Everything You Need To About SMS Marketing

You get a clear picture about SMS Marketing in the article. The growth of communication channels and devices from which information is accessed means that brands have to consider multi- channel strategies to reach our target audience.

Understanding the behavior and the moment in which each client is, is vital to create personalized trips totally tailored and combine the most appropriate channels for each one.

Table of Contents

SMS As Direct Communication With Our Customers

One of the most effective channels in an omnichannel and Marketing Automation strategy is SMS. It is a very direct channel that can add value by combining it with other communication flows of email marketing, social media or website notifications.

Some of the strategies that work best in SMS marketing, depending on the business model, are express promotional campaigns, appointment reminders, or even post-service review requests.

How Can I Start Doing SMS Marketing Step By Step?

1. Define the objectives

The first step is to determine what we want to achieve before making the shipments. Being clear about what we want will allow us to start making decisions so that the final result has the best performance. Some of the objectives that we can define:

Increase web/blog traffic
Increase sales
Get reviews/ratings
Lead capture
Avoid absences in the reservation of services

2. Set the strategy

How are we going to achieve the goal set? It is the most creative and knowledgeable part of our clients. The more we know the audience, the more effective the strategy we carry out will be. Some of the most used strategies to achieve the above objectives could be:

Generation of value content
Campaigns and promotions
After-sales evaluations
Sweepstakes and contests
appointment reminders

3. Choose the technology

It is one of the most important points when it comes to centralizing all the information and being able to integrate with the rest of the tools (CMS, ERP, CRM, Marketing Automation). There are different determining factors to opt for one platform or another:

Learning curve
price/shipping
Personalization and segmentation capacity
Integration with other platforms
Analytical capacity and generation of reports

4. Take care of your database

The quality of the database is key to the performance of the campaigns. In addition to having the consent to send to our contacts, we must focus on the contacts that are really interested in the brand and in receiving communications.

The segmentation and personalization of content will help us increase the CRO ( Conversion Rate Optimization ), one of the indicators with which to measure the success of our strategy.

Data storage must be careful. It is vitally important to ensure that the telephone numbers are correct and to take into account the prefixes if our contacts are of different nationalities.

5. Find the right moment

Defining that moment is one of the most complicated tasks. Know the process in which your users are and the relationship with the brand.

6. Clear and attractive messages

SMS messages are limited to 160 characters . You have to be direct and concise . Use urgency biases, adapt and personalize the copy. Use appropriate language and expressions consistent with the type of audience.

7. Combine different channels

Creation of personalized customer journeys using different channels that complement each other and generate more memorable user experiences adapted to the communicative intention of each moment.

8. Analyze and optimize

As in any marketing strategy, it is vital to constantly implement, measure and optimize to improve the final conversion. In this type of channel, the main KPI ( Key Performance Indicator ) that you have to pay attention to are:

Deliverability : Number of SMS that reach their destination
Openings : Number of contacts who open the SMS
Clicks : Number of contacts who click on a link
Conversions : Number of contacts that meet the objective (purchase, lead, review…)
Bounce Rate : Number of SMS that are bounced (the number is wrong, the server rejects it…)
Churn Rate : Unsubscription rate for sending via SMS