How to Use SMS Marketing for Customer Engagement in 2023

How to Use SMS Marketing for Customer Engagement in 2023

SMS marketing is quickly gaining popularity for reaching customers via their mobile devices. To distribute the material to mobile devices via SMS (short messaging service), businesses typically contact mobile phone operators. SMS marketing is incredibly intrusive but also effective because SMS texts can be received by all mobile devices. Finding the ideal balance and utilizing this marketing channel in the appropriate situations is crucial from a B2B standpoint.

The era of single-channel marketing is over. Marketing experts today have access to several touchpoints through various media. Customers also anticipate firms to make use of all of them in order to offer the finest experience.

What Is SMS Marketing?

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is the practice of using text messages to promote products or services. Companies use SMS marketing to provide notifications and time-sensitive updates to customers, promote products and services, and foster closer relationships with them. It is quite similar to email marketing which entails speaking with one person at a time or sending a message to a large group of contacts. SMS has a staggering average open rate of 98% compared to email’s average open rate of 18%.

Advantages of SMS Marketing

The three major goals of brands that use SMS marketing strategies are to raise brand awareness, enhance engagement, and increase sales. Due to its widespread use, customers now take email for granted. SMS is a terrific technique to get seen when and when you want it because it is utilized less frequently than other communication methods. Let’s examine how SMS marketing may strengthen your brand, boost your sales, and give you a competitive edge.

1. Cost-Effective

SMS texts are one of the most affordable methods of outreach when compared to other kinds of content marketing. Also, text messaging has one of the best returns on investments (ROIs), which is advantageous for both your bottom line and your budget.

2. Straight Interaction

People use their phones on average for 4 hours every day, according to research. You may reach your audience through SMS marketing at places where they already spend a lot of time.

3. Ideal for Real-Time Updates

SMS is immediately received after being sent. They also get read very immediately, which is significant. 90% of SMS are read within the first three minutes, which is not surprising. Because of this, SMS marketing campaigns are excellent for really urgent offers.

4. Proven Sales

We discovered that almost one-third of SMS receivers interact with the CTA. 47% of those who are engaged will make a purchase. The holiday season is an excellent time for SMS marketing. Black Friday 2022 had a 68% increase in promotional SMS received compared to 2021, which resulted in a 57% rise in orders. Although it might not seem like much, that amounts to tens of thousands of orders.

How to Leverage SMS Marketing?

Who doesn’t want to increase sales through a channel where their customers are? It’s time to give an SMS marketing strategy some serious thought.

1. Create a List of SMS Receivers

Your subscriber list is the most essential component of your SMS marketing campaign. Create a list of subscribers who have chosen to participate in your marketing campaigns if you don’t already have one. To ensure that you are acting legally, start by being familiar with local regulations.

Ensure that you are signing up for potential SMS users who are interested in your company. To promote sign-ups at scale, you might want to use gamified popups and a wheel of fortune. Another useful method of contact is text to join, particularly when combined with a special offer or discount.

2. Use an SMS Marketing Application

Text marketing methods are honed with SMS marketing software. Moreover, you may automate your messaging to send multiple messages at once, giving you more time back in your day. SMS marketing tools are particularly beneficial if you’re trying to develop an omnichannel approach. You may add text messages to your email automation workflows using platforms, which will save you time and money.

Also, the majority of SMS marketing systems provide a wealth of reporting data that gives you a deeper understanding of your clients. You may quickly modify your text campaigns over time and achieve the maximum ROI by combining them with native dashboards.

3. Build Your SMS Campaigns

The most important stage is now at hand, creating the actual message. As SMS messages can only be 160 characters long, there isn’t much room for rambling. Here are some pointers for structuring your message. 

i) Consider Value 

Before launching any SMS campaign, ask yourself this: How will this SMS text message improve the quality of life for my customers?

ii) Employ Appropriate Grammar

Avoid using text lingo and acronyms because not everyone will understand them. Abbreviations, text speak, and incorrect capitalization gives your brand an unprofessional appearance.

iii) Differentiate Your Message from the Subject Line

Create a text message that you would genuinely send to someone. That will significantly affect the quality measurements you’re looking for. Writing SMS campaigns may initially appear difficult, but it simply requires practice, like many other marketing-related tasks. You may send your first SMS campaign using any reliable app in a few simple steps.

4. Set the Time and Send

Decide when (or how often) clients receive SMS texts. When you reach out to clients at the proper time, they will be more attentive to what you have to say and will be in a good mood to evaluate your offer. Research reveals that if you choose times manually, you should deliver communications during busy times. Also, to automatically select the ideal moment for each SMS, you might leverage automation tools.

5. Automate as Required

Our favourite best practice involves incorporating text messages into automation and workflows. SMS campaigns that are part of automation gain more traction than those that are standalone. Three of the top converting automation you can have with any email service provider are welcome series, abandoned cart, and browse abandonment. Hence, if the recipient hasn’t opened or clicked on the first two emails, it is advised that the third communication in a welcome series be delivered through a new channel. It’s the easiest fruit to pick and there is a lot of value there.

Still, if you find it difficult to execute your SMS marketing campaign successfully, you can reach out to OTT to interact with customers. Being the best SEO company, we make sure to create new messages while responding to messages from customers. Additionally, you can combine a successful approach with your emails to create an experience by utilizing the full complement of capabilities for SMS campaigns and automation provided by our experts.