The end of the year is rapidly approaching and bringing the possibility of record-shattering holiday sales in November and December. Predictions show a sales growth of between 8.5 percent and 10.5% during the last two months of the year. (Source: https://nrf.com/media-center/press-releases/nrf-predicts-highest-holiday-retail-sales-record) Creating an SMS campaign is the best way to reach your current customers and reach out to those you haven’t interacted with lately. In part one of this two-part series, we will discuss the benefits of scheduling text messages in advance. While there are some significant benefits to scheduling text messages, not every SMS message can utilize scheduling. We will use part two of this series to explore real-time messaging.
Schedule Your Text Messages
- Keeps Track Of What You Are Sending: Keeping track of what text messages you are sending and when you are sending them is one of the most significant benefits of scheduling messages. You have a direct line to your customers, but sending too many messages too often could cause them to opt-out of your correspondence. Review your text message policy from time to time to stay within the message limits you have promised. Having a schedule is a great way to stay on track with your messaging while providing important information to your customers.
- Automation: Think about the type of messages you send to your customers. Do you find yourself sending the same message out on a routine basis? Automate your workflow by scheduling these messages in advance. The consistency will be helpful for your customers and drive loyalty. Here are some types of repeat SMS messages that work best with scheduling:
- Monthly Promotions
- Billing Reminders
- Meetup Or Happy Hour Information
- Webinar Invites
- Appointment Reminders
- Business Hour Changes
- Holiday & Birthday Greetings
- Optimal Timing Increases Performance – Improve the performance of your campaigns by interacting with your customers at the times that work best for them. Do you know when your clients are the most active on their phones? Review analytics from SMS links, email open rates and times, website activity times, and social media interactions to find the best time of day to send your text messages. Your product or promotion is also a valuable tool for determining the optimal time for sending messages. Sending a text message too early or too late can cause your customers to miss the opportunity to interact with your brand. Determine the amount of time that gives your customers enough time to act on your promotion, but not too much time that they forget.
- Campaigns As A Whole – SMS is a tool that works well in conjunction with other communication mediums. It’s powerful on its own but can also be used to enhance your overall marketing campaign efforts. Keeping that in mind, schedule your text messages for a time that does not conflict with your other platforms. Each communication effort should augment your overall goal, which comes from a cohesive campaign that uses the strengths of each channel.
Respecting Your Customers’ Privacy
It’s essential to keep your audience’s behaviors and preferences in mind when writing and scheduling text messages. That includes their right to privacy. You are required to document your customer’s consent to receive text messages. The type of message you are sending determines the necessary kind of consent. Read this guide created by our Compliance Team on how to choose the type of consent needed and how to obtain it.
Every part of the SBT software and the staff that consult your organization provides a compliance-first logic and mentality. We’ve created a set of tools that helps you compliantly get your SMS messages directly into the hands of your past, present, and future customers.
- All-in Opt-in: Never leave out a previous customer again. All-in Opt-in can take your entire customer base and invite them to opt-in to your messaging. It can identify which of your customers have not yet received a request to opt-in to your text messages, and it will capture consent from every new customer.
- Verify By Text is the must-have paper trail that documents individuals providing consent and how they did so. It confirms that a customer has possession of the mobile device, providing an added layer of authorization. SBT goes to great lengths in providing your company TCPA best practices through the proven method of establishing a digital signature and the most compliant patch to opt-in verification.
Scheduling your text messages can help keep your SMS messages on track, automate your workflow, increase your SMS performance, and drive your overall marketing campaign, all while keeping your customers’ needs as the focus. Drive your holiday sales goals by implementing a text message strategy that is delivered right on time. Our team of experts is here to help you create a unique SMS strategy that connects you with your customers.
