5 Ways to Use SMS Marketing for Business Growth

When you hear your phone go off, your reaction is to pick up your device and see what’s going on, right? There are over 5 billion mobile users worldwide, and they all experience the same feeling when they hear their phone ding and see that familiar blinking light.

Business owners and marketers understand that this is a common phenomenon. They also know that people spend an average of 3 and a half hours on their phones every day.

With this knowledge in mind, many brands are redesigning their strategy with SMS marketing in mind. SMS marketing is essentially communicating with your customers through text messages. This tactic is excellent for building trust, increasing sales, and connecting with your subscribers.

We are going to explore several ways you can use SMS marketing to grow your business. These tips will help you get more value from your SMS campaign and improve your messages’ effectiveness.

Ready? Let’s get started!

Send Out an Irresistible Offer

The first way to use your SMS strategy to increase your sales is by sending offers to subscribers.

It’s important to note that you should only send promotional messages to people that opted to join your text message program. No one likes unsolicited social media messages or emails, and text messages are not an exception to this rule.

Your promotions will vary depending on your industry. But there are a ton of ways you can entice your SMS subscribers to take advantage of a promotion. For example, you could send out a simple discount code that gives subscribers a percentage off of their order if they click your link. This strategy is excellent for getting people to come back to your website and make another purchase.

It’s best to include unique links when you create your SMS campaign. You’ll get more data on sales and conversions, and get more insight into how users interact with your offers. Use this information to learn about your target audience and create more effective promotions in the future.

Promote New Products or Services

Odds are, you’ve added a new product or service to your business over the last year. How did you promote this new addition to your audience? If you didn’t use SMS to get users interested in what you’re offering, you missed out on a significant marketing opportunity.

Over 58% of website visits in the US happens on mobile devices. Social media, email, and website visits are all included in this mix. All of these different marketing platforms can benefit from SMS marketing.

Encourage your subscribers to share your new product on social media. Show users why your new product is going to add value to their lives by including a link to a blog post that complements the addition. Ask users to subscribe to your email list for even more special offers.

All of these seemingly insignificant interactions add up to more traffic, sales, and engagement when you launch a new product. The key is to use your short text message limit to show consumers why they should click the link and see what you have to offer.

Gather Feedback

Another great way to get more value from your SMS marketing campaign is to gather feedback from existing customers. Include a link to a mobile-optimized feedback form so users can quickly share their experience.

Ask targeted questions that encourage subscribers to give you actionable feedback you can use to grow your business. It’s nice to know that someone rated your brand 5 out of 5 stars, but if you don’t know why, this information is virtually useless outside of a small ego boost.

Finding out why users like or dislike your brand is vital to your growth. You can’t correct issues or improve on what you’re doing right without proper feedback. Let’s say you review your SMS feedback, and most people said they had trouble navigating your payment page. Now you know what you need to fix and can create a course of action that will turn your plan into a reality.

We suggest engaging with users after they leave feedback. A stunning 63% of people said that businesses don’t bother responding to their feedback, which can lead to a lack of trust or break brand loyalty.

Remember, your response doesn’t have to be long and complicated. A simple “thank you” goes a long way towards showing customers that you value their opinion.

Build Rapport with Personalized Messages

Most marketers and business owners use personalization in their emails and on their website. The ability to reach out to customers with specific interests on your site is a great way to increase conversions and engagement. For context, personalization increases sales by 20% on average.

Adding personalization to your SMS campaign is an excellent decision for those who want to build a more reliable connection with their audience. Imagine if someone randomly sent you text messages a couple of times a week, but they were never relevant to your interests, carer, or life.

You would probably block their number, right?

If businesses don’t consider personalization, they may see customers opt-out of future messages. People want to see things that interest them. A flood of irrelevant text messages is far from interesting for most of us.

A quick way to solve this problem is to allow your users to pick the text messages they receive. You can make it so people who opt-in can choose whether they want to receive promotions, news and updates, and what topics they would like to see in their messages.

So an online pet store might ask SMS subscribers would kind of pet they own. If they own a cat, the brand can send out relevant offers and flash sales on cat-related products. As a result, consumers are more likely to engage with your message and visit your website, which translates to more sales, traffic, and engagement.

Send Reminders

Finally, you can use SMS to remind customers about events run by your business. So, if you host a weekly webinar, you may send out a reminder an hour before the start time. This will remind users that an event is coming up, and it will give them time to settle in and watch your webinar when it goes live.

You can also send reminders about events that are taking place on social media. Let’s say you’re running a giveaway, and the event ends in a few days. A gentle reminder to subscribers to enter before the giveaway ends can help you get more responses and interactions on the platform you’re using.

Most of us live busy lives, so these small reminders are a great way to keep people interested in your brand.

Back to You

As you can see, there are plenty of ways you can start using SMS marketing today to grow your business. The key is to find the right combination of offers and content to keep customers coming back to your website, engaging with you on social media, and reading your emails.

Keep your target audience in mind when you’re developing your SMS strategy. Focus on adding value to their lives and saving them money, and you will surely see a positive return on investment with your mobile marketing campaign.