It can feel like an uphill fight to get in touch with your audience directly in a world full of email and social media alerts. But among all the digital noise, SMS jumps out because it is quick and has an effect. Bulk SMS is a great way to connect with your target audience, get them involved, and eventually reach your business goals. With response rates seven times higher than emails and open rates close to 98 percent, it’s easy to see why.
Sending the same word to a lot of people, on the other hand, is a surefire way to fail. To get the most out of bulk SMS, you need a plan that puts personalisation, usefulness, and value at the top of the list.
Here is how to become an expert at bulk SMS marketing in the year 2024:
- List your goals and the people you want to reach:
Before you write your first message, you should think about what you want to achieve with group SMS. Is it raising awareness of the company, getting new leads, keeping customers interested, or making sales? You can plan your content and division better if you have a clear goal in mind.
Next, think about who you want to send it to. Who do you want to get in touch with? Knowing their age, gender, hobbies, and problems will help your messages get through.
- Make lists of good contacts:
For an SMS programme to work, it needs a clean list of contacts who have agreed to be on it. It is illegal and unethical to buy or scrape personal information. Instead, offer rewards for people who visit your website or who are already customers to pick up SMS updates.
Be clear about how often and what kinds of messages you send, and always make it easy for people to stop. For long-term involvement, it’s important to build trust and respect.
- Divide your audience into groups so you can tailor your messages to each one:
Don’t treat your viewers like a faceless mass, but as real people. Separate your contact list into smaller groups based on age, gender, hobbies, past purchases, or anything else that makes sense. This lets you make sure that your messages have the most effect possible.
Let’s say a clothes store sends out an SMS about a sale this summer. By dividing their list into groups based on gender and past purchases, they can send more tailored messages. For example, men might get deals on shorts and swimwear, while women might see deals on dresses and sandals.
- Keep it short, sweet, and to the point:
Keep in mind that you can only use 160 characters. Make your point short and easy to understand. Include a strong call to action (CTA) that gets people to do something, like visit a website, use a coupon, or reply to confirm their involvement.
To keep your tone nice and interesting, use emojis, acronyms, and everyday language.
- Plan when to send your messages:
Don’t wake people up in the middle of the night! When you schedule your messages, think about the time zone and normal activity habits of the people you want to reach. Mornings and evenings during the week are usually good times to reach workers. Weekends may be better for families.
Try sending at different times to see which ones get the most replies.
- Accept customisation and interaction:
Don’t just send static texts. Greetings and mentions can be made more personal by using merge tags and customer data that you already have. Putting a face to your work this way makes people feel like they are important.
To get people to talk back and forth, you can use polls, comments, or even simple yes/no questions. Interactivity makes people more interested and gives you useful information about what customers want.
- Give something of value, not just sales pitches:
Every day, people get a lot of advertising texts. Focus on giving real value through your SMS marketing if you want to stand out. Share special savings, early access to deals, new product information, or useful tips that are related to your business.
Your brand will become a trusted resource instead of just a salesperson if you build trust and add value.
- Keep track of, analyse, and improve:
Set it and forget about it! Check how well your campaign is doing by looking at the read rates, click-through rates, conversion rates, and unsubscribe rates. This information will help you figure out what’s working and what needs to be changed.
You can find the best way to reach your audience by A/B testing different message types, calls to action, and times of day.
- Connect to other channels:
Even though SMS is useful, it shouldn’t be the only thing you use for marketing. For a smooth omnichannel experience, connect your SMS campaigns to other platforms like social media, email, and your website.
For instance, you could send them an SMS to remind them of an online shopping cart they left behind or a personalised birthday offer linked to their email address.
- Do what the rules say and follow them:
When sending bulk SMS messages, you should always follow the rules and best practices in your area. Make sure you have their permission before adding them to your list, make sure your brand is clear in all of your messages, and make it easy for them to remove.
For long-term success, you need to earn your audience’s trust and protect their privacy.