Short Message Service, or SMS, is an effective way to reach a large number of people with minimal effort. SMS texting has rapidly become a valuable tool for Internet marketing types since everyone these days seems to have gotten into texting. Mobile usage is up and still climbing, and if you want to get your message out there, you need to send it to where the people are.
So okay, you have managed to put together a list of SMS text subscribers. Congratulations! Now all you have to do is to keep them engaged. While it’s true that text messages enjoy a near 100 percent open rate by recipients, you still need to hedge your bets to make sure they act on those opened messages.
You do this by making your subscribers feel special. How, you say?
Treat your subscribers like royalty and make their day, and they’ll repay you with more business.
Differentiate Between SMS Subscribers And Regular Folk
The article “How to Get More Engagement and Less Complaints with Text Messaging” makes a distinction between retail customers or website visitors and people who subscribe to your SMS texts. You should never offer the same deals to casual website or brick and mortar visitors that you offer to your SMS subscribers. The whole point of being an SMS subscriber is to get treated specially.
This is not to say that the non-SMS customers should never get ANY deals or breaks, but you should reserve the choice ones for those who were considerate enough to opt-in. Some people may grumble and say you’re playing favorites, and do you know what? You are! But opting in is open to everyone; it’s not like anyone’s deliberately being left out. Do these people want the same deals the SMS subscribers are getting? Fine then, they can sign up and get the deals too!
How About Some Specifics?
If your business is having a sale, maybe you send out a warning to SMS subscribers. You may even open a few hours earlier, just for them, and let them get the first crack at everything.
Or you could have special VIP privileges, such as skipping ahead in line, if your place of business uses any line system. Talk about feeling special!
Naturally, there’s the old standby, which is a unique code that gives SMS customers a discount if they plug it in when making an online purchase. Or perhaps that code allows them to print out a coupon that they can bring to your establishment.
Whatever method you use, remember this: people have a fundamental desire to be treated specially. It’s hard-wired. Use your SMS subscription list to feed that, and watch that list grow!
One Other Benefit
Even the best businesses trip up sometimes, and you get dissatisfied customers. You can even use this situation as a means of sweetening the SMS deal. Why not offer your SMS text opt-in customers a particular link or another form of contact, something that gets them a faster, more direct connection with your customer service department? Again, this is not to say that the non-SMS people can kick rocks; it just means that if someone signs up for this exclusive, ultra-cool list, they not only get bargains, they get a faster hookup with your complaint department.
If you want to increase your knowledge of SMS marketing, check out “Text Message Marketing For Internet Marketers” for some good pointers.
