sms marketing

SMS marketing can be one of the most powerful tools any business owner can have in their arsenal, but it can also be very tricky. It’s still underused and very few people are truly experienced in working with it. A lot of people go by trial and error when they do SMS marketing, and the results are often hit or miss. But once you understand a few basic principles and know the things to avoid, you can start having predictable and replicable results. Here are some of the dos and don’ts of SMS marketing.

Do – Use a Good Platform

One of the most important things you should do is use the right platform for your efforts. A good SMS marketing platform will allow you to keep a good database of contacts, segment your list, and send personalized messages. You could also use a specialized SMS marketing platform like Tatango to boost your fundraising efforts if you’re in the political or non-profit field. Using a platform that can integrate with a CRM will allow you to send messages based on specific triggers while automatically gathering contact information for follow-ups.

Don’t – Blast Messages Blindly

Do not take a shotgun approach when using SMS marketing. Segmentation and personalization are very important if you want to get the best results. If you keep sending mass texts that are not tailored to your audience, you will get a lot of unsubscribes and your efforts could fall flat. What you should be doing instead is sending offers that would likely pique the interest of the people you’re sending them to. We’re not saying that all messages should be personal, but you should have a system in place that will automatically send discounts to regular clients based on the previous purchases they have made. You can also send non-promotional texts like sending people to a specific resource or thanking them for their purchase so you can build a stronger connection with them.

Do – Have Clear Calls to Action

You cannot send messages without having a goal and without this goal being very explicit. You need to have a clear call to action, and you have to make your messages as clear and concise as possible. The most important part is letting them know why they should follow your call to action and how. A good example of a call-to-action would be “get your 15% discount by texting code XXXX right now”. What makes this a good call to action is that it tells people exactly what they’ll be getting and leaves no confusion as to how the offer can be redeemed. This is what will result in more visits and more conversions.

Don’t – Harass Your List Subscribers

First of all, you must always get the consent of the people on your list before you send messages to them. And second, don’t send too many messages. There is no set frequency here, but we would suggest that you start with four to five messages per month and then try increasing the frequency until you see a negative trend. You should also focus on providing value with every message you send.

If you follow our advice, you should be able to get much better results from your SMS campaigns. Keep working and refining your efforts and stick with whatever works best for you.

By Anurag Rathod

Anurag Rathod is an Editor of Appclonescript.com, who is passionate for app-based startup solutions and on-demand business ideas. He believes in spreading tech trends. He is an avid reader and loves thinking out of the box to promote new technologies.