What Are the Benefits of SMS Marketing?
As companies are increasingly targeting customers on the move, SMS marketing has become a crucial part of companies’ marketing ventures. SMS marketing involves customers signing up for an SMS subscription list to receive discount codes, updates, and company news.
There is great value for companies who make use of SMS marketing. Firstly, SMS text messages have an open rate of 98%. This makes them one of the most effective marketing methods available to companies. Additionally, customers interact with these messages very quickly –– especially when it comes to text messages containing a call to action (CTA). These messages receive an average response time of 90 seconds; this is quicker than any other marketing channel available!
If you’re trying to grow your business, SMS marketing is a low-cost, high-return marketing channel you can use to reach customers. For your SMS marketing efforts to be fruitful, however, you first need to build a solid SMS subscriber list.
In this article, we’ll cover 15 ways you can grow your SMS subscriber list to ensure your marketing campaigns are successful in reaching the right audience.
1. Offer Incentives
One of the ways you can encourage customers to join your SMS subscriber list is by using incentives. These opt-in incentives are extremely efficient, increasing consumer’s willingness to subscribe by more than 520%! Such incentives can include discount codes and free shipping.
2. Promise VIP Treatment
Customers love feeling like they are part of an exclusive group. Promising customers exclusive rewards, promotions, and early access to products or services are great hooks to encourage them to join your SMS list. Just as important as promising these things is following through with them; don’t promise anything if you’re not going to deliver!
3. Referrals
Another way to grow your SMS subscriber list is to promote a referral program. Your loyal subscribers can be some of the best people to vouch for your brand and products.
There are several ways you can go about this. You can either ask your loyal customers for referrals or incentivize new subscribers to encourage their friends to sign up. These can be great ways to continuously grow your SMS subscriber list. If you have a large SMS subscriber base, asking for referrals continuously can be a great way to passively build your subscriber list.
4. Add an SMS Sign-up Option at Online Checkout
For online customers, designing a signup option on your website can be a good way to capture their attention. You can include a simple form that users can fill out to gain access to your SMS subscription list. Combined with an incentive, you can speed up customer’s decision-making process on whether they should join your SMS subscriber list.
5. Cross-Promote Using Social Media
Cross-promotion is best used when wanting to grow new channels. You can use your social media content (e.g., videos, blog posts) to promote the benefits of joining your SMS subscriber list. Additionally, you can use your platforms to instruct customers on how to join your subscription list. This makes your subscriber list highly accessible and easy to sign up to.
6. Promote Your SMS Opt-Ins On-Site
You can also leverage any brick-and-mortar stores, offices, or on-site events to promote your SMS subscription list. You can do so using promotional posters, business cards, and flyers. To make the most of these promotions, clearly highlight the value of subscribing to your SMS updates. Additionally, delineate what this subscription entails and what steps customers have to take to join your subscriber list.
7. Advertise Your SMS Subscription on Your Website
Even if your website visitors aren’t keen on buying anything at that time, advertising your SMS marketing list on your website can encourage them to take action. You can display a CTA to get customers to join your SMS subscription list. This can be placed in the sidebar or as a popup on your homepage. Coupled with valuable incentive offers, these can work to generate new SMS subscribers.
8. Encourage Feedback
By offering customers the option of giving you feedback, you make them feel heard, important, and needed. This instantly builds rapport and decreases the chance of them unsubscribing. As such, making sure your SMS subscribers are heard is just as important as making sure you gain more subscribers.
9. Host Flash Sales
Given that SMS marketing messages are read very quickly, they’re perfect for promoting flash sales. Via word-of-mouth (or online promotions), you can inform your customers that customers on your SMS marketing list are the first ones to receive limited-time offers. This exclusivity can convince people who might be on the fence about subscribing.
10. Use Podcasts to Encourage Opt-Ins
Podcasts have become increasingly popular over the last few years. With over a million shows currently airing, they cover a wide variety of categories. These can provide great
value for your marketing campaigns, as you can advertise your SMS marketing promotions on relevant podcasts.
11. Leverage Your Packaging
While traditional forms of marketing may seem outdated, they can be just as effective. Using your product’s packaging to promote your SMS list can be very valuable to your company. Coupled with customers’ purchase intent, it’s also a great way to engage with customers.
12. Use Your Email Subscribers
You can also use your existing email list to grow your SMS subscribers. As email subscribers have already shown interest in receiving your updates, they’re a great way to build your SMS subscriber list.
13. Check and Optimize Performance Metrics
It’s not enough to just send SMS messages to your subscriber list. You also have to ensure that your SMS messages are well received. Reviewing the performance of your marketing messages helps you understand the relevancy of your messages to consumers. By checking metrics such as your SMS subscriber list growth, read rates, and offer redemption rates, you can better optimize your SMS marketing efforts. This can help you continuously grow your subscriber list while ensuring your customers are satisfied.
14. Personalize Texts
It’s important to recognize that not every subscriber in your SMS marketing list is interested in the same thing. As such, you should segment your marketing audiences into distinct criteria. This helps you deliver messages that are highly relevant to your target audiences to keep current subscribers satisfied.
15. Easy Opt-Ins Using a Single Keyword
By making it as easy as possible for customers to join your subscriber list, you increase the likelihood of that happening. Using keyword opt-in, customers can send a single-word text message to a designated number. This automatically adds them to your SMS subscriber list, making it hassle-free for both you and the customer.
Need more tips on ways to grow your SMS subscribers? Need help with your SMS marketing? Doing it correctly takes a lot of time and effort. Over the years, we’ve helped many businesses grow their revenue through text. The Spin Modern Text packages are fully customizable and will help you accomplish your business goals.
If you’d like more tips for ways to grow your subscribers or want more info on our text marketing service, let us know! Get in touch with us for a FREE consultation. Call us at 757-772-8523.
