How to supercharge your business’ SMS messaging

Business SMS examples and best practices

In case you’ve been living under a rock, mobile-first marketing is now a thing. Mobile usage has now surpassed fixed internet access. If you’re looking for your customers, you probably don’t have to look much further than the mobile phones glued to their hands. And clever marketers have been talking to people through this medium for as long as it's been around. But while everything seems to be getting more and more sophisticated, the humble SMS is still one of the most effective ways to talk to your customer. SMS messaging is cheap, efficient, and effective. And here are a few ideas that might help you supercharge your next SMS marketing campaign.

Related: 7 Tips to improve your SMS marketing

Offer incentives

Tempt your SMS community with promotions, discounts or great deals through a simple text message. This makes customers feel like they belong to a secret club or community and adds to a sense of belonging – which is great for business.

Create a sense of urgency

Open-ended messages are less successful than SMS messages that offer deals that expire. Create a sense of urgency in your customers with phrases like: ‘expires soon’ or ‘selling quickly’. This encourages them to respond faster and helps you achieve results or get the desired response as quickly as possible.

Pay attention to when you send your message

You want to make sure that your SMS campaign is having as big an impact as possible. To do this your messages should be sent at the most opportune times. When someone buys a particular product, for example, send them an SMS about another related product on sale in the hopes of sparking their interest. Also, SMS can often have its best day on Saturday – traditionally more people are free to be able to respond to any deals or sales you might offer them.

Have a clear call to action

Make sure that your customers know exactly what to do by the time they finish reading their message. If they’re interested, then they’ll likely respond exactly as you suggest they should.

Keep SMS messages short and simple

An SMS is actually quite an intimate way to connect with your customers. But remember, you’ve only got 160 characters to use. Don’t waste it. Ensure that your message is to-the-point and delivers high value so that your customer is motivated to respond positively. Concatenated SMS is available - allowing you to send your text messages using more than one message part - but you’d be wise to keep marketing messages as short, concise, and simple as possible.

Here’s an example of a clear and direct promotional SMS: “50% off your next order. Click here. Offer ends this Sunday.” The customer immediately knows what they’re getting, how they can get it, and when they need to get it by. Frivolous SMS messages are likely to become annoying.

Ask customers about their preferences

Big data and its implications will probably make this point defunct in the not-too-distant future, but for now, it’s still important to ask your customers what their preferences are. When would they prefer receiving promotional SMSes from you? What kind of information do they want to receive? This keeps both parties happy as it means that you’re able to send information to a customer base that wants to receive promotional material and your customers aren’t bothered by information that they don’t care about.

Customize and personalize your text messages

Customers are more likely to respond to communication that’s addressed directly to them, so insert your subscriber’s name when you can. You can also use the information gleaned about their preferences to provide them with customized communication that only promotes things they like or enjoy.

Follow up your ecommerce sales with SMS

Building strong customer relationships can be done throughout the purchasing process, including after the purchase has been made. Marketers are becoming savvier about follow-ups once a purchase has been made, realizing the benefits that it brings. And SMS is the perfect medium to communicate with an after-sale message. It offers you an opportunity to engage with your customers and rectify an aggrievement or accept praise for a job well done.

Related: 4 reasons why your customers want SMS messaging

Because of the proliferation of phones, SMS messaging is as relevant as ever in connecting your business with your customers. It stands as one of the most efficient and cost-effective ways of communicating and, as long as people remain obsessed with their phones, will do so for a while to come. If you’re interested in learning more about the advantages of SMS texts then read our recent article on the subject. Alternatively, you could sign up for our free trial and see what it brings your business firsthand.