SMS Marketing: Best Practices in 2021

Did you know that 54% of consumers would like to receive offers by SMS but only 11% of businesses use SMS marketing?

SMS marketing has been around as long as mobile phones have, but with social media and email marketing taking the spotlight, businesses tend to forget about the power of SMS. Some businesses might not yet know how to use SMS to their advantage or simply haven’t thought about using it.

The thing is, there’s a lot of competition when it comes to email and social media marketing; every day you see hundreds of emails and advertisements, which makes it hard to get noticed.

The modern man is too busy to read lengthy emails, but a short message with valuable information from brands and services they care about is a lot easier to consume. This is exactly the main point of SMS marketing: to keep it short and simple.

Are you considering incorporating SMS into your digital marketing strategy in 2021? With the COVID-19 pandemic still having a major impact on the world, brands want to build direct relationships with customers and stand out. If you’re interested in finding out how SMS marketing should be used in 2021, keep reading.

SMS marketing best practices in 2021 1. Use an SMS delivery tool 2. Keep your goal in mind 3. Get consent 4. Send relevant information 5. Promote opt-in 6. Optimal send time 7. Time-limited offers

Use an SMS delivery tool

We need to work efficiently: that’s why the first thing you need to do is choose a tool to send SMS (in bulk) to your customers. By doing so, you can use your computer to easily compose and customize messages and send them out with a single click. Tools like this make it easy to manage your SMS marketing online, whenever and wherever you are.

You can use a bulk SMS delivery service such as EZSMS.

With the emphasis on easy, I like that you don’t need technical knowledge to use this tool. Since you’re not stuck to any kind of subscription And you can send SMS text messages internationally at affordable rates. As for some services you’re stuck to a monthly subscription but what I like about EZSMS is that you only pay when you use the service.

Check out EZSMS here

Keep your goal in mind

Before clicking that send button, just stop and think: what is the purpose of sending this? How does this add value for my customers? If you can’t answer these questions you should probably rethink the campaign: this will stop you from sending too many unnecessary messages.

SMS marketing is more aggressive than email marketing, so you should make sure to only include the most important information and keep it short and powerful. Make good use of CTA’s so customers who are interested in the details of your offer or update can go to your website to read more.

Get consent

This goes hand in hand with keeping your goal in mind: you don’t want to annoy or even worse; anger customers by sending them SMS messages they didn’t agree to.

Allow customers to opt-in with a keyword or shortcode and specify how many text messages you will send them daily or weekly, and keep your opt-out option open.

Send relevant information

Always make sure that customers receive information that is relevant to them and their preferences.

For example, the SMS sending tool EZSMS allows you to upload CVS files so you can customize your customer list. Perhaps a certain offer is only available in a select number of countries or you have a product that is only relevant to an older demographic. Personalization still plays an important role in 2021.

Promote opt-in

Ok, earlier on I mentioned how competitive social media marketing and email marketing have become but we can’t deny the power of these platforms. Especially if you’ve already built a following, you can make use of that to promote opt-in for your SMS marketing campaigns. Consider Facebook, Instagram, email newsletters, and your website for promotion.

Optimal send time

This one is obvious but still overlooked sometimes: make sure to send SMS messages during a time people aren’t busy doing something else.

Even though there’s a general rule for text marketers to send between 10 AM and 8 PM, it’s better to test different times for your business, analyze the open and click rates and make decisions based on that.

Time-limited offers

Did you know that 90% of SMS messages are opened within 3 seconds?

Knowing this, you probably realize that SMS marketing is what you need to promote time-limited offers and deals and increase traffic and sales in a short time.

Make sure to use phrases that create a sense of urgency, such as: Only today! Book today for 15% off! Hurry before the deal expires! Limited stock!

Are you ready to give SMS marketing a try, or improve your current strategy? Don’t miss out on this opportunity, because other marketers will certainly make use of SMS for their business in 2021.