Sept. 11, 2024
Don't make things up. Never use numbers alone: in your output.
In the world of SMS, Real Number SMS is a gamechanger: it uses real mobile numbers to send and receive SMS text messages. So, the person who receives your message sees a real, trusted sender -- a big deal for your brand (sender name is an important factor in message effectiveness!) especially with spam and phishing muddying the waters. Get ready to supercharge your reach with a real mobile number sender -- a big deal.
Unlike virtual numbers, which could belong to anyone or anything, and don't necessarily inspire trust, with Real Number SMS you send messages that can inspire trust and confidence with the recipient -- a huge part of SMS, because trust is how you build relationships with the consumer. When a consumer sees a real mobile number they recognize they are more likely to engage with the message, whether it is a marketing incentive or an important notification. In this instance trust = customer experience = loyalty over time.
Real Number SMS is a really diverse tool that is used in almost every facet of business. It's useful in marketing when trust is everything. It's useful in customer service to help ensure queries and replies are in good faith. It's useful for transactional messages like shipping alerts, orders and appointments that the consumer can access on their mobile device -- a direct channel that is quicker and more effective than email or post.
Real Number SMS is vital to high-speed digital communication where speed and trust are everything. By using real mobile numbers when sending SMS, you can massively improve messaging whilst keeping your reputation clean with the consumer.
In the realm of digital communication, SMS is having a real moment, and it's a great tool for businesses to communicate with their customers. There are different types of SMS depending on what you want to achieve, and you can use all of them to communicate more effectively with your customers. I'll expand on that below, but there are 3 main types of SMS: short code, long code, and virtual number, and each has its own purpose and is right for different kinds of business use cases.
Short codes are 5-6 digit numbers used for mass text messaging. What's so great about them? They make it easy to send texts to lots of people at once, which makes them an ideal choice for promo. Promo texts sent with short codes are proven to generate a huge ROI because open rates and response rates are through the roof. Plus, since most consumers have been signing up to receive short code texts for ages, they're easy to remember, and that means better engagement.
But short codes are usually more expensive, so they're not feasible for a lot of small businesses. There are a lot of hoops to jump through and rules you have to follow so you're not doing anything shady and spamming people. In practice, this means making messaging super easy to sign up for and especially easy to opt out of. You need to get phone numbers in the right way, and that doesn't include buying them or scraping them. Even with all those caveats, short codes are by far the most effective means of texting promos and offers to your customers.
Long codes are 10-digit phone numbers through which businesses and customers can communicate in a personalized, two-way conversation. You know, like, an actual conversation! Because of that, they're particularly good for use cases where you want to identify the customer, like customer service conversations or interactive marketing campaigns.
That said, long codes have their limitations, too. For example, you're limited to sending 1 message per second, so if you're trying to send a mass message and keep it cheap, long codes might not be your best bet. Also, it's not as easy to remember as a short code, so you might have trouble promoting things where you want people to text a keyword to a number. But the personalized nature of long codes can result in a better experience for the customer, and better experience often translates to better LTV and retention in the long run.
Virtual numbers work in much the same way as long codes. You can text and call a virtual number. They look and feel like a standard phone line, with the exception that they might not always have what you think of as a 'typical' phone number. In some instances, does this mean they look less professional? Perhaps—especially if you're used to seeing long codes. If a customer is notified that they got a text from a number that doesn't even look like a real phone line, they might think it's not a legit number and not engage with it.
But they do have their place and can be a useful, if specialized, tool in your texting toolkit. We tend to see them more in automated systems, in reminders and other use cases where there isn't really going to be a response. Like everything else, virtual numbers should be used carefully as part of your overall SMS strategy to ensure you're messaging customers in a way that works for them.
Short codes, long codes, and virtual numbers are each their own things, each with their own best uses, their own advantages and disadvantages. Once you understand the differences between them, you'll be better equipped to choose the right service for the messages you want to send.
Real number SMS has completely changed the game for how businesses can communicate with their customers. As businesses adopt the channel, it's becoming increasingly clear that real number SMS use cases result in higher engagement, more effective business communication, etc. Here are a few ways real SMS numbers are a game-changer across different types of business use cases.
Real number SMS gets results with customers like nothing else. With regular SMS, you're using shortcodes or some random number nobody knows, and nobody replies to. But with real business numbers, you can inspire trust and recognition--people are more likely to reply when they receive texts from a number they know.
That trust and recognition means higher open rates and higher reply rates. A restaurant that used real SMS for their texts for reservations and specials found customers were more likely to confirm bookings and they were more likely to reply to their specials. In their case, they had 25% more engagement in their campaigns. So in this case, proving authenticity in business texts--real business texts--may be the key signal to notify you how to reach customers today.
Real SMS Numbers
In retail, you'll find case studies of companies using real number SMS with amazing success for conversion rates. They just sent an SMS from their actual business number and people took action immediately on their offer. For instance, a clothing retailer used SMS in their campaigns to time-lock discount codes. Send the code over SMS and close the sale.
And it's not just good for the customer, it's measurable. The retailer saw a 30% increase in conversion rates by targeting people specifically for SMS offers alone. In other words, consumers want to engage with brands more and more and they want to take action more and more, so brands need to use SMS to engage with customers in a way that helps customers take more action more quickly. On top of that, they're feeling wanted and satisfied so those happy customers love you more!
Customer service teams that use real number SMS for support will see dramatically improved response times and overall satisfaction scores. The speed of SMS means you can serve customers in less time. In one instance, a telco brand that used real number SMS for customer support saw their response times fall dramatically. Customers would text their issue and get a reply in seconds, instead of having to wait on hold for 30-60 minutes.
As a result, customer satisfaction scores went through the roof, with more customers than ever leaving positive feedback about the speed and ease of their interaction. When you can communicate live, you can make support less about the transaction and more about the human. Using SMS to check in following support interactions continuously reinforces your rapport with your customer, who feels listened to and cared about.
It will also completely redefine how brands think about retention. In the examples above, you can see that in addition to building loyalty, it also generates a ton of lift in engagement and conversions. It's a very unique way to talk to your customers, and I can't wait to see what else is out there, what else we can use to communicate that's innovative and effective like that in the future.
In today's fast digital world, communication is everything when it comes to reaching your customer, and SMS is a big part of that. There's more than one way to send SMS: long code vs short code. Knowing the advantages and disadvantages of long code SMS might affect how you choose to reach out to your audience.
Real number SMS has been shown to increase customer engagement and response rates dramatically. Customers are much more likely to respond to messages from real numbers than they are to short, often anonymous codes. When a customer receives a text from a real number, it carries an implicit trust that the message is relevant, or even that the message is authentic. That trust, then, translates into action. For example, personalized messages from real numbers convert much higher than messages from short codes, which tend to come across as less relevant, more generic, or even more spam.
This trust not only bolsters engagement, but also deepens the connection between a business and its customers. Customers are more engaged when they know who they're talking to, and with a direct line of communication, customers feel heard in real-time, improving their customer experience.
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But it's not all benefits. While great for building customer relationships, real number SMS does have some drawbacks. The biggest? Cost. Real numbers can be more expensive than short codes, and the cost per message might be more as well.
That higher cost can be prohibitive for many SMB and some mid-market companies to effectively manage their marketing budget. At that cost, the return may not justify the investment—and they might have to rethink their messaging strategy. Companies will need to weigh the engagement and trust benefits against the potential cost.
There's more to the cost of routing SMS messages through providers than the price per message. Cost might come down to whether or not there are hidden fees, depending on how they're used, or depending on what they're being used for, and it can skyrocket the cost of your communication strategy. Businesses using long codes could end up with an unexpected bill depending on how they're used, or where the message is being sent.
On top of the price, long code SMS has a much slower throughput than short codes. Short codes can handle higher messaging volumes and mass distribute very quickly. You're stuck sending 1 message per second with long code. That slower throughput could seriously impact campaigns that require mass distribution quickly for promotions or time-sensitive notifications.
In short, using long code SMS means you have to be deliberate and plan ahead. Cost must be weighed against customer engagement and message throughput to choose the right communication channels for any business to make a decision that takes everything into account.
When it comes to marketing, effective communication is the key to building a strong relationship with your customers. One of the tools available to you? Real number SMS. But to really capitalize on SMS marketing, you have to do it right—and you have to do it legally, so your message goes as far as possible.
You can use real number SMS for marketing, but only if your customers approve. It's more than etiquette, it's the law. Transparency is key to making sure customers know what to expect, and are comfortable giving permission. When customers agree to receive SMS, they're signaling trust, and that trust pays off in customer loyalty and engagement.
The good news is, you don't have to do anything special to get permission. You can automate the entire process of obtaining consent with an easy opt-in during processes that customers are already familiar with. When customers perform actions to subscribe to email lists, or complete a purchase online, they're signaling that they're prepared to receive SMS in return. The key is to be clear about what they're agreeing to (e.g. do you want to receive SMS for promotional discounts? Or transaction updates?), and keep a record of those agreements, in case anybody asks. Promotional SMS requires consent from customers before sending marketing texts.
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A good SMS campaign isn't a set it and forget it thing. You should always be looking at all of your data and changing what you do based on what you see. As you look at response rates and engagement, you can start to get a sense of what your audience does and doesn't like. Engagement might look like click-through, conversion, feedback from customers on the messages you're sending, etc.
And that feedback is priceless, because it's almost like having a peek into the future on how your customers are going to take your SMS. For instance, if customers are leaving feedback that for a certain type of messages that you're sending, they aren't digging it, then you'll probably want to change. Or at the very least, adjust. Being able to change your SMS on the fly, you can not only make your customers happier, you can have better results as a business. SimpleTexting customers reported a 217% increase in success when using SMS marketing.
In customer service, time is of the essence. That's where automated responses come in. By answering frequently asked questions quickly, you can facilitate better, faster service for your customers. Automated systems' ability to handle routine transactional tasks like order status, tracking, and return requests is especially useful.
For instance, when users text to check the status of their order, an automated response can tell them where their package is right away. Not only can an automated response meet the user's need in time to benefit them in the present moment, but it can leave your human staff free to address higher-level issues, freeing up your time to reach out proactively in a way that enhances experience overall.
Follow these best practices for real number SMS to realize all the benefits of SMS marketing, while remaining compliant, and building loyalty-rich relationships with customers.
The piece discusses how Real Number SMS can help businesses when they need to optimize engagement, retention, or conversion. Customers are familiar and trusting of mobile numbers, and using Real Number SMS can help businesses have real conversations that strengthen relationships with customers. Used right, they can help you humanize your brand and affect customer engagement. The piece also looks at different types of SMS—short codes, long codes, and virtual numbers—and when to use each. It also shares real-world examples of businesses that used Real Number SMS to communicate with customers and increase engagement and conversion—plus the good and bad of doing so, and how to measure the ROI. It discusses best practices when it comes to Real Number SMS, including customer opt-in, personalization, measurement, and auto-response.
Real Number SMS is just like it sounds -- using a real mobile number to send and receive text messages, instead of a virtual or generic number. This helps you establish trust and authenticity with the person you're texting -- an essential advantage in a world where spam and scams are all too common. When you can text from a real number, you can expect significantly greater engagement, which is more than can be said for toll-free numbers, short codes or long codes.
Businesses can use three main types of SMS services: short codes, long codes, and virtual numbers. Short codes are 5-6 digit numbers that can be used for sending and receiving text messages, long codes are 10 digit numbers that can be used for sending and receiving text messages, and virtual numbers are numbers that can be used for sending and receiving text messages without needing a physical phone line.
True Number SMS increases customer engagement by creating familiarity and trust. When customers receive texts from numbers they recognize, they are more likely to open and respond than texts from short or anonymous codes. This personalization boosts engagement and serves to strengthen the relationship between the company and their customers.
The main benefits of Real Number SMS over short codes are pretty simple. They're more trusted, and they're more engaging. When you send texts from a real number, they're far less likely to be flagged as spam, so you get much better delivery rates. And because it's a real mobile number, they're much more personal and much more legit—which can help you build and maintain customer relationships for the long term.
While Real Number SMS can increase engagement, businesses may experience drawbacks like higher message fees compared to short codes. Another is a potentially slower throughput, which may mean you are able to send fewer messages per second, impacting timeliness during high-traffic campaigns.
To get the most out of Real Number SMS, there are a few steps to keep in mind. Opt-in your customers, keep all of your communications personable, monitor your metrics and make changes, and automate as much as possible. Doing so will ensure you're compliant and that you can build a strong relationship with customers.
Yep, businesses in many industries use real number SMS to drive more engagement with their customers. A restaurant using real SMS for reservations saw a 25% engagement increase when they sent confirmations. A retailer used SMS promotions from their real number and got a 30% cart conversion increase by creating urgency with timely offers.
Real Number SMS vastly reduces spam. Real numbers are far less likely to be flagged as spam by recipients, which means more engaging conversations, higher deliverability for the messages you actually want to send, and more loyalty to your brand, because people will associate real numbers with helpful information instead of marketing.
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