SMS marketing services have become crucial to many new businesses hoping to cultivate new customers while maintaining a good relationship with existing ones. It’s a great technique that, when used correctly, can help increase the visibility of any nascent venture in a relatively short period of time.
However, when used carelessly, it can annoy people and prove to be a serious turn-off to people you’re hoping to be in their good graces. The following are a few major dos and don’ts when it comes to implementing any SMS marketing campaign.
The Do’s
Let’s start with a few of the things you should definitely do when considering an SMS marketing campaign to help promote your business.
Research Services
Look for services that will streamline and automate all aspects of the SMS marketing process for you, allowing you to follow up with everyone and set a precise delivery time, and so on. You shouldn’t be texting your customers yourself; that tends to lead to much human error while also looking pretty unprofessional.
Instead, look into services like this to help you make the most of SMS marketing technology and reaching customers on your behalf. The services will also be able to help you automatically follow up with people who seem to be the ones most likely to open certain texts and use an offer code, etc. The best software should also have an analytics function to help you see how successful your campaigns are, so be on the lookout for this functionality as well.
Mindful Timing
Make sure that texts aren’t sent in the dead of night, or super early in the morning. People absolutely hate being woken up with texts from companies at inopportune times, and if you do it too often, you will most likely lose a whole bunch of clients. Make sure to pay attention to time zones, and automate your software in such a way that certain notifications are sent at the proper time for all customers.
Options
Always make sure that at the end of every text offer, consumers have a chance to pull out. Maybe one of your customers joined the campaign by mistake and doesn’t want to be reached via phone. Or, they simply don’t bookmark special offers or events via text and are more responsive via email or social media. Giving customers the chance to opt-out is not just good etiquette, but good business in general.
The Don’ts
Of course, don’t ever start a marketing campaign via SMS without the customers’ consent, and don’t attempt to DIY the process. Other than that, there are a few other clear don’ts you should keep in mind.
Not Asking for Permission
Even if you have a set of regular customers purchasing your wares online, and keep track of their email addresses and phone numbers, you should never add them to a campaign without obtaining their permission first. Everybody hates unsolicited texts and emails, but maybe the former even more since that means that their phones would be buzzing all the time.
Always send a message to the consumer first asking for their permission to be added to the campaign. You can do this by giving an incentive, something along the lines of “receive ten percent off when you sign up for our texts and receive more special offers.” Always ask for permission and provide a solid incentive.
Not Identifying the Company
Don’t send a blanket text without identifying your company or brand’s name. Right at the beginning of the SMS should be the business’ name, followed by a brief description of the event or promotion you’re trying to spread the word about. It’s deeply ineffective to start an SMS campaign without any way for the consumer to quickly identify who is contacting them, not to mention rude. Don’t alienate customers by being vague and not introducing yourself.
Sending Too Much
Another surefire way to upset your customers and remove themselves from your SMS campaign is to send way too many texts in one day. Or even too many in a week. Make sure you’re always sending something impactful and with a sense of fun or excitement about your offer. Never stress your customers by sending annoying texts that don’t share any new or important information they could be of interest to.
Texting customers can be an excellent way to reach out to customers since you will be getting the news to them right away via phone. However, that also means you need to be careful about how you craft the messages and keep the communication going. Being conscientious and producing succinct, interesting messages should help you become a pro at this type of marketing straight away.
