I’ve talked before about what to consider before developing your SMS marketing campaigns, and now I’d like to expand on post-campaign evaluation. You should always dig into your detailed SMS marketing analytics, and review the effectiveness of each message. Now, this all sounds good in theory, but where do you begin? What metrics are the most important when it comes to post-campaign review? Kick off the analysis process with these five detailed questions.
1. How many subscribers redeemed my offer?
In general, your SMS marketing campaigns should focus on offer redemption. Stay away from firing out general announcements, as this isn’t why customers originally opted in to your list. Make sure every single offer is exclusive to your SMS subscribers, and offers an irresistible amount of value. Don’t simply fire out generic 10% off coupon codes, as this discount can easily be retrieved on another medium.
At minimum, you should shoot for an offer redemption percentage that falls between 12 and 15%. If redemption falls below this minimum, it usually means your campaign didn’t offer enough qualified value.
2. Did I experience any opt-outs as a direct result of this campaign? If so, how many?
Don’t panic, it’s normal to experience an opt out here and there. It’s not necessarily something you did wrong. Sometimes, people just lose interest in your product or service, and that’s completely ok. But, let’s say you fire out a campaign, and instead of 2 to 3 people opting out, you lose 30. This is a bit unnatural, so you should go back and ask yourself, “What about this specific campaign turned subscribers off to my list?”
3. If applicable, how many people clicked the link in my campaign?
If you’re an online retailer, you should definitely include shortened links to collections, or even product pages in each campaign. This makes the offer redemption process that much easier. Use a link tracker like bit.ly, and review how many clicks your link received.
4. Did I follow proper SMS marketing compliance standards?
The team over at Slicktext.com recently released the SMS Marketer’s Compliance Guidebook. Give it a read, and make sure you understand these standards. As a general rule, these guidelines center around permission based marketing. All SMS marketing campaigns should follow these standards, as they are crucial to success. Failure to respect compliance guidelines could, at the very least, result in account suspension.
5. What could I have done better?
They always say, hindsight is 20/20. What does this mean for you? After reviewing the results of your SMS campaign, you’ll probably gain some insight as to what could’ve been done better. Don’t be afraid to make minimal tweaks here and there, as this will only help increase offer redemption, and in general, enhance the subscriber experience.
Remember, when firing out SMS marketing campaigns, make sure all messages are exclusive, high value, provide a clear call to action, and create a sense of urgency with a limited window of redemption.
If done correctly, SMS marketing can quickly grow your business and strengthen customer relationships. When taking part in post campaign analysis, use these five questions as a guideline to determine your success, or lack thereof.