Tag Archives: SMS Marketing

Quick Tip: Creating SMS Mobile Marketing Groups

Just a brief post regarding creating mobile marketing groups: When you are gathering opt-in subscribers for your mobile list for the first time, ask the subscribers where they are located, and/or what branch/service/product of your business that they are most interested in. This allows you to create groups labelled on location (i.e. proximity to your business) and/or a subscriber’s particular items of interest.  Instead of storing all subscribers in one large group. This increases the effectiveness of your mobile marketing broadcast as you are texting people that are potentially within proximity to your shop  (for example no point sending sales offers for your Cork branch to be sent to customers for your Dublin branch) and/or are interested in the type of product/service that you are promoting. Of course, you can send to all subscribers when required, but for more specific targeted messaging, creating dedicated groups at the initial stage benefits your business in the future. It maximizes your return on your SMS marketing investment by simply focusing your messaging on interested parties and those that are within reasonable distance of your premises to avail of the offer,  such as broadcasting a redeemable SMS coupon.

Business: Cost Control when Sending SMS (Part 2)

In my previous post regarding cost control I mentioned that message length is a crucial factor to monitor. The other day I received a SMS which was a perfect example of that.  Reviewing the text message may prove an accurate illustration on how your business may save money when using mobile marketing or communicating with your customers.

The message I received was in relation to a delivery arrangement:

XYZ Retailer confirming that you are booked in for delivery on Wednesday ##/##/####. Please note that our delivery team will be with you between 9 and 11am and will call you an hour prior to your delivery for directions. These are approximate times and may be subject to change. If you have any queries please contact us on ### ##-##-##. Thank you for your valued business. Please do not reply to this text

406 characters. If you have a number of clients and sending out a message of this length it becomes expensive. As I mentioned in previous blogs, to control your business costs, monitor these items. That message is considered 3 SMS, you multiply that by 100 customers and you are spending on 300 text messages as opposed to 100. Even if you have a great cost-effective data plan, it still remains unnecessary expenditure. All you want to do is inform your client when a delivery is in place. Truth be told, I ignored the rest of the message, just wanting to know the basic details; when they were arriving so I could make arrangements.

To avoid using precious character spaces, and since they did not want you to reply to the text, they could have identified their brand as the SenderID instead of a number; up to 11 characters. So the message could have been:

Sender: XYZStore Message: “Confirmed delivery on Wednesday ##/##/####, between 9 and 11am. We will call you an hour prior to your delivery for directions. Issues: please ring #########” [157 characters, 1 message]

But there is a question here, why am I not allowed to SMS a reply to the message? Instead of ringing, should I not be able to reply with a text message stating that I have an issue with that date and time, please call me in relation to it?

Another problem with the original message, the contact number should not have spaces, symbols etc.- while they increase readability, you are creating obstacles for the client to ring you.

These are just some simple pointers that can both make your message more effective but crucially reduce your business marketing costs, while you are still obtaining your message communications to your customers.

Effective SMS Marketing Content

Working within the text message service sector, makes you analyze how effective marketing messages could be as they reach your own phone.

Yesterday I received a SMS from the garage where I purchased my car. There were a few issues with it that dulled my interest and thus response; simple changes could have enhanced the quality and effectiveness of the reply.

Their Message:
“Hello. XYZ Garage here. Your car is due for a service, We currently have huge savings on servicing for all makes & models, call X or Y now on 0# ##### to make your booking!”
What is wrong with this message?

  1. Impersonal. You should tailor the message to your subscriber wherever possible. So “Hello [Firstname]” or “Huge savings on your [Insert Car Model Here]”.
  2. When exactly is my car due for a service, can I wait a month, 2 months? Is there an offer if I book immediately or within a timeframe? Drive people to respond. Instead of what was sent, state perhaps “Your car is due a service, and if you show this message by end of September receive 10% discount on your service”, “Or book now and receive a free valeting service” or some such text.
  3. Why call X and Y, shouldn’t I be able to text a reply to this garage and have them call me, since it is in their interest? Book a call is a key reply response.
  4. For automatic calling on phones, do not have a space between the digits, such as county and landline (0# ##### should be 0######). If you wish your subscribers to use the number within a message you should remember that they just wish to click it. Having spaces forces an obstacle on people calling your business.
  5. Where is the opt-out? Marketing messages require this.

So there we go, a few tweaks could have made what was a generic, template structured marketing message into something a lot more effective, and thus, create a larger return on their investment.

Intelligent SMS Mobile Marketing to Maximize Customer Throughput

There are numerous marketing methods to both increase your sales and your brand awareness. There are leaflet distributions, local newspaper advertisements, localized promotional events within festivals, email listings, mobile marketing, social media outlets such as Twitter, Facebook et al. But what gives the most immediate reassurance of both being read and responded to?

With Mobile Marketing, in the guise of SMS broadcasts, there seems to be an immediate feedback. Messages are known to be read almost instantaneously, and we have found from retailers that the replies SMS broadcasts generate and the subsequent increased level of footfall create an ongoing interaction between their customer and their business. But what are the most beneficial sharpest ways to drive an instant response using SMS?

For example, on certain days of the week at certain times you may find that business traffic is traditionally low. You can immediately send out a SMS to your subscribed opt-in list to say that there is a certain promotional offer between 2pm and 3pm (or whatever time you find business traffic could be higher). This can be reinforced by sending a discount coupon, called a m-coupon/e-coupon/m-voucher, within the SMS.

Example: Between 10:30am to 11:30am there may be a lowering of business in a café between breakfast and lunch time peak traffic. So at 10am you could send out a SMS saying “Show this Coupon at the cashier and receive a free muffin with your coffee. Only valid between 10:20am-11:30am today.”

So you can be surgical and reactionary about when you send a broadcast, unlike many mediums. Your business can react instantly to periods of downtime. This can be done simply from using a group messaging service or sending SMS from your email account. With reply functionality included within such a service, you can build up feedback from your customer base.

This type of intelligent mobile marketing allows your business to maximize both sales and your ability to encourage larger footfall in times when it seems traffic is low.

Another intelligent method of mobile marketing is to gather opt-in lists depending on the optimal time the customer uses your business.

For example, you can have people sign up to various mobile list groups: Breakfast Group, Lunch Group or Dinner Group. So SMS can be literally tailored to when they most use your restaurant service. For instance, a person who is commuting may stop for breakfast only as she passes your door on the way to a bus stop, so there is no point sending her offers relating to lunch.

However, there may be a cross-marketing potential approach that could also be taken. Infrequently, you could send a cross-marketing SMS to your “Dinner” group stating that if they stopped into your restaurant on their way to work between 7am and 9am they will receive a a free coffee with their breakfast by showing the SMS at the cashier.

These types of methods are endless, and require little effort to set up. But definitely allows your business to both be flexible and maximize the use of your existing customer base.

Brief Overview of SMS within Hotels and B&Bs

SMS Is used in the tourism sector in numerous ways. This blog post focuses particularly on accommodation businesses.  For example, with the Bank Holidays, Easter breaks and Summer just around the corner, hotels and B&Bs/Guesthouses will be:

  1. Sending text messages to their existing customer base offering discounts and package incentives for families.
  2. Informing  their existing customer base, via SMS, of upcoming events and concerts that are occurring within the hotel.
  3. Informing their existing customer base, via SMS, of upcoming local festivals, events and activities in the hotel/B&B’s surrounding region.
  4. Potentially sending mobile alerts to particular specific opt-in alert lists of last minute room availability.
  5. Running text based competitions to gather and build their marketing mobile list (while simultaneously promoting their business).
  6. Sending SMS receipts to confirm booking details or cancellations.

Name recognition can be extremely important for a Hotel or B&B when broadcasting a SMS. This is in order to differentiate it from potentially other marketing text messages sent from similar businesses. SMS can facilitate this by using the Hotel or B&B name as the Sender Identifier of the SMS instead of a generic mobile number (maximum 11 characters in length).

There are multiple ways to send SMS, be it via a Email to SMS (sending from your own email account or a Customer Relationship Management type system), or via an online Group Messaging service.

 

How can SMS improve your Customer Service?

There are many facets to good customer service using SMS, ranging from real-time interaction for solving issues immediately to sending your clients appointment reminders or delivery schedule updates.

Obtaining Feedback

  • Providing your customers with a number to text their suggestions, feedback, complaints which can either be forwarded to a specific person or viewed online.
  • This must be 2 way communication; meaning reply functionality back to the customer’s phone should be seamless.

Requiring Assistance

  • Allowing people to actively request real-time support by texting a support number. These types of messages can be forwarded directly to specific email addresses for assistance.

Sending Updates

  • By communicating with your customers via SMS you can build loyalty by informing them of delivery schedule updates, appointment reminders, querying how they find the product/service (for example).

All these can also have added tangible benefits for your business; not only does it help to build loyalty and goodwill, it helps to:

  • Create brand awareness: you can use your product/service name as the sender identifier instead of a mobile number if you so wish (maximum 11 characters).
  • Facilitates real-time interaction between your clients and your services.
  • Allows you to build a database of loyal customers that could be sent special offers or other promotional information (as long as they willing subscribed and you include an opt-out mechanism in every SMS).

Sending Marketing SMS: Precise, Personal, Plain

Go2mobile

Go2mobile Solutions Corporate SMS Services (www.go2mobile.com)

Deciding on what content is required when sending corporate and marketing related SMS content can be reduced to a 3 p maximum:

  • Precise (succinct message)
  • Personal (tailored to the recipient)
  • Plain (avoid SMS abbreviations)

These will be explained further in this post.

SMS is an important tool for your business not only because it enables cost controls but also through its instantaneous effectiveness; it is a push technology, meaning the recipient is instantly alerted to an incoming message. And with Go2mobile, the sender can view real-time status of each message to understand when they are delivered to the recipient handset.

As mentioned at the start of this post, there is a lot to consider when trying to effectively shape/craft your message within 160 characters. Try to use the following points as a guide to assist you in this task:

  1. Personalize: Always try to personalize the message in some manner, either by automatically inserting a person’s Firstname or by a tailored value token such as the number of loyalty points the customer may have gained.
  2. Precise: Always make the SMS relevant; tailor your SMS to the intended targeted distribution group.
  3. Prompt: Always include a call to action, a prompt for a user to engage with the message. For example a SMS coupon that the recipient can present instore to claim a discount.
  4. Clarity: Never use abbreviations; these may be misinterpreted or confuse the recipient, clarity is critical.
  5. Tone/Language: Think of the language used with the intended age demographic you are sending to.
  6. Plain: Use plain characters; do not use symbols that may be mistranslated on a recipient’s handset.
  7. Unsubscribe: Always include an opt-out mechanism in your message whether it is a number to call or keyword to text back (such as STOP).
  8. Length: To control your messaging costs, ensure you write your message in a word processor and check the character length:
    Up to 160 character length = 1 SMS
    Up to 290 character length = 2 SMS
    Up to 435 character length = 3 SMS
    Up to 580 character length = 4 SMS
    Up to 725 character length = 5 SMS
  9. Brand awareness: You can use your brand or service name as the Sender Identifier instead of the Sender Mobile Number to increase your awareness/identity. There is a limitation of 11 characters, which should be sufficient for most scenarios.
  10. Real-time engagement: You can avail of reply functionality by encouraging a recipient to SMS reply to your message, with all messages being sent to a dedicated email account.
  11. Test: Always send a sample of the message to yourself and a few colleagues so you can judge how it is presented. For example, as a case study, when a business was announcing the funeral arrangements of a colleague they sent their message with (For further details;). This combination of ; and ) translated as a smiley icon on many handsets which was of course not the intended meaning, but was inappropriate none-the-less. Testing ensures you eliminate these faux-pas.

One of the most frequent questions we are asked is: how is a mobile subscriber list built? This has to be a list that people voluntarily subscribe to, so by using mechanisms such as instore promotions, advertised competitions or simply leaving a leaflet on a cashier desk informing people that they could be alerted of future sales/bargains, are all valid techniques.

As for the types of content, there are too many to mention here, suffice to say:

  1. Announcing upcoming sales.
  2. Sending out coupons, so for example by presenting the message at cashier, the recipient receives a free coffee with their lunch.
  3. Sending out tickets for events, presenting the message allows the user to gain entry to an event (such as an instore fashion show), a conference etc.
  4. Informing customers of loyalty points gained/remaining.

But these are only scratching the surface of the types of messages that can be conveyed to drive commerce to your business. Really, the only limitations are imagination and of course, character length!