20 Effective SMS Tips To Leverage Marketing

We all know that SMS can be effective in your digital marketing campaign, but sometimes it can be hard to know where to start. Most people will focus on email marketing or social media because they think it's easier. But in reality, using SMS texts in your marketing strategy can prove to be pretty useful

With SMS tips, you can use the communication channel more effectively and take advantage of its benefits. We’ve prepared the ultimate guide for bulk SMS marketing tips, starting with the initial research to tracking your results.

1. Know Your Audience

Text marketing can be an extremely effective way to reach your target audience and promote your product or service. However, it is important to know your target audience before you begin your campaign so you can know which phone numbers to collect.

Think about who you are trying to reach with your SMS marketing campaign. What are their demographics, their interests, their needs?

Once you have a good understanding of your target audience, you can begin to craft your SMS marketing messages.

2. Get People To Opt In

In order for your campaign to be successful, you need to get people to opt in to receive your messages. This helps you target your audience more effectively. By knowing who has opted in to receive your messages, you can tailor your campaigns to target those individuals specifically.

This also builds trust with your audience. If people trust that they will only receive relevant messages, they are more likely to be receptive to your campaign. Moreover, it ensures that your campaign is compliant with the law.

You can offer an incentive for signing up, like a coupon or a chance to win a prize to get people to opt in. Make it easy to sign up by including a keyword or short code in your advertising. You can let people know what they can expect from your SMS campaigns, like special offers, news, and exclusive content.

3. Allow Opt-Outs

One of the most important text marketing tips to consider is whether or not to offer opt-outs. SMS opt-outs give people the ability to unsubscribe from your messages.

This can prevent people from becoming annoyed with your campaign and avoid any potential legal issues that could arise from sending unwanted messages. In fact, they can improve the overall quality of your campaign.

By allowing people to unsubscribe, you can make sure that only people who are actually interested in your messages are receiving them. This can potentially increase the response rate and make your campaign more successful overall.

4. Use SMS Keywords

Keywords are the words or phrases that customers text to a short code to sign up for or opt into a campaign. They are also used to segment customers and track campaign results. In short, keywords are essential for SMS campaigns.

Make sure the keywords are relevant to your campaign, easy to remember, and closely related. Avoid using common words that might be used by other businesses, and include a mix of upper and lowercase letters to make the keywords readable.

5. Be Informative First, Then Sell

Let your subscribers know what they're signing up for, what they can expect to receive from you, and how often they can expect to receive messages from you.

Not only will you build trust and confidence in your brand, but doing so will ultimately lead to more sales. Providing information such as pricing, product details, or special offers to make sure your customers have all the info they need to make a decision.

6. Convert Leads With Live Chat

If you're not converting your leads with live chat, you're missing out on a huge opportunity. Live chat lets you engage with your leads in real time, which means you can answer their questions, address their concerns, and build trust quickly.

If you can't answer their questions and give them the information they need right away, they're likely to move on to someone who can. You can also collect their contact information, what they're interested in, and what their needs are. This allows you to follow up with them later and continue nurturing them until they're ready to buy.

7. Personalize Your Message

Ask anyone about the best SMS tips and they’ll tell you that personalization is king. One of the most important things to remember when creating an SMS campaign is to personalize your message.

This means far more than simply including the recipient's name in your message. Your message should be tailored specifically to their interests, needs, and desires. By personalizing your message, you are increasing the chances that your message will be read and acted upon.

8. Include A Strong CTA

Your audience should always know what to do next after reading your SMS campaign. Your CTA should be short, sweet, and to the point. It should be clear what the desired action is and why the reader should take it.

Including a strong CTA will help grow your click-through and conversion rates, resulting in more leads and customers for your business.

9. Create A Sense Of Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency is important because it can boost the overall response rate of your campaign. When people feel like they need to take action right away, they are more likely to actually do so.

You can use language that implies that time is of the essence. For example, you could use phrases like “act now” or “while supplies last.”

10. Add Value

Nobody enjoys receiving unexpected messages from companies that make their phones vibrate all day. Get ready to lose a subscriber if you send texts only to remind your customers about you and have nothing else to offer.

Your texts must be timely and beneficial to the audience. Send them messages about sales, discounts, or the debut of the new collection, instead of texting them randomly.

11. Link To Your Website

Linking to your website from your SMS campaign can help boost traffic to your site as well as promote your campaign. By doing so, you encourage people to click through to your site to learn more about your campaign or product.

Including a link in your SMS campaign can also increase the visibility of your website in search engines, which can attract more visitors. This can lead to more sales and a higher ROI for your SMS campaign.

12. Proofread Before Sending

When you proofread your SMS campaign before sending it, you are essentially taking the time to check and double-check your work. This extra level of quality control can mean the difference between a successful campaign and one that falls flat.

13. Send Simple And Enticing Messages

This is perhaps the most common text message marketing tip—customers are more likely to read and respond to a text that is short and to the point. So, when crafting your SMS messages, make sure they are clear and concise. You can only use up to 160 characters, so make them count!

Use images and emojis to break up the text and add some personality to your message. This will make your text stand out in the customer's inbox and more likely to be read.

14. Start Automated Drip Campaigns

Drip campaigns are one of the most powerful tools in an SMS marketer’s toolkit. By automatically sending a series of messages over a period of time, drip campaigns can keep your customers engaged and shoot up the likelihood of conversion.

These types of campaigns keep your customers engaged by sending them a series of timely, relevant messages. This is especially useful if you have time-sensitive offers or announcements.

Automated drip campaigns can also improve your conversion rates by ensuring that your customers receive the information they need at the right time. They also play a role in increasing your return on investment by allowing you to better target your customers and enhance your conversion rates.

With automated drip campaigns, you boost customer retention by fostering a sense of customer loyalty and engagement.

15. Send Offers And Exclusive Deals

Offers and deals that are exclusive to your SMS campaign will give your customers a reason to act now rather than wait. These offers also create a sense of urgency that can prompt customers who may have been on the fence about your product or service to finally make a purchase.

In addition, you are showing your customers that you are invested in their experience with your brand by sending offers and deals. This type of customer service is sure to leave a lasting impression and will keep your customers coming back for more.

16. Text Reminders And Confirmations

Reminders and confirmations are important for SMS campaigns because they help to ensure that your message is received and read. This way, you can be sure that your audience is engaged and interested in your message.

Additionally, these can help increase the open and click-through rates of your campaign, making it more successful overall.

17. Start A Sweepstakes Competition

A sweepstakes is a type of contest where entrants compete for a chance to win a prize. The prize may be in the form of a cash prize, or a prize related to the product or service being promoted. The key to running a successful sweepstakes is to make sure the prize is something that will appeal to your target audience.

Starting a sweepstakes competition is a great way to promote your SMS campaign. It will give people a reason to sign up for your campaign, and it will also create a sense of excitement and anticipation around your brand.

18. Don’t Send Too Many Messages

Sending too many texts can be detrimental to your SMS campaign for several reasons:

1. It can irritate your subscribers and cause them to opt out of your campaign.
2. It can increase your unsubscribe rate, which can lead to your campaign being shut down by your SMS provider.
3. It can lead to more complaints or blocks, which can again lead to your campaign being shut down.

Limit the number of texts you send as part of your SMS campaign in order to avoid these potential problems.

19. Track Results

Tracking the results of your SMS campaign is important for understanding whether or not your campaign is successful. Pay attention to metrics such as delivery rate, open rate, click-through rate, and conversion rate so you get a clear picture of how your campaign is performing and make necessary adjustments.

When tracking the results of your SMS campaign, there are a few key metrics to focus on.

1. Number of Opt-Ins

This is a good indicator of the reach of your campaign and how successful it is in engaging people.

2. Number of Messages Sent

This can give you an idea of the volume of traffic your campaign is generating.

3. Number of Click-Throughs

This is the number of people who have clicked on a link in one of your SMS messages. It shows how effective your SMS messages are in driving traffic to your website or landing page.

4. Number of Conversions

This is the number of people who have completed a desired action on your website or landing page, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. This is the ultimate metric to track as it shows the ROI of your SMS campaign.

20. Focus On Loyal Customers

When it comes to SMS campaigns, it's important to focus on your loyal customers. These are the people who are most likely to buy from you again and again, and they're also the ones who are most likely to recommend your products or services to others. By doing so, you can ensure that your SMS campaign is successful and that you're able to keep your customers happy.