If you want to add a simple, effective tool to your marketing toolkit, text message marketing could be the answer. Its versatility and immediacy make it a great option for businesses looking to supplement marketing emails that may get lost in a customer’s oversaturated inbox.
However, there are some important legal requirements and best practices to adhere to ensure your customers don’t perceive these messages as irritating or spam.
This article will explore the upsides and risks of this form of marketing and offer some best practices so you can decide whether text message marketing is right for your business.
What is text message marketing?
Text message marketing is a way for companies to connect with customers using short message service (SMS), the most common form of text message technology. You can use SMS marketing for many purposes, including:
- Notifying customers of sales or other promotions
- Aiding in account sign-in and managing appointments
- Sending alerts about orders or shipping timelines
- Sending a welcome series of texts when a customer signs up for an account or buys a product
- Encouraging loyalty by requesting the customer join a loyalty program, come back to their cart, or otherwise engage or reengage with a business
Benefits of text message marketing
Text message marketing offers multiple advantages to businesses. Here are a few factors that make this marketing channel a winning strategy for many companies:
High open rates
According to LinkedIn, studies show that SMS messages yield a 97% open rate, which is more than three times the average open rate for marketing emails. They also have a click-through rate of around 36%.
Immediacy
Better still, 90% of SMS messages are read within three minutes, meaning your brand can run precision campaigns and be confident that the message is received when it’s most relevant and actionable.
Convenience
At a time of too many passwords and app saturation, SMS marketing comes with low barriers to adoption for businesses and low barriers to engagement for consumers. Because SMS is native on most mobile devices and doesn’t run through proprietary app stores, doesn’t require a computer or the latest software download, SMS marketing is both relatively simple to get up and running. It is also a way to reach customers without computer access or a newer-generation mobile device.
Cost-effectiveness
Even though texts can cost more on a per-text basis than a per-email campaign (1¢ to 5¢ per text for domestic SMS), text message marketing campaigns are straightforward to launch and manage, and they don’t require graphic design capacity or significant upkeep, making them a good fit for marketing budgets of small business owners and large companies alike.
Integration within multichannel campaigns
Text marketing is a great option to fold into your multichannel marketing campaign, and its instantaneous nature can help you connect with your customers at key moments in a sales season. Paired with longer forms of engagement like email, text message marketing can help you stay in touch with your customers in ways that are both convenient and personal.
How to create a successful text message marketing campaign
1. Register a number
To begin a text messaging marketing campaign, you need to register a unique short code (five or six digits) or 10-digit long code (also known as 10DLC) for your business. Apply to lease a number from the US Short Code Registry (for short codes) or the Campaign Registry (for 10DLCs).
Which route you take depends on your brand’s needs. Short codes may be a better option for large enterprise businesses that send thousands of texts daily, as they have a higher throughput and are less likely to end up in spam filters. You can also customize shortcodes to a memorable word or phrase. But note the approval process for short codes takes longer—six to eight weeks, on average—than for a 10DLC, which can take a day or two.
If you choose to work with a text message marketing service, it can help prepare either type of application for your business.
2. Build a list
In order to start contacting new and existing customers, you’ll need their permission and mobile numbers first. If you don’t already collect this info as part of your online business, build a few months into your campaign plan to gather and sort this data first.
For example, you might create a dynamic sign-up form on your website that offers a discount code in exchange for opting into texts. Try including a text opt-in within your email newsletter to build your list with customers who already engage with your brand.
Sending text marketing messages without obtaining permission first is against US law. Be sure you know the laws of all the countries and regions you plan to work in and get your customers’ consent before you begin your campaign.
3. Have a system
Your business will need to have the ability to schedule, target, and send bulk messages. You can achieve this through an in-house API, or you can enlist a vendor who can support the whole process of automating messages and integrating them with your other marketing channels. The Shopify App Store offers several SMS marketing services.
4. Decide your use cases and cadence
It’s important to decide the “why” of your text marketing campaign at the outset. You might have multiple use cases over time—and multiple campaigns—but each text campaign should have a distinct reason for landing on someone’s lock screen, and that reason should determine the cadence of that campaign.
Common use cases are:
- Transactional. Managing appointments or sign-ins, or sending alerts about shipping updates.
- Relational. For instance, a welcome series that is automatically sent when a customer signs up for a rewards program or buys a product.
- Promotional. Notifying customers of sales or limited offers.
- Win-back. Reminding a customer to come back to their cart, join a loyalty program, or otherwise engage or reengage with a business.
5. Get to the point
As a concise, primarily text-based format, SMS marketing benefits from being clear and to the point. Most text message marketing campaigns should have a call to action: something you’re inviting your customers to do, whether that’s coming back to their cart or checking out a new promotional offer.
6. Conduct A/B testing
A/B testing is a method that uses randomization to test what factors affect the engagement and performance of your campaign. A/B testing works by sending half of your customers one version of a text, and sending the other half a text that changes one variable: directs to a different landing page, for instance, or uses different emoji.
By comparing conversion rates of each version, you can infer how significant that variable was, and adjust your campaign. Experts recommend you test for at least two business cycles to let the noise of time-of-day and other variables settle.
7. Track your progress
All good marketing campaigns should include quantitative methods and metrics by which to measure success and progress. Ensure you capture click-through rates, conversions, engagements, and unsubscribes, and assess these regularly against internal and industry benchmarks.
Text message marketing best practices
Follow the rules
Know the laws and regulations around text messaging and data privacy in the countries and regions where you plan to operate, and follow them. In the US, text message marketing is regulated by the Federal Communications Commission.
The US Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires businesses to get consumers’ consent before sending marketing text messages to them.
Make it easy to unsubscribe
Offering clear opt-in and opt-out options signals to your customers that you respect their time and attention. Remember that appearing on someone’s lock screen is a privilege and proceed accordingly.
Conversely, making it hard to unsubscribe is a surefire way to turn customers away—even if you offer a great product.
Know your audience
What does your customer need that you can provide? What are their pain points that you can help solve?
The more you tailor your campaign to your customers’ needs, the more effective it will be. A/B testing or working with a CRM service with SMS marketing capacity can help your business tailor its campaigns to the demographics in your customer base.
Be more signal than noise
Most people are moving through a barrage of information inputs each day, and some channels, such as email, have become oversaturated. The challenge in building lasting customer relationships and winning conversions is to respect the saturation—not become part of it.
You might aim to do this by maintaining a high ratio of informational to promotional messages in your text message marketing campaigns: more order updates and feedback requests than flash sales. Or you could cut through the noise by aiming to personalize messages as much as possible.
Text message marketing FAQ
Is text message marketing legal?
Yes. But there are important laws and regulations in place to protect consumer privacy, so be sure you know and follow them in all countries and regions where you interact with customers. In the US, businesses must obtain permission from a consumer before sending them a text.
How much does SMS marketing cost per text?
Cost per text can vary depending on factors like data rates, whether your text marketing campaign is part of a larger marketing campaign, and whether you are sending texts domestically or internationally. As a rule of thumb, a text campaign (up to 160 characters) can start around 1¢ to 5¢ per text.
What are the risks of text message marketing?
Just as they are easy to send, texts are easy to delete and to unsubscribe to, so be clear and intentional about when and how often you send them. Companies run the risk of noncompliance in a regulated space like text message marketing, so be sure you are adhering to all applicable laws in the regions where you do business.
