We've all heard that automated voice mail lady, telling us what to do after the beep. But fewer people than ever are leaving messages. And the millennials, they won't even listen to them — they'd much rather receive a text or Facebook message.
"I did have at one point in time like 103 unheard messages," says 31-year-old Antonia Kidd.
The New York Times reported in June that the phone service Vonage saw a significant drop in voice mail retrievals over the past year.
You shouldn’t drop your cold call campaigns altogether, but here are some rules to follow when CMOs and marketers should adhere to when implementing an SMS campaign.
1. Have A Clear Call-To-Action
According to Fishbowl data and integration specialist Lance Brandow, “One of the most common reasons SMS campaigns fail is that the call-to-action isn’t presented in a way that the consumer recognizes or understands what to do.”
Take this example from Pepsi. They tell consumers to text “PEPSIMAX” to 710710. A significant amount of people probably texted with the quotations around the keyword, which actually doesn’t trigger the campaign.
SMS campaigns are driven by 2 factors – the keyword and a short code. In this example PEPSIMAX is the keyword and 710710 is the short code.
It’s common and best practice to capitalize the keyword and short code to make them stand out within the call-to-action.
If you want to drive engagement, give your SMS CTA the priority it deserves.
2. Respond Quickly
According to authority builder T. Allen Hanes, “A company can lose their consumers' trust with delays in responding to a text or email. When a long time elapses after a customer's contact with a small business and the follow-up or lack thereof, trust erodes rapidly.”
Do not begin to collect SMS numbers until you can send an immediate confirmation to the subscriber's phone. If that trigger message follows weeks or months later, consumers may no longer be interested and you may potentially lose a significant portion of your reach.
In other words, forget about the whole "absence makes the heart grow fonder" edict in this context for the only thing absence will do is make your customers look at your competition fonder.
3. Measure Properly
The only way to determine if your SMS campaign is successful or not is by measuring.
According to Dan Rosenberg, Director of Marketing at CashforCars.com, “When it comes to SMS there are a handful of things you can do from a measurement perspective. The great thing is that they are all fairly easy to manage.”
Here are a few metrics to track when executing an SMS campaign:
Open rates for text messages, according to some statistics, exceed 98%, whereas email open rates are 22%. This is a measurement on how many subscribers open the message after receiving it.
Calculate opt-out and delivered rates for each outbound campaign. Compile the percentages in a spreadsheet (or your favorite CRM) and learn from those what sort of content generates rates above and below your average.
With all of this in mind, SMS messages may prove to be the most effective way to get your message across to your customers and ensure that they actually read and take it on board. If you offer a discount or special offer in the message, you may also find that the message is forwarded onto other people and you might actually increase your subscribers this way.
When it comes time to plan and launch your next SMS marketing campaign, be sure to account for these 3 components and you’ll be well on your way to a successful SMS marketing campaign.
