Everything you need to know about bulk SMS marketing

Bulk SMS marketing

Knowing how to communicate with customers can be confusing. Should you and the business you’re working for be emailing, SMSing, connecting on social media or communicating via old-school snail mail? There are so many different methods, all with their own lists of pros and cons. But one method, whether for startups or global enterprises and everything in between, consistently appears to come out tops: bulk SMS marketing.

What is bulk SMS marketing?

Simply put, bulk SMS is the distribution of a large number of text messages to users’ mobile phones. It’s an effective way to communicate with customers, wherever they are in their customer journey. Although this form of marketing has been around for many years, it remains the most effective way to reach your customers, improve customer engagement, and encourage conversions. It's been found that text messages are opened 98 percent of the time compared to email's 22 percent open rate. That means if you want to communicate with your customers, and of course you do, your chances of success are far better with an SMS than an email.

Why is bulk SMS marketing effective?

Sending out bulk SMS messages to your customers is fast and cost-effective. The vast majority of people have their phones with them throughout the day, so SMS offers the best chance of your message being read. More research has found that nine out of 10 people open text messages within three minutes of receiving them. Even if people are only opening the message to quieten the beeping and turn off the flashing incoming message alert, they could soon be drawn in by the messaging and special offers within. In addition, text messages are well-known for their reliable delivery of time-sensitive messages, making it your best bet to encourage customer engagement.

How can you implement bulk SMS marketing in your business?

The first step to implementing bulk SMS in your business, or being the person who encourages your boss to do so, is to create a marketing list. It’s important that each person listed here has given their permission since it’s illegal to message anyone who hasn’t given their explicit consent. There are several different rules which impact text messaging for marketing purposes, so it’s important that you check the regulations in your country.

The next step is to create a marketing strategy that outlines who you’re trying to reach and the intention behind each message. You need to know, well before pressing send, what action you want the customer to take. Your marketing content calendar should be filled with messages that’ll encourage your customers to take action. Whether you want them to come to you for a consultation or to buy a product, your messages must offer sufficient value that they’re encouraged to do exactly that. A good way to encourage customers to take action is to create a sense of urgency. “Offer ends at midnight” or “Only one hour to buy” will encourage your customers to take immediate action since they won’t want to miss out on special prices and opportunities.

As you can see, bulk SMS marketing is a useful and important part of every marketing strategy. If you’d like to learn more about how bulk text messages can be used in your business, read more about Clickatell’s SMS Platform. It allows you to SMS-enable any application, website or system and can facilitate international two-way messaging and more. With global reach and dedicated routes for time-sensitive messages like pins and alerts, it’s the SMS gateway solution you've always wanted. Sign up and start testing now to experience the full power of this innovative digital enablement tool and enjoy free unlimited testing in our sandbox environment.