| SMS

A guide to successful SMS Marketing

Easy ways to gather mobile subscribers and send more effective messages.

Whether you’ve sent out a few dozen messages to test out SMS marketing, or you’ve sent out thousands of messages and would like to take your results from average to exceptional, this ebook is for you.

It contains advice on growing your subscriber list, the sort of messages people like to receive, when they prefer to receive them, and quick tweaks that’ll mean you get much better results.

Contents page:

Grow subscribers ....................................................................................................................................................... pg.4

SMS marketing and the law ............................................................................................................................ pg.5

Incentives that really work .............................................................................................................................. pg.6

Promoting your offer ........................................................................................................................................ pg.8

Setting expectations ......................................................................................................................................... pg.8

When to use SMS and when not to ...................................................................................................................... pg.9

What to send ................................................................................................................................................................ pg.12

The first message .............................................................................................................................................. pg.13

Leading with value ............................................................................................................................................ pg.15

Personalisation .................................................................................................................................................. pg.16

Timing is everything ......................................................................................................................................... pg.17

Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................................... pg.18

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

Grow subscribers

The hardest part of SMS marketing is getting a list together of people who want to hear from you. Here’s where we explore how you can grow your list, starting with the legalities.

SMS marketing and the law

A lot of businesses collect mobile numbers from customers as a matter of course: from buying something

online to registering for a service. Sending marketing messages to these people is not illegal – it’s called a

‘soft opt-in’ – but recipients must be given the opportunity to opt-out.

This means allowing the recipient to text back with STOP or something similar. You don’t need to include

this information with every message you send, but at least one of your text messages have it (see ‘The First

Message’ for examples and ideas).

In an ideal world, customers will actively opt-in to receive text messages from you, and we’ll look at how

you can encourage them to do this on the next page.

Every text message you send needs to show:

Who you are

What you are selling

What the promotions are, and if there are any special conditions attached.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has a helpful checklist to ensure you’re compliant.

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

Incentives that really work

Here’s where we explore how you get can customers to actively opt-in to receive text messages from you.

It’s an important step because, although it’s not illegal to send promotional text messages to existing

customers without their consent, you will get better results if the customer knows that they are going to

receive messages, and wants to receive them.

You’ve probably seen tick boxes saying ‘tick here to receive mobile offers’ if you shop online; most people

leave these unticked, because they don’t see the value – what’s in it for them?

Here are two ways to give customers a great reason to sign up to receive messages from you.

1. Give something away

As our example shows (and our apologies for

the dreadful pun), giving something away as an

incentive to sign up to a mobile mailing list is a

familiar and effective tactic.

You could also offer a discount, or a prize

draw for a gift card, driving experience or spa

treatment if you offer a service that can’t be

given away or discounted easily.

These kind of adverts can appear on your

website, in print, on signs or in your email

signature – and they appeal to both new and

current customers.

6

JAVABEAN

C O F F E E C L U B

TEXT ‘BREWTIFUL’ TO 24792

MORNING

WAKE UPCUP

JOIN TODAY FOR YOUR free weekLy

Example giveaway

A guide to successful SMS marketing

2. Offer something exclusive

This is more long-term than a single giveaway or prize draw and needs a bit of planning.

The sort of things you might offer to customers here include promotional codes, offers or event invites: ‘Get

exclusive news, events and deals by joining our mobile VIP club’, ‘Exclusive offers straight to your mobile

device’ and ‘Receive exclusive contests, events and more!’.

If you have an email newsletter, and distribute promotional codes or event invites via email, it’s important

that these are separate from your mobile offers. They really do need to be exclusive.

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Example Call-to-Action

A quick note about short codes

Short codes are special telephone numbers

which are significantly shorter than full

telephone numbers. They are pretty

much essential for signing up new mobile

subscribers because they’re a lot easier to

type in than a full telephone number!

How do you get one? Ask your SMS service

provider about your options and expect to

pay a small monthly fee.

A guide to successful SMS marketing

75% of people want to receive messages from businesses sent to them via SMS, and almost 1/3 have

actively subscribed to mobile marketing (source).

So the appetite is there, but now you need to make sure that your customers know that you offer this service.

You don’t need to have a big budget, either:

Add a form to your website allowing customers to opt-in with their mobile numbers

Use email to encourage customers to opt-in to mobile marketing

If you have a shop, put up signs inviting customers to join your mobile mailing list

Tell people how to sign up for your mobile mailing list in your magazine or directory adverts

Add a banner graphic to your website and social media pages

Put your invite on your letterhead paper, invoices / receipts and compliment slips.

Our attention span keeps getting shorter so keep your message simple!

Setting expectations

Don’t expect overnight results; building a mobile database takes time and energy, and one of the reasons

some companies don’t succeed is that they give up too soon.

It’s not unusual for it to take several months for a small business to get your first 500 or 1,000 subscribers,

so don’t worry if things seem slow to start with. Keep on consistently promoting your mobile offer, and they

will come in time.

Promoting your offer

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

75%

When to use SMS and when not to

Marketing by text message has a lot of stats to boast its success: 81% of Irish people own a smartphone (source); SMS boasts a 98% open rate (source); and 70% of people deem SMS as a great way to win their attention (source).

However, receiving a text feels much more personal than an email, and obviously you have limited space to get your message across.

Think carefully before committing to an SMS campaign and as yourself these questions:

Pre-send checklist

1. Can my message be put across in 160 characters?

It’s not easy to write advertising messages that are interesting, entertaining or useful AND encourage

someone to take action within 160 characters. There will be times when email works better.

Don’t take your email campaign and try to squash it into an SMS: always think SMS first.

160 characters is the length of one text message.

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

2. Is this message urgent?

One of the great things about SMS is the speed in which they’re read. MobileSquared, a mobile research

firm, reported that 90% of people read text messages within three minutes of them being received.

But that great strength is also a weakness; if your message doesn’t demand immediate attention, it’ll be read

and then forgotten. Reminding someone that their car is due for a service a month before the actual date

will be less effective than the same message sent *when* the service is due.

Equally a one day promotional sale should be promoted on the day, not three days before. This is where

coupling SMS with an email campaign can be very effective; use email for the build up, and SMS to really

drive action.

3. Is this message really valuable?

Don’t waste your customers’ good will; every message you send out is a chance for them to unsubscribe,

and if you send them something unimportant, they’ll do just that.

This is best practice for any marketing message, but with SMS being so personal, you need to be particularly

selective about what you send.

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

What to send

The first message

The first message you send to both subscribers (who’ve

opted in) and new customers (who might not realise they’re

going to get marketing messages from you) is absolutely key

to the future success of your messages.

This is your opportunity to tell people what they can expect

to receive from you, how often, and how they can stop

receiving messages if they choose.

Thanks for signing up

to mobile alerts from

Cactus Recruitment!

We’ll send you 2-3

messages per mth with

the best vacancies for

your skill set. Text STOP

to opt out at any time.

Cactus Recruitment13:34

Text Message

Example 1

Welcome to Esendex’s

Mobile VIP Club! You’ll

receive exclusive invites,

promotions and news

3-4 times per month.

Opt out any time by

texting NOTHANKS to

51444.

Mobile VIP Club13:34

Text Message

Example 2

Hello & welcome from

Daybrook Surgery! We’ll

send you special offers &

important surgery news

via SMS. Text STOP to

opt out.

Daybrook Surgery13:34

Text Message

Example 3

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Example welcome messages for subscribers:

A guide to successful SMS marketing

Already sent out your first message? Don’t worry: it’s never too

late to let people know what to expect

and when.

While you’ll probably want to keep most of your messages to 160

characters (the length of one text message), the welcome message is often longer as there’s more to communicate. If you go over 160 characters, your message will still

look like one message, but you’ll be charged for two messages by your

SMS provider.

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Example welcome messages for new customers:

Thank you for registering

for Cactus Recruitment’s

services! We’d like to

send you 2-3 messages

per month with the best

vacancies for your skill

set. You can opt-out at

any time by replying

STOP.

Cactus Recruitment13:34

Text Message

Example 1

Thank you for shopping

with Esendex! We’d like

to send you exclusive

invites, promotions and

news via SMS 3-4 times

per month. If you’d

rather not receive these

messages, please text

NOTHANKS to 51444.

Esendex13:34

Text Message

Example 2

Hello from Daybrook

Surgery! We use SMS

to let people know

about special offers and

important surgery news;

they’re free to receive

and you can opt out

at any time by texting

STOP.

Daybrook Surgery13:34

Text Message

Example 3

A guide to successful SMS marketing

160 characters looks like this. It’s

true that you don’t have a huge

amount of space, but not so short

that you shouldn’t consider how

you structure your offer.

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Example promotional messages:

Save 20% on all

footwear at Bella’s

Boots. One day only -

show this text to the

cashier to get your

discount!

Bella’s Boots13:34

Text Message

Example 1

Free garlic bread

with every 10” pizza

ordered from Freddie’s

Fry Up this weekend!

Order online at www.

freddiesfryup.ie & add

FRED10 when you

checkout.

Freddie’s Fry Up13:34

Text Message

Example 2

Buy 2 get 1 free tanning

sessions in our new

state-of-the-art tanning

booth. Call 020 915

4016 to book today &

quote 2-4-1 SMS.

Tanstar13:34

Text Message

Example 3

A guide to successful SMS marketing

Leading with value

You should always open your SMS with the most exciting part of your message. If that’s a giveaway or a

discount, start with this and then go into detail.

Personalisation

As we’ve said before, receiving a text feels highly personal, which can work for or against you when sending

marketing messages.

It can work for you if you use all of the information you have about your customers to improve the

relevance of the message you’re sending.

It can work against you if you stick to one-size-fits-all messages without thinking about how the people at

the receiving end will react to them.

Personalisation can start small: just including your customer’s name will help them feel like the message was

crafted just for them.

Taking this further, you might want to consider grouping your customers by:

Age

Gender

Purchase history

Location

You can then tailor your promotion to each group - for example, a discount on a new celebrity perfume

might be of greater interest to women aged 18-34 than to men aged 60+. Equally promoting a new

restaurant opening in Limerick isn’t going to be of much interest to people in Dublin.

If you don’t have this level of information about your mobile subscribers, don’t panic; use what you do have,

and segment and personalise your messages as much you reasonably can.

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

Timing is everything

How often should you send SMS marketing campaigns?

Pretty consistently: three to four times a month should help you stay top of mind with your customers.

However, don’t feel that you have to stick to an absolutely rigid schedule - better to miss a week than to

send through a poorly thought-through message.

When should you send SMS marketing campaigns?

Most text messages are read within three minutes of them being received, so they don’t work as well for

‘teaser’ style content (i.e. ‘coming soon…’). They’re better used when you want someone to take action

NOW.

Marks & Spencer ran a highly successful text message campaign to promote their dine-in-for-two offer

(source). Their texts were carefully timed to reach phones as busy commuters were leaving work, reminding

them that they’re hungry, they’ve mouths to feed, and there’s an affordable solution to this problem just

down the road. The same message sent at 9AM wouldn’t have had the same impact.

For most people, working out the best time of day to send out a campaign is down to good judgement and

a degree of trial and error. If your customers are working professionals, and your message isn’t work-related,

try lunchtimes and evenings when they’re at liberty to take action.

Test different days of the week, and different times, and, based on the volume of response to your

promotion, you’ll be able to work out what works best for your customer base.

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

Conclusion

We hope this ebook has given you some ideas for how you can start to actively grow your mobile

subscriber list, and what content works well sent through SMS. Our top tips for quick wins are:

Set expectations - don’t just send a promotion out of the blue to unsuspecting customers!

Email and SMS work really well together; send an email first and follow up with an SMS when you

want action

Pick your moments - use the immediacy of SMS to your advantage

Open your message with the most exciting part

Tailor your promotions to the individual as much as possible.

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A guide to successful SMS marketing

About Esendex

Esendex is a mobile business communications provider helping thousands of customers worldwide.

We offer 1-2-1 account management to help you get the best out of your marketing campaigns,

and have direct network connections to all of the major networks, meaning that your messages

will be delivered quickly, securely and reliably.

To contact your account manager:

Call 01 631 9410

Visit www.esendex.ie where our agents are available on LiveChat (office hours only).

Designed and published by Esendex Ltd. Esendex Limited 2017 | Registered company number: 04217280