You’ve probably already integrated SMS marketing into your marketing strategies and kudos for that. That said, have you tried or heard of 2 way SMS services?
What It Is
Traditionally, SMS marketing has been more of a one-way kind of deal with only you sending marketing and promotional messages to your customers with no feedback whatsoever.
You’ve probably been asking yourself how you can get customers more involved. Enter 2 way SMS.
This marketing technique is all about conversing with your customers. It seeks to solve all the disparities that come with a one-sided conversation. The major two problems solved are:
Slow Responses
With traditional SMS marketing, customers have to jump through a hoop or two to get some engagement with the business. More often than not, they are directed to an email support inbox, which lengthens their wait time – by quite some time.
All these delays in responses will only lose you customers and consequently revenue. Always remember that lots of people don’t have the patience to wait for a response.
Less-Than-Ideal Customer Experience
When you think of text messages, you think of next-to-no-time responses. Fast replies on text messages have become sort of a requirement so, why shouldn’t it apply to retail SMS.
Don’t have your customers waiting for days for a response.
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How to Implement It
Start Strong
2 way SMS service literally is conversing with a stranger so you will want to start on a very interesting and impactful tone. Keep in mind that customers are going to talk back to you.
Why not start with a welcome message just to get a rapport going. Taking the first step can be a tad intimidating but not to worry, I have a surefire recipe to get you going:
The first thing you need to do is include your brand name so customers know who is messaging them. On top of that, include what they should expect from you with regard to what kind of content you will be sending them.
The message shouldn’t go on and on. Retail SMS should be no longer than 160 characters so you don’t bore your customers with potentially too much information – less-than-useful information at that.
A standalone point is you should give the customers the option of opting out. It is not just good courtesy but required by law as well.
Be Compliant
Being compliant is about making sure the operation or campaign you are running is completely legal and acceptable by your customers.
Being compliant means engaging with the customers on their own terms. You have to have opt-in options for everyone who ends up on your SMS marketing list.
Begin by asking for consent from the customers just as you do with email lists. On top of acquiring a customer’s consent, this step also serves as a record of each customer’s consent and gives customers the opt-out information should they need it sometime down the road.
Continue the Conversation
With 2 way SMS, you can keep contacting your customers long after the initial point of consent. Here is where you convey information about promotions, events – anything you need to convey to your customers.
That’s not even all you can do! You can also use this service for purposes like subscription expiration updates.
Being conversational, the customers give you real time feedback so as you move along the way, you keep learning new stuff about your customers. You can use this data for targeted promotions, not to mention improving your customer relationship.
Is it Effective?
SMS marketing is phenomenally effective – 2 way SMS service, even more so. With an over 90% opening rate of text messages, there is not really much to add on the efficacy of SMS marketing. All that’s left to do is to make all your retail SMS conversational.
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