SMS marketing is a growing channel that businesses are just beginning to understand the power of. However, it is a balancing act as you step into the personal realm of a consumer’s cell phone to know what the correct balance for appropriate engagement is. “With global smartphone penetration at more than 70 percent and corporate website traffic accessed by mobile devices averaging nearly 50 percent, organizations must consider mobile tactics a standard part of their program design.”1 With these growing statistics, it goes to show us that this is an expanding field that we should keep a close eye on.
Before we get into how to get started and best practices, let’s level set on what SMS (text message) marketing is. As one can guess, it’s messaging through your mobile device. Furthermore, “it’s a form of opt-in marketing that requires contacts to subscribe. This differentiates it from social marketing, where the marketer posts public content that people can choose to like or follow.”2
Now, we will discuss how you can start to create your campaigns, along with considerations to keep in mind while building out your marketing program.
How to get started
Your first step is to make sure you have the right phone numbers to reach your customers. Otherwise, you may be targeting the wrong people. Or worse, you may not see any return on investment on your marketing campaign. You can do this with phone verification software.
Phone validation is the process of checking if a phone number is accurate. It lets you find out if the phone number you have for a prospect or customer is active and able to receive calls or texts—perfect for text message marketing.
Basically, the validation process works by running the phone number through a database, finds the phone number, and checks if it’s active. It does this by sending an invisible message to the owner’s phone, which the owner cannot see. A phone verification software can also collect information like phone type (cell phone or landline) and network provider. Going beyond text message marketing, this can also help your customer service reps and sales reps ensure they have the right phone numbers to help reach prospects and clients.
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Our latest research shows us that 94 percent of business leaders say the quality of contact data has become more important over the last 12 months. More specifically, 57 percent of those same business leaders say phone data has become more important over the last year. In a digital world, you have to go beyond traditional advertising and capture consumers' attention while they are on the go. That’s why text message marketing is so important.
Best practices for text message marketing
1. Gain your prospect’s trust first
As we indicated earlier, SMS should be an opt-in service. It is essential to obtain opt-in from your prospects and customers. To do this, consider using your email channel to offer discounts if your prospect signs up for SMS. If you do not follow the opt-in protocol, you risk creating the view that you are spamming them--potentially losing the customers' trust in your brand.
2. Ensure that you are sending out quality, personalized messages
Put yourself in your customers' shoes: The best texts are the ones that capture your attention and are personalized to you based on your past buyer behavior. “The weakest messages contain no personalization, while the best personalized messages offer relevance without violating a consumer’s privacy.”3
Start exploring personalization by mentioning the customer’s first name in the message. If there are areas of voluntary information within a customer’s profile, these fields could be leveraged as well. For example, if I were a dog toy company, an eye-catching text message could state, ‘Hello Phylicia, your dog Conway might want a Halloween treat this month. Click here for 10% off!’. Simple personalization tactics such as this can make the customer rethink that they do want to treat their dog to a special toy.
3. Be clear and concise
Do your research on message character count limits to craft the most concise message possible. Your message should clearly identify an action that you are trying to have your customer engage with. Think of it from your POV: If someone is sending you a promotional text, you probably want it to be short and sweet so that you can read it quickly and identify whether you will act on the text. A message that is too long or accidentally cut off is a fast way to lose someone’s attention—or worse, have them opt-out of your promotional texts entirely.
We have explored what SMS messaging is, along with tips to get started and best practices to keep going. We hope that you have received some helpful insight into how to start to get your prospects' trust when you begin your campaigns, how to ensure the messaging is tailored to that customer and the importance of being clear and concise with message delivery.
Try Experian’s phone validation tool to see how it works and how it can help you with your text message marketing.
1Foundational Mobile Considerations for Demand Marketing. (2020). Foundational Mobile Considerations for Demand Marketing. Published.
2Christina Newberry, C. N. (2021). The Beginner’s Guide to SMS Marketing: Everything You Need to Know. The Beginner’s Guide to SMS Marketing: Everything You Need to Know. Published.
3Mobile Messaging Best Practices Illustrated: Marketing report by By Julie Ask with Fiona Swerdlow, Cole Walsh, Peggy Dostie (Forrester)
