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Why Text Message Marketing Works for Many Businesses and Not for Yours

Aug 20, 2018
5 MIN READ

Most of the world’s population uses smartphones and we spend a lot of time on mobile phones in 2018. Think about it, how much time does it take you to check your phone when you hear that familiar message alert? It’s down to a reflex at this point – the phone beeps, vibrates, and flashes and we instantly reach for it.


No one leaves an SMS unread for long. Sure, someone can just delete it or scan the message and forget about it, but well over 90% of people will open a message on their phone. Experienced marketers know this and try to use it to their advantage.


That being said, a lot of businesses don’t get the best results from text message marketing, while some thrive on it. We will look at why this marketing method is failing you and how you can make it work for your business.


You’re not offering anything new and valuable


It’s a fact that 70% of customers believe that SMS is an excellent way for a company to reach out to them. However, if you want to keep them interested, you need to offer something of value. A classic “Buy 2 get 1 free every Friday” text that you send once in a while just isn’t going to cut it.   

 

buy2-get1-free

If you have no new deals to offer or sales coming up, consider sending updates that your consumers will find interesting. Maybe some items that were sold out for months are now in stock again. Maybe your shop has a new children’s waiting area with cool toys. Maybe you’re introducing a new product line next month.

The point is, you need to have some fresh and relevant information ready for your customers. Don’t send them texts just to send them texts. 

 

You’re sending texts too often and in a predictable pattern


There are many reasons why businesses use SMS marketing, but the most successful ones know better than to spam their customers. You don’t have to send several SMS updates a week. There’s not a company in the world with that amount of new offers and relevant news.


Even one message per week can be too much if you have nothing new to say, as discussed in the previous point. Reminding people of the same discount or special offer for several weeks, on the same day and hour no less, is just annoying.


If you didn’t get your customers interested in this month’s 20% discount with the message you sent on the first day, you’re not going to do it with any of the five subsequent texts.


Have a slightly different text to notify them that the sale you mentioned a couple of weeks back is nearly over. Take this opportunity to throw in a strong call to action. Whatever you do, don’t keep sending texts over and over every week.


Your texts are not concise and compelling


A long block of text filled to the brim with marketing babble makes people lose interest instantly. Sure, they’ll open the message and give it a glance, but that’s about as far as you’ll get.


You want things to be short and sweet, the way SMS was designed to be. Make the reason for your text clear in a few words and hit them with a strong call to action (CTA) right at the start. A good example would be something like:


“Are you ready for the summer heat? Text “BIKINI” to 33222 to get our latest swimwear deals. We’ve got discounts of up to 50%”

A good option is to just have a link customers can tap on their phones, as this makes it even easier for them to opt in. Here’s a simple and effective example:

“Winter is coming! Check out our new electric heaters by tapping this link www.heaterzz.com/23ptk4i6 and get a 20% discount. Text STOP to stop.”

If you have several deals or more options available you can make the text a bit longer, but keep it straightforward.   

 

annoyed-face

 

You’re not testing and optimizing


The difference between a successful SMS campaign and a failed one often boils down to how well-optimized things are. A good SMS text marketing service will have all the right features you need to get good results. Analytics are your friend – they’ll allow you to see what needs to be tweaked.

You might be sending texts at the wrong time of day, focusing on the wrong kind of deals and products or simply lack a compelling CTA. Track all the important metrics, analyze the results, and adapt accordingly.

No one gets everything right on their first try but there’s plenty of opportunity for improvement along the way.  

 


You’re not segmenting your audience


People do this all the time when it comes to other marketing channels like email but they get lazy about it with SMS text marketing for some reason. The idea is simple – you need different offers, phrasing, and ways to opt in for different demographics.

Your 17-25 female student demographic and your 45-60 home improvement enthusiast male demographic will need different kinds of furniture. They’ll also communicate differently and respond better to different CTAs. Have this in mind when you’re creating your texts and preparing new deals.

With nearly every man, woman, and child in the world carrying around a smartphone, text message marketing is still a great tool for engaging customers. Many companies have used it with great success in 2018.

If it hasn’t been working for your business so far, it’s likely because of the reasons mentioned above. Go over this list again and make sure to apply the tips we offered. You only need a bit of careful planning and testing to get your SMS marketing just right so get started.

 

SMS marketing