SMS marketing

Explore the inexhaustible potential of effective SMS marketing for businesses.

  • Conduct text marketing on your terms.
  • Discover SMS marketing best practices and tools.
  • Test, observe results and improve marketing messages.
  • Scale your business in the mobile channel.
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Definition of SMS marketing

SMS marketing is text messages containing advertisements, promotions and other forms of encouragement to take advantage of special offers. The effectiveness of SMS marketing campaigns, including marketing texts, is directly related to the quality of the database and respect for recipients’ privacy. Remember that all recipients must consent to data processing for marketing purposes (check out the GDPR consent template for SMS marketing).

SMS marketing is both mass text messaging and tailor-made promotional messages to a select group of recipients. Read on to learn how to run effective text marketing.

SMS marketing - benefits for your business

  • SMS marketing services mean more purchases are made on the mobile channel.
  • Mass SMS texts translate into increased traffic to the company’s store, website (landing pages) or app.
  • SMS marketing improves the lifetime value (LTV) ratio of customers.
  • Marketing automation becomes easier with integrations with e-commerce, marketing automation, CRM, CDP or ERP systems.
  • Utilizing SMS marketing software can further streamline marketing efforts by enabling personalized communication and providing valuable insights into customer behaviors.
  • Regular messaging influences the building of loyalty and commitment of the potential customer.
  • Text message marketing platform also allows quick NPS and satisfaction surveys.

  • Five opportunities to build your contact base

  • 1. Online shopping

    E-commerce is m-commerce already. Take advantage of customer data from marketing automation and CDP systems to develop comprehensive marketing strategies that integrate SMS with other marketing tactics. A successful online store purchase is a great time to invite customers to subscribe to text messages with exclusive offers.

  • 2. Shopping

    We shop with smartphones in hand, comparing and looking for bargains. Reach customers' cell phones directly with your offers - set up a tablet with a form at the checkout and encourage them to sign up for SMS marketing in stores or service establishments.

  • 3. Loyalty clubs

    Launch a new channel of communication with your brand’s most loyal customers. SMS services promote products and deliver content tailored to the needs and habits of the narrow audience of customer loyalty programs.

  • 4. Social media, outdoor and traditional media

    Are social media, press, radio, TV, or large-format advertising good sources for new customers? Creative campaigns, CSR, and contests focused on interaction and engagement are your tools for getting them.

  • 5. Trade shows, conferences, mass events

    Focus attention on your brand at mass events and gather contacts of potential customers and business partners instead of business cards. Implementing targeted SMS text marketing campaigns can significantly improve engagement and ROI. Add short text messages to the communication mix before, during and after the event.

Text messaging gateway for businesses

SMS marketing tools to increase customer engagement

The content of an SMS message is a mere 160 characters, with zero pictures, video or sounds. However, practice proves this is enough to create engaging messages. Check out the tools at your disposal for your SMS campaign.

  • Text message sender field (SMS branding)

    Ensure brand recognition - set the company name instead of the number. In one fell swoop, you will improve your SMS campaign and increase engagement, conversion rate, SMS open rate (open rate), and link click-through rate (CTR). Moreover, the message's recipient will see the brand in the notification bar. However, you cannot reply to messages with your sender id. SMS branding is free.

    Text message sender field (SMS branding)

  • Receive SMS messages online

    Two-way SMS communication allows you to exchange information with your customers. Conduct creative marketing activities, NPS and satisfaction surveys. Handle orders and appointments via SMS. Your customers will not pay extra for sending messages.

    We provide SMS receiving numbers in two formats: 9 or 4-5 digits. Use a shortcode or short SMS number to expand your audience base and find new customers on social media and traditional media, such as billboards, press, radio, or TV.

    Receive SMS messages online

  • Personalized messages

    Enhance text marketing content with dynamic parameters - variables the text message marketing software replaces with corresponding information. Add a name, favorite product category or address and send a personalized SMS campaign. Personalizing content is an excellent solution, which is why most companies tailor messages to the potential customer.

    Personalized messages

  • Bulk SMS messages with short links

    Every phone receives and sends text messages even without internet access. Shortened links will help you guide your potential customers back to your website. Shortening links saves valuable characters, introduces traffic analytics and, most importantly, redirects recipients to a product page with the special offer.

    SMS advertising boasts one of the highest CTR (link click-through rates) – don't miss this opportunity. Remember to precede the shortened link with a call to action (CTA) to engage customers.

    Bulk SMS messages with short links

  • SMS content: unique values and discount codes

    How can the effectiveness of an SMS campaign be improved? Include discount codes, reminders about new offers, promotions on complementary products or offer free delivery in the message content. Analyze the usage rate of discount codes and gain insight into the effectiveness of SMS marketing.

    SMS content: unique values and discount codes

  • SMS loyalty programs

    SMS mobile marketing reaches customers directly, bypassing spam email marketing and content-overloaded social media walls. It's a chance to drive conversions from loyal customers. Create an SMS loyalty program and send exclusive discounts, offers and news to customers enrolled in loyalty programs.

    SMS loyalty programs

  • Content marketing: the fear of missing out mechanism and more

    Most SMS messages are read five minutes after delivery. That's why you can successfully use promotional campaigns with a short shelf life. Use FOMO (fear of missing out) and other mechanisms to increase response rates. Limit the promotion to a few hours, write a call to action (CTA), precisely select the group and schedule messages, and watch the sales columns grow.

    Content marketing: the fear of missing out mechanism and more

  • Targeting text message marketing

    Data from online sales and marketing systems are the basis for narrowing down your audience groups, i.e. better targeting of SMS marketing. Use them to create messages tailored to your SMS campaign goals and objectives. Sending targeted messages is another step to improving KPIs.

    Targeting text message marketing

  • Surveys, polls and SMS surveys

    Contest SMS polls are a popular way to increase brand recognition and build an audience base across industries. Use them at events, in the media or on your website. You can survey customer satisfaction in two ways: send a message with a link to a survey or use a receiving number. The second option is faster and more convenient - just write back to the SMS.

    Surveys, polls and SMS surveys

  • SMS opt-out system (Unsubsc.me)

    Subscribing to a company's SMS communication is not a lifelong decision. We provide a ready-made tool for your customers to unsubscribe from the contact database. Meet Unsubsc.me - our SMS opt-out system. All the recipient has to do is click the link to stop future text messages. The tool will also help you simultaneously clear your base of many disinterested recipients.

    SMS opt-out system (Unsubsc.me)

Effective SMS marketing messages - campaign research and analysis

Learn the eight factors by which you will determine and measure the effectiveness of SMS marketing.

  • Deliverability - the primary determinant of effectiveness of text message marketing. In the case of SMSAPI, it is 99.9%. The throughput of our SMS platform is more than 6 million messages per hour. Even the largest mass SMS campaign will hit customers' mobile phones within seconds.
  • Database quality - the way you acquire contacts and the timeliness of your data are fundamental to the effectiveness of your dispatches. Optimize SMS communications by conducting regular clean-ups of your recipient groups.
  • Open rate – the message open rate is a baseline indicator of the effectiveness of this communication channel. The open rate of text messages is 69% in the first five minutes. Additional factors affecting the open rates of your marketing efforts are oversubscription, frequency of sending, delivery time and communication history.
  • CTR of links - recipients are eager to click on links in the SMS content as long as you correctly convey the benefits of going to the site.
  • Opt-out rate - use the SMS opt-out mechanism to see if your content is indeed tailored to your audience groups.
  • Site traffic - an increase in traffic from mobile devices shortly after a mass text message marketing mailing is the first sign of a successful promotional campaign. A short link in the UTM tracking code will enable an in-depth analytics of the effectiveness of SMS marketing. Check user behaviour and customer path from text message to conversion and beyond.
  • Conversion - an increase in sales or conversions after an SMS campaign is a sign that your messages are hitting their targets.
  • NPS indicator - schedule regular SMS NPS loyalty surveys and observe changes in customer attitudes.

Text message marketing – testimonials

Lukasz Gapa

Auto awa

Lukasz Gapa

SMS campaigns and relationship-building

By working with SMSAPI, we reach our audience quickly and directly. We give a discount less often than more often, and at the same time, hunt for situations where we can add something from ourselves. It is definitely cheaper and easier to keep existing customers than constantly acquire new ones. It's very simple - if you get a customer once, with whom you manage to build a positive relationship - you will gain more.
Wojciech Chocholowicz

Gino Rossi

Wojciech Chocholowicz

Multichannel communication with customers

SMS messages are an essential tool in Gino Rossi's marketing activities. Constant contact with our customers has a real impact on sales volume. The posts confirm that SMS is one of the best-performing marketing communication channels. However, it is worth remembering that it is necessary to combine channels such as SMS with e-mail to ensure maximum effects. Such campaigns bring the best results.
Wojciech Tomaszewski

Answear.com

Wojciech Tomaszewski

Advantages of SMS marketing campaigns

We chose the SMS channel because of the personal relationship it creates with the recipient. We use messaging for larger campaigns several times a year, and to increase the campaign's effectiveness, we combine other marketing channels simultaneously, which definitely affects conversion. Our experience shows that campaigns combining email and SMS can achieve up to 30% higher results.

How to send SMS marketing campaign?

Conduct SMS marketing at your convenience: directly from the SMSAPI customer panel, using automation features of an integrated system, or through your connection to the SMS API interface. How to get started?

    SMS marketing in six steps:

  • Create a test account for free (quick registration)
  • Verify your company data
  • Set up your SMS sender field
  • Prepare a database with contacts and GDPR consents
  • Create engaging SMS content
  • Send SMS campaign to your customers

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