It is only 160 characters long, but is often the best performing among all your different marketing channels. This is because unlike an email outreach, almost everyone you send a text message to, opens it. And those who open it, read it. In comparison, the open rate among email marketing subscribers is often in the range of 20-25% with click rates routinely hovering under 3-5%.
But there is a catch – marketers only have 160 characters to play with. Technically, it is possible to send lengthier text messages. But as a medium, SMS messages are meant for short messages and so lengthier texts can impact your ROI (while also costing more). SMSes are a lot similar to Twitter which allows 140 character messages. However, unlike the social media platform, each SMS outreach costs money and hence you cannot broadcast your messages indefinitely. Not just this, the anti-spam laws are also extremely tight on text messages and so it doesn’t really make sense to push the envelope on what the laws permit.
So how does one go about executing a successful SMS marketing campaign? In this article, we will take a look at a few good examples of how a text messaging campaign should work.
Building An SMS Marketing List Through Other Channels
A phone number list is always going to be much more valuable than an email lead or a social media following. While the problem with emails is their open rate, social media following is vulnerable to the algorithmic changes made by the respective platforms. With a phone number list, you are entirely in control.
Redbox is a well-known company offering DVD, blu-ray and video game rentals to customers in the United States. While the company did have an impressive following on social media (3 million followers on Facebook) and for their email newsletter list (nearly 33 million), the company did not have a great SMS marketing list.
Redbox picked the holiday season to execute their campaign. They launched a ‘10 Days Of Deals’ campaign where they asked their followers to text DEALS to a specific shortcode in order to win between $0.10 and $1.50 off their rentals. Thanks to their massive email list, the company was able to generate as many as 1.5 million SMSes from nearly 400,000 customers who opted in to receive deals from the company over SMS. While this campaign was itself over Facebook and Email, the company instituted an automated opt-in strategy to get people to volunatarily sign up for their promotional SMMes.
Transactional SMS To Build Brand Image
In our earlier article on SMS marketing best practices, we talked about how transactional SMSes too could be used to promote your latest offers and build engagement. This is exactly what Amazon does to build a positive brand image. Amazon does what has now come to be known as transactional orchestration – that is the use of transactional communication, including email and SMS, to provide instant alerts and updates on the whereabouts of your delivery. From a consumer’s perspective, this is a wonderful way to get notified on where your product is right at that moment. From the perspective of Amazon, it is a great way to build a positive brand image and showcase the company as an honest and transparent entity.
Timed Discounts
If you are in the restaurant or travel industry, you will know that timing is everything. No matter how amazing your restaurant coupon is, it may not actually get the necessary mileage if you sent it after your target customer has ordered in their food. One company that does timed discounts really well is Domino’s, the American pizza chain. The company sends targeted coupon codes offering discounts right during the lunch hours. If you are a hungry customer and were just about to decide on a place to eat, such timely SMS campaigns massively help in influencing your decision. Here’s a typical SMS sent from Domino’s to its customers:
Did U Miss Us! Ur Dominos Offer Expires soon. Buy 1 Medium/Large pizza $Get 50% OFF. Walkin/Order! 68886888/ @dominos.co.in Cpn: CRM09FBEAS Valid till 16 Jul
Let us try to dissect this message – it is 157 characters long which is exactly inside the 160 character limit. We are not great fans of abbreviations but would assume that in the case of Dominos’ target group, it works. There are four things that Dominos executes really well through this short and crisp message. Firstly, it creates a sense of urgency right off the bat with their ‘Expires soon’ message. Next up, they create an irresistible offer that lures in their target. Thirdly, interested recipients need look no further than the message itself to know how to order – the phone number and the website is provided right there if you were interested. And finally, the message ends with a coupon code that makes the offer unique. Add to this the fact that this message was sent right during the lunch hours and this makes for an excellent use of the SMS medium to provide timely discounts to customers.
The ROI in such campaigns can be huge. While we do not have the numbers from the Domino’s campaigns, another fast food chain – Carl’s Jr launched a similar ‘limited time’ offer where they offered burger and fries for $2.99 instead of the usual $6.00. The result was that nearly 20% of the chain’s opt-in subscribers redeemed their code resulting in an ROI of $14 for every $1 spent on the campaign.
Improving Customer Service Through SMS
SMS marketing does not have to necessarily be only about sending out coupons and vouchers. This is best demonstrated by the way 1800-Contacts, one of the world’s biggest contact lens store used the SMS medium to improve customer service and thereby increase sales. Before the launch of their campaign, 1800-Contacts processed their orders through their website and over phone which, although efficient, was not quick enough. The company instituted a “multi-channel messaging platform” that brought together SMS and MMS along with their existing phone and online ordering system. The result was that customers could simply send an MMS containing their prescription details or use relevant filter keywords on SMS to refill orders. This rapidly improved turnaround and drastically improved customer service.
