Human Resource and Bulk SMS Usage cases.
Human Resource and Bulk SMS Usage cases.
Human Resources, or HR, refers to the workforce of an organisation, and a human resources department deals with every aspect of the business that relates to employees and managers, including payroll, performance, recruitment, selection, staff wellbeing and workplace industrial relations. The HR department is integral to any company, and more attention has been focused on this area in recent years. Human Resource as a concept has undergone to its booming fame in the last couple of years, yet that’s not the end of it. The field of Human Resource is currently – the most prominent and widely adopted phenomenon that businesses have embraced. And why wouldn’t they? After all, human input plays a significant role in the business proceedings. But, to attain quality human resource within an organization, there should be HR professionals with a distinct eye for picking up high caliber individuals. To run a Human Resource Agency or even an in-house HR department, seamless communication is the need of the hour. All HR representatives have to be constantly in touch with the job seekers to make sure that positive interaction takes place. Despite knowing the fact that HR departments and agencies prefer making phone calls to the job seekers and other potential candidates for job openings, we have seen how effectively text messaging has been utilized for instant communications. Not just simply text messaging is implemented for HR communications, on a broader level, text messaging is used for multiple reasons. Let’s discuss 6 most profound of them!
1. INTERVIEW SCHEDULING
For hiring better-performing employees, interviewing them is the first step. You must be aware of the struggle and the required effort to get an ideal candidate for the job. Whether you are an HR representative or even if you run a human resource agency, it is essential to schedule job interviews on calls and later confirm it with a text message. With text messaging for human resource, you can roll out high volumes of text messages, also you can make a targeted list of those candidates whom you think will be suitable for a particular job.
2. CONFIRMATORY TEXT MESSAGES
Keeping interview schedule in mind, you can use text messages for interview reminders as well. HR departments have a database of all the candidates and they tend to segment their list before rolling out confirmation text messages. Once you finalize everything, like an interview, test timings, day, date and etc, you can confirm all the job candidates via a simple text message. By doing so, you will generate a textual proof that an understanding has taken place and later that same text message will serve as a reminder to your job candidate.
3. LAST MINUTE CANCELLATIONS
No one has control over uncertain events or accidents. And there are times when things do not work the way we want them to work. Same applies to the Human Resource operations. Your human resource agency can send last-minute cancellation text messages to a candidate. You should understand that candidates can get furious if they land onto your office and at the last moment you apologize to them for not entertaining them. So, you should always send last-minute cancellation text message which will cause no bother for the job candidates. And by doing that, your reputation will face no real harm.
4. PROMOTIONS & UPDATES
Human Resource agencies go through hundreds of calls and texts daily. And a great way to promote your HR services is to spread your core values with text messaging to a wide range of companies. Not simply this, you can also roll out promotional messages whenever you are participating in a job fair. Most of the established companies tend to conduct a job placement opportunity within their premises. On this point as well, you can use text messaging as a tool for promotional activities. Another important element for human resource agencies is the facilitation of updates. You should always keep your clients and job candidates updated with all the latest happenings. And the best medium to ensure everyone’s updated is the platform of text messaging for human resource.
5. SHORTCODES FOR BULK SMS
Without any exaggeration, we can assume that around 70% of the text messages by an HR department come via shortcodes. A shortcode allows companies to send and receive bulk SMS and to further expand their reach. You can use shortcode text messaging for human resource management and as a result, you will face no delay in real-time communication. For client companies and job candidates also, remembering a shortcode becomes really easy and they can quickly recognize from whom they are receiving all the text messages. You should too buy a shortcode for implementing text messaging services for human resource agencies.
6. ADD DIRECTIONS WITH GOOGLE MAPS
Just by keeping it in the final phase, guiding job candidates to the exact location is by no means of the secondary importance. You are responsible for guiding job candidates for the particular location that you have asked them to come in. Adding a Google Map can be a handy move, you should always add locations to your text messages for the convenience of a candidate. As a human resource representative or even if you run a human resource agency, you should never forget to miss on the opportunity to maximize text messaging for human resource operations.
SMS Marketing for Financial Sector | USMS-GH
SMS Marketing for Financial Sector
sms marketing
SMS marketing has turned out as a viable option for reaching our customers in this mobile era where people use mobile phones more than anything else. No matter what is the nature and size of business, it is widely incorporated by all sectors. It has improved customer interaction and has simplified the process of promoting a business. Bulk SMS Services for Banks and Financial services are highly beneficial as it helps to gain an edge over the market which is saturating at a very fast pace. Bulk SMS is a simple yet an effective economical tool which enables faster communication between clients. Using this tool banks can notify their customers regarding transactional information such as ATM withdrawals, account balance, payment reminders and much more. Banks and financial companies are using this tool to make their services customer friendly and build a mutually rewarding relations with their clients. There are many reasons why those in the financial industry need to message customers. In fact, you’ve likely received an SMS from your bank or from Mobile Money today. As a decision-maker in this industry, it’s important that you’re familiar with how a bulk SMS campaign can be used to your advantage. Maybe you’re thinking of the codes your bank sends when you’re about to make a purchase. Those messages are personal to you and your banking needs, often immediately and at the moment. But this is not what we’re talking about here. This is about messages that apply to everyone. These are not less personal, because everyone does need to know this information. But they aren’t quite as personal as receiving that OTP number at 3 am so that you can make the online purchase that you’re sure to regret as soon as it’s delivered. These are SMS campaign messages and here are some examples.
Banking sectors used Bulk SMS for sending important updates to our existing customers Banking & Financial sectors are adopted Bulk SMS technology for increased customer satisfaction. Bulk SMS is an effective change in the Finance & Banking industry. Bulk SMS implement a better relationship among customer and Banking services. Every bank needs to adopt Bulk SMS service for giving updates, confirmation, transactional information and other important information regularly. Banks and financial sector take advantages of Bulk SMS When Bulk SMS comes in the market, it has become much easier for the banks to sending alert & updates their customers about their transactions. Bulk SMS is one of the most efficient & cost efficient channel of communication and it helped the Banking sector to connect their customer anytime. Bulk SMS proved own importance in Banking & Financial sectors.
Easy process of Banking after adapting SMS service
Bulk SMS offers Promotional SMS, Transactional SMS, Voice SMS and Mobile Data base etc and many other special packages. It helps to increase Banking strength. Bank & Finance sector grow speedily by Bulk SMS. Today Bank process is more effective and easy because adapting mobile messaging.
Bank & finance sector deals effectively to their customers via SMS
Banks & Finance industry are professionally dealing with their customers via Bulk SMS. This industry use Internet SMS for advertisement and alert and notification of their transactions. Bulk SMS is the innovative tool that makes an effective and beneficial path for Bank & Finance industry. Banks used Bulk SMS to sending personal information of customer like personal account details, PIN number, ATM transaction detail etc. Bulk SMS used in Banking for several purposes like loan status, EMI reminder, Account detail, instalment information, sending festival greeting and interest rate etc.
Example of SMS for Banks and Financial Services
Transactional SMS Examples
Dear Customer “Your current balance for account number 1453000xxxx2432 is GHS. 10,000.”
Dear Customer “Your account number 225600xxxx2555 is credited with GHS. 2000 by clearing cheque number 70789.” Dear Customer “Your account risks being overdrawn. Your current balance is GHS. 50. Please deposit more money to continue using your card without additional fees.”
Promotional SMS Examples
Dear Customer “New loan scheme is starting on 20th December, 2018. Check out its attractive features on our site or call us on 9999999999 to know more details.”
Dear Customer “State Bank of Ghana is offering personal loans with 0% interest rates to its customers. Call us at 8888888888 to know the terms and conditions.”
Banks and Financial Institutions have brought a major transformation and improved customer satisfaction by providing all monetary services under one roof. This positive change is beneficial for both customers and the banking industry. Now the delivery of information has become quite easy and has lessen the burden of bank employees. Information is available just at the click of a button. Bulk SMS Services for Banks and Financial Institutions has proved to be very effective. Sign up now at USMS-GH and start using excellent quality services at affordable prices.
SMS History- A Journey down memory lane | USMS-GH
SMS History- A Journey down memory lane
From the start...
Going way back, the earliest form of two-way communication can be traced to smoke signals in 200 B.C., which were used by soldiers along the Great Wall of China to alert one another of attacks. And of course, animals like homing pigeons and horses have been used all throughout history to deliver messages and mail between two points. But the real advancements in how we communicate with one another took off when technology began taking over, making way for the beloved text message. So when did text messaging start? And how has text messaging changed?
When was text messaging invented
1984 – Text messaging was first conceived by Friedhelm Hillebrand and Bernard Ghillebaert. The first SMS messages were limited to 160 seven-bit characters so they could fit onto existing signalling formats. A fun fact about the history of texting – Hillebrand argued that while 160 characters doesn’t sound like a lot, it’s actually more than enough characters to convey most messages. To reach this conclusion, he sat at a typewriter and typed out random sentences, counting every letter, number, punctuation, and space. Almost every time his random musings fell within the 160 character limit. The first text message was sent years later on December 3rd, 1992 from Neil Papworth, a former developer at Sema Group Telecoms. Mobile phones didn’t have keyboards at the time, so Papworth had to type the message on a PC. Papworth’s text — “Merry Christmas” — was successfully sent to Richard Jarvis at Vodafone. 1993 – A year later, Brennan Hayden, an engineer for Irish wireless company Aldiscon, sent the first commercial text message. It said “burp,” which had nothing to do with gastroenterology, but instead signified the “birth” of a new form of communication in the history of texting.
When did text messaging start?
Most early GSM mobile phone handsets did not support the ability to send text messages. The first SMS gateways for cellphones were network notifications, usually to inform of voice mail messages and billing alerts. Nokia was the first handset manufacturer whose total GSM phone line in 1993 supported user-sending of SMS text messages. In 1997, it became the first manufacturer to produce a mobile phone with a full keyboard: the Nokia 9000i Communicator. Like any new technology, initial growth for SMS was slow. The average American user sent 0.4 texts per month in 1995. Gradually, phones and networks adapted to better accommodate SMS. In 1999, texts could finally be exchanged between different networks, which increased its usefulness. By 2000, the average number of text messages sent in the U.S. increased to 35 a month per person.
Cell Phones Begin to Transform
1995 – Autocomplete was a key development in the history of texting as well — opening the door to faster texting. The first autocomplete technology was called “T9”. This technology made it quite a bit easier to send text messages using a 10-digit keypad. 1997 – Nokia released the first cell phone featuring a QWERTY keyboard: the 9000i Communicator. NOKIA 9000i Communicator. The 9000i had what would be considered a large keyboard for a cell phone, but a small keyboard compared to today’s tablets. Source: Wikipedia.
Text Messaging Goes Global
1999 – Another important milestone in the history of texting was the introduction of cross-network texts. Before 1999, you could only message people who shared the same service provider. 2000 – Texting becomes mainstream with message volumes reaching an average of 35 texts per person per month in the U.S. Texting was especially popular among college students prompting The Wall Street Journal to call texting “a new fever”. 2002 – Text messaging becomes a global phenomenon reaching 250 billion messages sent worldwide in a single year.
Texting Evolves
2003 – SMS messaging found a new purpose when the TV show, American Idol pioneered “text to vote”. Viewers could choose their favorite singer by texting their vote to a number displayed on-screen. Clay Aiken Waukegan in American Idol TV show. Text “1” to vote for Clay! Source: Wikiwand. 2006 – Twitter is born. The network’s famous 140-character limit was inspired by Hillebrand, who invented SMS messaging in 1984 (see above). When you add the 20-character limit on Twitter usernames to the 140-character tweet limit, you get 160 characters, which was the original character limit for text messages. 2007 – Texting becomes the most popular mobile data service worldwide used by 2.4 billion out of 3.3 billion mobile phone users. The number of texts sent surpassed the number of calls made for the first time. Apple released the first iPhone the same year. 2008 – The United Way launched the first “text to donate” campaign, which was featured during Superbowl XLII. In the same year, Obama famously used a ‘text to donate campaign’ to help him win the election. He also used SMS software to send bulk text messages and grow his grassroots campaign.
Texting in the Modern Era
2010 – At this point in time, text messaging was a mainstream practice in many cultures. In fact, the verb “texting” was added to the dictionary in 2010 – no surprise given that the number of text messages sent worldwide reached 6.1 trillion that year (roughly 1,000 messages per person)! 2013 – Internet-based mobile messaging services like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, iMessage, and Viber caught up with SMS messaging in terms of overall popularity and message volume. 2019 – While mobile messaging apps continue to grow in popularity, they have not extinguished SMS messaging, which is still a growing market. For example, the market for enterprise SMS is increasing at 4% per year as companies continue to look to the medium as a new way to connect with customers. The future of SMS – Businesses will increasingly use SMS software to interact with customers. SMS messages are already used to ask for feedback, send parcel delivery notifications, carry out security authorizations, confirm appointments, and so much more. These business-to-consumer text messages are often called “SMS notifications”, and are usually sent to announce special events or in response to transactions. Public institutions are also increasingly turning to SMS notifications as a way to send important public safety information or alerts. So here we have it, a journey down memory, the SMS history.
Interested in SMS Marketing?
Marketing via SMS has many advantages over mobile or email marketing. For one, SMS notifications have much higher open and response rates (8x higher than email). Also, customers don’t have to install any new apps to receive SMS notifications — every smartphone is equipped to send and receive SMS messages right out of the box.
Bulk SMS Service for Courier and Logistics Company | USMS-GH
Bulk SMS Service for Courier and Logistics Company
Bulk SMS services acts as a great marketing tool for logistics and courier companies. Nowadays people are spending much time on mobile phones Bulk SMS services help in promoting and advertising the brand. Many logistics and courier companies have already replaced emails, calls with SMS services. SMS Gateway API also helps customers to check their order status, real-time notifications regarding the product delivery, etc. As Bulk SMS services are cost-effective and cheaper when compared to other communications, most of the companies prefer SMS as an effective mode of communication to send important updates to their customers. The Courier Industry has a huge potential for growth and in the coming years. E-commerce is the driving force behind the expansion and revolution of the Logistics sector.
Advancements in technology, changing infrastructure, increasing trend towards online shopping are some of the major factors contributing towards the rising demand of Courier Services. Like any other business, Courier industry also needs an efficient communication channel for conveying order updates, delivery status, tracking consignment whereabouts, and sending alerts. Traditional communication channels are not preferred for Courier and Logistics Companies as this industry needs a tool that can disseminate urgent information in just a fraction of seconds. Bulk SMS Service for Courier Industry is a widely used tool as it has the ability to convey important updates in the fastest possible way. In this article, we are going to explore the ways in which a logistics company can utilize SMS Service.
1. Send order updates:
SMS is the best medium to send order updates, delivery notifications, and tracking details in the quickest possible manner. Being the fastest channel for transmitting important notifications, Bulk SMS Service is an ideal tool for conveying consignment details in just a fraction of seconds. As the courier service industry has to provide time-bound delivery services, it requires a tool that can reach the target audience instantly. The biggest advantage of implementing SMS Service is that it enables a business to reach the clients directly and transfer order updates in real time.
Example: Dear Customer, Your AWB no. 26441 has been delivered. Thank you for choosing Platinum Courier Service.
2. Send payment reminders and invoices:
Collecting your pending dues is now easy and effortless. SMS Service enables you to send payment updates, billing, and invoice details in just a click of a button. SMS has replaced the traditional communication tools and has become the first choice among the courier companies for sending payment reminders. Using the Bulk SMS Service of Fast2SMS, you can even attach files such as pdf, jpg, doc, csv for sending invoice and other billing details. This way, Bulk SMS makes the payment collection an easy and hassle-free process.
Example: Dear Customer, Our records show that you owe GHA. 50.00. Kindly make the payment at the earliest. Classic Couriers Pvt Ltd.
3. Advertise your courier service:
Marketing is the backbone of every business and no business can prosper without an efficient marketing strategy. In today’s turbulent market, traditional marketing methods have become obsolete and are no longer relevant. Bulk SMS Marketing can be used to increase brand awareness and advertise your courier business in a cost-effective manner. Using Bulk SMS, you can send offers, deals and discounts to your clients and establish a direct connection with them. SMS Marketing has become a popular promotional tool and is widely used in the courier industry.
Example: Dear Customer, Take the services of ‘The Courier King’ and get special gift coupon worth GHS. 10.00. Hurry up. Offer expires soon. Call us at 233241234567 to know the details.
4. Manage your warehouse:
Managing warehouse is a tedious task. In order to coordinate with the warehouse staff and convey timely updates, large number of logistics companies prefer Bulk SMS Service. As SMS doesn’t require an internet connection to view and is compatible with every mobile device, it works best for managing communications in the warehouse. SMS is an ideal tool for quick and urgent communication related to inventory shortages or back-order deliveries. In case of emergencies like system failure, order delays, where the update needs to be conveyed to the entire warehouse staff, SMS serves as the most appropriate tool.
Example: Dear Staff Members, Please process the delivery of the consignment no 39912872 at the earliest.
5. Communicate with the staff:
Bulk SMS works as the perfect channel for streamlining the internal communication and helps in conducting the business activities smoothly. Since mobile is our primary communication tool and is kept within the arm’s reach 24/7, the information gets delivered at the right moment. Also, Bulk SMS Service enables you to reach thousands of people at the same time thereby providing a wider coverage. Therefore, it is the most viable tool to notify the team members regarding sudden changes, emergencies, alerts and other crucial details.
Example: Dear Team, This is to inform you all that the meeting with the Logistics Manager will be held today at 5 PM. All are requested to attend. You can get started with bulk marketing using USMS-GH platform today.
SMS marketing and CTR (Click Through Rates)
SMS Marketing Click-Through Rates
SMS open rates are very different than SMS click-through rates. Open rates are when someone opens an SMS message. Click-through rates are calculated by dividing the amount of people that clicked on a hyperlink in a message, by the amount of people that received that SMS message. So for example, if you send an SMS message to 10 people, and 3 of them click on the link in the SMS message, the click-through rate would be 30%.
While SMS click-through rates vary widely, we’ve found the average SMS marketing click-through rate is somewhere in the 5-10% range.
Do you have ever wondered what exactly the SMS marketing done with the help of click-through rate implies for companies? Do you have ever thought what indicates SMS click-through rate preferred by leading brands with suitable hyperlinks in their text messages or SMS?
If your answer is no or you do not have any idea or knowledge about this latest concept of the marketing sector, you should definitely follow this article. Here, you will be able to get a good explanation of the term as bulk SMS click-through rate and later on, be able to know its importance in the marketing sector and for leading brands prevailing in the market.
Overview of the Term: SMS click-through rate
SMS click-through rate implies the actual percentage of overall customers, which when seen click over the hyperlink present within a text message. For instance, if 10 customers in all receive the SMS message of your brand or company and two of them put clicks over the hyperlink you have provided in your texts, you would be able to achieve about 20 percent of the click-through rate via SMS marketing activity.
From a variety of sources, we can see the average SMS marketing conversion rate is 29%. In terms of the average increase in conversion rates attributed to text message marketing, it’s 156%. The conversion rate for SMS is much higher than other digital marketing channels:
- 3.26% for email marketing
- 3.17% for Google Ads
- 9.21% for Facebook ads
SMS marketing’s conversion rate is 200% higher than the next best performing marketing channel.
Calculating the Conversion Rate for SMS Marketing
If you’ve come across our marketing material, you may have seen us referencing the fact that SMS has an average open rate of 98%. It’s crazy to us how highly underutilized SMS messaging is by marketers.
Even if you don’t care about sky-high open rates, response rates that are eight times higher than email, and click-through rates of 30%, you’ll find the conversion rate of SMS marketing impressive. Instead of one single conversion rate metric, here are a couple:
- Salesforce found a conversation rate of 45% for brands using SMS
- SEJ reported a conversion rate of 17% for text advertising campaigns
- Our customer, Whisker Seeker, routinely seeks a 25% conversion rate on its SMS promotions
- Toroe Eyewear increased its e-commerce store’s conversion rate by 200% using text marketing
Get started with USMS-GH bulk marketing now.
Contact Support for further assistance.
How to Increase SMS Open Rates || USMS-GH
How to Increase SMS Open Rates
Open rates.
Open rate, in text messaging is used to denote the number of sent texts viewed by the receiver. This equates as the number of targeted subscribers that actually viewed the text message. A quite surprising statistic is that text message marketing open rates are over 90%. This means that only less than 10% of targeted subscriber do not open the text to read its content. That is considerably high compared to other marketing channels like email marketing. Yet, why is the open rate for text message marketing so high? It is essentially because text messaging has no spam, making text messages a clean marketing channel. However, the question “How to increase SMS open rates” still remains valid in the minds of many. With business competition so high these days, companies today must be aggressive in the marketing of their products and services. This means utilizing a variety of traditional and new marketing strategies and tools to engage new customers and manage them once they are acquired. SMS marketing also plays a major role in developing a relationship with your customers and converting prospects.
The state of email and SMS in 2021
The first thing that you should know about both email and SMS is that they have been around for a while, both for personal and professional use. This familiarity can be huge when it comes to reach customers, as they already understand the platform and how to communicate. In fact, the over 90% open rate of SMS often comes from users always being near their phones. Whereas, the ubiquitous nature of email has led to a steady decline of open rate stats over time. Now, in 2021, with a variety of new and innovative communication platforms, most customers still prefer the tried and true methods of email and SMS. That being said, customers are also much more interested in receiving a good customer experience when they are interacting with a company. This is why best practices must be put into place in order to get the most out of these tools.
SMS Messaging Was and is Very Effective
As we have moved to mobile phones becoming the center of business marketing efforts, it is easy to forget that what was considered the original mew marketing tool started out on mobile phones even before the internet became a factor. It was SMS or text messaging that got companies to consider mobile phones as a marketing device. SMS marketing was an immediate hit and has enjoyed during its life a very high open rate. In fact, globally text messaging enjoys an open rate of more than 90%. In a world of two-way communication being a standard, this is an astounding number. It has caused SMS messaging to be a standard tool for many companies to use to engage potential customers or to alert customers to new products, specials, discounts and other promotions. But not all SMS messages are created equal and many SMS marketing campaigns do not meet their objectives. The first goal of any SMS campaign is to get customers to open the test mail. Here are the proven methods for increasing your SMS open rates.
Below are five of our best SMS marketing strategies to increase the open rates of your SMS messages.
1. Timing is everything
Make sure that you send your Bulk SMS messages at the right time. You want to send a message near the time you want the person to take action. If you want to direct them to a sale, do it the night before or morning of the sale. People expect an SMS message to be current. So give them what they expect. Make it a last minute call to action. 2. Perfect Your first Line You need to be able to capture the attention of your target market with introductions that resonate with them. Look at other successful SMS messages to get some ideas on how to get people to open your text.
2. Perfect Your first Line
You need to be able to capture the attention of your target market with introductions that resonate with them. Look at other successful SMS messages to get some ideas on how to get people to open your text.
3. 80/20 rule
The next strategy for optimizing your open rate and getting the most out of your campaign is known as the rule of 80/20. Under this rule, you want to dedicate about 80% or 4 out of 5 messages to being insightful and helpful to your customers, while only actually selling the other 20% of the time. Along with providing a better experience to your customers, it will also make your bulk SMS messages with sales content more powerful. Now, even though you won’t be selling with each message, another way to increase open rate and conversion rate is by including a call-to-action with each SMS. Especially with the immediacy of text marketing, having a clear next step for customers to take will make them look forward to your messaging and help your open rate.
4. Collect Data and Analyze It
You should collect data on every aspect of your Bulk SMS marketing campaign, and analyze this data to perfect the campaign. Look at your target market, the actual message, the offer, and the results to determine how you did, and what can be improved. After you have made adjustments, test these changes with new SMS messages. Repeat this process continuously.
5. Understand the delivery method
Both SMS and email work best, both in regards to the power of the campaign and open rate, when working together. However, there will be times when you will need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of both avenues along with which is best used to meet your goals. For example, there are plenty of occasions where an SMS message should be used, due to the speed and ease of use. That being said, the same efficiency can work against you in other scenarios with less timely info, in which case an email will be more appropriate. As you plan out your campaigns, make sure you understand the delivery methods you will be using and that they are the best option for what you hope to accomplish.
Conclusion
All the above strategies are designed to answer how to increase SMS open rates. As long as you will keep these tips in mind, you will have nothing to worry about with retention or open rates! SMS Marketing is also a better and smarter choice than social media (Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn). Because almost 100% of mobile phones are SMS-enabled, it’s the easiest communication channel everyone in the world knows how to use and, above all, because 99% of all SMS messages are opened and read within 5 minutes or less. This is a huge open and read rate! For further assistance, contact support.
What is “Open Rate” and how it affects Bulk SMS || USMS-GH
Open rates, just as the name goes, is the frequency(rate at which) SMS is opened. Open rates varies from one marketing medium to another. Today, we will focus on SMS marketing.
Today, with the expansion of mobile phone communications and the increase in the mobile phone industry, SMS marketing has become the most widely used method by companies to advertise their products or services. SMS messaging is one of the most efficient ways of reaching customers and informing them about a company’s latest news, such as special offers or the launch of a new product.
SMS Open Rates vs SMS Read Rates
Many SMS marketers commonly confuse SMS open rates and SMS read rates. In email marketing, the two terms are defined as the following:
- Email Read: The total amount of people that open an email marketing message.
- Email Open: The amount of people that open an email marketing message with images automatically enabled or click to enable the images on your email when opening. In most cases the open rate for email marketing will be less than the read rate.
In SMS marketing though open rates and read rates are defined differently. A “read” for an SMS marketing message is the total amount of people that see the SMS message, including a preview of the message.
What medium of marketing has the highest open rate?
The open rates for SMS messages are amongst the highest across any form of marketing. Frost & Sullivan 2010 & Epsilon 2009 reports found that compared to email marketing, which has an average open rate of 22%, the huge 98% open rate of SMS messages is even more impressive.
However, there is no average response rate that can be given with any exact certainty. The success of SMS marketing varies and depends not only on the product/service being sold & the audience and their receptiveness, but the wording you use, the time of day you send the message and how you require people to respond to acknowledge interest.
The average open rate for SMS marketing is higher than the rate for other advertising methods such as e-mail messages, or Facebook/Instagram ads. SMS texts are more efficient thanks to their instant delivery. Cellphone users can read them on the spot by just tapping on the screen.
It is also true that SMS messaging is not as heavily used as other methods and, as a result, customers won’t feel overwhelmed by the number of ads they receive, as it happens on social media such as Facebook or Instagram. In other words, advertising through SMS is less intrusive and more personal as well.
Why Are SMS Open Rates So High?
The main reason SMS open rates are so high is that SMS marketing requires a strict opt-in from customers before you can message them. How strict? It’s actually federal law that requires businesses to get an opt-in from a consumer prior to sending them an SMS message.
Start taking advantage of this high open rates to boost your business. Register with USMS-GH to begin Bulk SMS marketing now.
Bulk SMS: Top 5 ways in which restaurant business can use it | USMS-GH
Top 5 ways in which restaurant business can use it
How Restaurant can benefit from USMS-GH Bulk SMS Service.
Bulk SMS is the only medium that has the most personalized connection with the recipient as it reaches the customers directly in their mobile inboxes where no other channel can get through. You might have noticed that people search on their smart phones to find a new food outlet. Thus, it shows how important role can be played by incorporating SMS Service for marketing your restaurant business. The biggest benefit of this channel is that it can reach a wider range of audience and that too without the need of internet connection. Delight your customers and help them choose you by texting an appealing message to your prospective clients. Leverage this powerful marketing tool to drive more traffic and increase your business revenue.
Promote your brand:
With the help of Bulk SMS Service, advertising your brand is an easy and hassle free process. You can introduce offers, discounts, and many other enticing deals in a budget-friendly cost.
Example: Don’t feel like cooking tonight? Main course meal starting from GHS. 30. Choose from a range of starters, meals, and desserts. Offer valid for a limited period only. Hurry up! Call us now.
Send texts for booking reminders:
Send messages reminding the guest about their booking.
Example: Dear Kofi, Your table has been booked at our restaurant for tomorrow 5 PM. See you soon.
Promote new dishes:
What better platform other than Bulk SMS to promote your restaurant. As people are active on their cell phones all day, it gives restaurant marketers a chance to convert their leads into regular customers. You can send pictures of the famous dishes of your food outlet via SMS and increase your popularity.
Example: Dear Akosua, Check out our brand new menu at our restaurant and order online. Get 50% off on your first order. Select from a range of different cuisines and enjoy your favorite dishes.
Send Coupons:
Use USMS-GH Bulk SMS Service to send coupons, offers, exclusive deals and attract new customers with ease. Coupon codes can greatly help in increasing the revenue and maximizing your sales. This can lead to increase in customer’s loyalty over time.
Example: Dear customer, Special offer for you! Show this SMS and get a free smoothie with any purchase.
Delivery and notification Bulk SMS:
It makes your service more professional if you update the customer on every order made by them.
Example: Dear customer, Thank you for placing order with us. Your order will be ready for collection in 30 minutes.
Bulk SMS Biggest Mistakes that You Must Avoid (Pt. 2) || USMS-GH
Bulk SMS Biggest Mistakes that You Must Avoid (Pt. 2)
Every business has one ultimate goal––to make profits. The only way to thrive in such competitive and saturated markets is by focussing on innovative marketing strategies. Bulk SMS marketing is one such strategy that will help you boost your revenues.
With smartphone users increasing to more than 90% of the population, it is imperative for businesses to be where their customers are––on mobile-friendly platforms.
Thus, there lies a flood of opportunities for marketers in the arena of SMS marketing. Done right, bulk SMS service can magnify your reach manifold. However, if you don’t implement it correctly, there could be a potential revenue loss and you could also end up damaging brand reputation.
If your SMS marketing campaign hasn’t been yielding desired results, then this blog is for you. We’ve curated a list of mistakes that you can avoid while designing your bulk SMS marketing campaigns.
Not knowing your audience
Knowing your audience and understanding their behaviour, buying patterns, requirements, etc. should be every business leader’s first priority. You can’t create impactful SMS campaigns without knowing what your audience connects with.
Marketers need to consider demographics such as age, gender, pain points and lifestyle preferences. Align your campaign according to the said criterion to make it more appealing and personalised.
To be able to do this effectively, it is important that you segment your audience into relevant groups and design effective message templates for each of them.
Lack of personal touch
Once the SMS has reached the target audience, only content matters. Your content should hit the nail on the head—make readers feel special and, at the same time, brief them about your product.
Do not forget to include the customer’s name in the text. And if you combine it with their purchase history, that’ll be the cherry on top! Don’t forget to keep them updated about your latest offers and promotions and ensure regular check-ins tailored to their needs.
Effective CTA is missing
SMS stands for short message service and, hence, the content should immediately draw the reader’s attention towards the CTA (call to action)––a.k.a. the purpose of the message.
The presence or lack of a CTA can make or break your SMS content. If you have one, you can lure the reader into clicking on that link or placing that call. However, if you don’t have one, you can leave your readers feeling uncertain about the next steps that they need to follow and, subsequently, your brand.
Thus, always remember to place CTAs strategically to ensure that your audience does not miss out.
Bottom line: Never forget CTAs while developing bulk SMS campaigns.
Wrong timing of Bulk SMS
Timing is everything. And this mantra applies to bulk SMSes as well. Customers are highly likely to feel annoyed if they’re contacted at odd hours. And rightly so.
Although India has managed to regulate promotional SMS timings (from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm), one can still go wrong.
Have you noticed how prominent F&B brands usually send out their SMSes during meal-times? That’s a smart strategy to persuade users to hit that CTA in case they’re planning to eat-out.
Keep in mind:
Never text too early––before the person has his cup of coffee or too late when the customer is already preparing for bed or is asleep.
Avoid sending messages during peak hours when people are preoccupied with other activities.
Avoid sending messages during weekends as that can lead to a high unsubscribe rate.
Your customers may always be on their phones but you still don’t want to buzz them at the wrong time. Choose your time window carefully based on your industry and customer’s preferences.
Lack of consent
Make sure to add opt-in and opt-out options to your bulk SMS services. Always take consent from your audience before making them a part of your bulk SMS group. With so much noise from thousands of brands, customers are bound to get annoyed with too many promotional SMSes.
This also affects your brand reputation because customers will look at your business as inconsiderate. Lack of consent or permission can also force them to take legal action against your brand.
Long and convoluted SMS template
Modern day customers don’t have the time to open and read every text. They usually glance at SMSes and other updates from the notification bar and clear it right away. A short and smart combination of words in a line should be enough to put your message across and influence them positively without taking up too much of their time.
Always try to follow the 3C practice for your bulk SMS service—clarity, concise and call–to-action. Lengthy messages depict unprofessionalism and confuse your audience.
Using colloquial or casual tonality
While every customer will not connect with professional sounding content, it is important for businesses to avoid unprofessional language and abbreviations as these make your brand look overly laidback.
The content should sound neither too casual and nor too professional. And it should be easy to understand. In order to improve your brand’s credibility and reliability try to use a language free from jargons and acronyms.
Not being consistent with bulk SMS strategy
Make sure to set an optimal frequency before you launch your campaign and stick to that pattern. The aim should be to strike a balance.
If you send too many messages in one week and, then, too less in the following week following, customers will be confused and will opt-out of your bulk SMS service.
Being annoyingly frequent is also a common mistake made by marketers while running bulk SMS service campaigns. In these cases, even if people don’t opt-out, they will still disregard your texts.
Both scenarios are risky.
Therefore, depending on your sector and type of subscribers, find the best and most optimal frequency for your business.
Choosing the wrong bulk SMS provider
You need to be very careful when choosing your technology partners. Markets for bulk SMS are more than saturated and you need to evaluate them on the basis of several aspects such as cost, uptime, delivery rate and backup. Carefully analyse and study online reviews for these service providers before investing your hard earned money.
You can choose a reliable organisation like USMS-GH. Our customers love us for the delivery rate and after-sales support offered by our experts.
Check out the first part of this post here.
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Bulk SMS Biggest Mistakes that You Must Avoid (Pt. 1) || USMS-GH
Bulk SMS Biggest Mistakes that You Must Avoid (Pt. 1)
Bulk SMS is a powerful marketing tool, but there are some biggest mistakes you must avoid to be productive in the industry. In this article, we’re going to go through the “Don’ts” and “Dare Nots” of SMS Marketing Campaigns. These are the mistakes that you should avoid at all costs to make your SMS Marketing Promo Campaign successful. Ding! What happens when you hear the familiar text notification sound from your mobile? You pick up to find out who sent you a message, huh? If the text you receive is not from a family member or a friend, it might be an SMS marketing message. Does that text really delight you? Or does it irk you? Your response is likely to depend on whether your business buddy has followed best practices in SMS marketing or not. Because there are the right way and the wrong way to do SMS marketing. Following the SMS marketing “Don’ts” and “Dare Nots” will make your SMS marketing campaign effective and not rage-inducing.
The ‘Don’ts’ of SMS Marketing
Here are a few things that you don’t want to do if you want your SMS marketing campaign to be successful.
Just assume, it’s midnight, you’re sleeping in your cozy bed, and you’re suddenly startled by a business text message. What possibly can be more annoying than that? It’s also not fun to get business texts early in the morning, on holiday, or at dinner with your family. You need to consider the timing of your SMS marketing messages in order to avoid this kind of situation that could cause you to lose even your most loyal customers. Pay attention to the time zones in which your customers are located and send messages during convenient times. According to a study, the best time of day to send SMS marketing messages is between 10:31 a.m. – 11:29 a.m. or 2:34 a.m. – 3:27 p.m.
2. Don’t Use Slang and Abbreviations
In SMS Marketing, you have only 160 characters in text to get your message across. But that doesn’t mean that you should include text slang and abbreviations in your message to fit it all in the given limit. Rule of Thumb! if you can’t say it all in 160 characters, your message is too long. Text slang and abbreviations are not comprehendible for everyone. And if you use them in your SMS marketing messages, you run the risk of confusing users. If your customers have no idea what you’re talking about, they’re going to ignore your message. Evading text slang and abbreviations helps to ensure that your SMS looks professional and that recipients understand them.
3. Don’t Fail to Identify Yourself
Have you ever received an anonymous text message with you having no idea who you’re talking to? Have you ever tried to answer it? The answer obviously is a big ‘No’. Remember that when you send text messages to your customers. If your customer receives a text message without knowing who it is, they are likely to consider it SPAM or suspect it has been sent to the wrong number or by a wrong number. Just introduce yourself, as you do when you meet someone in person. When customers know that it’s your business that communicates with them, they’re more likely to respond. Plus, repeating your company name helps to improve brand recognition.
4. Don’t Be an Obsessive Seller
Nobody likes to communicate with someone who’s always trying to sell something. While the primary objective of your SMS marketing campaign may be to generate sales, it’s crucial that you’re not being nosy. Keep in mind; your customers are human, so talk to them in a friendly, conversational tone.
1. Dare Not Send Too Many Texts for your Bulk SMS
People are already being bombarded with an overwhelming amount of SMS marketing messages every day. In fact, there is an amazing number of SMS messages that are sent per minute – 16 million SMS messages. That’s a lot of text! It’s crucial that your business doesn’t add to this stress by sending too many texts as part of an SMS marketing campaign. If you have nothing important to say or offer, it’s best not to send a text at all. By sending out only the most exciting messages, you will avoid annoying your customers. Oh and of course, when they see that they’ve got a text from you, they’ll know that it will be of value.
2. Dare Not Forget Giving the Opt-Out Instructions for you bulk SMS
It’s not legal to text your customers without their permission. It is also illegal not to give users a way to opt-out of receiving your SMS marketing messages. You must give your users clear instructions on how to opt-out of receiving your SMS marketing messages. You may add these instructions at the end of each text you send, and especially the first message you send. This gives any user the possibility to opt-out readily if they have signed up accidentally or for some reason did not know what they have signed up for. Telling the users that they can opt-out at any time will help you avoid annoying them and will also ensure that your SMS marketing list is filled with people who are actually interested in receiving the messages from your business.
3. Dare Not Forget to Include a Call-to-Action for your Bulk SMS
In any type of marketing campaign, a strong call-to-action is vital. As it is Call to Action that encourages users to take a step further in a buyer’s purchase journey. You must remember that your customers are not the mind readers, so when you want them to do something, you’ve got to ask them. Never forget to include a Strong Call to Action in your SMS marketing message, else it’s a dead-end for your customers. Make it clear, whatever step you want users to take after reading your text message.
The Upshot
This is it! . These are the ‘Don’ts’ and ‘Dare Nots’ of an SMS Marketing Campaign. SMS Marketing can be a powerful tool for your business, enabling you to send important messages directly to your customers. So, take advantage of that. Keep the above-mentioned Don’ts and Dare Nots in mind and you’re going to be a Bulk SMS marketing pro.