Single-channel marketing is no longer effective. Today’s marketing professionals have access to numerous touchpoints through various media. Customers also expect businesses to use all of them to offer the best experience.
Bulk SMS marketing may be a helpful complement to social media marketing by allowing you to reach out to customers—and prospective consumers in real time with relevant and persuasive messages.
Examining bulk SMS marketing will help you understand what it is and how to incorporate it into your marketing strategy.
What is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing is the practice of sending advertisements via text message to mobile phones.
An opt-in marketing campaign like this one requires a contact subscription. This distinguishes it from social media marketing, where the marketer posts freely accessible content that users can choose to like or follow.
Examples of common SMS marketing types include:
- New product announcements.
- Flash sales.
- Loyalty programs.
- Special offers (limited-time sales, free shipping)
- Text-to-win competitions.
- Product drop alerts.
- Subscriber-exclusive offers.
What does SMS customer service entail?
SMS customer service, which is the practice of providing services to clients via Bulk SMS texts, allows customers to “speak” to customer service people by text.
Research predicts that in 2020, 2.7 trillion mobile industry communications will be sent globally, up 10% from 2019. SMS accounted for 98% of all messaging traffic, and businesses in the retail sector sent 408 billion of those messages.
Guidelines for SMS marketing
Tell people who you are.
You cannot simply assume that your customers are aware of your Bulk SMS contact details. It is implied by this that they won’t recognise the phone number from which your interaction is coming and that it lacks any other form of identification. If you want them to continue listening after the first few sentences, you must introduce yourself right away.
Send only after being given a definite opt-in
Most likely, you already have the phone numbers of your customers. That doesn’t mean you should start sending them mass messages. SMS text marketing necessitates a clear opt-in, just like email marketing.
You might ask individuals who visit your website or other online properties to opt-in to receive text messages from you. Before you begin sending, you should receive a Bulk SMS verifying your desire to subscribe.
One method to do this is to send a single SMS (and only one) to thank them for having signed up and ask them to confirm their opt-in by responding with a simple Yes or No.You shouldn’t text them again if they don’t reply. Of course, if they respond “No,” you shouldn’t text them again.
Timing is Everything
Any marketing message needs to be spread at the right moment. But for SMS, it’s important. Furthermore, you can’t count on people to turn off Do Not Disturb on their mobiles when they don’t want to be bothered.
The last thing you would like to do is wake up your customer in the middle of the night with a marketing offer. Furthermore, likely, your clients don’t want to receive messages during dinner.
The good news is that area codes make it relatively simple to determine the time zones of your target market. Instead of blasting it out to everyone at once, pick a suitable time and send it out in phases according to time zones.
Unsubscribe from receiving text message alerts
Because SMS open rates are almost always much higher than email open rates, your unsubscribe rates will also be higher.
If you notice a spike in unsubscribes after a text is sent out, don’t get alarmed.
Keep tabs on the evolution of your unsubscribe rates. You can establish an unsubscribe baseline once your bulk SMS marketing campaign has fully launched. The baseline will be used as a comparison point for all upcoming communications, and any anomalous findings will be investigated.
If the unsubscribe rate is unusually high or low, look at the message to determine what changed the outcome.
Add a disclaimer and directions.
This recommendation, which is typically required by law, should be adhered to in all marketing communications. It’s necessary for a more intrusive technique like bulk SMS. Instead of buying from you, there is a higher chance that someone will unsubscribe from your SMS.
You should offer an unsubscribe link even for transactional notifications such as shipment updates or appointment reminders. Not everybody favours receiving this kind of information via SMS.
Limit your Characters
Bulk SMS messages can only have a maximum of 160 characters. That’s not much to work with when you have to identify yourself and provide an opt-out option. You need to be certain of your message and limit the number of characters you use.
After a brief introduction, use links (and link shorteners) to expand on the details of your message.
Applications of SMS marketing
For SMS marketing and SMS customer care, you need more than just a simple messaging app on your phone. To help you incorporate Bulk SMS into your marketing campaign, Guni SMS is the best platform for SMS gateway.
Messages are sent to customers via SMS, social media, WhatsApp, and other apps. Because customers may contact you through various channels, this is a crucial technique to make sure that your Bulk SMS customer service reply is a component of a single customer care approach.
