Small businesses need to be agile to remain competitive in a fast-changing landscape. The rise of mobile technology has made it easier than ever to stay connected with customers, drive foot traffic, and generate revenue from any location at any time. With the rapid growth of messaging platforms like WhatsApp, along with many other SMS marketing tools, reaching out to your customers is easier said than done.
Why text messaging? Well, text messages have a high open-rate (98%), with 6 times the engagement of email. Even better, depending on your industry and product or service, you may not have to spend much money on traditional marketing methods such as advertising.
The rest of the article explains the best practices for SMS marketing for small businesses. Read on to find out more.
Get The Customer’s Permission
Bombarding your customers with strings of texts without their consent is not only breaking the law, but also inappropriate. In SMS marketing a breach of privacy is treated harshly by the legal system and can lead to costly fines per breach.
Always make sure that customers are okay with receiving messages from your business. A common way other businesses achieve this is through shortcodes. Customers willing to receive messages from your business can opt into the campaign by sending a text message with a specific keyword to a short code – a 5 or 6-digit number that’s easy to remember.
When someone texts the keyword to your shortcode, they’ll automatically receive an auto-reply with additional information about your offer or service.
Be Clear, Concise, And Compliant
Text messages are short, measuring up to 160 characters or less. This leaves little room for error. A single typo can turn your well-intentioned message into an inappropriate or biased one. The few characters can be an advantage because they provide the opportunity to quickly get your message across.
Because of this, it’s important to stick to the point. Be clear and concise with your text messages. Don’t cram too much information into each message, and more importantly, don’t forget to give it one last spin before it goes out.
Timing is Key
If you wouldn’t expect to receive a promotional text at 3 a.m., your customers wouldn’t expect it either. Timing can be a game-changer if you know how to use it to your advantage. Research shows that most texts are read within three minutes and that most people prefer to receive texts during the day. If you’re looking for an immediate response, focus on when your subscribers will be up and active.
Add Value To Your Messages
Your customers can text you with questions or feedback 24/7. And with the right software, you can respond to their messages with a personalized answer – right then and there. However, one problem persists: your customers are busy people who receive hundreds of similar text messages and service offers every single day.
The best way to cut through the noise is by sending messages that offer something of value. Here are some best practices for adding value to business SMS:
- Offer discounts or coupons
- Ask for feedback from customers
- Send appointment reminders
- Inform customers about sales
- Event promotion
Use Calls to Action
Whether you’re trying to get customers to walk into your gym, buy your product immediately or sign up for a webinar, it’s important that you include a call to action in your SMS marketing campaigns.
A call-to-action (CTA) is an invitation to take some sort of immediate action. This can be something as simple as “Click here to learn more!” or “Text YES to download our app”.
Avoid Over Texting
This may seem obvious, but it’s surprising how many companies send spammy text messages to their customers without even knowing it. Records show that in 2020 alone, complaints about spammy text messages and robocalls went up by 146% compared to 2019. Since then, the government started imposing stiff penalties upon companies found guilty of doing this.
Too many text messages scare existing and potential customers who aren’t ready to make a commitment. They may unsubscribe or opt out of receiving SMS messages from your business altogether. Even if they don’t opt-out, an overwhelming number of texts will likely push them to ignore or delete your text messages without opening them.
Measure Your Efforts
Finally, just like any other marketing strategy, you need to track the results. Monitor the click-through rates and conversions as a direct result of your SMS marketing strategy. If your goal is to drive traffic back to your website or increase app downloads, tracking open and click-through rates should provide an idea of how well the tactics worked.
If you want people to make a purchase based on the SMS promotion, track conversion rates by comparing purchases that resulted from a text message with purchases that didn’t. You can also track conversions with a promo code and see how many of those codes will be used at checkout.
Conclusion
Even though marketing can seem overwhelming, there are plenty of small businesses that succeed with text messages. It’s not as costly as some other general sales/ marketing strategies, and you have more control over your message so you can tailor it to meet your needs.
With Smarter Contact, you can deliver your messages with the highest converting SMS platform. Want to see how it works? Sign up for a free trial here.