Is Your Business Trying to Figure Out How to Safely Use Text Messages for Marketing, Customer Service, & Online Reputation Purposes?
The convenience and speed of text can make your business more efficient than ever!
Let’s face it, Text (SMS) messages are the new email…
…And have a higher open rate than email or direct mail!
Typically text message campaigns have an open rate of over 90% within 15 minutes, while with email campaigns, you are lucky to have a 20% open rate.
In this article, we hope to answer some of the questions you may have about using texting in your business by listing the top 23 FAQs we hear the most.
Ready?
Let’s get started!
#1. What is text message marketing?
Text message marketing is the act of sending out bulk SMS marketing or content messages to a list of people in a database, also know as a CRM.
#2. What are the benefits of texting your customers?
With text message marketing you get an open rate typically over 90% and even as high as 98%.
You’ll have a read rate as high as 98% within 15 minutes of delivery of your message.
It is a great way to add a personal touch to your marketing so you can learn more about your customers.
You should see an increase in customer engagement with your ads, marketing, or content.
When you have the right SMS platform you can integrate with other channels to enhance your marketing.
As an example you could send a quick text to remind customers to read an email that you just sent.
#3. What is the difference between transactional SMS and a promotional SMS?
Transactional SMS messages are used for sending booking alerts, appointment reminders, order information, or other ‘informational messages’ to registered customers.
Promotional SMS messages are used for sending marketing, ads and sales messages.
#4. When is the best time to send bulk texts?
Promotional SMS messages should be sent between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. for best results and fewer opt outs.
Nobody wants to get a business text after 7 pm for any reason.
#5. What are some Pros and Cons of using texts in my marketing?
Some of the top pros are it’s a very personalized way of communication, it’s very cost-effective, & you typically get quick responses.
Some of the cons are that your message has to be kind of short.
While you can send messages longer than 160 characters, many people will only read the first couple of lines and not get your full message.
SMS can be spammy.
If you send too many promotional text messages then it might look like spam to the one whom you are sending the message to.
#6. Is texting the future of marketing?
Text message marketing is already here so it’s not really the future of marketing.
Note: the use of 10 digit phone numbers for text message marketing is changing a little & being regulated, so you want to make sure that you use a platform that conforms with all the changes and make sure that your messaging conforms with these changes.
#7. Do users have to opt in to receive SMS messages?
The short answer is, as a business owner you always want to get ‘permission’ from anybody to send them either emails and/or texts.
This is called permission based marketing.
There are many ways to get users to ‘opt in’ and yes you should have some kind of opt-in process.
As an example, a Med Spa client of ours has their patient database app connected to their marketing app.
When they put the new patient into their database for patient records, they are automatically sent a text message asking if they want to ‘opt in’ for deals, coupons etc.
If they reply with the word ‘Deals’ then they’re opted in for text and email marketing.
If they don’t reply or reply ‘No Deals’ then they’re not opted in and marked as DND. (This means ‘Do Not Disturb’.)
Please note that we don’t use the word ‘STOP’ as it will then block them from using the Med Spa’s Text message chat bot for booking appointments or paying by text which will we discuss in another FAQ.
If you are trying to get people onto your text marketing list “out in the wild” by running an ad asking them to text the keyword to a number for a deal or coupon, then you’re going to want to probably have them confirm opt-in before you send them sales messages.
When they text back the keyword, the first text you would send asks them to reply “Yes” to confirm they want your marketing messages or something along those lines.
#8. What are some best practices to follow when using SMS marketing for a small business?
Some of the best practices for text message marketing are to try to limit your sales messages to 1 or 2 out of every 10 messages you send.
These days educating people about your product or service is the best marketing rather than just blasting ads like we did in the 80s, 90s, and early 2000s.
Creating a blog post or a video to help educate people and then use a text campaign to drive people over to consume your content, works very well.
#9. Is text message marketing a powerful tool or an annoyance?
Done correctly, text message marketing is a very powerful tool.
It only becomes an annoyance to your customers, clients, or patients if you just constantly blast them with sales messages which we have seen a few businesses do and still do to this day.
This gives text message marketing a bad rap in some industries.
#10. Bottom line, is text message marketing a good idea for small businesses?
It is a good idea so small businesses can stay engaged with their customers, clients or patients as long as they don’t abuse it!
Sharing good tips, blog posts, social media posts, and other appealing content is the best way to use text message marketing for your business with the occasional sales message or coupon offer.
Also the tracking is a great tool.
As an example, if you have certain consumers that open every message and click most of your links on your content, they’re more likely to want to buy when you send out a sales message text.
With the right text messaging platform you can segment these ‘very engaged customers’ into their own list and possibly slip in an extra sales message or two per month?
#11. How to avoid spamming your customers with texts?
You can avoid spamming your customers by following some common sense rules.
Be up front, making sure you introduce yourself and your company with an initial text message to your new subscriber.
Ask them to save your ‘text campaign phone number‘ in their contact list so they won’t be guessing as to who’s sending them text sales messages.
Make sure you personalize each message.
A good texting software platform can automatically insert your customers first name into every text.
Create a clear call to action so that customers don’t get frustrated as to what to do.
If they respond and ask a question, make sure your platform notifies you and that you can respond to them quickly and concisely.
By the way it’s illegal to promote alcohol, firearms, illegal drugs, pornography, or tobacco via text message marketing in any capacity.
#12. When should I start sending text messages, how often, and what should they say?
You should start building a list right away when you start your business.
You should always send a welcome message when a person first opts in or joins your text marketing list.
How often should you send messages?
The best process we have seen is to ask people if they want a weekly text message or would they prefer only one text per month.
The messages that work best should direct people to a piece of content, social media post, or occasionally to a sales page with a special coupon or offer.
As we mentioned in a previous FAQ, and for best results, sales messages should be only 1 or 2 times out of every 10 texts you send.
#13. How do you write a promotional text message?
The shorter the message can be, the better results you will see as people tend to “skim read” rather than reading the whole message.
The best promotional text messages we see sends people to a piece of content that they can consume via a link.
Messages that ask the person to text back a word, say 10OFF for a 10% off coupon works well too.
Note: your text software platform should be able to segment the ‘coupon asking people’ into a “hot list” and also to separate them from the non takers.
That way you could send a 2nd message to people who didn’t take the offer and not offend people who did.
OR send them an email with the coupon offer.
#14. Do I have to use my cell phone & number to send text messages to customers?
Sending text message marketing campaigns from your cell phone would be very laborious and not very efficient.
Modern text messaging platforms like Buzz Messaging work in the cloud and are also a CRM so that you can have everything in one place.
With platforms like that, you will lease a phone number every month to be used as your texting number.
If you happen to get a customer that gets rude, you can block them in the software app.
#15. How can I send SMS messages without a SIM card from a PC or Mac?
Modern text messaging platforms operate either with an app installed on your computer or phone or they work in the cloud and run through a browser like Google Chrome or Firefox.
You don’t need a SIM card to send text messages as a platform is connected to a text message sending provider which acts as the SIM card.
#16. How do I create a key message for an SMS marketing campaign?
When trying to create the key message for your text message marketing campaign try to focus on something fun unless of course your business is of a very serious nature.
As we mentioned above, keep the message short and sweet and direct them to a blog post, social media post, video, email you just sent, or some kind of a sales page that they would read on their phone in a web browser.
#17. How to create the perfect text message campaign?
Well we don’t think there’s any such thing as the perfect text message campaign…
The best campaign results we see from our clients are ones that educate consumers by sending them to a page that gives the person ‘value’ and possibly makes an offer at the end of the article, video, social post, etc.
In all reality, blatant sales text messages to cold or lukewarm audiences don’t work very well.
That’s why having a platform that can ‘pull out’ or ‘tag’ the people that are hyperactive in your campaigns and most likely to buy, will get you the best results for sales blasts.
#18. What is the best way to measure the success of your campaign?
Success of your campaign can be measured in many different ways, but for most businesses, it’ll be the amount of engagement, number of clicks if you have a link, and number of sales from the campaign if it’s a sales campaign.
Of course, you’ll want a platform that gives you good metrics on all of your text message marketing campaigns.
Also your text marketing software platform should have the ability to segment out the most active people versus the people who never click or open your texts (or emails for that matter.
#19. What are some Tips and tricks for using SMS marketing in my small business?
Besides the ability to send out bulk text message marketing campaigns, one of the best tips for using SMS marketing in your small business is to have a chatbot on your website that asks people to send you a text through to an app when they have a question or want to book an appointment.
Then when you respond to their chatbot question it’ll go back to them as a text message with a 98% open rate within 15 minutes.
Live chatbots and emailing can’t come close to those results.
Buzz Messaging is one of the few apps at this time that has a text message chatbot you can put on your website and or paid ad landing pages.
Want another huge tip?
Send out a text message blast before you go live on your Facebook page.
Having a good size audience and people engaging & commenting on your Facebook live will mean that it will reach more people organically
Boosting a ‘live post’ after you’re done going live is a great way to get more people engaged with your business in your local area.
#20. Any tips on how to get started and stay successful with text message marketing in the future?
Your business should produce valuable content to help educate your customers, clients, or patients about your products or service.
Using text message marketing to keep them engaged rather than always trying to sell them something, will make you successful in the future and also keep your end users happy.
#21. How to determine a reliable provider of SMS software?
There are many SMS platform software providers out there.
The problem with many of them is they only provide one service like bulk SMS message campaigns and don’t include email campaigns, or they charge you extra for storing of contacts, or they don’t integrate with Facebook ads as an example.
Which brings us to FAQ number 22.
#22. What are some of the best SMS marketing platform options for my business?
If you really want to end up marketing your business the best way you possibly can, then your SMS software platform provider should include:
- SMS marketing campaigns,
- Email marketing campaigns,
- A full CRM database to store contacts,
- The ability to text ‘pay links’ on the fly which makes invoicing and getting paid by your customers much easier and faster,
- It should have integration with different types of ads from Facebook and or Google to store interested leads.
- It should have a text message chat bot for sure!
- It should have the ability to track sales flows for your sales people,
- It should have the ability to help you get Google reviews,
- It should be able to connect to ‘Facebook Messenger’ and ‘Google My Business’ chat so that all of your messaging from all over the Internet comes into one nice to use interface,
- It should have the ability to schedule appointments via text or email,
- and finally should have the ability to create marketing funnels and our websites.
At the time of the writing of this article there is only one platform that includes all the above and much more… and that’s the Buzz Messaging and Buzz Marketing Hub platform.
#23. If I’m not sure where to start, who to trust, what should I do?
The most successful businesses create and continue to build an ongoing list of prospects and customers.
Having the ability to engage these people via email, Facebook Messenger, Google My Business chat, and text is a necessity to having a successful business.
Conclusion:
When it comes to marketing, there’s no one-size-fits all approach.
That being said, the most important thing you can do is stay engaged with your customer list.
Text message marketing has many advantages including the best engagement rate, immediate message delivery, & gives you opportunities to add a personal touch to your messaging which is very important these days because so much of digital marketing is automated!
We recommend creating a list of people who are in various stages of their buying cycle and staying focused on that specific group.
You should also create valuable content for those people on an ongoing basis so they feel compelled to buy from you when they’re ready.
If you’re a ‘service provider’ type business, make videos too because video seems to be where all the attention is going these days!
What kind of text message marketing platform are you looking for?
Let us know and we’ll help get you set up!
