- [Instructor] Here's a stat that may surprise you.
74% of US customers respond to a text from a business
within an hour versus 41% via email.
Let's cover some SMS, text messaging,
best practices and opt-in rules to help you
on your mobile marketing journey.
SMS text messaging is a powerful tool
for communicating with your audience,
and reaching large amounts of people.
These SMS messaging best practices
will help set you up for success.
First, you have to understand the rules of the game.
Your target audience must explicitly opt-in
to receive SMS text messages from you.
I recommend that you have the recipient manually check a box
or have the audience opt-in by sending a text message
back to you stating that they opt-in
to receiving text messages.
Refer to the telephone consumer protection act
or TCPA guidelines for details
regarding the requirements for using SMS messaging.
Limit your message to 160 characters.
If your message is greater than 160 characters,
you run the risk of delivery issues
or your message being split
into multiple messages and delivered out of order.
Have a call to action.
Even though you're using a text message,
you'll still need to have some sort of phone number
or URL for your customers to take action.
Timing, send messages when your customer
is more likely to make a purchase.
For example, if you're a restaurant, send a discount,
promo code, or message during meal times.
I recommend send a text message during normal business hours
or hours in which customers will expect to receive messages.
Keep in mind, one objective of SMS marketing
is to incite immediate action, why?
90% of SMS recipients open their text messages
in the first three seconds.
Wow!
Frequency, I recommend sending
no more than two to six text messages per month.
You don't want to send an excessive amount of texts
because you'll annoy your customers.
Inform your customers how many text messages
they can expect to receive on a monthly basis.
Disclaimers.
Customers may have to pay for text messages
depending on where they live in the world.
So consider adding the disclaimer,
message and data rates may apply in your initial
opt-in language.
Provide an opt-out or an exit.
Your customers or subscribers must be provided a way
to opt-out from receiving future text messages.
So, in addition to the disclaimer add text stop
to cancel to the end of your auto-reply.
Some SMS services, add this information
in the appropriate places automatically.
And finally grow your SMS list.
Cross-promote your SMS message short code
by including it in email,
receipts if you have the ability to customize your receipts,
flyers, and other marketing materials.
As you can probably tell SMS text messaging
is critical to your mobile marketing strategy.
56% of organizations say their mobile messaging apps,
SMS, or MMS, which are advanced mobile messaging apps
perform well for improving customer engaging.
Looking for more best practices, check out the CTIA,
and international non-profit trade association
that represents the wireless communications industry.
By applying these SMS text messaging best practices,
you create value for your customers.
Drive repeat business, and bring in a potential ROI
that can be quite attractive.