Ask any internet marketer, someone who sells and promotes digital products via the internet and they all say the same thing.. “The money is in the list!” Meaning they make their money off of their email list that they send out to several times a week. But you’ re a local business who sells goods and services to a buying public. No matter what industry your business is, building and effectively marketing to a text messaging database can yield incredible revenue gains with high ROI!
Whether you’re currently doing text message marketing (also known as SMS marketing) or considering hiring a professional text message marketing system, knowing how to run effective campaigns is crucial to assuring maximum ROI and staying out of trouble with the FCC. So here are 5 text message marketing mistakes you need to avoid.
Mistake Number 1 – NOT including a clear and concise call to action
Lets say you’re a new car dealership, chances are your CRM system has the ability to send text messages to your clients reminding them of their upcoming appointment, or perhaps alerting them that their vehicle is finished in service. That’s all well and good but we want to send out a message to a database of hundreds, if not thousands of people, alerting them of a special you’re running. Telling your database is great but they need further direction. If you received a text that simply says “free car wash with oil change” what would you think to do next? What do you think your customers think to do next? By defining what to do, it improves your redemption rates considerably. So instead of the basic message informing them, you want your texts to read something like “free car wash with oil change, call 508-123-4567 to schedule today, offer expires in two weeks.” We’ve not only given the customer a clear idea of what is on offer, but also what they need to do to receive the offer.
Mistake Number 2 – Not putting the name of your business at the top of the message
Chances are, depending on your industry and where you’re located, you have competition, and plenty of it. Customers are signing up for text message promotions more and more everyday, and chances are you’re not the only one doing it or thinking about doing it. If you’re a restaurant or a repair shop or a flower shop, etc… Sending out a promotion without identifying yourself is a sure fire way of sending customers to your competition. If a customer receives a text from your restaurants saying “Tonight only, free adult beverage with each entree ordered, show message to redeem.” They can easily get confused and walk into another restaurant. When that restaurant sees that another restaurant is sending a promo that night they may honor your offer or if not, that customer is already at that restaurant and most likely ready to eat. Long story short, you lost their business. But, they receive a message saying “Francois’ French Bistro: Tonight only, free adult beverage with each entree ordered, show message to redeem.” They know where to go for their deal and you now have a full restaurant.
Mistake Number 3 – Sending out too many messages
This is a seriously fatal mistake that any business can make if they don’t know the statistics or the law. First of all, sending out too many messages is a great way for you and your provider to get in serious hot water with the FCC. You’ll be classified as a spammer, you’ll both get fined serious money and run the risk of having your shortcode banned. issuers issue, if you’re not spamming your list is that people will opt out of your database if they receive too many messages from you. They don’t want be bothered all the time and will reply with a stop or and end and at that point, you’ve lost a customer you could have easily had 3 or more additional visits from a year. The other big reason is that if you’re sending out offers all the time, it loses its exclusivity! People opt in to your database because they want specials that no one else gets. So by keeping your promotions down to between one and four a month (depending on your industry) you’ll keep the exclusivity of the database and keep customers coming back for more.
Mistake Number 4 – Calling it a “VIP Text Club” or “Text Promotion Club.”
Look, we’re all adults here (well, most of us), this isn’t about being let up into the tree house or having the secret password to enter the fort. Unless we’re getting exclusive access to enter a nightclub, never EVER use the word “club.” By using the word club, you can be guaranteed of a small, stale database with a lower than average redemption rate. The best way to entice a customer to opt in to your database is by offering something up front. For example, if you run a pet shop, you could offer customers a free pound of doggy or cat treats for opting in. This will take your opt in numbers through the roof by offering them something up front in exchange for the opportunity to market to them.
Mistake Number 5 – Not having a clear and concise opt out option
This is hands down, the quickest and easiest way to keep people in your database, but its also the quickest and easiest way to get fined some serious $$$$$$$$$. This is not a joke, not too long ago a very well known pizza chain was fined over $250,000,000 for spamming text messages and unethical practices. Since then the FCC has come down hard on SMS messaging for business purposes, but by simply including an initial definition of broadcast plus an opt out line, AND an opt out line at the end of each message, you can rest easy not having to worry about being fined. For example, upon your customer receiving their initial message, make sure something along the lines of “up to 2 messages a month, standard message and data rates apply, reply STOP to end” is included. Every message they receive after must end with a “reply STOP to end” string.
By not making these mistakes you can ensure that you will build a large, strong and loyal text message database that you will be able to leverage for years and years to come. So build your database properly, and bring in the customers when you need them.