Retailers are waking up to the huge potential that is SMS marketing. Retailers have been experiencing response rates that they could only ever dream of before, more responses leading to more sales, meaning very happy retailers.
SMS open rates 98% and response rates 45% – compared to email response rates of 6% (Gartner)
However like any marketing channel, SMS marketing has it’s pitfalls and traps that can lead to your business making costly mistakes.
One of the biggest strengths for the mobile phone is that it’s a personal device, we are all in constant contact with it as we cannot leave our homes without it – we are all obsessed with it. However because of this, you need to be extra careful, sending out an SMS marketing message is not just like sending out a marketing email that will probably go in a spam folder or be ignored for a few weeks and then deleted… No this is SMS marketing!
95% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes (Forbes) and most on average being read in under 5 seconds (Slick Text).
So as you can see the timing of your SMS marketing message is going to be very important to the success of your campaign, no one is going to want receive your message at 5 o’clock in the morning.
Another mistake some retailers are making is writing too much in their messages. When they hear about the open rates and response rates of SMS, they try to cram everything in as they know it’s going to be read. I know it’s tempting to do, but you are better off keeping it short and sweet and to the point. Open with an attention grabbing line such as, ‘Sale now on’ ‘Amazing Flash Sale’ ‘Quick, hurry whilst stock last’.
But one of the most criminal mistakes I see, is businesses not telling their customers who they are, or not putting a link to their website within the message. You have to tell your customers exactly who the message is from and it’s imperative to include a link to your website within your message… These things will dramatically improve your response rates and click rates.
Text Marketer has created The Complete Retail SMS Marketing Guide – completely free! Full with more great tips, the best time to send, the do’s and don’ts and some great examples.