create a sense of urgency, etc. It's also an excellent way of consolidating your database, by checking the accuracy of the telephone numbers you have at your disposal every time.
Please note: you must explicitly display the cost of the SMS to the recipient, even if there is no additional charge.
