Understanding Customized SMS: A Quick Guide

Consumers today are used to getting custom and personalized experiences for everything, and customized SMS is no different.

We know that SMS has an incredibly high open rate (98%), but opening the message isn’t enough.

Adding a personal touch to your message can go a long way towards engaging your recipient.

A single SMS can be your chance to make a lasting and personal impression, so don’t waste it.

Read on to see the benefits and best practices of custom SMS, or jump straight to Dexatel’s SMS platform and start texting!

What Is a Customized SMS?

Customized SMS, or a personalized SMS, is a text message that contains custom fields that include things like the recipient’s name, gender, birthday, location, and other more specific info.

When you send personalized text messages with custom fields to your contacts, you are more likely to capture their attention, drive engagement, and encourage further interaction.

Custom text messages are more than just addressing your recipients by name.

It’s about communicating information unique to each of your customers that's relatable and feels like it’s being personally directed to them.

You want to make sure that no two messages are the same, even if they are sent in bulk.

Why Is Customized Bulk SMS a Good Idea?

With bulk SMS, you can engage in mass texting using your company name or business phone number as the sender.

But even with bulk messaging, it’s still possible to give each message a personal touch.

It only takes a moment to customize your messages for your SMS marketing campaign with a name or other information.

Imagine you have an event with hundreds of participants, and you need to send an SMS to each attendee.

Instead of sending thousands of individual messages to phone numbers or one generic SMS, you can use customized bulk SMS to create thousands of individual messages.

Each participant knows the details of the event, but also things that pertain only to them, such as seating, and you only hit send once.

How Does SMS Personalization Work?

Traditionally, businesses would send out general notifications to let customers know about discounts, benefits, or other information like new releases using an SMS marketing platform. In the modern marketing scene, however, this wouldn’t be enough. Marketers in this day and age need to address their audiences on a personal level by sending a customized SMS to gain their trust and loyalty. 

SMS personalization involves keeping track of important user data and using that information to send personalized text messages. This can include anything from age, country, interests, and in-app activity. Notifications containing such information can convince recipients to engage, like completing a purchase or reading a piece of content. A news application, for instance, would monitor a subscriber’s in-app preferences and send SMS alerts based on the categories they follow. 

Dexatel’s text marketing service uses information from a list of contacts to set up customer profiles based on their individual information. You can then refer to the profiles in order to send customized SMS messages.

What Makes an SMS Message Personalized

A message is considered personalized if it is written specifically for the person receiving the SMS. This means that the message is not a generic message that could be sent to anyone, but is specifically tailored to the recipient. It should be something meaningful to them, and not just a generic message that could be sent to anyone. Here are a few things you can do to make your SMS messages more personal:

1. Choose your words carefully

The words you use in your SMS messages can say a lot about you as a business. Choose your words wisely to give your recipient a positive impression of you.

2. Be careful with abbreviations

Not everyone understands SMS abbreviations, so use them sparingly. In general, it's best to spell out words in full to avoid confusing your recipient.

3. Use emojis and emoticons sparingly

Emojis and emoticons can be fun, but too many in an SMS message can be overwhelming. Use them sparingly to add a bit of personality to your message without going overboard.

4. Add a personal touch

A personal touch can make your SMS message more special. You might add a special signature, a photo, or a personal message.

5. Make sure your message is clear

SMS messages are often brief, so make sure your message is clear. If you're not sure, it's better to err on the side of being too explicit rather than too vague.

6. Proofread your message

Once you've written your SMS message, take a moment to proofread it. This will help ensure that your message is clear and free of typos.

How Can SMS Personalization Help Your Business?

Boosting Engagement Rates

Customized text messages can have a significant impact on customer engagement rates. Recipients tend to pay more attention if the text targets them personally. This contributes to the high open rates of text messages, an already effective marketing tool. 

Reaching Target Audiences

For a marketing campaign to be accurate, businesses need to target particular audiences. SMS personalization makes it easier to reach specific customers and maintain productive communication with them. Mentioning certain information about a recipient’s interests and preferences can make your marketing campaign more effective. This includes using details from surveys, segments, and research to customize text messages that appeal to a specific audience.

Building Customer Loyalty

Automated umbrella messages with no clear value to recipients can prevent a business from building customer loyalty and creating positive brand awareness. On the other hand, personalized text messages can help in gaining a customer’s trust and maintaining their loyalty. 

Offering Tailored Recommendations

Certain audiences may expect special deals and offers that suit their interests. Sending out tailored recommendations to customers based on an analysis of their buying behavior will boost conversions. This, in turn, leads to an increase in sales and revenue.

Top Tips for Sending Personalized SMS Messages

We’ve talked previously about the power of personalized SMS marketing.

Expectations are high, so don’t let your customers down by sending a dry mass SMS. While SMS is a great attention grabber, you have to hold on to it. Small gestures such as including a friendly greeting can make you stand out. 

Here are ways to leverage the power of SMS and human connection.

Make a Plan

Figure out what you want to achieve with your text marketing campaign and who your target audience is.

Show That You Understand Your Customers’ Needs

Providing focused attention to your customers goes a long way.

Customizing your text messages and validating their needs is an easy way to do this.

For example, SMS delivery notifications are now standard, but you can also include specific info related to the item delivered that's also beneficial, such as care instructions or refrigeration info for perishable foods.

Segment Your Audience

To make the experience even more customized for your customers, segment your contact list based on demographic info, personal interests, and past behavior.

Start with the basics like location, gender, and age, and get more specific from there.

Dexatel offers custom segmentation so you can divide your contact list to coordinate precise targeting.

Keep It Short and Sweet

SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, so make sure your message is clear and concise.

Leverage Two-Way Communication

SMS is a two-way channel, so you can have one-on-one conversations with your customers.

Customers are more likely to engage and reply to a personal message, and SMS is a great way to do that and answer any questions they may have.

Use Customizable SMS Templates

Dexatel provides ready-made templates and the chance to create pre-set ones in your brand’s tone of voice. This will keep your communication language consistent and compliant, no matter who is sending.

You can add customized elements for each recipient, so your templates won’t sound generic.

Add a Call-to-Action

Entice your customers with a special offer or discount and include a call-to-action telling them what to do next.

Test, Test, Test

Before you launch your campaign, test it out on a small group of people to make sure it works and sounds the way you want it to.

Track Your Results

Once your campaign is up and running, track your results so you can see how many people are responding and what kind of ROI you're getting.

What to Avoid When Sending Customized Bulk SMS

Don’t Spam

Mass texting makes it easy to reach thousands of people at once, but don’t overdo it.

Sometimes, less is more.

The quality of your messages is more important than the quantity.

Always give an opt-out option and respect your customers’ wishes.

Be Careful With Information

While custom text messaging makes the recipient feel like the interaction is genuine, incorrect personal information can have the opposite effect.

Getting key information wrong can lead to a negative impression.

So can misspelling their name or sending a promotion irrelevant to them.

Too Much Personalization

Yes, too much of any good thing can be bad.

Only use information that your recipient has shared with you.

Keep them comfortable by not referring to too much personal info.

You can target based on general location but mentioning their street address can be a little creepy.

Too many custom fields can make your message sound machine-generated.

How to Send Custom SMS Messages 

1. Import Contact Information

Import or upload your existing customer information to the SMS platform and manage your contacts list from there.

Integrations also make it easy to keep everything up to date and have a seamless experience.

2. Collect Contact Information

If you don’t have an existing contact database, encourage users to provide basic information like age, gender, and zip code through a form on your website or an email.

Throw in a little promo code to sweeten the deal.

3. Create Recipient Groups

Segment your audience into different groups to personalize your SMS messaging.

For example, you can have one group for leads, another for customers, and another for VIP contacts.

Of course, you can further subdivide by all the other customizable options.

4. Create a Customized SMS Campaign

Once you’re ready, use the customization features when sending messages to different groups and play around with your options.

And remember, we’re always here to help and guide you through the process!