Within marketing the unanswered question has always been which communication channel is more effective? SMS or Email?
This will ultimately depend on your target audience but we would always recommend a multichannel approach. SMS and email can both be powerful in their own right, but perhaps more importantly, the channels complement each other really well. By introducing both, into your marketing campaigns and business communications, you can see tangible benefits to your business strategy.
The power of SMS
Not only do 95% of households in the UK have a mobile phone, with SMS you also benefit from an open rate of 95%. What’s more, with SMS you are sending your messages directly to a device people pick up on average, 58 times a day.
Thus, the question is – how to successfully use SMS and email together? To achieve an effective multichannel campaign, take look at our 7 simple tips….
1. Increase email open and read rates
Statistics show that email open rates are pretty low, with an average open rate of around 20%. Email systems can play a part in unopened emails with different filtering and spam systems hiding the email completely from the receipt. A simple follow up text message asking “Have you read our email?” can help increase email open rates by up to 20%. What’s more, with SMS you benefit from an average response time of 90 seconds, which can help ensure your communications are read by recipients almost immediately and increases the chances of people reading all the important emails. Once you have sent your email campaign, export your data list into Excel/CSV and send out a bulk text message campaign in a matter of minutes prompting customers to check their emails.
2. Customer feedback surveys
Gaining customer feedback is crucial for businesses to improve and succeed. 95% of customers said they would respond to an SMS survey request compared to only 9% for telephone surveys. You can implement a short-code keyword for people to take part in your customer surveys, adding these on email signatures or customer service email ticketing systems. You could also get a dedicated SMS Long Number and send a short survey to your existing database list. This is vital to understand where certain areas of each business require improvements. For more ideas on customer surveys, take a look at our 15 SMS survey ideas.
3. Product launches or service updates
If you’re launching a new product or service update, you will want to notify all your existing clients. Make sure your customers are informed first by sending them relevant text message updates throughout the launch. If there are specific landing pages or download links, to ensure a call to action includes these within your text message. Follow up your text messages with email updates, should you wish to provide further details of the product launch where necessary.
4. Loyalty schemes
Creating a loyalty scheme for your customers is great for businesses as it makes your customers feel valued and will increase their satisfaction. 90% of people who have joined a mobile loyalty scheme believe that the contact they have received has been valuable. Your customers are the heart of your business and can be real advocates for your company. Create a scheme in which you can send personalised updates on points collected via email and text message. If you are sending time sensitive email content, it is best to follow up with text message reminders. To ensure your customers feel values you can send exclusive discounts, product and news announcements.
5. Personalise your marketing campaigns
Creating a personalised marketing campaign for your clients is great to build on sales. You can personalise your campaigns simply by including their name or segmenting your audience by a particular factor such as age, gender and location. Make sure that whatever you are personalising your campaign upon, this is reflected throughout your text messages and emails. You can take things further by creating the ultimate multichannel approach. For example, if someone was on your website and left an item in their basket, you can follow up afterwards with an email reminder of their chosen product. If after a certain time period they haven’t gone back to purchase you can send an SMS reminder of their favourite item and entice them with a special discount code.
6. Send text messages straight from your emails
With TextAnywhere you can send and receive text messages straight from your email system. It is simple to do and straightforward to use. There is the ability to send automated text messages from any system for example convert server alerts to SMS for critical applications. You don’t have to pay for any replies or delivery confirmations you receive. Of course, you can use all our email and SMS marketing tips if you are using our online portal or if you decide to integrate us into your CRM / software.
7. Build your email list
List building can be tricky, particularly when you’re looking to build your email database. One way to generate your email lists is through SMS marketing. You can get customers to text into a short-code and keyword, for example, “text EMAIL to 81025” for them to be added to your email marketing list. This makes it easier for your clients to receive emails without having to fill their details in via your website. If you are pitching at live events or in customer facing situations, this can save time and hassle of getting forms or landing pages, thus taking away additional and unnecessary steps.
Need help further help with your SMS campaign or have any questions about our service? Talk to our friendly customer care team on 0845 122 1302 or email [email protected].