In previous years, email marketing was the head honcho in town, helping businesses deliver top-notch marketing messages to email subscribers in real time.
As the newer kid on the block, SMS marketing has become a main priority for many brands, but that doesn’t mean the value of email marketing is obsolete.
So let's say you recognize the impact email has had on your business and are looking for ways to leverage its success with that of text message marketing.
The answer lies in cross-enrollment, a savvy tactic for ushering in list growth across multiple platforms. Cross-enrollment is a digital marketing strategy that offers existing subscribers of one channel, i.e., your email subscribers, the chance to opt-in to another marketing channel like SMS.
With email and SMS marketing being two of the most well-received marketing strategies by consumers, it comes as no surprise you’d want to see them combine forces. We’ve collected top benefits for leveraging cross-enrollment to get more text message subscribers on your SMS list.
Benefits of cross-enrollment
If you’re looking into cross-enrollment to get more SMS subscribers there’s a good chance you know just how beneficial this marketing strategy can be. After all, it is a marketing staple for a reason — better yet, make that four.
1. Increase list size
In the case of SMS subscribers, more is definitely merrier.
Your subscribers are a valuable piece of your marketing puzzle and having a large number of engaged subscribers can mean great things for your business (more revenue, increased brand awareness, strong brand loyalty, etc). While it’s important to spend dedicated time focused on driving customer acquisition for each of your marketing channels, you may also want to consider how cross-enrollment can increase those perks.
When you are successful in showing your subscribers in one marketing channel the value of remaining connected to your brand through an additional channel, you can further increase your brand’s impact in the marketplace. The more subscribers you have that are interested in your content, the more likely you are to gain brand advocates, see purchases being made and meet more of your marketing goals.
2. Gain valuable insight from customer data
Who better to tell you what customers are interested in than customers themselves?
If you’ve taken the time to incorporate areas for new subscribers to input personal information about their shopping habits and interests into your database, you’ve probably seen how beneficial it is to have direct insight on what your customer base cares about. Now imagine what it’d be like to have subscribers, new and old, alert you to any changes in consumer behavior by way of an additional channel. Cross-enrollment can make that happen.
Gaining insight from your subscribers can help you better meet their needs, create products and services that will be well-received by customers, and get a leg up on any competition who doesn’t have your same knowledge.
3. Multiple forms of communication between your customers and brand
As a marketer, you know all about the power of communication. It can help you build strong connections, deliver crucial messages and learn new strategies that can benefit your brand.
Cross-enrollment between your email and text message marketing channels can promote consistent communication with customers. How? By increasing the number of customers you send out valuable information to, you increase the chances that your customers will openly share their interests and provide necessary feedback on the success of your brand strategies. In short, sending out messages to both channels increases the likelihood of a customer seeing your content and engaging with it further.
4. Make use of the growing attraction to mobile devices over email
Mobile devices are all the rage. It’s quite rare to find a consumer without a cell phone, and this tends to land well for text message marketers.
According to Soprano Design, over half of all consumers completely ignore emails due to consumer inundation. Text message marketing, on the other hand, is welcomed with open arms. 90 percent of consumers open a text message within three minutes of receiving it (20 percent of consumers surveyed open emails).
Cross-enrollment allows brands to encourage email subscribers who prefer consuming their content through a mobile device to opt-in to a channel better suited to their needs. Long story short, you get to provide your subscribers with valuable content and get the opens and impressions you desire.
Using email as a marketing tool for increasing SMS subscribers can have a significant impact on your brand and its influence over consumers. By utilizing both platforms, you can segment each message to fit the needs of subscribers and reach a wider audience.
