Saascoms guide to SMS communication

Businesses and organisations utilise SMS marketing for various purposes, including informing consumers about special deals, rewarding them with loyalty points, and informing them about delivery changes. SMS enables secure communication and verification to establish a number of interactions.
Here is your guide to SMS communication…

When you use a promotional text message service, you are using the enormous potential of SMS marketing.

Text message marketing can assist and boost client engagement and sales.

Despite a widespread understanding of this marketing channel, many company owners overlook the benefits of SMS marketing.

SMS should be utilised for communication and promotional messaging if you are serious about engaging and reaching as many people as possible. SMS campaigns allow you to engage directly with consumers, immediately catching their attention, from executing efficient flash discounts with mobile coupons to developing a loyalty programme for new clients or validating personal details for engaging with users on a secure platform.

Companies send their customers two sorts of SMS messages: promotional SMS and transactional SMS. Each kind serves a different purpose.

Consider beginning an SMS campaign if you have a promotional message for your target demographic.

What exactly is promotional SMS?

Businesses use promotional SMS messages to deliver customised notifications to clients for marketing and advertising objectives. Each message’s purpose is to encourage the client to click a link or button inside the text message, which will take them to a website where they may engage with a number of options.

Businesses utilise promotional SMS messages to market their goods and events, often by giving unique offers and discounts to pique customer interest and, as a result, increase conversions.

Text message marketing is one of the most effective and efficient methods to reach clients directly. The statistics speak for themselves: 98% of messages are read, and 75% of customers prefer to get special offers by SMS.

Choosing the right messaging is essential to deliver a successful marketing message. Whether you want to increase sales via clearance events or send urgent notifications to current customers, the correct SMS marketing platform can guarantee that messages are sent to consumers at the right time.

What is the difference between transactional and promotional SMS?

Transactional SMS messages deliver appointment and booking reminders, purchase confirmations, and instructional messages to registered clients.

Promotional messages are sent to a customer’s phone to promote an offer, an event, or a bargain. Promotional communications should be delivered at an appropriate time between 8 a.m. and 9 p.m. to avoid annoying the consumer. A transactional message, on the other hand, may be sent at any time of day or night.

Transactional communications must be provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week, since they frequently include critical information, such as arranging a doctor’s appointment and getting an SMS to confirm the day and time.

You may be wondering which one to use for your company.

If you want to enhance website traffic, customer engagement, retention, or purchase rate, try using promotional SMS. Coupons via promotional SMS messages are ten times more likely to be redeemed than coupons marketed by other means, such as email.

Transactional SMS messages are an excellent choice if your company wants to build brand trust or educate clients on crucial topics so that they depend on your brand for information.
Ecommerce businesses make use of both types. An e-commerce company, for example, may send clients a promotional SMS with a link to a special deal on their website. When a consumer purchases a product during the sale, the brand will send a transactional message as a shipment or delivery update. This may provide significant value to the consumer.

What Should You Think About When Writing a Promotional SMS?

1. Individualisation
Personalising advertising text messages are the most successful. Personalising advertising campaigns based on the target demographic is a guaranteed approach to increase the effectiveness of your SMS marketing campaign. To maximise consumer engagement on each promotional message, businesses must consider their customers’ age, gender, and geography, for example.

2. Professionalism
Promotional SMS messages should be official in tone. This does not imply that your advertising SMS campaign should be dull.
Although we recommend avoiding slang, acronyms, and emojis, they may be used when appropriate. For example, employing emoticons in SMS messages may adapt SMS marketing messaging to a younger target group.

Here are some other suggestions for making promotional SMS messaging more professional:

• In sentences, never use full capitals. Some firms confuse ‘unique’ messages to attract customers with ‘loud’ and ‘obnoxious’ texts that bother them. The line between the two is thin.
• Avoid SMS messages like this: “Hello, John. THIS WEEKEND’S NEW SALE! DON’T MISS IT! “. This example is far from subtle and may harm your brand’s reputation.
• Exclamations and question marks should be used sparingly. When question marks and exclamation points are overused in promotional text messages, they might appear unprofessional. Consider the following example of what not to do: “Hello, Mike! Congratulations on your birthday! Here’s a 40% discount on your next purchase!!! “. When in doubt, use a single question mark and an exclamation mark.

Don’t be robotic. Customers should be engaged by promotional SMS, and one of the greatest ways to do it is to make it personal.

3. Accuracy
Promotional SMS should provide information in an understandable manner. The start and finish dates should be included if a company advertises a sale.
The sort of goods sold should also be included in the marketing message. Here’s an illustration: “Hi Mike, I’m offering 50% off Gents haircuts tomorrow till Friday 1800.” The more precise the data, the better.

4. Short and simple
Have you heard the expression “keep things short and sweet”? The same is true for promotional SMS messages sent out as part of any SMS campaign. They should be brief and straight to the point, which means that the whole message must communicate all necessary information in a brief message. This may be tough to do.

Here are some pointers:

Determine the primary points you wish to convey. Is it an offer, a promotion, or a reminder of an appointment? Prioritising the key reason for the SMS message will ensure that the vital elements reach the consumer first.
Determine any more important points. If you have room within the character restriction, go into more information about a product or service and perhaps provide a link.

5. Call to Action
A call to action, or CTA, is an interactive feature that encourages a consumer to perform a particular action to capitalise on the opportunity given by your company.
CTAs may be purchase buttons, subscription sign-up buttons, social network sharing buttons, or links that incorporate a specific term, such as “Try it now.” Your text message marketing campaign may fail if you do not include a strong call to action in your promotional SMS. There would be fewer clicks and conversions if there were no CTA. Also, make sure the CTA is visible and easy to understand.

The Advantages of Promotional SMS Messages

Increasing client loyalty
Promotional SMS is an excellent way to connect and retain customers. Customers might be given sales specials or additional information about your company’s offerings. Making your consumer base and customers the priority helps them feel valued. The more you give, the more you will get.

Enhancing communication
Good communication is the foundation of long-term partnerships. The same holds true for promotional SMS marketing. An SMS message is a personalised message sent by your brand to your target audience. Inform them of a covert deal, promotional offer, or birthday greeting.

Cost-effective
Compared to conventional marketing efforts, promotional SMS is a comparatively inexpensive mode of communication. Many businesses save a lot of money by using promotional SMS marketing instead of sending out letters and brochures.

Increasing word of mouth
Use SMS to attract new customers and engage current ones. Word of mouth is a significant promotional technique that can be used with shareable incentives like “£10 for you and £10 for a friend if you recommend this sign-up link to them.” If you provide something of value to your consumer, they are more inclined to tell their family, friends, and co-workers about it.

Time is money
SMS marketing saves a significant amount of time compared to conventional marketing approaches. You may save even more time if you utilise an SMS API. You may also organise marketing campaigns for specific launch dates by forward planning and scheduling, allowing you to devote more time to other aspects of your organisation while ensuring that your SMS marketing is handled competently.

Effective advertising SMS message examples

Promotional SMS must be done correctly. There are several ways in which promotional SMS might be carried out incorrectly.
To avoid sending mediocre SMS messages, consider the following outstanding examples of how promotional SMS messages could be sent in many industries:

Retail
“Our end-of-season deals begin right now. This week, the store is offering 30% off summer clothing. The supply is limited!
Unsubscribe from Urban Fits by replying STOP.”

Gym
“Hello, Mike! Bring a friend throughout December and get £100 if they join. To discover more, click the link. Visit our website HERE.
To unsubscribe, reply STOP.”

Dining
“Hello, Mike! This Saturday at 8 p.m., join us for live music and a special 2-4-1 on main courses.
Please visit our website HERE.
To unsubscribe, text STOP.”

Special events
“Looking for a last-minute present? This weekend, our best-selling gift range has 20% off. Only valid for in-store purchases.
Unsubscribe by texting STOP.”

These are excellent examples of how promotional texts may be utilised in many businesses. Always look for a way of grabbing the reader’s attention at the beginning of the text.
All communications are brief, pertinent to their goods, and provide an opt-out option at the bottom.

How to create a communication strategy with SMS messaging

This is where Saascoms leads the field in SMS creative platforms. With a set of promotional SMS templates and message samples at your disposal, you can rapidly get started on creating bespoke messaging campaigns. Saascoms puts business-critical pin codes, alerts, and marketing messages in the hands of your customers. With full analytics and reporting, Saascoms gives you all the SMS marketing and transactional tools required to generate successful customer communications.

Learn about the Saascoms suite of SMS marketing tools here

Please make contact with our SMS communication experts to discuss your requirements.
With the experience of tens of millions of messages behind us, we’re here to drive your business forward.