Best Practices For Effective SMS Marketing

SMS marketing has gained in popularity in recent years given the incredible ease with which marketers can develop and deploy campaigns and the power of one-to-one communication with an SMS that can evoke an instant response from a customer. SMS also provides the ability to effectively measure campaign performance through the use of a ‘call-to-action’ from the customer. The flexibility to quickly test different campaigns provides much lower costs and turnaround time compared to many other forms of marketing. For example, an A/B testing on SMS is more viable than say on TV or E-Mail.

We discuss below the top 5 Best Practices for effective SMS campaigns –

• Use Proven Mobile Nos. Databases

Databases containing mobile nos. are used for undertaking SMS campaigns. Often Marketers source databases from the grey market and these are mostly overused and can be quite inaccurate with outdated user details. Databases built in-house and
fine-tuned over a period of time are way more reliable in terms of a good delivery percentage and quality of text content.

• Keep the Content Simple, and Interesting

The SMS content is one of the largest factors for the success of a campaign. Only a content which is simple, interesting and easy to understand will have the desired impact and elicit the much needed user response. Proper punctuation, grammar and
readability also go a long way in creating the right impression.

• Have a Straight-Forward Call-To-Action

An SMS content needs to have a user call-to-action that conveys what is exactly expected of the recipient to show his interest in the product on offer. The call-to-action, more often than not, needs to be kept simple. A long winded call-to-
action will end up blurring what is expected of the respondent and can lead to response errors.

• Call-To-Action Must Suit Campaign Objectives

Depending on the breadth and quality of responses required from the campaign, the call-to-action needs to be suitably crafted. For example, a company with limited resources may want to focus on getting responses only from serious buyers. So
the call-to-action needs to convey the same the other hand, a company with a large and experienced sales force may want to get responses even from people just fishing for information.

• Choose the Right Day and Time

The ideal time to run campaigns meant for working professionals could be late mornings when they would have settled down at work after the morning rush and have the time to look and respond to SMSes. It is also seen that the response rate is up to 20% lesser during holidays and weekends – likely because the chances of people being physically away from their phones are higher.

Tags : Bulk SMS Marketing, Bulk SMS Provider, Bulk SMS