Getting a welcomed text message from a brand that you’ve provided permission to may be one of the most timely and actionable marketing strategies you can implement. Text Message Marketing is being utilized by businesses today to:

• Boost Sales – Send promotions, discounts, and limited-time offers to grow revenue
• Build Relationships – Provide customer service and support with 2-way conversations
• Engage Your Audience – Quickly share important updates and new content
• Generate Excitement – Host text-to-win sweepstakes or text-to-vote polls
• Collect Leads – Allow potential customers to sign-up for texts or send in one-off questions
• Nurture Leads – Follow-up with leads and keep them engaged with the occasional text

We don’t always check our email or other notifications, but there’s little doubt of how we respond to a text Message.

98% of text messages are opened, links receive an average CTR of 17, and the average SMS conversion rate is about 45%!

SimpleTexting SMS Conversion Rates

Case study after case study provides evidence of the effectiveness of text message marketing. While gaining access to a recipient’s phone number may be a little more of a challenge than email, there’s no doubt of the increased engagement.

39.5% of those surveyed stated that SMS marketing provided higher open rates than email marketing.

SimpleTexting SMS Marketing Report

If you’re not familiar with the terminology and technology behind text messaging, we’ve written an overview of SMS here as well as the terminology associated with the technology.

Expressed Consent

Central to SMS marketing is permission. While other channels have some software regulatory requirements for opting in or out to campaigns, pushing a message to a mobile phone number requires a legal requirement for expressed consent from the subscriber.

The subscriber needs to initiate the opt-in request, which can happen through signage (text MARKETING to 71813), through a click-to-text button on a digital property, web forms, email marketing (which may have click-to-text or click to a web form), Facebook Lead Gen Ads, Text-to-Vote or Text-to-Win Contests, or even a POS checkout.

The majority of carriers also typically require specific privacy statements and have very defined data requirements. A core aspect of working with an SMS marketing platform is complying with those regulations and platform guidelines.

How is SMS Marketing Unique?

A text message is somewhat unique from a marketing communication perspective:

• Short – SMS is the acronym for Short Message System. The character limit for a single message is 160 characters. Most modern phones and networks support concatenation so they can actually segment and rebuild messages up to 1600 characters.  Combined with screen size, text messaging is quite different to other message formats. MMS, of course, enable the ability to send photos, animated gifs, and videos (with some size limitations).
• Timing – The fact that a text message is delivered directly to the mobile phone… typically in your hand or very near. When it comes to timeliness, that’s an important factor in your text messaging strategy. For instance, if you had to drive engagement and awareness in a very limited timespan, mobile is far better. Email, for instance, may not be viewed for hours or even days compared to a text message.
• Location – While text messaging isn’t reliant on the geographic location of the device, a local business can differentiate itself via mobile. For instance, pushing a discount for a retail outlet could drive immediate traffic or a review request as a home service person is leaving a job site. Of course, your business can use a local or toll-free number. You can lease a dedicated short code as well.

SimpleTexting

If you’re looking for a fully functional Text Messaging platform, Simpletexting leads the industry in capabilities and integrations, including:

• Send SMS and MMS Campaigns – Send a text message to a group of contacts. Include photos, personalize your texts, and track who clicked your links.
• Have Two-Way Conversations – Text in real-time with customers. Get a new number or text-enable your existing one. (Without affecting your voice service.)
• Build a List or Import Yours – Add your existing contacts and use features like text-for-info to rapidly collect phone numbers.

SimpleTexting Key Features

• Short Codes – Reserve one of our industry-specific six-digit SMS short code for your business or organization. They’re easy-to-remember and great for high-volume use cases.
• 2-Way Messaging – Improve customer satisfaction, resolve conversations, and close deals with 2-way messaging. Use your current number or get a new one!

• Scheduled Texts – Set a specific date and time for your texts. Schedule messages hours, days, or months in advance then sit back, and relax. We’ll do the rest.
• Autoresponders – Keep your audience engaged with a staggered series of texts automatically spaced over days, weeks, or months. Perfect for creating drip campaigns.
• Import Contacts – Already have a list? Easily import your contacts in seconds. Include additional fields like Email, Name, and Notes to use for personalized messages.
• Multi-Number – Add multiple phone numbers to one account. Make sure the right message gets to the right department, agent, or location by assigning each one its own line.

• SimpleTexting Mobile – Get access to all of our powerful features, even when you’re on-the-go. Our iOS and Android apps let you manage your campaigns from anywhere.
• SMS Keywords – One of the quickest and easiest ways to collect phone numbers and grow your subscriber list is to create and promote an SMS keyword.

• Extended Messaging – Most platforms limit you to texts that are only 160 characters long. We give you up to 304 characters so you can send better, more detailed messages.
• MMS Marketing – MMS lets you enhance your text message campaigns with coupons, product images, and other rich media. You get up to 1,600 characters of text, too.
• Image Attachments – Who said a text is only 160 characters? A picture’s worth 1,000 words. Enhance your texts with beautiful images or enticing coupons.
• Custom Fields – Manage your data and send personalized text campaigns. Our app includes a few default fields, but you can create as many as you need.
• Data Collection – Want to know more about your subscribers? All you gotta do is ask. We’ll store your data in Custom Fields for use in future campaigns.
• Segments – Segments make it easy to add audience targeting to your text marketing strategy. Start sending smarter, more relevant campaigns today!
• Link Tracking – See how often your shortened links are clicked with our advanced analytics. Track results and measure success for each campaign.
• Teammates – SimpleTexting’s teammates feature not only lets you assign additional users to your lists, but it gives you the option to assign each new user their own phone number.
• Away Messages – SimpleTexting’s away message feature lets you set up an automated message that replies to contacts when you’re out of office or during a preset window.
• Templates & Duplicates – Save time by reusing your frequently sent messages, campaigns, inbox replies, autoresponders, and keyword confirmation messages.
• Triggers – Get back to customers with lightning speed. With Triggers, you can automatically respond to common queries and requests for information.
• See Your Results – Visualize your subscribers, messages, and keyword growth with beautiful graphs, grids, and charts. You’ve gotta see it to believe it.
• Text to Win – A classic marketing tactic with a modern twist, SMS sweepstakes are easy to enter and easy to set up. Plus, they’re a great way to add subscribers.
• Text to Vote Surveys – Get instant feedback from customers with a text poll. Set up multiple choices and even share the real-time results with your participants.
• Polling Subscribers – With polls, it’s easier than ever to get feedback from your subscribers. Just send your question and wait for the answers to start rolling in.
• Tiny Links – Save precious characters. Turn even the longest URLs into text- friendly tiny links. Send links to sites, videos, downloadable content, or apps.
• Text-Enable Your Number – Receive and reply to text messages on your existing business phone number without affecting your voice service.
• Push Notifications – With desktop push notifications, you can navigate away from SimpleTexting without worrying about any missed messages!
• Rollover Credits – Use ’em or lose ’em? Not anymore! Unused credits now roll over. You can hold on to your remaining credits until the end of the following month.
• Group Text from Phone – Send a text blast to your subscribers, even if you can’t get to a computer. Just send us text with the list you’d like to message and we’ll push it out to the right people.
• Self-Cleaning Lists – Our system automatically checks for dead numbers every time you send a message and removes them when they’re spotted. No need for you to constantly monitor!
• Automated Birthday Texts – Break out the cake and confetti: it’s time for a birthday celebration. Our automated birthday SMS takes two minutes to set up and is a great way to delight your subscribers.

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SimpleTexting SMS Integrations

• Web Forms – Let your fans opt in to your text messages right from your website. A quick copy and paste is all it takes to embed one of our simple forms on your site.
• Mailchimp Integration – Got a Mailchimp account? Sync it with SimpleTexting and start sharing contacts between the two platforms. No more manual exports and imports!
• API – Add texting capabilities to your existing system. Integrate with SimpleTexting through our powerful API. Together we’ll build beautiful SMS-enabled products.
• Zapier Integration – Our integration with Zapier lets you create automatic processes by connecting SimpleTexting to 1,000+ apps including Gmail, Facebook and more.
• Apps – Connect SimpleTexting to the web apps you already use. Take your marketing to the next level by adding text messaging to the mix.

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Disclosure: I am an affiliate of SimpleTexting and I’m using affiliate links in this article.

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