When text message marketing is at its best, it creates an opportunity for customers and brands to connect openly about their shared love for a product or service. With consumers constantly being on their phones, you have an almost immediate channel to share news of upcoming campaigns and events with engaged subscribers.
But before you send out any SMS messages, you want to be sure your campaign will elicit positive responses. Getting the engagement rates you’re hoping for means having all the necessary components to profit from your hard work. Moral of the story: You need the elements of a good text campaign.
To help you on your journey, we’ve written a list of five key elements seen in top-tier text marketing campaigns. Find them below.
1. Personalization
Today’s consumers and their phones are attached at the hip — literally. There aren’t many consumers who go far without their phone. And why would they? Mobile phones are, in many ways, an extension of our lives. They hold our most precious memories, they’re a direct line of communication with the people we’re closest to and they give us immediate access to many of life’s answers. Consumers have an intimate relationship with their mobile devices, and if you want to be a part of that relationship, you’ll have to approach it delicately.
Personalization is the act of creating content that is specifically tailored to its recipient. If you’re going to be sending consumers content that might interrupt their regularly scheduled social media time or web surfing, you want to make it count. Send them relevant content that speaks to their customer journey and shows them why they should care about what you have to offer.
When your subscribers opt-in to joining your sms text list, they are essentially trusting you with their phone numbers. Don't mishandle the relationship by sending text campaigns that don't resonate well with your subscribers; you'll only end up with high unsubscribes and low conversion rates.
2. Urgency
How many times have you seen something so interesting you stopped everything you were doing to give it your undivided attention? If it’s even happened once, you know just how powerful urgency can be and why you’d want to leverage it in your SMS marketing strategy.
Consumers have a lot going on; they also have a lot going for them. There’s no shortage of brands available to them, and while that might sound like a good problem to have, it can also cause them to grow annoyed or distracted by lots of marketing messages.
Cutting through the noise is key to getting quality customer engagement from your text message marketing campaigns. Cultivating a sense of urgency in your customers can get them to forgo other distractions, as they’re now aware there’s something that is calling for their immediate attention.
You can use this marketing tool in various ways like sending notifications that tell your subscribers to hurry for the chance to earn a special offer or reminding them that the items in their abandoned cart are about to sell out.
3. Exclusivity
Humans have a desire to be special. We also want premium access to things other people can’t obtain. This is what makes exclusive brand names and marketing content so attractive to the human brain.
When we’re of the belief that something is so high in value that only a select few can obtain it, our brain’s convince us that this thing — brand, item, text message, etc. — is worth paying attention to. Suddenly, we want to learn all about it and figure out what we need to do to make it ours.
Your SMS campaign might be filled with lots of valuable information, but if your subscribers aren’t convinced that your message is special, and therefore capable of making them feel special, they won’t think twice about going to the next screen on their phones. Offer exclusive coupons or products that can't be found elsewhere, and other scarcity-driven initiatives to elevate your marketing efforts and heighten brand awareness.
4. Simplicity
“Easy as 1-2-3.” “Easy peasy, lemon squeezy.” There’s a reason why humans love coming up with playful idioms to describe easy situations, and it’s not just because they’re fun to say.
Consumers love ease. Simplicity is easy to understand; there are no loopholes. They don’t feel swindled into engaging with something they’d otherwise ignore or confused because something doesn’t make sense. Instead, simple campaigns make it easy for consumers to clearly define how and why your messages are of importance to them.
Consumers don’t need a text message marketing campaign that takes more time to comprehend than they want to spend on it. They’re coming to you for valuable content — make it easy for them to get it.
5. Timeliness
If you want your subscribers to be responsive, timeliness is everything.
Short attention spans, competitors and other smartphone functions are all potential distractions keeping customers from engaging with your content. This is all the more reason for you to get out in front of your customers at the right time.
This means contacting them when they’re most likely to open your message and interact with it. Most often, the early bird catches the worm when it comes to this marketing channel; 89 percent of phone users check their phones within 30 minutes of waking up.
Just like there are times when you want to send a message to your customers, there are also times of the day you should avoid in order to get the open rates you want. If you wouldn’t show up to someone’s house at three in the morning asking them to read about a new marketing campaign you’re working on, then you shouldn't send a text message asking for the same thing. Use this as a general rule of thumb when reaching out to your audience.
A strong SMS marketing campaign is effective in capturing the attention of subscribers. It uses fundamental principles to create content strategies that will resonate with the target audience and promote brand messaging. Connecting with consumers is only one strong SMS campaign away, and you have the tools to help you create it.
