Expanding Customer Reach and Engagement via SMS Marketing

Posted On 13 September 2022 By Patryk Patej In Trends / 4

A trend of the 90s, SMS is all set to make a stellar comeback in enterprise marketing. SMS marketing involves the use of SMS communications to run promotional campaigns and engage customers. Being simple and personal, SMS messages easily attract the trust and attention of users. As such, SMS messages are reaching record visibility rates, with 90% of all text messages being read within three minutes and 99% being read eventually.

Being hassle-free and allowing for unlimited recipients, SMS messages can be delivered to anyone with a phone, even if it is a feature phone, and to any location regardless of Internet connectivity. Beyond this, a simple and standard textual layout make SMS messaging a no-frills communications channel that is ideal for large-scale marketing activities.

Enterprises wishing to take their SMS marketing a notch higher can leverage SMSEagle SMS/MMS Gateway for an integrated SMS solution that is compatible with 2G, 3G, and 4G networks across the globe. The gateway uses local SIMs, allowing enterprises to reap substantial cost savings by using the local mobile network. Enterprises with bulk messaging needs can register further savings by not having to pay third-parties for orchestrating their campaigns as is typical in pay-per-message models. Besides this, the gateway boasts multiple useful features for SMS marketing activities including templated messaging, scheduling, and MMS messaging for richer promotional content, as well as a range of ready-to-use APIs for integration with popular subscriber database and CRM systems.

Across all phases of the customer lifecycle

Successful marketing campaigns are key to customer acquisition. By feeding leads or potential customer databases into SMSEagle SMS/MMS Gateway, enterprises can send hundreds of messages per minute to their target audience, promoting products, services, apps and deals via SMS hyperlinks. As building a convertible sales funnel requires forging deep connections with recipients, enterprises can tap into the gateway’s user-friendly interface to personalize messages based on the recipient’s context.

By leveraging SMSEagle’s API integration with CRM systems such as Zoho CRM, enterprises can automate the delivery of messages to keep their customers updated and engaged. Enterprises can enrich their loyalty programs with automated welcome SMSs and membership offers whenever a new contact is added to the CRM system. Likewise, regular updates such as birthday month deals or text-to-win contests can be programmed based on the field values stored in the customer’s CRM profile. This mechanism works both ways – SMSEagle SMS/MMS Gateway is able to receive responses to these messages and feed them back into the CRM system by using APIs. By incorporating artificial intelligence, these responses can be used by a CRM system to initiate automated, intelligent SMS-based conversations with customers.

Enterprises can also use SMS communications to drive sales by facilitating enquiries, appointment scheduling and purchasing. The SMSEagle API integration with Zapier allows the gateway to connect with multiple customer/order management applications. For example, reminders for appointments scheduled in Google Calendars or Acuity Scheduling can be sent to the SMSEagle SMS/MMS Gateway for onward forwarding to the customer. Likewise, Zapier integrations with e-commerce platforms such as Shopify or WooCommerce enable the sending of SMS voucher redemptions or reward points whenever an order is placed, prompting further purchases.

SMS: the next ‘in’ thing for mass marketing

Messaging via SMS keeps communications with existing and potential customers simple, succinct and real-time, all of which make it an ideal channel for sending out quick reminders, flash deals and last minute promotions. By merging together great campaign messages, rich CRM databases and the capabilities of a robust SMS-based communications solution such as SMSEagle SMS/MMS Gateway, enterprises can successfully launch and run zero-touch outreach campaigns and take their marketing efforts to the next level.

Create the right solution for your operation

Your obstacles are unique, and the solutions for them should be too. The functions of SMSEagle allow companies to incorporate SMS communications into their systems in a way that makes sense to them. To find out how SMSEagle will allow you to create the solution you need, get in touch with our team.

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4 Smart Ways to Combine Texting With Other Marketing Efforts

Posted On 8 May 2017 By Joe Butler In Articles / 1

It’s not hard to talk glowingly about texting since it has become one of the most acceptable ways of interaction these days.

Whether it’s sending a text to someone else or a group of people, texting takes little time and few words to create and send, and it’s likely to be viewed quickly, almost instantly by most recipients.

Texting has definite advantages over email, especially how people are more likely to check their texts as soon as they arrive, since everyone keeps their phones handy. And it has even more advantages over voice mail: who uses their smartphones for talking anymore anyway?

It’s also becoming a favorite tool for marketers, since it can be downright simple to compose one text and send it to all or certain of your customers nearly instantly, compared to several batches for mass emailing. People are also likely to act on an offer contained in a text quickly, such as a special deal or link.

Texting services also can help companies keep track of replies and collate all responses, instead of you and your team having to answer all of them all one by one.

But as effective as texting can be, it shouldn’t be your sole outreach tool for marketing campaigns. Not everyone wants or likes texting, and some wireless packages even allow users to block all texts.

A more effective marketing effort should include texting plus other services. This can help connect with a larger audience and potentially more customers.

The proper balance of text to non-text outreach will have to be determined by you based on feedback on your promotions, but you can enjoy experimenting.

Try these strategies to blend texting with other traditional methods:

· Email. Though it may take hours, even days, for people to read an email, email can still be an effective way to share information. You can have unlimited space, rather than the limited number of characters allowed per text. You also can include a variety of graphics especially with automated mail templates for ad campaigns. People are also more willing to join an email list rather than sign up for texting. It’s much less invasive and intrusive than texting and most users are more familiar with emails, simply because email has been around longer. With the extra space, you have more opportunity to “sell” people on the merits of your product or service, rather than pushing them to make a quick decision with a “click here for a super deal” message.

· Social media. Though some mass text programs allow you to automatically put your name or the recipient’s name in a text, this personalization isn’t the same as a full conversation. With social media sites you have more opportunity to get dialogue going and showing off what you’re doing, such as fun photos. You also can offer regular links to your blog or site in your posts. It’s all absolutely free, unless you’re paying to boost or sponsor posts.

· Other methods. Direct mail and traditional mass media advertising can be useful for reaching larger general groups of potential customers. You also don’t need specific consent or opt-ins from your recipients either, which are legally required for texting.

· A global approach. Integrating all of these methods can be a smart way to reach a much larger audience than text alone, especially if you plan your message over several weeks or even months. You can use the concept of a ‘drip campaign’ to make sure your recipients receive your message in at least one form, preferably more. The idea is to plan a sequence of communications to reach people, with different messages but the same call to action.

For instance, a general campaign can start with mass advertisements, and the response from this can help narrow the size of your audiences for future contacts and also get them familiar with what you’re offering. By the time people start to receive your texts they hopefully have seen your message in other forms, so the texts can seem like a personal invitation to make a purchase or visit your site.

Overall, while texting is a valuable outreach tool, other platforms used in conjunction can help provide a larger reach and improve the effectiveness of a marketing campaign.

How SMS Remains Relevant in Spite of Emerging Tech

Posted On 5 August 2016 By Michael O’Dwyer In Trends / 2

In 1992, the first Short Message Service (SMS) simply read “Merry Christmas”. More than 20 years later, texting via SMS has lost none of its purpose, despite the rise of multimedia messaging service (MMS), the smartphone in 2010, subsequent over the top (OTT) messaging apps and of course, social media solutions such as Facebook. Whether for personal or business use, SMS usage has continued unabated, which is impressive for such ‘outdated technology’ that was originally designed for Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) networks. As 5G approaches, SMS remains.

When technology moves so fast, how has SMS remained so popular? How can companies capitalise on it to improve internal processes, customer services and other activities?

Trivial Update or Important?

Today, if dining in a local restaurant, we’re treated to a variety of repetitive whistles, chirps and other alerts from smartphones in the vicinity, most of which are ignored by their owners. The reason for this is simple; these alerts typically originate from messaging apps, which cost the sender nothing and as a result rarely require an instant response. An SMS alert is quite different and, while costs vary according to monthly subscription tariffs, there’s a cost involved. The result? Most will quickly read the message and send a response if necessary. In fact, marketing professionals are well aware of this fact, that SMS has the highest engagement rate of all messaging options, with 90 per cent of all SMS messages read within three minutes.

You’re probably wondering, why SMS? Why not call the person directly? Of course, that’s an option but if a group of people are involved, or you’re simply sending a short greeting or confirmation that you’ll arrive soon, isn’t SMS more convenient?

SMS vs. OTP Apps

When compared with Skype, Facebook or other messaging solutions, SMS has several other advantages. SMS bundles are typically included as part of a service plan and are directly linked to your mobile phone. In other words, if you use a mobile, you have SMS functionality without having to subscribe or join another service. You don’t have to invite contacts or accept invitations to communicate.

Not everyone has a smartphone so use of SMS ensures that your contact will receive your message regardless of phone type. The same isn’t true of OTP apps, which relies on high-speed internet to work. If you lose your 3G signal, voice and indeed SMS are still possible.

In fact, in an emergency situation such as a blackout, or during times where mobile traffic is very high (New Year’s Eve, for example), an SMS is typically the best solution as it’s queued in the short message service centre (SMSC) and will be delivered as soon as the bandwidth is available. An SMS text, being limited to 160 characters, takes much less bandwidth than a voice call so is more likely to be processed quicker. Compare that with the frustration of repeatedly dialing and receiving no response.

P2P and A2P

SMS is broken into two distinct types, namely person to person (P2P) and application to person (A2P). P2P is self-explanatory and can include voting for reality TV shows and entering competitions but A2P is primarily used in the business world and is a growing market, having been adopted by many industry areas and repurposed to aid several business processes including but not limited to:

Customer Security – A2P is used by companies as part of a two-step or two-factor authentication (2FA) process when accessing services that are considered a viable target for hackers. The process typically involved a standard login to a service. Then, as the second step, a passcode is sent to the user’s phone by SMS. The user then enters the passcode and is able to access the service. Banks, other financial service providers and organisations such as Google, Facebook and Hootsuite also protect their customer accounts by combining geolocation detection with SMS transmission, alerting users that their account has been accessed from a suspicious location.
IT and risk management – IT teams may not work 24 hours a day but your business network may well rely on services that require 100 per cent uptime, such as support ticket management or e-commerce solutions. Devices that incorporate a mobile SIM card can alert you when internet connectivity has failed and reduce required response times considerably.
Marketing – Due the high engagement rate mentioned previously, digital marketers with a ‘mobile first’ strategy will include SMS as a vital part of their communication with customers.
Emergency alerts – Emergency services are considering the addition of SMS and in hospitals, paging systems based on SMS technology are commonly employed. The reason is of course based on redundancy, when all else fails, SMS is an excellent and affordable solution.

In conclusion, advancing technology has made smartphones and global collaboration over broadband a reality but despite all this progress, SMS still has a viable role to play in connecting them. While email, OTP apps, VoIP are all useful, they rely on the internet. Without it, SMS and standard voice communication are the only options and are extremely unlikely to become obsolete in the foreseeable future.