I know a lot of people are on this boat. You probably heard how amazing and easy sms marketing is. How you can reach out to customer via sms and increase sales. So you decided to give it a shot.
So You’re using a good bulk sms service, loaded your account with enough units to last you a year, gathered all your customers phone numbers, composed an award winning SMS text ( or so you think), and sent out an SMS blast to your customers….. and then you wait. The first week, second week…..third week! Nothing! No feedback, no increase in sales or patronage, no visits (both online and offline), you had absolutely no response at all!!
You feel discouraged and wonder where and how you got it wrong? Now you’re sitting filled with disappointment because you tried; but you failed. Why is SMS marketing working for everyone else, except for you?
To answer this question, we’ll be considering some of the things you may have done, are doing or didn’t do that makes it seem not to be working for you.
Go Straight to the Point
How do you feel when you get a text that doesn’t make any sense? It’s annoying right? Well that’s exactly how your customers feel when you send them a text that absolutely pointless and unnecessarily too long. Nobody wants to spend all day reading a text message or trying to decipher its meaning. Your SMS campaign should be short, precise and straight to the point.
Send personalized sms
You may have forgotten this but your customers are very sensitive and should be made to feel like an important personality. Learn to personalize your texts when sending SMS blasts to your customers by including their name and probably a little compliment.
Sending Messages at the Wrong Time
Since people have a tendency to read a text message almost immediately after they receive it, it’s important not to send an SMS too early in the morning or too late at night. Sending it at the right time is crucial to the success of your sms marketing campaign.
Offers and Advertising
What type of offers was sent out during your SMS campaign? It is essential that you send out special offers to those who subscribe to your marketing campaigns. Make those offers available only to marketing subscribers, and ensure they are as personalized as possible. The better the deal the more people that will respond to the offer, and they are likely to tell all of their friends about your offerings, too!
Sending Too Many Messages
You may have made it a habit of sending your customers a message every day or even more frequent than. If you have, please stop it immediately! The fact that text messages have a 90%+ open rate is a good thing – but that also means customers will quickly become annoyed if you “spam” them with irrelevant messages. They’ll feel like you’re taking advantage of their trust – and they’re likely to block your number, or unsubscribe from your SMS messaging list.
Improper Call-to-Action
The reason many SMS campaigns fail is that they lack a call to action. Never assume that your customer will know what you want them to do with your text. You need to include a brief call to action that lets them know what you expect them to do. It can be to visit your store to redeem a coupon or a link you want them to share with their friends. Whatever it is, make sure your call to action is clear and includes a reward. The CTA is the most important part of your SMS message. Without a strong, obvious CTA, your customers won’t understand what your marketing message is trying to say, which results in an ineffective campaign.
No Mobile Website
A SMS campaign is most effective when paired with a mobile website. When your customers receive a text from you about a promotion, many of them will want to investigate further by visiting your website. If your site isn’t optimized for mobile devices, chances are you’ll lose more than a few potential customers. Same scenario for a poorly-designed mobile site. Take the special time and attention needed to create a mobile site.