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.
