We all know that text message marketing is a valuable strategy when trying to reach the younger and more tech-savvy demographic. Sending text messages provides companies with the ability to reach contacts almost instantaneously via a device they keep on their person at all times.
Mass text messaging, although an easy and convenient marketing method, comes with a bunch of caveats and best practices that marketers must follow lest they violate the sense of trust imparted onto them by their subscribers. Here are just some of the things marketers should keep in mind when creating a mass text messaging campaign.
1. Use a marketing automation platform
When you talk of mass texting, it’s just that isn’t it? Sending a single text message to a large number of contacts. Using a marketing automation platform can help you manage these contacts properly and keep them organized and ready for sending.
2. Stay within the character limits
A marketing automation platform can also help when you’re creating the content for your campaign by automatically counting the number of characters contained in your message. This helps you stay aware of how many text messages will need to be sent in order to relay the entire message. The more messages that need to be sent, the more you will likely have to pay in terms of your platform’s fees.
3. Keep your messages to the point
In an effort to stay within your character limits as well as maximize the return for your mass text message, be sure to keep your text’s content concise and to the point. If you’re offering a limited-time offer, just say it. There’s no point (and not enough characters) for beating around the bush.
4. Make sure your recipients have opted in
It is extremely important that anyone you send marketing messages to has subscribed to receive them, otherwise, you are sending spam under the CASL and CAN-SPAM legislation. This not only hurts your company’s reputation but may also result in some serious monetary penalties.
5. Send to lists, not individuals
If you’ve created your mass text messaging campaign using a marketing automation platform that includes a CRM, you can create and store lists of all your text message subscribers. This provides an easy way for you to send out your campaign without having to check to see whether each person has subscribed or not. Just choose to send to your text message list and away you go!
6. Respect local hours
Nobody wants to wake up in the middle of the night to a marketing text message from your company. If you’re sending to other countries and times zones, schedule your text messages to send during appropriate times as not to intrude on recipients’ beauty sleep.
7. Do not over send
Just because your subscribers have opted in to receiving messages from you doesn’t mean they want to be bombarded by text messages every time they look at their phones. Try to keep your mass texting to a minimum as not to abuse the trust that your subscribers instilled in you when they allowed you to send to them.
8. Provide recipients the ability to opt out
Along with ensuring that only those people who have opted in to receive text messages, it is always a good idea to make sure that you provide these same subscribers with the option to opt out. Everyone changes their minds so make sure your recipients know they can reply to your text message with the word STOP to unsubscribe.
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