Text Marketing and How to Approach It In 2021
Text is the marketing tool of the future. This is a really big statement. So I’ll justify it with data as well as some deep insights.
Most of us have been away from our friends and family during the pandemic. During that time, we used social media, videos call, and texts to communicate with each other.
In 2020, the average American adult spent more than three hours per day on a smartphone. This data may have shocked some people, but that number is not lowering. In fact, mobile purchases are more than ever. People downloaded shopping apps 14.4 million times in the U.S. between March and April 2020.
There is a lot of potential for marketing in text messages. Here’s why:
SMS has faster engagement rates than email
It takes 90 seconds for a customer to respond to a text. Compare it to the average response time for email which is 90 minutes.
As SMS is very engaging, it can also help with product launches, seasonal sales, and abandoned carts.
Some people are also discussing that SMS might become an independent e-commerce channel. Whether or not it is true, SMS can surely help your business in many ways.
SMS has higher open rates than email
When you get a 98% open rate on SMS, your chances of generating more revenue increase.
You might be thinking about the cost of sending texts to your audience? Well, it depends on your provider and the number of messages. However, the average prices tend to range between $30 and a couple of hundred dollars per month for thousands of text messages. So when you get thousands of SMS for $200, high ROI is almost certain.
The number of mobile users is increasing
Each year, we look at data showing an increase in mobile users. 2021 is no different. We know that more than 50% of internet users are on mobile which makes it necessary for businesses to invest in text marketing. Plus, you can reach an audience of a wider demographic through mobile devices.
Direct-to-consumer brands can have an advantage as text is very personal
Social media feeds are becoming crowded with ads. This is why some direct-to-consumer brands are using text to send targeted messages to their customers.
And even if a brand doesn’t want to send targeted messages, it can use texts for customer support. That’s because face-to-face customer service is not feasible sometimes.
Text Marketing Best Practices
Get Consent
Like email, you should get people’s consent before sending them texts. Businesses that don’t get permission for sending texts are like people who enter someone’s house without permission.
You don’t want to spam the inbox and annoy users. You’ll be hurting your business by sending texts to people who don’t want it. You can send users a text where you ask them to opt-in or opt-out of your marketing texts. If they choose to receive your messages, let them know how many messages they can expect per week.
For example, you can text, “Welcome to Blue Waves Digital. Please reply ‘HELP’ for customer support or ‘STOP’ for stop receiving marketing messages.”
When you respect their privacy, they will respect you back. Even if they stop receiving your messages now, they’ll remember you as a respectful brand.
Use an SMS marketing tool
Do you plan to manually send text messages to your potential customers? This is a surefire way to burn out. Besides, you can get into compliance and privacy issues. Instead, you want to invest in an SMS marketing tool.
It is a convenient and cost-effective tool. Think about how much time you would save by just clicking a button and sending one text to 1,000 people. It will let you manage your lists. You will be able to send messages from your computer or mobile device. You want to use a tool that can help you manage list compliance, understand open and response rates, and schedule messages.
EZ Texting and SlickText are two good options. But again, you should explore different options and pick a tool that helps with all your needs.
Offer Value To Customers
If people opt-in to receive texts from your business, don’t make them opt-out. You do that by adding value.
Most people don’t care about your business. All they are looking for is “what’s in it for me?”
So give them valuable offers. Grab their attention with sales, discounts, coupon codes, and more.
You can also try things such as referral discounts and buy-one-get-one-free schemes.
Keep it short and sweet
Remember that it’s not email marketing. You are not sending them a 2,000-word sales letter. So use the right words and add a call-to-action.
The message should be clear enough to get people’s attention. I’ve never seen a marketing SMS that was longer than 200 words.
One sentence can make or break the entire message. So you want to make sure that it’s written by professionals. That way, you’ll make sure that it has no grammatical or punctuation errors. You don’t want to trigger the “grammar nazis.”
Apart from keeping it short, you also want to make it fun. Use it as a way of spreading the word about games, interactive texts, polls, memes, and rewards.
Personalize your campaigns
Last but not least, don’t forget to personalize it. You can do it by creating sectioned lists and texting groups about the things that interest them the most. Remember that people expect personalization.
Final Words on Text Marketing
E-commerce is growing at a staggering rate. However, the customer acquisition cost is also rising. We don’t know when we will see SMS as an entirely shoppable experience, but its uses in the current marketing landscape are numerous. One of those uses is using person-to-person messaging for customer support.
In this blog post, I discussed the importance of text marketing and how you can use it in 2021. Now, apply it to your marketing strategy and let me know how it improved your results.
