Sept. 12, 2024
How can brands use modern technology to connect with their audience more effectively? In an era where seemingly everyone is starting an online business, how do you get your voice heard? How do you keep customers coming back to your brand? That's where SMS branding makes it easy to reach your customer using personalized, targeted text messages. I'll explain why SMS branding is so effective for customer engagement, how to use it to build your business, and give you some examples of how other businesses are using it to create revenue and deliver more value to the customer.
In the world of digital marketing, SMS branding is a very effective tool that businesses can use to create brand recognition and connect with customers. In practice, SMS branding is using branded text messaging to market your product/service and be present on people's phones. The key is that the messages you send reflect your brand and your tone, so that whether customers see you on social media or in an ad, they have that recognition.
The nice thing about this kind of texting is you're increasing customer engagement by giving them custom content that you're sending right to their phone. In a world with so much noise, the one thing that will cut through is a text that was created specifically for you. That's why text messages have some of the highest CTRs out of any ad medium. Through SMS marketing, businesses are able to send custom offers, reminders, news that is going to mean something to the receiver and in turn create a stronger bond with the customer and hopefully create a customer for life.
One of the most important things when it comes to successful SMS branding is building trust—let the sender be known. If a person can see that a message is from a brand they're familiar with, they'll be more likely to read it and respond. Using a consistent sender ID makes messages appear "real," and this has a big impact on response and conversion rates. All of this is becoming increasingly important, as people are less inclined to trust messages they receive from other brands.
The more clearly a person can see who a message is from, the less likely they are to report it as spam. For example, if a retailer is sending promotions from a recognizable short code or brand name, the people receiving them are less likely to ignore the message. Trust is also built by sending messages that follow industry best practices—like providing the ability for people to opt out and respecting customer preference and choice.
In SMS branding, you need to get to the point while giving the customer something in return, because text messaging is get right to the point culture. Say what you need to say in as few words as possible and get your point across quickly and effectively.
What do you need to say? Things like exclusive offers, new products, updates, etc. that your customer will want to respond to right away. By keeping the brand message minimal, businesses can feel confident that even the busiest of customers can respond without feeling overwhelmed. A clothing company might, for example, message their subscribers about a flash sale, with a link to shop, and that's it. That way people know it's important and they're getting a great deal.
The numbers for SMS speak for themselves. It has a 98% open rate and a 45% response rate, making it one of the most effective channels for reaching and engaging the people you need to reach, if not the most effective, period. Basically, people actually use and respond to text messages more than they do emails or other marketing.
Why? Because mobile is personal, like really personal. SMS is kind of like having a direct line to your audience that they keep in their pockets 24/7. And it has an average ROI of $4 for every $1 spent, which is a return that's nothing to sneeze at.
SMS branding will allow businesses to use text in a way that feels personal and connects in a way that nothing else can. By being clear, by not treating the channel as a gimmick, by staying on-brand, and by leveraging its already high engagement rate, businesses can take their marketing to the next level and increase engagement across channels.
In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, SMS marketing is a powerful channel for businesses to connect with customers, and knowing the types of SMS marketing that exist can help you implement the right strategies to increase engagement, drive sales, and develop customer relationships that keep customers coming back. We'll cover things like transactional SMS, promotional SMS, and other types of SMS marketing, and when to use them in this article.
Promotional SMS let businesses tell customers about discounts, sales, and new products in a way that feels immediate. And immediate gets people to take action, right now, which means more sales. For example, a store might send a last-minute notice for a sale on certain products, but only for a limited time. By showing this kind of special offers and sales, limited-time promos, businesses can take advantage of the immediacy and high read rate—10X the read rate of any other digital marketing channel—that SMS offers.
Promotional SMS might use visuals to help customers notice them, or links that can encourage more customers to visit a business' website or landing page. Meaning the customer doesn't just want, it's also easy for them to go get what they want. Toss in a strong call to action (CTA) and you've got a strategy that can drive conversions. With a well-designed promotional SMS campaign, businesses can boost their conversion rate and create customers for life.
Transactional SMS form another big part of SMS marketing, helping you update customers about critical information related to their purchase or to the services you provide. These are messages that are time-sensitive, like order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, etc. For example, when a person makes a purchase online, they receive a series of transactional communications that inform them their payment was successful, when it will ship, and tracking information. This not only puts the customer at ease, but it also fosters trust between the customer and the brand.
Transactional SMS aren't just informative; however, they can also improve customer satisfaction. The more you keep customers in the loop at every stage, the less worried they are about where their order could be—and the less worried they are, the less likely they are to make contact with customer service. The result is a better customer experience. When your tracking and updating are well-planned, you'll get repeat business because the customer feels safer coming to you when you communicate openly.
SMS is the future of conversational communication. Two-way communication where customers and businesses talk to each other. Customers can speak to a business to ask a question, share their opinion, or give feedback on a product or service they have received. For instance, following a promotional SMS about a sale on a product, they might respond to ask if it is available in their size, and the business can respond in real time. It builds a community, and it means brands can change what they sell more quickly overall.
Conversational SMS can act as a CRM tool, driving personalized 1:1 customer conversations. With direct access to customers, businesses can see what customers like and act on it. The more reachable a business is, the more valued a customer feels, and the more they will buy from a business.
Loyalty and rewards branded SMS messages are great for reminding customers about the rewards points they've earned, and showing them the exclusive offers they can access and the personalized discounts they can receive. When you encourage customers to use the points they earned last time, or tempt them with another special offer, you can motivate them to return to your store and make another purchase. For example, a coffee shop could use SMS to remind their customers how many points they've earned, and how close they are to a free coffee or a ticket to an event.
You can build an atmosphere of exclusivity and community with your customers, and carry on the conversation over time. Plus, now that you've married your rewards program with your SMS marketing strategy, you'll also know more about who's buying what and can communicate with them accordingly. By delivering messages that genuinely interest them and acknowledging their purchase, you're strengthening and enhancing the relationship, and making it easier for them to come back to you next time.
Geofencing alerts are a cool way to do SMS branding; businesses can now message people based on their location. By sending an alert when people arrive somewhere, businesses can let customers know about nearby deals or events that are especially relevant to them. For example, an athletic wear store might message people when they're already at the mall and offer them a discount on things in store.
That's how you do real-time, location-based branding. And when you add an element of urgency and personalization, you unlock foot traffic and on-the-spot sales. Plus, you can take the nearby data and apply it to your broader approach, so you're always messaging in a way that resonates with your audience. With geofencing, you can not only make customers happy but generate a lot of revenue through timely, relevant discounts.
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Lately, businesses have been finding all sorts of innovative ways to reach their customers, and text messaging (SMS) branding has a lot to do with it. In this article, we'll walk through some business text messaging examples that are transforming CX and producing awesome revenue.
Beis demonstrated how to use SMS to promote specific products during Labor Day Weekend. They selected work bags, messaging that their bags were useful and how they appeared. By scheduling the message for when everyone was headed back to work the following week, Beis was able to capitalize on both seasonal relevance and customer intent to not only advise customers what products they needed to improve their professional lives, but also tell shoppers to purchase bags to tote to the office. Scheduling messages for the call to action to drive more conversion during higher revenue times.
Greylin pushed the envelope with SMS marketing by segmenting their VIP customers and sending special exclusive discounts over SMS to make it easy for people to decide quickly. By offering this exclusive opportunity to extend the Labor Day sale with an extra 40% off for a limited time, they felt special and appreciated. This is how exclusive offers can help increase customer loyalty and compel people to buy your products. The extra step of personalization and urgency can make a big difference in boosting engagement and conversion rates, especially in a competitive retail setting.
ELEMIS is a stellar example of what you can do with SMS to reward your loyalty customers. They send text messages so loyalty members can shop sales early, and unsurprisingly, it makes them feel special and appreciated and strengthens their bond with the brand. Here's another reason why you'll want to use SMS in your customer loyalty strategy. You can get the best of both worlds—immediate sales and long-term relationships with your customers. Shopping sales early can make customers feel special, and customers who feel special can have a higher lifetime value.
Beachwaver really nicely incorporated SMS into their email reminders, and this is a great example of why you should do multi-channel marketing. The multi-channel approach, in this instance, functioned together to let people know they had a 50% off Labor Day sale on their product. With SMS paired with an email campaign, people would be receiving the marketing message in more than one place so they would be more likely to see it. People are more likely to see and engage with a marketing message if they see it in more than one place, and that's why you should do it. Which leads to more people seeing your product and more people buying your product.
Brands like Oh Beauty have strategically used emojis to enhance their SMS branding, adding them to their Labor Day sale message so they can appeal to the emoji-loving crowd (usually younger), with fun and playful emojis that speak their language and communicate urgency in a fun and playful way. A surefire way to stand out in the inbox and get better open rates and better conversion.
In these examples, we see SMS branding used in a few different ways and for different contexts and different audiences. Whether it's urgency, personalization of offer, integration of channels, or engaging visuals, you're using SMS to build a closer relationship with your customers (and make more sales 😁)
SMS branding is an increasingly popular choice for businesses to connect with their customers. With mobile devices everywhere, it's a no-brainer to use SMS for branding. But there are also some hazards to watch out for to make sure you can communicate effectively over this channel.
One of the nice things about SMS branding is the really high open rates of text messages. Some reports state that 98% of SMS messages are opened and read by the recipients. That's wild. Compare that to, say, the average open rates for email marketing emails, which is about 37%. That's a huge difference, which makes SMS a very effective way to capture people's attention. People are busy and they'll forget about your marketing message if you don't capture their attention right away. And because they so often read their SMS right away (many people read their SMS messages within 3 minutes of receiving them), you can be pretty much certain that your message will be read right away.
You can also send SMS to deliver time-sensitive information, special deals, or alerts. For example, a retailer could send an SMS to their VIP customers about a flash sale that's about to begin. These time-sensitive messages can drive real-world foot traffic and sales and further reinforce the consumer-brand relationship.
In a world where time is of the essence, SMS lets businesses reach your customers almost instantly. While other marketing channels might take weeks to plan, execute, and reach your customers, an SMS campaign can reach your customers in mere seconds. Instant communication like this is ideal for time-sensitive information—like a new product release or limited time offer. After all, SMS marketing boasts a 45% average response rate to email's 6%.
That quick response facilitates real-time consumer engagement, too. Your customers are able to take you up on your offer, ask questions about your product, or give you feedback practically as soon as they've received your offer. Meaning brands can respond to consumer needs and issues while it's top of mind for the consumer. SMS is a 2-way channel and that can only lend itself to your customer experience and engagement in general.
SMS marketing has an approximately 4% conversion rate. That might not seem like a lot, but given the overall volume of text messages being sent, it's actually quite high. That makes SMS a high-potential tool for businesses looking to sell products and services, but also for those who want to move past simply informing their audience, to getting them to take action and make a purchase. Because it's so easy to send and receive messages, you have the ability to run extremely targeted campaigns to ensure that customers choose to come back to you—and only you. For instance, if you wish someone a happy birthday and give them a special discount, they're more likely to make a purchase from you than if your message and discount were intended for anybody all the time.
Plus, because messages are so short (you only get 160 characters), there's really no room to beat around the bush. That means you can read and act on a message quicker so, in that time, brands that are more to the point will achieve better outcomes than if you'd have run some elaborate marketing strategy. SMS works really well for:
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SMS branding is a real pain in the neck. It means being super privacy-compliant, only reaching out to people who really want to be reached out to... which, to be honest, is a good thing! But it makes it much harder for businesses to be effective with SMS campaigns. How do you stay legal under laws like the US's Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA)? How do you inform people of what you're doing with their data and what their rights are?
You also need to be continually vigilant in maintaining your "opt-in" list, so that you only message people who want to be messaged. If you don't, you will face more than just reputational damage—you will lose your customers' trust. And you will be even worse off than if you'd never started SMS branding to begin with.
But if you do all of that, you'll be in a good position to reap all the rewards of SMS, without any of the downsides. By doing right by peoples' privacy and putting them in control of their data, you can create an amazing brand experience for your customers, and make SMS branding work for you.
Nowadays, used effectively, SMS marketing can be an incredibly powerful way for brands to reach their customers. But to be used effectively, there are specific rules to SMS branding that must be adhered to. In this blog we'll detail the key tactics to use for a successful and compliant SMS campaign.
Getting explicit customer opt-in is the most critical part of effective SMS marketing. When you have permission to text people before you ever text them, you're not just abiding by the law (like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act--TCPA) and customers only text with brands that respect their preferences, you're also building trust with your customers. And when you ask for opt-in, you're setting up a transparent relationship that drives customer loyalty. When people have signed up to receive your messages of their own accord through an opt-in like a checkbox at checkout or a specific text code, you'll be primed for a proactive relationship that customers appreciate--and little risk of coming off like spam.
SMS messages are all about short and sweet. There are 160 characters per message, which might seem limiting, but really it's a good thing, because it forces you to be brief and to the point. Brief, to-the-point messages could mean higher engagement, since customers like when businesses get to the point and don't waste their time.
You'll also want to be casual, be clear, and be nice. Instead of "We are very excited to share our newest promotion with you," say "20% off your next purchase! Use code SAVE20." It's short enough for an SMS message, it's direct and it gets the promotion in the customer's face, so they are more likely to read and respond to your message.
SMS personalization is going to change the game on how your customers feel about your brand. By referencing information that you already have on your customers, you can tweak your messages to reflect what they like and don't like, which makes your message more relevant and more unique. Personalizing an SMS can mean using your customer's name, what they've purchased previously, and important dates like birthdays or anniversaries to make the experience better.
As an example, a retailer can send a message that reads, "Hi Sarah! Those shoes you loved from last month are now on sale! Come back and save $10!" This takes two approaches -- it creates a personal connection and it drives an action, so Sarah comes back and buys your shoes. Using customer knowledge, you can guarantee your message is effective and doesn't just sit in an inbox or get deleted.
Maintaining your SMS frequency at the right level helps keep a healthy brand relationship. Limit SMS communications to a few times a month, instead of bombarding customers daily with promos.
You can poll your audience and listen to feedback to make sure you're hitting the right mark. If your customers feel bombarded, adjust your frequency or switch to bi-weekly. A little goes a long way. You'll keep a good brand image and engaged customers, not upset!
Use A/B testing to determine the most effective messages to send in your SMS campaigns. That just means sending 2 different versions of a message to different parts of your audience to see which message gets better engagement. You can test things like message content, timing, and call-to-action language to see what works best.
For an example, a brand could test 2 different promotion messages: "Flash Sale: 30% off today only!" vs. "Limited time offer: Save 30% this weekend!" By analyzing customer response, you can see which phrasing motivates more customers to act. Brands can continue to fine-tune their strategy with data-driven decisions and optimize their SMS marketing for high engagement and conversion.
When a brand uses all of these pieces together, SMS marketing maximizes its potential. Engaging customers with effective, clear, and tailored messaging will foster better relationships, more sales, and stronger brand loyalty in the end.
In this post, we'll explore why branded SMS is the right choice for you to connect with your customers in the digital marketing age. When you brand your messages, you're reaching your customers with communications that reflect your brand and keeping them engaged. We'll cover different types of SMS marketing (like promotional SMS, transactional SMS, conversational SMS, loyalty SMS) and how they can help you meet different objectives that make your customers happy. We'll also examine how you can execute those campaigns successfully and effectively, including steps like obtaining valid consent, keeping your message short, personalizing your message, and how often you're reaching out to them. Branded messages are not only a great way for you to reach your customers, they're a way for you to gain your customers' trust and to keep it.
SMS branding means using personalized text messages to reach your customers or promote your product. You'll be able to reach your customers better because people are more likely to look at and read texts that are for them than any other marketing channel. By keeping the text messages brand-true, you can have your customers be way more loyal and have a much better channel overall in order to communicate with your customers.
To build trust through SMS, you'll want to establish a recognizable sender identity. A familiar sender ID will ensure that your customers recognize your brand's messages and assume they're spam. Combine that with best practices, opt-in options, and respect for your customers' preferences, and you'll be well on your way to stronger trust in no time.
You have a lot of options to choose from. You can use promotional SMS for sales and offers, transactional SMS for purchase-related notifications, conversational SMS for two-way communication, loyalty SMS for rewards and program updates, and geofencing notifications for location-based promotions. Each is unique and each engages your customers in a different way.
SMS marketing has some pretty amazing stats. It boasts a 98% open rate, 45% response rate—both of which crush email marketing. Plus it converts at around 4% and has a $4 return on every dollar you spend, which makes it a highly effective way to reach a targeted audience and get them to make a purchase.
Businesses are dealing with a lot of problems now -- customers who think you're being too pushy, compliance with privacy laws, the need for explicit opt-in, etc. The right SMS strategy means respecting customer privacy, managing opt-in lists, and ensuring the messages are relevant and welcomed to limit any negative effects.
Brands should request permission from customers, keep it brief and only send when they have something to say, use data to customize, not overwhelm and use A/B testing. If they follow these best practices, they'll be able to get people to engage with their marketing and ultimately make a purchase.
Like Beis, who used SMS during Labor Day sales to feature utility-driven products, or Greylin, who offered exclusive promotions to VIP customers that created a sense of urgency, or ELEMIS, who gave loyal members early access to their offer, or Beachwaver, who integrated SMS with email to reach a bigger audience, or Oh Beauty, who appealed to a younger audience by using emojis in their texts.
Promotional SMS let you tell customers about sales, deals, and bargains so they can shop. Transactional SMS provide essential details about their transactions, like order confirmations and shipping information, so they can trust and stay up-to-date throughout the buying process.
A mobile phone displaying SMS branding
SMS Check