A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO TEXT MESSAGE MARKETING
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A BEGINNER’S GUIDE
TO
TEXT MESSAGE
MARKETINGHello from Signal!
We’ve been in the text message marketing industry for over half a
decade. During that time we’ve learned a lot about what makes a text
message marketing campaign successful, and we want to use that
knowledge to help make you successful.
We know text message marketing works. It’s one of the most effective
tools marketers can use to grow an active customer base and drive sales.
As an example, one of our customers recently launched a text-to-win
campaign which drew 30,000 responses in 30 days, with 81% of entrants
choosing to opt-in to get further marketing messages post-entry. That’s
adding more than 800 subscribers each day to your marketing list!
SMS means success. And we want to see that success happen for you.
But you need a starting point.
Our customers have asked us a lot of good questions about text message
marketing over the years we’ve been in business -- questions on best
practices, federal regulations, and even simple how-tos and tips on list
building. In response, we’ve assembled our collective knowledge into
this helpful guide. Enjoy!
Contact us any time.
hello@signalhq.com @signal
Our monthly newsletter is filled with handy marketing tips and
tricks. Sign up by texting NEWSLETTER TO 75309.
Message and data rates may apply.INDEX
1 5
What is SMS marketing? Creating a campaign
How does it work? SMS copywriting tips
When is it most effective? Picking the best time to send
How much does it cost?
6
2
Rules of the road Measuring success
What you need to know before Delivery rates, opens, clicks
getting started with SMS and other ways to measure
SMS marketing results
3 7
Picking an SMS partner Building your mojo
A list of things to think about when Establishing a frequency
deciding on an SMS service Growing your program
Tracking trends
4 8
Building your list Advanced tips and tricks
Creative ways to expand your Collecting data
reach and advertise your Targeting locations
program Personalization1
INTRO TO SMS
MARKETING
Getting to know the landscapeWhat is SMS marketing?
At its core, SMS marketing is sending
text-message advertisements to
consumers. When industry best
p r a c t i c e s a re f o l l o w e d , S M S
marketing is one of the simplest and
most effective ways for businesses to
communicate with customers. It can
be a powerful tool for driving sales
and deepening relationships with a
motivated customer base.
How does text-message
marketing work? How much
How do companies use SMS does it cost?
marketing? When is it most Text marketing messages originate
effective? from a short code, a five- or six-digit
Companies began using SMS to send number companies must use to
short, timely messages to customers communicate advertising messages
in the early 2000s. It started with cell to customers via SMS. Leasing and
phone carriers, who use texts to provisioning your own short code
customers billing and ser vice can be time-consuming (60-90 days
updates. Today, companies around to set up) and expensive ($500-$1500
the world use SMS marketing to send per month). For this reason, many
customer alerts, updates, coupons s m a l l bu s i n e s s e s u s e a n S M S
and discounts, as well as to collect marketing provider to gain access to
valuable customer information. shared short codes. This makes text
messaging affordable and accessible
On average, text messages are read for businesses of all sizes.
within four minutes ° of their receipt,
so SMS campaigns are most effective Companies offering text-marketing
when the messages you services on a shared short code
communicate are immediate, useful usually charge either a small per-
to the customer, and carry a clear message fee or a flat monthly rate.
call-to-action.
° Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_marketing#SMS_marketingHow does text differ from email?
Text-message marketing is much like email marketing in that businesses can
use a service to send bulk, one-time messages to their subscribers, create
autoresponders and drip campaigns, separate customers into lists, and
personalize content. But text-message marketing differs from email marketing
in a number of ways.
Text-message marketing is more closely regulated than
email marketing. List advertisements and opt-in
1 confirmations, for example, must contain certain
language in order to be in compliance or marketers risk
fines. So it is important to keep up to date with best
practices and adhere to them always. (We’ll cover these
regulations a little later.)
Text-marketing messages are limited to 160 plain-text
2 characters and do not contain images. The only way to
include visuals is to link to mobile-optimized landing
pages with more information.
Text messaging costs more to send, but offers open and
response rates that are dramatically higher than email
3 (90% for SMS ° vs. 48% for the highest average industry
open rate for email˘).
° Source: http://designtaxi.com/news/31968/Conversational-Advertising-Emergent-Trend-in-Mobile-Advertising/
˘ Source: h"p://mailchimp.com/resources/research/email-‐marke3ng-‐benchmarks-‐by-‐industry/2
RULES OF THE ROAD
Things to know before getting
startedAbout the Mobile Marketing Association
The Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is the global
nonprofit organization responsible for establishing
mobile marketing best practices and standards. The
MMA works jointly with the CTIA (the wireless
communications industry’s trade association) to enforce
these standards. CTIA violations usually result in a
warning and a reminder to fix noncompliant aspects of
your SMS campaign. But continued violations can result
in the suspension of your campaign or revocation of
your short code. In addition to these industry players,
governments also create and enforce laws, such as the
CAN-SPAM Act in the U.S., that regulate the content and
requirements for text-message marketing.
Basic rules for keeping in compliance
Include the phrase “message and data rates may apply”
in your keyword advertising and initial SMS welcome
message (this can be abbreviated as msg & data rates
may apply”)
Include your business or program name, intended
frequency of messaging, and HELP and STOP (opt-out)
options in your keyword advertising and your SMS
welcome message
Include a link to your terms and conditions (or those of
your SMS provider) in all keyword advertising and in your
welcome message for contests and promotions
Always identify your business or program name when
communicating via SMS
Welcome to the Zippy Car Wash Coupon Club! Msg&data rates may apply.
4 msgs/mo. Text HELP for info, STOP to quit.3
PICKING AN SMS
PARTNER
What to look for when
selecting your text message
marketing platformYOUR MOBILE MARKETING PARTNER SHOULD: Be able to send SMS messages to all mobile carriers. There are many carriers in the U.S. and Canada, and not all services work with all carriers. Your SMS partner should work with a tier 1 aggregator, which typically has access to all mobile carriers with reliable deliverability. Be aggregator agnostic. Your SMS provider should have relationships with multiple aggregators, since this can significantly streamline the process of transferring short codes from other vendors. This is important if you plan to commission your own short code. Provide support in provisioning new short codes. It typically takes 8-12 weeks to get a short code ready for use. Your provider should be familiar with the process and that have the relationships to make it quick and painless, especially if you’re on a timeline to launch a new marketing campaign. Support the use of multiple shared short codes. If you want to separate your text marketing campaigns for different brands, having different short codes can help you accomplish this. Mobile partners that support a handful of shared short codes give you this option. Have a thorough knowledge of industry rules and regulations. The MMA offers guidelines for text-message marketing that all reputable providers follow. It’s critical that your provider has an in- depth understanding of these policies to ensure your campaigns or short codes do not get interrupted or shut down by carriers.
Support autoresponders and timed messages in addition to one- time messaging. In addition to outgoing messaging, your mobile partner should support autoresponders, which automate the process of providing information in response to a text. Your provider should also support timed messages, which allow you to send subscribers automated, one-time or multi-message text campaigns at preset intervals after they opt-in. Support the collection of customer data via text message. You can gain keen insights into your customer base by collecting information from them via text, whether it’s by asking for demographic information or by collecting customer sentiment through a poll. Your mobile partner should support this functionality, so you can use this data to improve future marketing efforts. Allow you to customize the content and sequence of the messages you send when people opt in or out of your lists. Regulations do require that customers receive both opt-in and opt- out confirmations with some mandated language. But you should also retain the ability to control the tone of these messages to match your company’s branding. Support personalization or “merge tags.” Merge tags are the bit of code you can insert into a mass message to personalize it for each recipient. As long as you have the information properly stored in your SMS platform database, you can include all kinds of personalized information, from a customer’s first name to their last date of purchase. Provide tools to help with support and troubleshooting. Sometimes customers will have questions or concerns about text messages they receive from your company. Having the ability to search your message database by phone number, short code or message content makes it easy to address these customer concerns.
4 BUILDING YOUR LIST Advertising your program and growing your subscriber base
Once you’ve found a partner to work with, it’s time to start building your
text-marketing list.
Picking a keyword
Building your database starts with picking the keyword users will text to
your short code to join your list.
Some things to consider when picking your keyword:
Make it easy to remember and spell so that customers can
easily recall and enter it.
Avoid using special or confusing characters. For example, a
lowercase “L” can look very much like an uppercase “I” or
the numeral 1 in certain fonts.
Keep it short. One-word keywords are best.
Avoid homonyms, those tricky words that sound the same but
have different meanings and spellings. They might work in a
print campaign, but in a radio call-to-action you’ll end up
confusing potential subscribers. (“Did he say to text ‘walk’ or
text ‘wok’?”)Promote your list
Advertising your keyword is as simple as this phrase:
Text {{KEYWORD}} to {{SHORT CODE}} to {{your call-to-action}}
Text DANCE to 839863 for more information and a
schedule of upcoming Dance Academy events.
Text COFFEE to 75309 to sign up for exclusive ACME
BROTHERS COFFEE text alerts and coupons.
Text KITCHEN to 75309 for an instant 20% off your
Renee Bennett order and to sign up for future deals.
Just as with an email list, there are hundreds of places you can advertise
a call to action (CTA) to join your list, including:
In-store signage Direct mail
Product packaging Billboards
Transit and print advertising Receipts
Social media Branded fleets
Email Shaved into the side of your
Business cards hair
Table tents, menus Television and radio ads
An important note on one-time versus recurring message campaigns:
Campaigns set up as sweepstakes, autoresponders, surveys and polls are all considered one-
time communications. Customers texting your business for these purposes are not
considered SMS subscribers unless you explicitly ask them to opt in to your marketing list.
Therefore, since you have not obtained permission to communicate with them on a regular
basis, you can’t do so without risking fines. If you want to add mobile numbers to a marketing
list you’ll use on a recurring basis, you must use all appropriate opt-in language or ask
subscribers to confirm (double opt-in) by responding on their mobile device. One-time
communications should still contain the phrase “message and data rates may apply” on all
advertisements.Maintain compliance
Wherever you advertise your keyword, you must stay in compliance with MMA
best practices. Your call-to-action must include a description of the program
(e.g., “Doughnut Lover’s Club”), the phrase “message and data rates may apply,”
the intended frequency of messaging, and opt-out and HELP instructions.
Text KITCHEN to 75309 for an instant 20% off your Renee Bennett
order and to sign up for future deals.
3-4 texts/month. Message and data rates may apply. Text HELP for info and STOP to quit.
When collecting SMS contacts:
DO
Publish compliance language in your keyword advertising
and welcome messages
Encourage users to utilize the single opt-in option by
texting your keyword to join (single opt-in) or
Use a web-based system that collects mobile numbers
and automates a confirmation message to their mobile
device (double opt-in)
DON’T
Collect mobile numbers on paper or verbally as most
SMS providers will not allow you to create subscriptions
for SMS contacts who don’t opt in digitally
Contact mobile numbers collected as part of a
sweepstakes or with an autoresponder (this is considered
one-time messaging) unless they have explicitly opted in
to your list per MMA guidelines5
CREATING A CAMPAIGN
Copywriting tips and when
to sendWriting your text-message copy
SMS messages are limited to 160 characters. Brevity and clarity are
critical in SMS marketing, but each message should still include:
Your company or campaign name somewhere in the body of your
text to properly identify yourself, especially if you are on a shared
short code
A clear and relevant call-to-action (how can subscribers act on
this information now?)
Outbound links if more information is necessary (it helps to use a
URL shortener)
Remember to text subscribers no more frequently than you
said you would upon opt-in. Texting more often violates
MMA guidelines and can put your short code at risk.
THREE WAYS TO INCLUDE YOUR COMPANY NAME IN EACH TEXT
ACME SPORTS: 50% off this weekend! Use
code 12345 to redeem.
50% off this weekend at ACME SPORTS.
Use code 12345 to redeem.
50% off this weekend! Use code 12345 to
redeem. -- ACME SPORTSPicking the best time to send The optimal time of day to text your subscribers depends on your particular business or industry. Fast-food restaurants might try to catch people at dinner time on the way home from work, for example. Before you send, ask yourself: When am I likely to reach people at the time they’re making a purchase decision about my product? You should not send text messages while the majority of your subscribers will be asleep. As a general rule, you should send them between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. And, note that depending on the size of your SMS list and your SMS provider’s throughput rates, it might take a few hours for your message to be deployed to your full subscriber base.
6
MEASURING SUCCESS
Analyzing the results of your
text campaignsAnalyzing results
Now that you’ve sent your campaign, how can you determine whether or
not it was successful? Let’s take a look at the basic metrics for SMS
campaigns.
DELIVERY RATE
Unlike email, with SMS you may not have an immediate
picture of delivery. Some larger carriers provide
delivery receipts right away. Others take longer to
report back — sometimes overnight. Only after all
carriers have reported back will your SMS provider be
able to report fully accurate stats on delivery rates.
Keep in mind that delivery rates indicate only that a text
message was delivered. They do not indicate that a text
was opened or read.
Low delivery rates indicate poor list health and can be an
indication that subscribers on your list may not have
opted in. Sending too many times to a list with low
delivery rates can compromise your short code
privileges and may result in its revocation or suspension.
LIST HEALTH INDICATORS
Delivery rates vary across industry and depending on list size, but as a
general rule:
99-100% - Golden
98-99% - Great
94-97% - Good
90-93% - Acceptable
80-89% - Warning
Under 80% - Red flagOPEN RATES
Carriers do not report open rates for SMS messages,
though it’s a commonly held industry belief that 90% of
SMS recipients read their text messages within three
minutes.°
CLICKS
Clicks can be measured at the campaign level when
you include trackable short URLs in the content of your
text message. After your campaign is sent, you can
refer back to your short URL metrics see how many
people clicked your link. (The short URLs you link to in
an SMS message should always link to a mobile-
optimized website. And, if you want to keep your short
URL tracking limited to a particular text, don’t publish
that unique short URL anywhere else.)
COUPON REDEMPTIONS AND SWEEPSTAKES ENTRIES
If you’re sending a coupon or promoting a
sweepstakes via text, you can track engagement using
your coupon redemption rates or by tracking the
number of sweepstakes entries you’ve received.
° Source: http://designtaxi.com/news/31968/Conversational-Advertising-Emergent-Trend-in-Mobile-Advertising/A special note on offers and promo codes
If you’re a retailer, text is a great
way to promote offer codes that TRAIN YOUR STAFF ON REDEMPTION
can be tracked at the point of sale. Your point-of-sale staff should be
Tex t - m e s s a ge o f f e r s c a n b e aware of your text message alerts
d e l i v e r e d i m m e d i a t e l y, and coupon offers, and know how
personalized with unique offer to redeem them before you launch
codes for each individual a text message coupon campaign.
recipient, and configured with It also helps to ask your staff to
dynamic expiration dates so you subscribe to the same text alerts
h a v e u l t i m a t e c o n t ro l ov e r customers receive so they’ll be
redemption. However, there are able to anticipate offers and ask
several things to consider when any questions before customers
deciding which kind of SMS offer begin the redemption process.
to distribute.
INCLUDE REDEMPTION INSTRUCT-
WEB OR TEXT-BASED COUPONS?
IONS IN THE BODY OF THE TEXT
With SMS you can send plain text
offers (personalized or generic
You can include special staff
coupon codes), or you can include
queues in the body of your text
a short URL linking to a mobile-
message offers (“Offer only valid
o p t i m i ze d c o u p o n i n c l u d i n g
on large size coffee SKU #454516”)
i m a ge s a n d eve n s c a n n a bl e
to help clarify your offers and
barcodes. So you can include
speed the redemption process.
whichever kind of offer integrates
best with your POS system. With
either type of offer, you have the
option of controlling view limits
and expiration dates based on
individual open dates and times.7
BUILDING YOUR MOJO
Finding what works for you
and capitalizing on itEstablishing cadence
You’ll want to establish and stick to a frequency in your SMS campaign
from the outset. This is important for customer anticipation and
satisfaction. You don’t want to contact them too much, or so infrequently
that they’re confused when they do receive an SMS message from you.
It’s also important because the MMA requires that businesses state
their intended frequency at the time customers opt in to your mobile
marketing list.
INDUSTRY CONTENT FREQUENCY
Restaurants and Bars Updates on food specials 3-4 times/week
and coupons
Media outlets Breaking news alerts 2-3 times/week
Government Service updates and 1-2 times/month
alerts
Health and fitness Notes on membership 10-12 times/year
specials
Non-profit Program and fundraising 10-12 times/year
updates
Retail and sales Alerts and coupons 1-2 times/month
Sports Team updates/injury 2-3 times/week, or scores
reports at the end of each
quarter/game
What is the optimal frequency for a mobile marketing campaign? That
depends on your type of business. Here are some very general examples
of frequency in different industries. Again, your frequency depends not
just on your industry, but on your overall communication strategy.
The ultimate answer to how frequently you should send your SMS
messages is that it depends on your audience. Always measure and test
your campaigns to note the impact of a change in frequency. Where you
can, compare to others in the industry by networking and exchanging
notes at conferences and social networking sites like LinkedIn and Quora.Troubleshooting issues
HIGHER-THAN-AVERAGE CHURN RATES
Occasionally you may see a spike in the amount of people leaving your list
over a given period. Here are three potential causes:
You’ve advertised your list in a way that doesn’t
accurately represent the provided content
1 If customers aren’t getting the kind of information or
messages they expected when they opted in, they’re
likely to unsubscribe.
You dramatically increased the frequency of your
2 messaging in a short time period
Are you sending messages more frequently to promote
an event or boost sales? Customers expect to be
contacted only as frequently as stated at the time of
their opt-in. Straying from that initial frequency can
lead to mistrust, annoyance and opt-outs.
3 You had a higher-than-usual increase in subscribers
over the same time period
You might, at times, experience a dramatic uptick in the
amount of subscriptions after an event or advertising
campaign. If this is the case, and afterward you see a
higher-than-average drop-off rate, it’s usually not
something to worry about (unless you’re guilty of #1,
above).
DELIVERY RATE DROP-OFFS
If your SMS subscribers are opted-in properly and you’re
experiencing steady, organic list growth, you shouldn’t see
a dramatic decrease in your delivery rates. A drop in
delivery rates might indicate a problem with your
provider. It’s important to keep monitoring your delivery
rates to make sure you’re not experiencing any technical
issues with sending.Tracking successes YOUR MOST SUCCESSFUL CAMPAIGN Every few months, take a moment to review metrics that indicate standout campaigns. Perhaps you had higher-than-usual coupon redemption or a stellar response rate on a particular message. Keep notes on which campaigns were most successful, and try to identify what made that campaign stand out. Was it the time you sent it? Did it contain useful content? Standout campaigns should be noted and their success used as an indication of how to communicate with customers in the future. LISTENING TO FEEDBACK FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS Nothing gives you more insight into your campaign health than getting actual feedback from customers. You can gather feedback via forums, social media, email, and even by sending SMS surveys to get an idea of what customers like best and least about your SMS campaigns and what they’d like to receive in the future. LEARN FROM YOUR INDUSTRY PEERS As the list of companies incorporating SMS into their marketing efforts grows, so does the pool of information — both official and anecdotal — on what it means to be a successful SMS marketer. You can use sites like Quora to search for questions and answers related to text-message marketing campaigns (e.g., “What’s an average coupon redemption rate for video rental services sending SMS coupons?”). SMS marketers populate a long list of groups on LinkedIn, where they share information, statistics, success stories and more. LIST GROWTH OVER TIME Your SMS partner should be able to provide you with a comprehensive report that shows your list growth over a specific time period. Hopefully, you’ll see what all marketers like to see when viewing your list trends: a steady line heading up and to the right. But you're most likely to see plateaus and dips as subscriber levels fluctuate. Keep close track of your marketing efforts and analyze those fluctuations against your marketing activity. If you see a list plateau, you might be able to match that to a period when you spent less on advertising. Or you might correlate a dramatic increase with the month you advertised your SMS program on your product packaging. A subscriber drop-off could reflect a change in the content or frequency of your messaging.
8
ADVANCED TIPS
AND TRICKS
Powerful tools at your
fingertipsTargeting locations Collecting data
If you’re operating a multiple- Unlike email, SMS isn’t designed
location business you may want to give customers a direct way to
to give customers the ability to respond to your business after a
subscribe only to a certain message is deployed. T his
location’s updates, and that’s doesn’t mean you can’t set up a
possible with a good SMS conversation between your
platform. Locations can be company and the customer using
targeted by zip code during a text, or collect information from
customer’s subscription prompt, your recipients, however. Text
suggested to the user based on d o e s o f f e r s o m e t wo - w a y
their proximity to their preferred communication options.
location. SMS even allows
customers to “work” through a This capability varies with your
list of suggested locations by SMS provider, but look for
replying Y or N until they reach providers that offer surveys,
the location they’d like to polls and data collection via
subscribe to. text. This means your SMS
communication system can be
Personalization configured to ask questions of an
audience and anticipate certain
As with email, you can use responses. Those responses can
merge data tags in your text then be recorded and collected
messages to personalize content. in a database for use in future
This means you can include campaigns.
information like a customer’s
first name, date of last purchase,
favorite menu item, or whatever
data you’ve collected to make
your SMS messages feel more
personal and relevant.Triggered and timed messaging It’s possible to set up a series of timed messages with SMS. Timed messages start deploying at the time a subscriber joins your list, and are triggered on the schedule you specify. They allow you to “set and forget” campaigns that run automatically using a series of messages that are communicated over a period of time, from a few days to a full year or more. Marketers use SMS timed messages for a number of reasons: • Educational programs • Sending lists • Creating reminders • Communicating instructions or tips after a purchase Keep in mind that timed messages aren’t subscriptions in the sense that you don’t control when each customer gets which message. A new subscriber to your timed message list might be receiving message one while on the same day an older subscriber is receiving his eighth message. Autoresponders Autoresponders are put in place to offer one-time messages with quick tips and information. Marketers use them to communicate everything from store hours to nutritional information about menu items. Autoresponders are deployed on a one-to-one basis the moment a customer texts a keyword to a short code. Autoresponders are not used to build marketing lists, as you shouldn’t use any contact information collected from autoresponders for recurring marketing campaigns.
Coupons and promo codes
Text-message marketing is a great way to incentivize immediate
purchase decisions. What better way to do than with a discount code or
a coupon? According to the MMA, mobile coupons get 10 times the
redemption rate of traditional coupons.°
You can deploy coupons and discount codes in a number of different
ways using text.
Uploading a .csv with a list of unique discount codes to be
deployed to individual subscribers
Creating a generic discount code that can be used by
anyone receiving the text
Using a short URL to link to a landing page that contains a
web coupon
° Source:
h"p://blog.sitewire.com/2010/06/21/20-‐sta3s3cs-‐you-‐need-‐to-‐know-‐about-‐mobile-‐marke3ng/About Signal
Signal is an all-in-one marketing platform designed to
help businesses of all sizes manage all their marketing
tasks online.
From email and text message marketing to social
media management and cross-channel digital
promotions, Signal provides all the tools you need to
build stronger customer relationships.
Interested to see how Signal can help you grow your
business?
Visit us at www.signalhq.com
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