Marketers are recognizing this trend and turning frequently to text messaging as an efficient channel for communicating with customers and prospects. There are a number of things to consider when creating an SMS marketing campaign. Many businesses are hastily adding text messaging to their marketing mix without taking appropriate consideration of all the factors that can make or break the effort. And because texting is still viewed as such a private form of conversation, businesses need to incorporate the 3 practices below for optimal results.
- You must have a pre-existing relationship with the person you are sending a text to. That relationship may be that the customer has bought from you before and given you permission to send her texts or is a new potential customer who indicated interest in your products or services.
Understand what your target audience feel is valuable and when they are most open to receiving the information. Do not leave your recipients wondering what to do with your message. Include a call to action with a special deal or request for response. Also, a message received during times of the day when people are generally preoccupied will not likely garner the attention you are seeking. You will probably need to do some testing to find out what times work best for your target audience.- Let them opt out if they don’t want to be messaged! First, this is a law. Second, nothing is more frustrating to individuals than to continuously receive promotional messages when they just are not interested. Make it easy with a message such as ” Reply ‘STOP’ to unsubscribe.”
What other SMS practices would you add to you list above?
