 |
| sms marketing |
Simple to set up, offered at an affordable and effective price, the SMS campaign is a powerful marketing tool that is part of a mobile marketing strategy. From choosing SMS marketing software to creating a campaign, following best practices will improve the performance of your promotional SMS.
What is an SMS campaign?
An SMS or SMS marketing campaign is a communication operation by text message. It consists of sending promotional or informative SMS messages to the cell phones of customers or prospects registered in the sender's database. It offers an excellent deliverability rate and a low unsubscribe rate.
Why do SMS marketing?
With a 95% deliverability rate, SMS is the surest way for companies to reach their customers. Another big advantage of promotional messages or SMS notifications is the low unsubscribe rate. A phenomenon due to the excellent targeting of people generally registered in the customer file in a physical store.
The text message is also aimed at a population less connected to wifi. The immediacy of the message allows the seller to be certain that his communication has been transmitted on time. And this, even if the recipient has not recently connected to the Internet.
Used well, an SMS campaign allows companies that do not invest in lead generation with their website to stay in regular contact with their prospects and customers.
In addition to being simple to set up, sending SMS marketing is less expensive than a direct mail communication campaign. It is also more durable, as the message remains visible on customers' phones.
7 steps to a successful SMS campaign
- Build a database.
- Segment the contact list.
- Define the objective of the SMS campaign.
- Write the text.
- Personalize the message.
- Choose the best time to send the SMS.
- Analyze SMS campaign results.
Build a database
The creation of a file of well-targeted contacts is essential to obtain results with an SMS campaign.
To build a database, it is necessary to:
- Set up a phone number recovery system: when registering in the customer file, when subscribing to a loyalty program or when participating in a contest.
- Install a tablet or registration terminal in the store.
- Insert a “phone number” field in the website form.
Segment the contact list
Sending text messages containing an offer or a message adapted to the target, increases the ROI of the SMS campaign. The segmentation of the contact list also makes it possible to reduce the number of unsubscriptions. Segmenting contacts also has an impact on the cost of an SMS marketing campaign.
How to segment a contact list? :
- Depending on the location: depending on the shop visited, by region or depending on the place of residence of the customer.
- Depending on the purchasing behavior: occasional buyer, buyer making their first purchase, or even someone subscribed to the mailing list who has never made a purchase before.
- Depending on purchasing habits: purchase of organic products exclusively, order with a lot of children's products or even a customer who visits during private sales.
- Depending on how the registration was made: downloading a white paper, subscribing to a newsletter or following a purchase in store.
- According to an event: birthday or party.
Define the objective of the SMS campaign
Why send SMS? Beyond staying in touch with customers, there should be a defined purpose for each text message sent:
- A product launch.
- A private sale.
- A special announcement.
- A promotional operation.
Write the text
An SMS marketing text must be short, clear and powerful. The message should ideally contain a maximum of 160 characters including spaces. Beyond the limit of the number of characters, the message risks being truncated. It is also recommended to insert links, such as the telephone number or the shortened URL of a web page, at the end of the message.
Important: the text must absolutely include the mention STOP on the number. The mention STOP SMS is a legal obligation allowing subscribers to a mailing list to unsubscribe from this list whenever they wish.
Personalize the message
Software for creating SMS campaigns offers to personalize messages. To be recognized by customers and forge a link with them, it is recommended to personalize the name of the issuer: it can be a first name, surname but also the location of the sign.
Choose the best send time
The time of sending messages is important because it has an impact on the rate of opening and reading the SMS. Peak hours of 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. or 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. should be avoided. In addition, the law prohibits soliciting the attention of customers by SMS from Monday to Saturday from 8:30 p.m. to 8 a.m., as well as on Sundays and public holidays.
Analyze the results of the SMS campaign
Measuring the performance of the results of an SMS campaign is essential. Each operator delivers useful data to analyze the results of an SMS Marketing campaign, such as:
- The number of SMS sent: a useful indicator when purchasing SMS packs. It allows you to manage the stock of SMS available for sending.
- The deliverability rate: the deliverability rate of an SMS campaign exceeds 95%. To optimize the reception rate of your campaign, it is advisable to keep your database up to date.
- The click rate: available for enriched SMS, the click rate allows you to know the number of people who clicked on the link present in the text message.
- The list of unallocated numbers: one of the solutions to reduce the number of incorrect or unallocated numbers is to check customer details each time they go to the checkout or when making a purchase on the company.
- The number and rate of unsubscription: the number of people requesting a STOP SMS during a campaign is an indicator used to define whether an SMS campaign is successful with subscribers to the mailing list.
- The conversion rate: important, it allows you to define the number of contacts who have placed an order or have made a purchase in store.
7 SMS Marketing Software
- sendinblue
- Digitaleo
- SMS OVH
- allmysms
- SMSFactor
- MDirector
- Integrations with HubSpot
sendinblue
Founded in 2011, Sendinblue was originally an email marketing solution. Today, the publisher also offers an SMS Marketing solution.
Languages: French, German, English, Spanish, Italian and Portuguese.
Most :
The 3 possibilities for adding contacts: adding contacts manually, adding a list of contacts in .txt or .csv format and collecting contacts by form.
Sending SMS at regular intervals.
The ability for recipients to reply to the SMS received.
The rates :
The non-binding package allows you to send 100 to 10,000 SMS to around a hundred countries. Sending 100 SMS in France costs 4.5 €. It is possible to buy SMS credits for the country of your choice. These credits have no expiration date.
The SMS Marketing feature is included in the following paid plans:
Lite: €19 per month.
Essential: €29 per month.
Premium: €49 per month.
Company: Offer on estimate.
Digitaleo
Founded in 2004 in France, Digitaleo is a renowned relationship marketing platform.
Languages: French and Spanish
Most :
Over 500 templates to customize campaigns.
Simple to use.
Ability to send SMS on behalf of affiliates.
Prices: On request.
OVH Telecom
OVH Telecom is an operator sending professional SMS to more than 200 destinations offering 4 solutions:
Marketing SMM.
SMS response.
Automatic SMS.
Texting over the internet.
Languages: French
Most :
Sending grouped marketing SMS via the internet.
Decreasing prices.
An SMS push function to inform customers.
The ability to customize the sender name.
The rates :
From €7.20 including VAT for 100 SMS sent in France.
The rates are decreasing from the purchase of a pack of 500 SMS.
allmysms
allmysms is a professional SMS sending solution that can be easily integrated into different CRMs.
Languages: French, English, Spanish
Most :
The creation of scenarios triggering the sending of SMS.
Sending MMS.
Numerous functionalities (management of contacts and responses, real-time acknowledgments, detailed statistics or even the management of SMS stops).
The rates :
From 0.045 excl. VAT / SMS.
Pack purchases.
Payment on order by credit card.
Payment at the end of the month for orders over €250 excl. VAT / month.
SMSFactor
SMSFactor is an SMS Marketing solution created in 2010.
Languages: French and English
Most :
A compatible all-language API (PHP, Python, Java and other languages).
An SMS survey creation function.
A voting function by SMS.
An opt-in and qualified SMS file location system.
The rates :
From €44 per SMS.
Purchase of prepaid packs from €44.
Consumption bill.
Price on estimate for the purchase of more than 50,000 SMS.
MDirector
MDirector is a marketing platform present in 7 countries. The tool allows the sending of SMS marketing and e-mail marketing.
Languages: French, Portuguese, English, Spanish, Italian
Most :
An interface in 5 languages.
Integration on different CRMs.
The creation of multi-channel campaigns.
Excellent deliverability rate.
The rates :
The Advance plan is from €349 per year.
Premium plan rates are delivered on demand.
SMS packs are available for sale.
Integrations with HubSpot
The HubSpot CRM does not offer native SMS marketing functionality. However, several SMS campaign editors such as Sendinblue, Sakari SMS or TextingHouse can be integrated into HubSpot.
How to choose an SMS Marketing software?
Several criteria should be taken into account when choosing a software for sending SMS marketing:
- Customer management and in particular the possibility of segmenting the list of subscribers.
- The rates.
- The ergonomics of the platform.
- Client service.
- The ability to customize the transmitter.
- The quality of SMS campaign analysis reports.
- The option dedicated to the SMS survey.
- Link tracing.
- The quality of SMS STOP management.
- Compliance with the rules in force in the country regarding the sending of promotional SMS.
SORCES: HUBSPOT