How to Attract More Customers and Engage them with SMS Text Marketing

Text messaging is one of the most used features on consumers' mobile phones. Done right, texts attracts customers and grows sales thanks to their personalised nature and high uptake rate, a whopping 98% are read within 2 minutes of receipt. If SMS isn’t working for your business read on to learn about tried and tested ways to attract new customers (and engage existing ones) through mobile text engagement.

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9 Ways How to Attract More Customers and Engage them with SMS Text Message Marketing

70% of users say SMS to be one of the five most used features on their smartphones - which is 13% more than any other feature. ‍With text messaging, you can reach your customers directly through their mobile phones regularly. Learn how to make the best of text message marketing with these top tips…

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‍Make offers Exclusive 

Giving your current and previous customers exclusive deals are an excellent way to maintain customer loyalty and increase overall engagement. Plus, customers love discounts! Send out SMS-exclusive coupons so they can save money on their next purchase with you. Exclusive coupon offers also encourage repeat business from happy customers who will continue to shop with you for years to come.

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‍Getting Frequency Right 

Setting clear expectations is crucial when it comes to sending text messages. Let your customers know how many texts they can expect from you so that they do not feel overwhelmed with unwanted content. Start off slow and send about five or six texts a month so that you can determine the most appropriate time for them to receive these messages and what type of information would resonate most with them. After a couple months, depending on your campaign results, increase this amount up to ten texts monthly. While it is important to keep their attention, don't overwhelm them with texts either; sometimes your message may go ignored.

Make Content Personal & Relevant

Personalised messages are more likely to be read and generate better uptake rates. ‍It’s also important to keep them relevant, so if you’re asking about how their latest visit was include info about when it was to make the message more relevant to them. You might also recommend related products or services (to the ones that the customer has already bought) for future purchases for example.  ‍

Competitions Can be a Winner

Customers love a chance to win something. Your user engagement rates can skyrocket if you use SMS marketing promote the opportunity to win a free product or a service. You can even partner up with other companies and curate competitions with a giveaway from both businesses. This not only makes for better rewards for the customers, which means better engagement, but it also helps both the companies tap into each other’s audiences for a wider reach.  ‍

Move from Push to RSVP 

Sending advanced notifications for any upcoming flash sales is another way to keep your customer on your SMS subscription list and keep them hooked for more updates from your business. Making the alert an RSVP to find out more means you can keep the engagement going and build hype as the day approaches with those who engage.

Get Feedback‍

Customers love to feel valued and to share their opinion about how you’ve performed for them, it can also help improve your products or services to make them even more attractive. To curate a winning buyer persona and improve your business offering, use NPS (Net Promoter) surveys to get feedback and find loyal customers who are most likely to promote your business and handle detractors through customer recovery. Grabbing a simple rating out of 10 for how likely they are to recommend you to friends and family means you can provide targeted thanks for taking part and promote referrals to the prompters and offer customer recovery and support to anyone who hasn’t had the experience you want them to.  Asking a followup question about their experience means you can learn about what’s working and what’s not for continual business improvement.

Special Dates

Remind your customers that you think of them even when they haven’t made a recent purchase with greetings on national holidays like Christmas or Easter. Reaching out to your customer (without the intent of making a sale) helps build stronger business-to-client relationships, helping your brand in the long run.  ‍It’s also super personal to send greetings on their own birthday to make them feel of individual value to the business.

Share Tips to Build Brand Trust

Marketing without selling by share relevant tips and content with your customers helps make them feel more supported by you. For example, if your business provides social media marketing advice, you can add a tip to increase social media traffic and add a link to your site for further information. Make sure free tips are specially curated for the audience demographic and provide them with new, helpful information that establishes your authority as an expert in your niche. 

Get Interactive on Content

Did you know that you can double your conversion rate with interactive content? Using text messages to send content that makes the customer part of the sales process is a fantastic way for more user involvement. This garners much more customer attraction than passive content. Interactive content could be anything from polls to quizzes to customer preference before a new release.  This type of interaction differs from customer feedback as the focus is on them and what interests them, not your business.  

….and don’t forget…

Use Best Practices for Increased Customer Engagement‍

It is not enough to have creative marketing ideas to attract more customers. To get the best out of your marketing campaigns and improve response rates, you need to follow best practices for SMS marketing…

Manage Opt in and Out 

We cannot emphasise this enough…ask for permission! No one likes to be bombarded with messages they never signed up for so be sure to use a texting tool that manages your opt-in and out for your subscription list.  ‍Audiences are more likely to subscribe to your program if they know they can easily opt-out anytime they want. Choose a toolset that supports industry standard ‘Stop’ messages that don’t make it complicated for subscribers to opt out.

Keep It Simple‍

Text marketing works because the content is short, simple, and to the point. Don't waste characters and get straight to what you are offering or asking. It is effective because you do not take up too much of your customer’s time and get quick responses. 

Avoid Over Advertising‍

We know it is tempting but avoid over advertising your service or product. Too much information about your brand can be overwhelming for your customers. Make sure you schedule an appropriate number of messages curated to particular customer segments. ‍

Focus on Value-Rich Content‍

Send content that is valuable to the customer, whether it is promotional or informational. ‍When customers identify your brand with the value it brings, they will more likely stay longer on your subscription list, as well as make increased purchases from you. ‍

Think About Timing

Texts get a swift response, so send messages when you know your customer is more likely to be active on their phone. ‍Sending messages at inappropriate times cannot only rob your brand of a sales opportunity but also annoy your customers enough to opt-out of your subscription list. ‍

Build a Community Not a List

Its important to ‘get to know’ your customers overtime so you build communities not lists, use a tool that incorporates CRM features like custom data fields so you can store the right data about customers to personalise and segment for targeting.   Look for smart targeting on group messaging so that you reach the right people at the right time with a personalised message and they will interact more often. 

Encourage frequent customers to opt-in for your SMS subscription by asking them at the checkout, at your online checkout, on receipts and on your website. Provide your consumers with a keyword that they can text to become a part of your  SMS subscriber list and collect some information to help personalise and target future messages during this moment of engagement.‍ 

Final Thoughts‍…

Text messaging is a quick and dynamic option when it comes to engaging your customers. When used appropriately and timely, text messages can provide you with excellent ROI and keep your customers informed about your brand. 

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For more inspiration on using interactive SMS campaigns check out the hullo inspiration page