- retail or online check-out,
- new user registration,
- newsletter subscription,
- loyalty program sign-up,
- collecting data with tools like Facebook LeadAds, FastTony.es,
- Two-way communication via SMS.
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Customer database is a cornerstone of a successful SMS campaign. The first questions is: should you buy it or build it yourself? According to the research conducted among our clients, 94% of companies build their own databases. Simply because it’s significantly more effective to collect data yourself than to purchase it. After all, you don’t risk sending your messages to random people. There are many ways of building a contact database, as you can do it during:
Payment page is an excellent space to interact with customers. That’s why a large number of brands try to convince you to register to their newsletter after the finalized purchase. For the same reason, it’s a great time to ask for a telephone number. Hesitant customers can always be soften with a discount voucher. You can acquire contact info by including input fields or by using our SMS Newsletter widget. Try to predict your future campaigns and ask for additional information that will come useful when creating targeted messages.
Telephone number can also be acquired during the visit at brand’s retail shop - you just need a tablet or a simple paper form. Please remember about GDPR consents, information clause and disclosing the purpose of the collected information.
Virtual Mobile Number (VMN in short) is a regular, 9-digit number that allows 2-way communication. It’s a convenient method of acquiring client’s telephone numbers. Just include it on a website, flyer, billboard, poster, image or social media. By sending a predetermined text (e.g. YES, OK), they will be able to subscribe to your database. Consider adding some additional incentive - discount code, free shipment, etc.
To make things even easier, we have created a tool that allows users to subscribe via a website. Newsletter SMS widget can be placed on a page or linked on social media profiles. Every part of the widget is customizable, so you can adjust it to your branding. To install it just copy a source code generated in the SMSAPI Customer Portal. Check out TEDxKatowice case study for more information about how to use is efficiently.
VIP clubs are an effective way of data acquisition and at the same time they help to keep your customers engaged. If you are able to present them with a meaningful profits, they will share their contact information. You can start with a paper form, just be sure keep them always up to date by sending e-mail and SMS messages.
Mobile communication based on SMS can be divided into three main categories depending on the function.
Messaging that supports sales. Use SMS to inform customers about the new offer, promotion and limited occasions. Keep in mind, you need marketing consent to send this kind of messages. We advise to use targeting and personalization to achieve the best results. You can automate the process by using custom fields from your contact database. Furthermore, sender name ID, call to action, shortened links and direct call recipient should all be applied.
All alerts, status changes, delivery or official matters information. Due to a lower frequency (if compared to e-mail), SMS is a preferred channel for notification delivery. It’s simply harder to ignore or overlook an SMS which ensures higher chance of getting through with your message.
Notifications sent by e-commerce is a standard. Most of them might be automated thanks to the integration libraries, with e.g. CRM. Satisfaction surveys and polls are the natural expansions of such messages.
A mobile phones are exceptionally private devices, most of us protect them with a great care. That’s why they are a widespread method of sensitive data verification and transaction authorization. Messages sent by banks, financial institutions and other companies are direct, fast and independent of internet access. SMS are also used as password reminders and verification code distribution. All the above is possible with a SMS Authenticator feature available in the SMSAPI Customer Portal.
SMS communication is definitely more 160 characters. Although text message is not the newest technology, it might be easily expanded with links which helps to switch offline customers online. Discover the most popular elements of the effective SMS marketing.
Company’s name in the sender name field allows clients to quickly identify sender. To add your company’s name type it in Customer Portal. All names are verified by our staff, so there’s no risk of impersonation or false identification. Sender name ID is limited to 11 alphanumeric characters. Please, bear in mind that setting a sender name ID might not to available in every country.
Regular, 9-digit receiving number which allows your customers to contact you directly. VMN is useful for fast satisfaction surveys and all other situations when you need to gather feedback. Remember to include your company’s name in the content of message so receivers will be able to identify the brand.
Basic yet effective method of drawing customer’s attention. Starting an SMS with recipient’s name shows individual approach towards communication. Together with the personalization feature it provides you with mass messaging solution able to target individual customer. Uploading your contact database to the SMSAPI Customer Portal with the custom fields allows you to automate the process.
Because of the 160-character limit of SMS, link shortening is an important and commonly used feature. What’s more, it allows you to avoid long, inelegant lines of links. By using tools like cut.li you can measure users’ engagement by counting each click. Although SMS service works offline, links will allow you to redirect clients to your website.
Generated for each individual client provides you with an opportunity to measure campaigns performance. You’ll be notified about every used coupon online or in your retail shop. The SMSAPI Customer Portal allows you to generate and to import codes from your system, e.g. CRM.
A phrase meant to induce a certain reaction. In most case it’s a verb in imperative (buy, discover, go, etc.), that’s why it’s best to follow it with a link or discount code. This way you’ll be able to effectively direct customers to a next step of your campaign.
The limited availability is one the most basic principles of marketing. According to R. Cialdini, restrictions force customers to make quicker decisions. Limiting offer to a shorter time (for example till midnight) might be more profitable than a regular longer period. All because SMS are usually opened within first 5 minutes after delivery.
Directing campaigns at selected audiences. Your contact database should be segmented into smaller target groups. You can divide it using e.g. localization, shopping preferences or loyalty program criterias. Messages created for a specific audience shows higher performance than unspecified ones. Segmentation ca be done manually or automate in the SMSAPI Customer Portal.
Voting and survey feature lets you conduct simple and fast satisfaction research among your clients. Use a virtual mobile number to allow them to answer your question by replying. Use the generated report and statistics to measure the campaign effectiveness.
SMS communication works best when conducted in a spirit of permission marketing. You can do it by adding Opt-out link at the end of the first message sent. It will help customer service at your company by reducing work needed to manually remove records from database. Furthermore, each recipient less equals lower cost and higher effectiveness of your next campaign.
To send an SMS is just a first step, you should also analyze its performance. According to our 2017 report, majority of companies do not measure conversion of their campaigns. What indicators should you take into consideration?
More about measuring campaign effectiveness: KPI Blog article
Almost all courses come from the recommendation of our loyal customers. Thanks to the cooperation with SMSAPI, we can reach our audience, directly and fast. We try not to sale our services. Discounts are rare, as we tend to “hunt down” occasions and offer something more. It’s considerably cheaper to care for your clients than to look for the new ones. It’s really simple – once you have gained the client’s trust and engagement, do everything to maintain it – you’ll earn more.
Łukasz Gapa
Auto awa
SMS message is a very important marketing tool for Gino Rossi. Thanks to this direct and fast communication we are able to be in constant touch with our customers and affect sales volumes – especially when we want to announce sales or special discounts. SMS marketing is one of the most effective marketing channels that can significantly influence sales figures. At the same time – it’s important to remember that the most effective campings include more than one channel – for example, SMS & e-mail campaign at the same time. This kind of activities brings the best results.
Wojciech Chochołowicz
Gino Rossi
We chose to contact our customers via SMS because we know how important SMS messaging is for everyday communication, we use that solution a few times a year for our most important campaigns. Usually we combine a few channels to increase our conversion rate, we know from experience that using both e-mail and SMS results in 30% higher income from a campaign.
Wojciech Tomaszewski
Answear.com
It takes just a few minutes to send your first business SMS. All because of the self-sign up system. Excluding the sender name verification, all features of the SMSAPI Customer Portal are available without the need of contacting our customer service. Let’s go through the process step by step: