SMS Marketing: Sending The Right Message

SMS marketing can be a very effective tool in your digital marketing toolkit, but just like hammers and screwdrivers, each tool was created for a specific purpose. Are you using SMS marketing the right way?

SMS Marketing: Sending The Right Message

SMS marketing can be a very effective tool in your digital marketing toolkit, but just like hammers and screwdrivers, each tool was created for a specific purpose.

The strength that SMS marketing has over email marketing is found in the open rates and the immediacy of the medium. People are almost never found without their phones and they have a tendency to open up every text message they get. SMS marketing open rates are close to 99%, which sounds like the perfect medium to send out your digital marketing with, but it comes with a fairly hefty downside.

When To Use Email VS SMS

We use our email addresses as a requirement to sign up to almost all online services, so we are used to receiving marketing emails and spam to our email addresses, but we still see our mobile phones as a private device. Due to the relative newness of SMS marketing, sending text messages directly to your clients can be viewed as being very intrusive.

We encourage our users to use SMS for urgent and important information only, such as event cancelations, e-commerce purchase updates and other messages that need to be read and would be welcomed by the receiver. We generally discourage blanket SMS to entire customer databases, unless you know that they would be engaged with your campaign.

Below is an example of Oncord's powerful conditions tool that would send out an SMS blast to everyone who has RSVP'd as 'Attending', plus everyone who hasn't RSVP'd for the event yet.

How Can You Use SMS For Your Business?

Oncord has a pool of ‘shared numbers’ that you can send from. When using a shared number, reply handling and automatic opt out are enabled. You can also use your own custom number or name, however this disables the automatic reply handling and automatic opt out. An opt-out function is required on all SMS campaigns in order to comply with Australian Privacy Laws.

In regards to the cost, your digital marketing system usually has a flat rate per SMS message sent. Oncord’s pricing is 16c per SMS regardless of database size, which is pretty cheap especially if you are only doing small sends. There are no additional monthly or annual fees to use this service if you are on the Communication or Complete plan.

It is also important to note that using SMS marketing with Oncord comes with additional benefits:

1. Email marketing users who have unsubscribed from email campaigns will not be sent SMS messages. This avoids unsettling your client base who have opted out of your digital marketing
2. All SMS activity will be shown in your member’s activity feeds
3. Users can opt out by simply SMSing a reply back with the word STOP
4. Any reply to an SMS will be recorded against member profiles and the campaign that was sent

SMS marketing is definitely a potent tool in any digital marketer’s belt, you have to remember what it's strengths and weaknesses are. You wouldn’t hammer in a nail with a wrench, would you?