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SMS Marketing in 2024: What Your Customers Really Want
In 2024, the average American checks their phone about 352 times a day. This increase is due to the growing use of smartphones for messaging, social media, work, and entertainment. It shows how deeply mobile devices are part of daily life, helping people stay connected with notifications, apps, and communication.
SMS marketing is one of the most obvious ways this has happened. But some consumers have mixed feelings about text marketing. Clients don’t just want any old text from any old company. To make your SMS marketing as effective as possible, you want to cater to the client.
Here, we bring our expertise in mass communication to detail some of the most important things customers want from your marketing texts: personalization, timeliness, space, and accessibility.
Personalization in SMS Marketing
Adding a personal touch to marketing texts is vital — particularly if you don’t want them to feel like a marketing text. This lets the client know what you have to say truly applies to them and reassures them they aren’t just a number on a list.
The three best ways to personalize an SMS message are:
- Name. Nothing gets a customer’s attention more than their own name. It’s important to gather this information when a client first opts in to receive messages, and include a tag for names in the template used to send the message. This could be a customer’s first clue that the message really applies to them.
- Location. Let a customer know that a message really applies to them by including a geographic location in your message. At the same time, you should be sure that customers aren’t receiving messages that don’t apply in their area. For example, a customer in Georgia doesn’t need to receive messages about this weekend’s big sales on the west coast. They may, however, want to hear about a new store opening just south of Atlanta.
- Topic. Another way to catch customers’ attention is to be sure to only send them messages that apply to them. A real estate client looking for 5 bedroom home doesn’t need to be receiving messages about open houses at apartment complexes. Likewise, a female college student probably doesn’t need to receive notices about men’s swimwear collections. One way to do this is to segment contacts based on expressed or inferred interests. When news about one of the interests is ready, only those groups will receive a notification.
- Behavior. Businesses can send targeted messages, like a discount after a cart is abandoned or product recommendations after browsing. By grouping customers based on purchase history or browsing, they deliver more relevant offers. With AI and data analytics, businesses can now personalize messages more accurately and at the right time, boosting customer engagement and sales.
Not all three personalization methods need to be used in each text message, but they could be. Even just one lets the customer know that the message really is for them and that it’s worth their time.
Timing in SMS Marketing
In 2024, 98% of text messages are opened, with 90% read within three minutes. This fast response makes SMS one of the best ways for businesses to send timely messages, whether for marketing, updates, or customer support.
In 2024, timing is key to effective communication. To maximize engagement, businesses should consider time zones to send messages at the right time locally, typically between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. or 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. for SMS, and mid-morning or mid-afternoon for emails. Avoid over-sending to prevent customer fatigue, and use AI tools to send messages when customers are most likely to respond based on their past behavior. By focusing on these best practices, businesses can ensure better timing and improve customer engagement.
Frequency in SMS Marketing
Recent studies in 2024 show that the ideal message frequency depends on the type of business. For retail and e-commerce, sending 2-4 messages per week keeps customers engaged without overwhelming them, while service-based businesses like healthcare or real estate should stick to 1-2 messages per week. Transactional messages, like order updates or appointment reminders, can be sent as needed since customers expect them.
DialMyCalls makes it easier to manage message frequency with features like automated scheduling, text message templates and contact management.
Accessibility in SMS Marketing
Advancements like Rich Communication Services (RCS) are making SMS more interactive and engaging. RCS lets businesses send texts with images, videos, and buttons for actions like purchases or support, all in one message. By integrating SMS with other channels like email, social media, and chat apps, businesses create a seamless experience. For example, they can send a follow-up SMS after a social media query or include links to detailed emails. This multi-channel approach helps customers engage in their preferred way, boosting satisfaction and loyalty.
This is simpler than ever with the many ways customers can access and provide more information via texts. For example, SMS keywords allow the recipient to choose a more specific topic about which they’d like more information. Texts can include phone numbers, dates, or times that recipients don’t need to worry about writing down to get back to later. In other cases, clients can respond directly to the message to communicate one-on-one with a representative.
With so many ways of getting more information, businesses can make it easy to provide customers with an action step. These can include:
- Clicking a link to RSVP
- Responding with a keyword for more info
- Visiting the website included in the text message
- Calling a representative whose number in included in the text message
- Casting a vote by following a link or replying to the text message
- Saving details from a message directly into their calendar
This not only makes the information more applicable to them by giving them a direction instead of simply causing them to ask, “what now?”, but it also allows for near instant feedback to the business sending the text. Tracking how customers responds helps the sender know what type of content they’re most interested in and what they find most useful.
You can show customers that you’re listening by responding to what you learn. If they like one type of content, maintain or increase it. If they don’t respond well, consider changing tactics.
Run a Successful SMS Marketing Campaign
All in all, what customers want is simple: information that matters, when it matters, from an organization or business willing to put in the work to make them feel like individuals. Using DialMyCalls will help you with marketing by using the following features:
- Two-Way Texting: Have 1-on-1 conversations with customers using 2-way texting. Quickly reply to customers from within your account – this will boost engagement and customer satisfaction for your business.
- Recurring Messages: Create weekly or monthly text messages that can be sent out to your customer list – send out an end-of-the-month discount code or promotion.
- SMS Keywords: Use SMS keywords to collect opt-ins for your SMS marketing campaign. Tell customers to “Text [keyword] to [your local texting vanity number] to receive updates and alerts from [business name].”
- Opt-in Forms: Host our new opt-in forms on your website to collect SMS marketing opt-ins. All opted-in contacts will be added directly into your DialMyCalls account and will be added to a specific contact group to keep them organized.
Making customers happy with SMS marketing isn’t hard. Text messages make it easy to provide personalization, timeliness, space, and accessibility to customers.
