Brands are always looking to target customers wherever they may be. They use TV advertisements to reach consumers when they are at home and set up billboard advertisements to promote products to people when they are outdoors.
However, there is one unique marketing channel that can be used to target customers wherever they may be. This channel has been around for decades and is still widely used by marketers across the globe. We are of course referring to SMS marketing.
The vast majority of consumers in the modern era have access to cell phones. No matter how primitive a person’s mobile device may be, it is still capable of sending and receiving text messages. This makes SMS a powerful marketing channel with a wide reach.
When used effectively, SMS marketing campaigns can be used to capture new leads and boost lead conversions. However, many marketers fail to utilize the full potential of SMS in their marketing campaigns.
Here are some SMS marketing tactics that can be used to capture new leads and convert them to boost sales.
Table of Contents
1.Sending out SMS messages at the right time
Studies have found that 90% of SMS marketing messages are opened within 3 minutes of receiving them. This means marketers need to target customers at the time of day when they are comfortably reading your messages and engaging with your promotions.
Researchers have found that the best time to send out SMS messages on weekdays and weekends is between noon and 3 pm. This is the window of time in which people are most likely to check their phones and read their messages.
However, businesses in the restaurant industry may have more success with sending out SMS texts between 5 pm and 7 pm, as people are more likely to ponder about eating dinner during this window.
Sending marketing messages outside work hours used to be a challenge for marketers. However, brands can now use the services of a marketing automation agency to schedule and deliver SMS messages at their desired time without inconveniencing their marketing employees.
2. Including a call to action
Effective SMS marketing campaigns usually include a call to action (CTA) that draws customer attention and encourages them to engage with the brand.
The best CTAs are short and simple lines added at the end of messages, such as “click here to learn more” or “buy now at URL!”. Recipients are also more likely to follow your CTA if it conveys a sense of urgency, so your message should include a limited time offer that expires soon.
Marketers can also send out a variety of SMS messages with different CTAs to learn which type of CTA is most effective at generating leads and increasing conversions. This is a trial and error process that has the potential to boost sales when performed correctly, so marketers should pay close attention to the CTA they are using in their SMS marketing campaigns.
3. Segmentation
Brands that segment their customers tend to be more successful at marketing to their target audience. This segmentation could be based on their customer’s age, location, areas of interest, or their purchase history with the brand.
Once marketers have broken down their target audience into well-defined segments, they can send each segment a unique SMS message that caters to their specific interests. Consumers are more responsive to these marketing campaigns as they are created with their tastes and areas of interest in mind.
Marketers can segment their audience with an analytics tool such as Google Analytics, and roll out their marketing campaigns using an SMS gateway on a computer. This approach is easier and more effective than doing everything on your cell phone.
4. SMS bots
Message recipients often have questions about your brand and its products. Some companies use live agents to respond to these text messages questions in real-time, but having staff on-hand 24/7 to answer these questions can be expensive.
Instead, brands can use automated SMS bots to provide customers with efficient responses to their queries. Traditional SMS bots could provide customers with only predetermined general answers to their questions, but modern SMS bots can give more specific answers to a wider variety of questions.
You can boost your conversion rate by using SMS bots to address customer queries and concerns instantly, so consider using these bots if SMS campaigns are a major part of your marketing strategy.
5. Using the right frequency of interaction
Most people don’t sign up to receive SMS messages from advertisers, so your SMS marketing may be perceived as annoying or intrusive if your messages are being sent too frequently. Effective SMS marketing includes knowing when to reach out to customers and knowing when to hold back to avoid losing your leads.
Research has found that SMS marketing campaigns fare best when they send customers 10 – 12 messages per month. This frequency is high enough to maintain the attention of recipients, but not high enough to be considered a nuisance.
Marketers may be able to send customers more messages if they have responded positively to earlier SMS campaigns. But they should still be careful about spamming them with too many messages in a short amount of time.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways for marketers to draw in leads and boost their conversions with the help of SMS marketing campaigns. Your campaigns may not see much success at first, but you can fine-tune your approach over time through trial and error.
Be sure to use analytics tools to track the performance of your campaigns and revise your future marketing strategies based on the knowledge gained from your earlier campaigns.
SMS marketing will continue to be an important marketing channel in the future, so businesses of all sizes should familiarize themselves with these marketing tactics.
