What Is Sms Marketing And How Does It Work​ With Constant Contact

In today’s technology-driven society, SMS marketing has transcended the status of merely being a mobile marketing option—it looks like a queen! It has become one of the most powerful, direct, and tailored ways for companies to reach out to their customers. Be it through sending coupons, and alerts, or reminders, messaging has grown to be the dominant option for customer interactions.

And when joined with a strong platform like Constant Contact, the avenues expand immensely. Now, what are the workings of SMS marketing, and the aspect of it that is applicable to your business? Let us analyze the grounding blocks.

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing is the marketing by mobile phone or cell phone through the sending of short messages that contain selected information directly to the mobile phones of the customers by businesses. These messages may contain any type of information of the company such as discounts and the new merchandise arrival, exclusive giveaways, etc.

What amazes me is how fast and effective this method of communication is, with just about 98% of all text messages are read, while a faster being the distribution of SMS between users compared to emails which have poor 20% open rate.  This huge difference in responsiveness and engagement with the audience renders SMS a crucial factor of any marketer’s gear.

Why SMS Marketing?

Should you now point back to the numerous digital channels that are being utilized, which have SMS as well? The big differentiator is speed and how personal it is.

High Open Rates: Almost all the time, a message is received via SMS. A 98% chance of the outcome is something that is surely amazing. It is impossible to have more engagement when using SMS.

Personalized Messaging: You have the capability to customize messages in accordance with the customer’s preferences-whether it be their name, their product choices, or even a record of their past purchases, it’s truly amazing how SMS marketing can be fully personalized and take on such a personal touch.

Real-Time Interaction: The ability of SMS to rate how fast a business can react immediately makes it an ideal tool for marketing such as a flash sale or a special offer or even to inform a client about something urgent.

Cost-Efficiency: In comparison with other traditional marketing forms, SMS campaigns tend to be inexpensive. They do not require printing costs and shipping but the information directly gets to the phone of the customer.

How Does SMS Marketing Work?

SMS marketing is, in the end, a simple process of ensuring that your message reaches the right person at the right time. This is the process of SMS Marketing:

1. Building Your Subscriber List

The success of every SMS campaign is primarily attributable to a high-conversion, highly-engaged audience. You cannot just start texting people because you feel like it; their explicit consent is required. Below are some techniques you can follow to make your list:

Opt-In Forms: Put the signup form directly on your web page or opt-in landing page, and customers can voluntarily sign in.

Keyword Campaigns: Simply give an example of a special keyword that people can use to send the number to opt into your list. It is simple yet useful and effective.

Social Media Promotion: Leverage people’s favorite social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter, giving your subscribers a discount or an early sale just by signing up for your SMS list, thus you’ll have a good amount of followers who are ready to subscribe.

2. Crafting the Perfect SMS Message

Now, it’s time to have some fun and develop your message. But caveat: being brief is the essence. Text messages are short (with a maximum of 160 characters); and you have to ensure each one is important. A few suggestions that can help you include:

Clear CTA: Every message should have a call-of-action (CTA). It is a must to clearly state what action you want the recipient to take. So that they can easily know what to do be it “Shop now!” or “Claim your discount!”.

Personalization: Mention the name of the recipient or refer to their former contacts with your company in order to make the message feel personalized.

Offer Value: It is necessary to point out the offer or its special aspect right at the beginning of the message, regardless of whether it is a limited-time discount, an exclusive offer, or an important notice.

3. Sending the Campaign

After you have your list and content ready, it is time to click send. The extensive SMS marketing system in Constant Contact allows you to do this. The features include audience segmentation, campaign scheduling, and even the ability to automate the entire process to save precious time.

Here’s a short template of the sending process:

Create Your Campaign: From your Constant Contact dashboard, create a new SMS campaign. Design your message, select your audience, and schedule the timing.

Automation: Set up automated workflows to send messages when new subscribers join or when certain triggers occur, like abandoned carts or upcoming events.

4. Analyze and Optimize

Once the campaign is on air, not the time to finish. Continuous improvement is the key to the success of SMS marketing. Thus, it is the data that you will need to analyze. Constant Contact provides rich analytics on:

Open Rates: What is the proportion of individuals who have opened the communication ultimately?

Click-Through Rates (CTR): Have they taken part with the link in the message?

Conversions: Lastly, have they completed the goal that was being aimed at like a purchase or a sign-up?

Opt-Out Rates: Keep an eye on how many people have opted out of your list.

These insights will significantly contribute to the precision of future campaigns for even more enhanced outcomes.