Why SMS Marketing Doesn’t Suck Anymore (And How to Use it to Generate New Revenue)

Source: Neil Patel

Did you know that 58% of mobile users check their phones every hour (at least)?

What does that mean for your SMS open rates?

A pretty impressive number: 82.1%.

Even 80% of Millennials say their phone is the first thing they check when they wake up.

The point is that people keep their phones handy and are always ready to use them to find information or check the latest social media updates.

Plus, open rates for texts vastly surpass email (which dwindles at 24%).

It’s clear that we’ve become dependent on our phones, but that opens the door for testing new mediums to reach consumers.

Mobile advertising works, but only if your message makes it to the consumer’s inbox, and only if your ad is mobile-optimized.

It’s the only way to steer clear of the noise and get a positive return on investment.

Most online marketers laugh at the idea of SMS marketing because they think it’s more regulated than email marketing. But that’s a myth.

Watered-down, mobile-targeting tactics are costing you conversions, clients, and revenue.

Meanwhile, SMS marketing is lurking in the background, waiting for you to capitalize on it.

Here’s why (and how) you should revisit SMS marketing to generate revenue.

The many advantages of SMS

You think Instagram has good engagement numbers?

Wait until you see what text messages get.

Advantage #1. Texting has by far the best engagement rate of any marketing medium.

Emails can sit unread for days, phone calls can go unanswered, but text messages are almost always read immediately after they’re sent.

We already talked about the comparatively dismal open rates for email. The average CTR for PPC ads is even worse at 2%.

The point is that SMS marketing is underrated and underappreciated.

The likelihood of getting your message to the intended target is vastly higher than with email, PPC, organic, or social.

But nothing great comes without its catch.

It’s neither ethical nor legal to send unsolicited messages with text-message marketing.

You need a written opt-in.

Fortunately, customers have an easy way to opt themselves in — or out — straight from their mobile phones with most text-marketing services.

Here are some of the advantages of mobile text messaging.

Advantage #2. Trackable platform: You can easily track who opened your message, what links they clicked, and who ignored the message.

There are countless texting platforms that allow you to manage your campaign all from your desktop.

Companies like Textedly have detailed analytics that let you track each step in the conversion process starting with the initial delivery and opening.

Advantage #3. Interactive content: Mobile messaging makes it possible to get feedback from your recipients quickly via a quick tap on the ‘reply’ button or a click on your link.

You can deliver quick, simple messages that direct subscribers back to your site.

For example, Chipotle excels at using mobile messaging to drive sales.

It’s short and sweet. It gets straight to the point with “free chips and guac” if you play their game.

Not a bad deal, right?

Especially since they have queso now, too.

And, of course, it’s perfectly optimized for mobile.

Get creative with your text-marketing campaigns and take a page out of the Chipotle playbook.

Advantage #4. Immediate delivery: Overall, mobile marketing is fast. Once you press “send,” your message goes out instantly.

You can set up a campaign and have hundreds of clicks within minutes.

Advantage #5. Personal touch: Sending a text message via your mobile device gives you an informal opportunity to personalize the message.

For example, the Banana Republic often sends text messages that include words like “friends” and “your.”

Using words like “you” and “I” is one of my favorite techniques for driving engagement.

The Banana Republic also does an excellent job of tapping into local events that are relevant to the recipient.

See? The opportunities with SMS are endless.

You can personalize your message, direct users to fun games where they can win coupons, and track every step of the conversion process.

Here’s how it works.

The basic components of SMS marketing

The two basic components of a typical SMS-marketing campaign are the keyword and the shortcode. Here’s an example:

• Text “POPCORN” to 555555 for our weekly list of flavors!

“POPCORN” is the keyword that gets placed in the body of the message.

“555555” is the shortcode that gets put in the recipient box.

When a customer sends that message, they’re “opting in” to your campaign. It’s as easy as that.

From there you can do a few different things.

Go ahead and send them a single, automated response to follow up and let them know what to expect next. Or you can just add them to a list that will send additional texts over time.

There are other ways to get customers to opt in. Let them check a box on an order form or submit their phone numbers online.

Numbers received this last way have to be confirmed, however, since a customer could always enter a number incorrectly.

So before you add them to a campaign, you’ll have to confirm their participation with another message.

For example, you could send. “Text ‘YES’ to receive weekly coupons.”

Once they’ve opted in, customers can also respond to your messages with sub-keywords.

For example, sending the phrase “Hours” could trigger an automated text to send business hours and “Stop” could remove the subscriber from the list.

Allowing customers to use sub-keywords gives them a way to interact with your business. It also enables them to opt out of your campaign if they wish to stop receiving messages.

Once you’ve got the basics down, you can tap into creative ideas — like Chipotle’s game, which we covered earlier.

The best SMS marketing tactics

Mobile texting tactics are diverse.

However, they should be pretty familiar if you’ve already run social promotions and contests.

For example, you can send coupons, drive traffic, or engage people through fun, simple games.

Here are some of the best potential uses for SMS marketing.

Tip #1. Coupons: Send customers exclusive deals.

Start by creating uniquely-generated coupon codes to prevent non-subscribers from taking advantage of your deal.

That way, people have to subscribe to save.

Check out this example from Redbox:

Redbox also takes advantage…

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