How SMS Can Improve Customer Engagement

SMS marketing is the advertising of the goods or services of a business via short text messages related to mobile operator services.

SMS mailing improves communication with the client:

• Sells through promotions and special offers and advertising.
• Informs customers about the current state of their orders along with modifications in tariffs, and reminds them about events.
• Engages – invites you to take part in contests, events, and share your thoughts on the company.

SMS mailing works as part of an advertising strategy or becomes the only channel. In any case, SMS advertising should be moderate so that the user does not block the company number. It will be more productive to mix the distribution of text messages with other channels.

Do not confuse it with SMS advertising, it is sent to the database of those who do not know anything about the company yet, and is only a potential client. Remember that maintaining relationships with regular clients requires a certain skill. In the article, we will tell you the main aspects of successful communication with existing customers via SMS.

Informing is a periodic reminder about yourself. Use it to remind you about the loyalty program, which is needed to retain customers and create a positive image of the brand for those who have already used your goods or services.

Customer loyalty – what is it?

Loyalty is how positively customers perceive your company, whether they are ready to contact you further, prefer competitors, etc.

This indicator is measurable, and you can get an idea of customer loyalty by tracking the number of purchases, the average receipt, reviews on the Internet, the number and content of complaints, etc.

How to increase loyalty with SMS notifications?

The main methods of boosting loyalty used by companies are sending messages about special offers, discounts, and bonuses. This is one of many methods, we’ll talk about the rest later. We will tell you the basic principles of successful mailing.

The offer will appeal to the buyer if you:

• create convenient purchase conditions;
• show friendliness;
• clearly explain the principles of your “customer benefit” systems (discount systems, bonuses, promotions, discounts, cumulative points, etc.);
• promise quick and obvious benefits (the main thing is to keep your promise).

7 rules for the most effective SMS mailing

For the newsletter to bring conversions to sales, it needs to be properly configured. Work with the database of numbers and sent messages. Below are some recommendations on how to improve the effectiveness of SMS marketing.

1. Integrate SMS service with CRM

You can use the VoIP telephone systems to add the ability to send SMS directly from your CRM system. This allows you to send out mass SMS messages and track the status of message delivery. These can be any type of message – service, informational, transactional, or advertising.

2. Segment your audience

The database may contain numbers of different customers who come for different goods and services. The simplest thing is to divide them by the products they applied for. It is even better to additionally allocate segments by gender, age, and geography of residence.

It will be strange if a 20-year-old girl who came to the dentist for teeth whitening receives a message about a discount on prosthetics. And a client from New York is unlikely to be happy with a night text message sent by Canberra time.

3. Personalize messages

When loading the contact database, add the names and dates of birth of customers. With names, you can customize the sending of personalized messages, and send congratulations on birthdays. This approach not only increases customer loyalty but also improves the response to advertising – a person sees an appeal to him and responds more readily to it.

4. Consider the time of dispatch

Do not send messages earlier than 9:00 and later than 21:00. At this time, people are busy or asleep. After two or three mailings, look at the statistics and analyze at what time it is best to open SMS. Try to take into account customer preferences next time.

If an instant conversion of the client is expected (a visit to the site or a call to the manager), set up such a sending interval so that neither the site nor the sales managers “collapse” from the flow of requests.

5. Be brief and write to the point

Write only useful information for the client. In case the message is long and uninformative – you will pay more for it, and much fewer customers will read it.

Consider another option when the text is brief and to the point, and contains a call to action. Even better, when the promotion is limited in time – it will be much more effective and with a higher probability will increase the conversion rate.

The example on the right shows the phone number. This allows the client to call you immediately if he is interested in the offer.

When promoting an online store or other product that can be viewed on the Internet, add an active link to the message. It is better to shorten it so that it does not “eat up” the volume of the message.

6. Observe the frequency of mailings

It is better to send promotional mailings no more than once a week. The interval may be longer – it all depends on the specifics of the business.

For example, it is recommended to visit a dentist once every six months. Weekly mailings for the client will be irrelevant. It is better to send a reminder about the approaching date of the preventive examination every 6 months and once every 3-4 months to send a newsletter with an offer of new services or discounts.

7. Leave an opportunity to unsubscribe

Not all customers like that they are disturbed even by rare messages, and some have stopped using your company’s services altogether or it has become irrelevant to them. Leave the client a choice and provide the possibility to unsubscribe in the personal account on the website, as well as using a reply SMS or a call to the company.

3 cases of using SMS mailings in the promotion of goods and services

Notifying consumers about specials and promotions

You have a gift shop. With the help of SMS, you can remind customers about the upcoming holidays and invite them to the store. There is a discount on the promo code in the message, which the client can use. After the promotion is over, you can analyze how many people have bought or ordered something using this promo code. Such mechanics not only enhances the motivation of potential customers but also help to conclude the effectiveness of an advertising campaign.

Increasing in sales

You offer online training. One of the stages of the sales funnel is a free webinar. On the eve of the webinar, listeners receive an SMS with a reminder of the time of its holding. Such messages are much more effective than reminder emails – the client does not check the mail every hour, and the phone to which the SMS comes is always at hand. Conversion to webinar views will be higher.

Maintaining loyalty

You have an online women’s clothing store. In the database of your clients, there is a group of girls who celebrate their birthdays on September 30. With the help of SMS mailing, you can send them congratulations with an address to each by name. Customer loyalty will increase using this approach.

How to make the mailing list as effective as possible?

And in the end, we want to give you the most important advice that will allow you not to drain the budget for mailing lists:

Never use purchased databases. No matter how high-quality it is and no matter how much it coincides with the portrait of your target audience, it will consist of people who have not subscribed to your company’s newsletter.

Receiving a message from an unfamiliar subscriber will reduce the conversion rate, increase the cost of the target action, and most importantly, cause a negative attitude towards your company, even if the client is potentially interested in the advertised services.

Mailing to numbers that are turned off or are in roaming is inefficient. It is clear that their owners will not become customers, so the database must be cleaned of such numbers. Pay attention to requests not to send messages anymore, because ignoring them can cause serious harm.

The peculiarity of the SMS communication channel and the availability of specialized online services for mass mailings allows you to adapt to a specific client as much as possible. The frequency of mailing, personalization, SMS delivery time and the attractiveness of the promotion are the main reasons for customer response and increasing their loyalty. And believe me, you are able to implement all this for successful mobile marketing.