With open rates as high as 700%, click-through rates up to 36% and higher and the fact that people are always on their phones this should improve your marketing results, right?
Often times I’ll hear my mates complain about receiving SMS marketing quickly texting back ‘STOP’ ‘OPT OUT’ and ‘Remove my number!!!’
Before you say “hey, nobody likes receiving marketing” let me spin this around so that we’re addressing the core problem.
People don’t hate marketing.
People hate marketing (or anything) that is unwelcome.
Direct response copywriter Dan Kennedy likens most marketing to being an unwelcome pest.
Let me explain…
The Unwelcome Pest
If a plumber called you out of the blue during dinner time while your favourite show was on asking to see if you require any plumbing you would not be interested and even annoyed that he had the nerve to call!
The Welcome Guest
But let’s imagine for a moment that you’re having dinner, watching your favourite show and all of a sudden water starting pouring from the ceiling all over your wooden floorboards due to a burst pipe and that same plumber called, your reaction would be a lot different, I’m sure he would be welcomed with open arms “when can you get here!”
What changed?
- You instantly became the perfect candidate for plumbing services
- The timing was perfect
- The offer was spot on
I’m going to share with you a simple 3-stage framework to help you go from an unwelcome pest to welcomed guest.
Introducing the 3 R’s
When aiming for high ROI on your SMS marketing make sure that you target the right person at the right time and with the right offer.
The Right Person
The reason this sits at the top of the 3 R’s is that it is the most important when it comes to marketing in general not just SMS marketing.
To make sure you target the right person you must be using segmentation.
Sending email campaigns without segmentation guarantees higher unsubscribes, lower open rates and reduced conversions.
What is segmentation?
Think of segmentation as common traits shared by various groups of people.
Each group may share a specific language (as it relates to their needs), tastes, worldview, buying habits etc.
Segmentation allows you to group people together in meaningful ways so that when you send an offer or message out to them it feels like you wrote it specifically for them.
If I’m selling wine, at the very least, I want to know who:
1. Drinks red wine
2. Drinks white wine
Ideally, I would want to drill down deeper and know who have shown interest either by opting into my list OR even better purchasing:
• Chardonnay
• Pinot Gris
• Sauvignon Blanc etc.
This means when I plan my Chardonnay offer only my Chardonnay list will receive it.
You can drill down as far as you like: Chardonnay drinkers who wear pink gumboots on Tuesday’s.
If you haven’t segmented your list yet, an easy place to start is grouping customers together into themes like in the example above.
With 160.com.au you can not only create specific segments but you can automate it so that when people see one of your advertisements and they can respond to it they can be automatically added to a specific segment for you to market to later.
The Right Timing
Often times getting a sale, generating a lead, getting your list to take a specific action comes down to timing.
Your customers and clients are always shifting between moments.
Things that influence these shifts could be:
1. Trends
2. News – When Donald trump called North Korea’s President “Rocket Man” this kicked off a popular range of rocket man t-shirts.
3. Seasons – Christmas etc.
4. Personal events – Pregnancy, divorce etc.
5. Awareness shift – Meat eaters are now switching to veganism due to viral information spread about the dangers of animal-based foods.
6. Recency – The best person to send an SMS offer to is a buyer, an even better person to send an SMS to is a buyer who bought from you recently.
The path to purchase is a critical timing factor.
When a person is looking to buy your solution, they will start researching, then reassess their needs, reduce options down to 1 or 2, get social feedback/reviews and finally make a decision.
Whatever business you’re in it helps to know what specific events have an impact on your customer’s world or what stage of the buying process your prospect is currently living in.
Each stage of this process represents an opportunity to guide them towards your solution.
Understanding what’s going on with your list is useful and sending out well-timed SMS messages will have large payoffs.
The Right Offer
Now that you’ve got the right person…and you’re sending your SMS offer at the right time, your campaign will be more welcomed.
In terms of creating an offer, make it compelling and constantly test as most offers bomb.
Unless you’re getting 100% conversion with your offers you should always be looking to improve them.
The 3 R’s stack on top of one another in order of importance for example: 70% off hearing aids (great offer) to a person that has perfect hearing (wrong person) = fail.
Always think of the right person first and then craft the compelling offer.
Side note: an “offer” doesn’t need to be a special discount, and offer just needs to target the specific desire of the person you’re trying to convert.
If you run a weight loss clinic and your prospective buyer needs to lose 10 kilos your offer could simply be enrolling them into your “lose 10 kilos in 10 weeks system”. No special discount, but the offer speaks to the exact need of the prospect.
160.com.au is a cloud-based SMS messaging platform which helps businesses and agencies reach new and existing customers.
• Build segmented lists of people interested in your product or service
• Create 2-way conversations
• Send SMS via your favourite email platform
• Get replies sent to your email inbox
• Automate SMS marketing to go out on specific dates and times
• Easy to use platform
Want To See How Our SMS Solution Works?
Click Here To Start Free Trial