Text marketing has made an impressive impact on today’s B2B and B2C economies. Ensuring prospects and customers get the right text messages at the ideal time of day can lead to a follow-up conversation or an instant purchase. The history of text messaging began in 1992 with a “Merry Christmas” message, but over the years, it’s evolved into something everyone expects regularly in terms of personal communication and advertising.
Specifically, users enjoy being able to access customer service and get answers to inquiries via text messaging decade celebrities age, so it’s even better if your sales messages head back to a number that can handle supplies and support.
Current Text Marketing Trends
Text marketing primarily focuses on flash sales and consumer updates. A flash sale message might offer a customer 30% off for one day only or remind them about an upcoming sale. Text marketing can include links, product photos, and phone numbers to call for further support or inquiry.
The consumer update portion of text marketing is often limited to shipping physical products, such as enrolling the customer with a service provider like UPS so they know where their packages are. However, brands could leverage omnichannel marketing software like Mitto to deliver a well-timed update about the production process of a bespoke item.
Many companies utilizing text marketing and SMS campaigns are finally getting into conversational messaging that’s when a consumer has a question, and they can text you or reply to the sales message you’ve sent. You should encourage customers to start or continue conversations, which leads to a relationship built on loyalty, dependability, and, ultimately, a sale.
Personalized Messaging and SMS Campaigns
Personalized messaging is about more than addressing the consumer by name. It’s about identifying their needs and contacting them at the right moment. If you’re running an SMS campaign for a coffee company, for example, and you know most of your customers leave work at 5 p.m., that could be an excellent time to invite them to escape with an evening pick-me-up in the form of your coffee. It’s even better if you attach a coupon.
Personal messaging can also leverage information about the customer’s prior sales or habits. Amazon accomplishes this well using Alexa. If you order a product regularly, Alexa will remind you that it may be time to order again. This works perfectly for products and services people need seasonally or monthly, such as over-the-counter medication or gardening supplies.
By being able to engage in direct conversation with the customer, you’ll get a specialized sense of their needs. Additionally, instead of complaining about a product or service online, text marketing and conversational messaging open the door for the customer to reach out to you first. This could help you avoid negative publicity and ensure a customer’s problem is solved immediately.
Text Marketing: Part of the Omnichannel Messaging Family
There’s another trend that’s here to stay: text marketing as part of omnichannel messaging. People expect to be able to call, web chat, email, or text a company at any time, especially with time-sensitive products or services such as airline tickets. If your customer service agents at a pet food supply company have helped a customer select a pet food, you can later reach out after their order to see how they’ve been doing with their choice. Reaching out by text to initiate conversational messaging (even though the order and consultation took place online) can be a nice touch, with the customer feeling included and cared for. An omnichannel messaging tool like Mitto can help you accomplish this.
Text marketing is the latest part of the conversation. It’s time to get on board or get left behind because customers expect text message outreach and responses for a more holistic customer service experience.
