Friend or foe? In the fast-paced world of digital marketing, SMS marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for businesses to engage with their audience directly. However, like any marketing strategy, SMS campaigns come with their own set of pitfalls that can derail your efforts if not navigated carefully. Afterall, who likes getting buzzed by a robot at 8pm or getting spammed with the same promotion all week?
In all things, but especially text messages and SMS marketing, consideration of the privacy and interests of the audience take critical precedence. When executed correctly, SMS marketing can indeed become your BFF - it’s a blog about text messages, acronyms are allowed.
Next in this blog, we'll explore some common yellow-taped SMS marketing hazards and provide insights on how to avoid them while ensuring your campaigns are effective and successful.
Choosing an SMS Platform That Doesn’t Meet Your Needs
In the beginning of your journey towards implementing an SMS marketing strategy, it can be overwhelming to choose a platform. These questions might arise: “What is the best platform for a small business?” “Which platform is most affordable?” “Can this platform handle the amount of segmentation and personalization my team needs?”
You’ve got questions, we have answers. Here are some of the top text marketing platforms and their benefits. And as always, when in doubt, opt for a free trial!
Twilio: Twilio is a cloud communications platform that offers SMS marketing solutions along with a wide range of other communication APIs. It provides robust features for building and managing SMS campaigns, including personalized messaging, automation, and analytics.
EZ Texting: EZ Texting is a popular SMS marketing platform that caters to businesses of all sizes. It offers features such as bulk messaging, scheduled campaigns, two-way messaging, and contact management. EZ Texting also provides tools for compliance with regulations like TCPA.
SimpleTexting: SimpleTexting is known for its user-friendly interface and comprehensive SMS marketing features. It offers tools for creating and sending SMS campaigns, as well as features like autoresponders, drip campaigns, and subscriber segmentation.
Textedly: Textedly is a straightforward SMS marketing platform designed for small to medium-sized businesses. It provides essential features such as mass texting, contact management, and message scheduling, along with basic analytics to track campaign performance.
Sendinblue (now Brevo): Brevo is an all-in-one marketing platform that includes SMS marketing capabilities alongside email marketing, marketing automation, and more. It offers features like SMS personalization, automation workflows, and advanced analytics.
ActiveCampaign: ActiveCampaign is primarily known for its email marketing automation features, but it also offers SMS marketing capabilities. Users can create SMS campaigns, segment contacts, and integrate SMS with other marketing channels within the platform.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud: Salesforce Marketing Cloud is a comprehensive marketing automation platform that includes SMS marketing as one of its channels. It provides advanced features for creating personalized SMS campaigns, tracking customer interactions, and integrating SMS with CRM data.
HubSpot: HubSpot offers a suite of marketing, sales, and customer service tools, including SMS marketing capabilities. Users can send personalized SMS messages, automate campaigns, and track engagement within the HubSpot platform.
Overwhelming Subscribers
One of the biggest mistakes in SMS marketing is bombarding subscribers with too many messages. This can lead to subscriber fatigue and result in them opting out of your list altogether.
To avoid this, it's essential to strike the right balance between staying top-of-mind and respecting your subscribers' boundaries. Limit the frequency of your messages to avoid overwhelming your audience, and ensure that each message provides value. We advise starting with 4-5 SMS messages per month (which comes to about 1-2 texts per week). Track success and experiment with increasing message frequency to 10 SMS messages per month to see if you can increase value at that level.
Neglecting to Obtain Proper Consent
Before sending any marketing messages via SMS, it's crucial to obtain proper consent from your subscribers. Neglecting to do so can not only damage your brand's reputation but also result in legal repercussions. Always ensure that subscribers have explicitly opted in to receive messages from your business and provide clear information on what type of content they can expect to receive, so you aren’t facing any problems or repercussions down the road..
Failing to Provide Personalized Value
SMS marketing offers a unique opportunity to connect with customers on a personal level. Afterall, text messages are a more personal level of communication and should feel that way to the receiver. Failing to create that unique spin to your messages can make them feel generic and impersonal, leading to decreased engagement and opt-outs.
Take advantage of data segmentation and personalization tools to tailor your messages to the interests and preferences of individual subscribers. Personalized messages are more likely to resonate with recipients and drive action.
Additionally, the success of your text campaigns hinge on the relevance and value of your content to your audience. Using generic or irrelevant content can lead to disengagement. Take the time to understand your audience's needs, preferences, and pain points, and tailor your messaging accordingly. Once this key information is understood, adjust your strategy to provide valuable information to these particular audiences, exclusive offers, and personalized recommendations to keep them engaged and interested in your brand.
Ignoring Compliance Regulations
SMS marketing is subject to various regulations and guidelines, including the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) in the United States and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. Ignoring compliance regulations can result in costly fines and even damage to your brand's reputation. Make sure your SMS campaigns comply with all relevant laws and regulations, including obtaining proper consent from recipients, providing opt-out mechanisms, and respecting unsubscribe requests promptly.
If you work with an experienced digital marketing team, they will have the up-to-date knowledge of regulations and best practices for not overstepping boundaries with recipients so that you can focus less on all of the technical aspects of your SMS marketing campaign and more on providing stellar products and services.
Failing to Track and Analyze Results
Effective SMS marketing requires ongoing monitoring and optimization based on performance data. Failing to track and analyze the results of your campaigns can leave you in the dark about what's working and what isn't. Implement robust analytics tools, many of which are provided in the platforms outlined previously, to track key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
Once you’ve periodically monitored data over a period of time to gain insights into subscriber behavior and preferences, your team will be able to refine messaging, timing and the overall strategy for better results.
In conclusion, while SMS marketing can be a highly effective tool for engaging with your audience, it's essential to navigate potential risks carefully. Our highly skilled team of digital marketers at Fable Heart Media will help you avoid any of these common pitfalls in text marketing so you can maximize the impact of your campaigns and drive long-term growth for your business. It’s your time to take center stage - we’re just here to bring the audience, and the applause.
Visit our blog page for more digital marketing key tips and feel free to reach out to our team with any questions.
