6 SMS Marketing Hacks & Examples that will Help you Convert More Customers!

"Almost every brand you’ve interacted with sends you an SMS often, but just how many of these messages have you interacted with?"

There are many marketing channels that a business can explore when trying to increase brand awareness, engagement with customers, get new customers and also increase sales. These marketing channels work, but the trick is knowing how to use them. SMS marketing is a popular channel because almost everyone is on their mobile phone, and it also works wonders as an added marketing channel to support your email marketing efforts.

Think about it. If you’re a DSTv subscriber, you probably get a bunch of texts from them telling you your subscription is about to end, and to pay. It does great in reminding you about your subscription, right? If you’re an MTN subscriber, you’re also receiving multiple messages.

Now, there’s a difference between these two businesses. While DSTv sends you multiple messages, their content is diverse. They’re telling you about their discounts, about shows you’re missing by not subscribing, the shows that are coming soon and presenting the content in a way that is legible and straight to the point. This gives you an idea of what you’re missing, and triggers the urge in you to get back in the action by subscribing. While MTN tries to replicate the same thing with their SMS marketing, it comes off as a bother because they’re almost pinging your phone every time, with different discounts and activities and texts that are hard to understand at a go. And with different accounts too! It gets tiring quickly and instead of being intrigued or reading what they’re saying, you’re deleting the text before you even open it.

That sweet spot where your customers are intrigued about the text messages you send to them is where you get the customer conversion that is the goal of any SMS campaign. When done right, SMS marketing is a great channel for converting customers, even faster than email marketing.

Today, we’ll be talking about SMS marketing hacks you need to know about, to grow your business and convert more customers and giving examples on how they should look like!

Pro tip: You can send SMS and emails to your customers through your Bumpa App in a few steps! You can also segment your customers based on behavior and send more personalised & targeted SMS and emails!

Related: Discover 10 Things Bumpa App Can Do for Your Business in 1 Minute!

6 SMS Marketing Hacks to Grow your Business and Convert More Customers

1. Always Segment your List.

Just like with emails, customers do not want to get SMS about things that do not concern them. For example, if a customer recently purchased an item from you at the regular price and you’re now running a discount on that item, seeing an SMS about the promo will probably upset them. So make sure to always segment your customers before sending an SMS to them, to increase engagement rate.

Pro tip: Use your Bumpa app to segment your customers based on behavior like when they last shopped, amount spent in total, customers with no purchases, e.t.c for better targeting of your campaigns.

2. Make it SSS - Short, Sweet & Straight to the Point.

This is a marketing channel that is best for hitting the nail on the head; say what you want to immediately. You’ve probably lost interest in an SMS you got from a company that just went on and on. Limit yourself to 160 characters and keep it sweet! Sound excited and eager, especially when you’re pushing a promo. You can use a tool like Word Counter to track the number of characters you’re writing, so that you do not exceed 160.

3. Maximise your Content Options.

It’s not every time your customers want to see messages from you saying ‘buy this, buy that’. Sometimes they want to see tips from you, or a gift, or sometimes even check-in message. Use your SMS marketing channel to also promote your content on your blog or social media. For example, if you just created content on how to do something with a product that some of your customers purchased recently, send them an SMS telling them to check out the post!

4. Always use CTAs.

Call to actions are very important for prompting a customer to take an action. It’s like that final nudge a customer needs to do something. Without adding a clear CTA, your customers might not know what they’re meant to do next. Also, make sure to add a link to direct them to that next action. You can use a link shortener like Bitly to shorten your links and utilise more characters for your content.

Some CTAs that always work for SMS marketing include “Buy Now, Get Started Now, Shop Now, Click Here, Subscribe Now”.

5. Always Include your Brand Name.

Sometimes, texts might not come in with the brand name shown. To prevent your customers think that they’re getting weird messages, always include your brand name at the beginning of the message, or as a signature at the end. The former is always preferred as your customer will likely see the brand name in the preview.

6. Time it Right.

With SMS marketing, timing is everything. Sometimes, you just get that message at the time when it seems like you have to open it then or lose the gist forever. That’s a perfectly timed SMS. SMS marketing feeds on urgency, and this is also why you don’t need to send too much of them. For example, if you’re hosting an event, it’s better to send an SMS a couple of hours to the event, and another one just before the event starts, than to send multiple texts from way before the event begins until it does. Time your texts right, and use them sparsely.

SMS Marketing Examples to Help you Convert

1. Welcome offers.

This is perfect for when someone signs up to your subscription list, or has been recently added to your database.

Example:

“Welcome to Bumpa, the #1 sales app for businesses! Subscribe now for exclusive solutions to take your business sales to the next level. https://linktr.ee/getbumpam”

2. Time-sensitive Offers.

This is perfect for when you’re running a sales, promotion or discount that is only available for a limited period of time.

Example:

“Bumpa: Don’t miss out on our exclusive offer! Get 20% off a Pro subscription for TODAY ONLY! Your business will thank you!”

3. Prompt to check email.

Like we mentioned earlier, SMS marketing can also be an add on to your email marketing, and you can use texts to inform your customers about an email you want them to read.

Example:

“Hi there, Adunni! We’ve left something super exciting for you in your mailbox. Check it out now!”

4. Prompt to check a post.

Example:

“Check out 5 ways on how to style our dresses now on IG. Style 3 will be perfect for the Bella dress you just purchased!”

Conclusion

SMS Marketing, when done right, is a great channel to connect with your customers, get them to buy more and also maintain a relationship with them. Create a strategy for your marketing content and remember to follow the steps listed above, for the best results for your SMS Marketing!

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