With a conversion rate of 45%, SMS marketing is crushing all other forms of marketing and sending a strong message to marketers. SMS is the new trend because our email inboxes are super crowded, and social media is excessively noisy.
Nothing is easier than communicating via text anymore.
However…
One misstep, and your SMS marketing campaign fails. There are several SMS marketing mistakes that can have career-ending effects.
So, to help you to be cautious when dealing with SMS, here are 9 deadly mistakes in SMS marketing, and tips from experts at BSG on how to avoid them (Source).
1. Failing to Personalize
One of the greatest SMS marketing mistakes to avoid is talking to everyone as though they were the same. Personalization is a secret weapon with SMS marketing examples, because of the personal touch that goes with texting.
The solution, use an SMS marketing service like BSG World, that allows for clear and concise segmentation of your audience according to demographics. Now you can send bulk texts to these tiny chunks of your audience, making every effort to speak to them personally.
2. Omitting a Call-to-Action
What’s the point of a text without a call-to-action? A waste of time!
Omitting a clear call-to-action at the end of your message is a deadly sin to commit with SMS because you’ll see no returns.
Here are a few options you can use:
- Call us now at [number].
- Send us a reply at [number]
- Send “Love music” to this code [short code], or
- Visit our website at [url]
- Click here to place your order [url]
3. Overusing Text Messaging
Yep, consumers want you to text… but nobody wants you to blow up their phone with marketing messages. One message a week may already be too much for most customers.
This was a big trap for many marketing campaigns that went wrong.
A meaningful text message every two weeks or so is a great option to go with, but feel free to try a few options to see what works for your audience.
4. Sending messages without permission:
A sin that could end your marketing career! Sending marketing messages to consumers without their permission is not only annoying, but it’s also illegal. Before you go texting, make sure they’ve opted in.
This is the reason why you must build your subscriber list. A Messaging service like BSG world incorporates widgets that make it easy for customers to opt-in to your list through your website.
Failing to add an unsubscribe button is also annoying and illegal. You want to make sure that customers can opt out whenever they want to.
You can add lines like:
Send “STOP” to opt out.
6. Send a boring message
You cannot bore customers into making a purchase, every marketer knows this. The worst marketing campaigns are those that offer nothing. Your marketing messages must have something interesting to offer to your customers; make it worth their while.
SMS open rates are at 98% because people are often anxious to open up their messages. Ensure that customers are excited whenever they get a text from your brand.
7. Failing to offer something – Focusing on selling
SMS isn’t just about sales, you should offer more. Of course, you want to talk about the latest arrivals, special offers, discounts, special announcements, etc. But you can also use SMS for more:
- Ask for feedback
- Conduct interesting polls on how to improve your service
- Share tips
Final thoughts
For obvious reasons, SMS is thriving. It’s up to you to respond to the demands of your customers, who’re now seeking texts. Use SMS right by carefully avoiding the above SMS marketing blunders, and you’ll see amazing results.
