Up to 98% of text messages are opened, according to Gartner. Emails typically have an opening rate between 6% and 20%. Texting is, therefore, a very effective way to reach your audience in contrast.
Marketing via messaging is one of the first ideas to come to mind while trying to enhance sales. It allows you to reach your customers immediately because 57% of smartphone users spend five hours or more every day on their devices.
Is there a reason why text messaging software is not a good fit for businesses? Are growth-oriented businesses not able to benefit from instant marketing messaging? Are you wasting your time by even considering it?
As it turns out, the answer to all of these questions is a big old NO.
Benefits of using business messaging platforms
Level up customer service
By implementing a text service for your company, you can deliver updates and customer support through a comfortable channel for your clients, reducing friction and enhancing their experience.
A less invasive experience
This benefit is possible because every recipient has consented to receive your communications, as required by law when using text message systems.
This indicates that they are:
- Available to talk to you
- Look forward to talking to you
- Happy to talk to you once they do
The typical SMS click-through rate is roughly 33%, which has a knock-on effect on sales conversion.
Less saturated than email
Everyone’s doing email marketing these days.
However, as we’ve already shown, most people aren’t experiencing the messaging buzz.
This enables astute marketers to stand out in space when attention is at its highest and saturation is at its lowest.
Better reach
People bring their phones at all times these days.
Therefore, a text messaging campaign is always successful. It broadens your audience and generates a massive amount of sales.
Seriously.
47% of the 33% that click on your CTA will proceed to complete a transaction.
Thus, slightly more than 15% of SMS recipients will eventually purchase from you. Nice!
The holistic approach to instant messaging relationship building
You should at least be familiar with the common ways that instant messaging is used for sales by this point.
For customer support, this involves the usage of live chat and chatbots.
While there’s no doubt that these tactics can increase your sales, it’s not entertaining to discuss topics that have previously been discussed in many other blogs.
As a result, we’ve chosen to investigate some “less typical” ways that instant messaging can be used in sales.
Let’s get going!
6 ways instant message marketing tips to boost your sales
Sending too many text messages to a recipient is frowned upon, just like spamming them with emails. Less is more. So, apply the advice below to help to message strengthen your marketing initiatives.
Use opt-in keywords
You have to create a subscriber list to deliver messages to your consumers. Simple keywords are one of the simplest ways to expand your contact list.
Customers can send a word, phrase, or brief sentence to a specific phone number to use as a keyword. They will be added to your subscriber list as a result. Just make it evident that when they text the keyword, they opt-in.
Identify yourself
Imagine getting a text message with a 20% off coupon but not knowing for what. You would most likely erase the text message and never give it another thought. It’s recommended practice to identify yourself to ensure that the information you supplied is used.
You’d think that would be clear, yet it is a pretty typical error—and one that we have occasionally made! In every message you send, be sure to identify yourself. The text message’s receiver must know who the text is from. Otherwise, they won’t take action.
Keep messages short and sweet
In actuality, a message can only contain 160 characters. You aren’t given a lot of room to advertise your offer in that situation. You need to avoid wasting any characters by getting right to the point.
You should use a link shortener if you wish to text a URL. The length of a full URL can exceed 160 characters. Using a link shortener, you can make a URL that is only a few characters long.
Watch out for unique characters and emoticons as well. They don’t occupy much screen real estate, but they significantly reduce the number of characters that can be used in a message.
Personalize your messages
Another excellent technique for using SMS marketing efficiently is personalization. According to Hubspot’s analysis of the psychology behind message personalization, people respond better to communications that directly target them. Therefore, be sure to add your customers’ names wherever you can.
The name of your clients can be easily included when using SMS marketing software. Typically, you can scrape the customer’s name from your list using a shortcode. You can automate customized messages in this way.
Send text messages at the right time
When it comes to text messaging, timing is a crucial consideration.
According to a thorough study by Reach-Interactive, the following times are recommended for sending messages. They vary for different industries:
| Industry | Time to send |
| Retail | Between 10 am and 1 pm on Saturdays or 3 pm and 7 pm on Sundays |
| Restaurants & Takeaways | Between 3 pm and 5 pm on any day of the week |
| Services | Best practices are to send the first message as soon as the appointment or meeting is scheduled. Then you send another one 24 hours before it takes place. |
| General | Between 12 pm to 3 pm on both weekdays and weekends. |
Remember that these are only suggestions. Your company and audience are best known to you. Find out when your company receives the most engagement if you want to know the best time to send messages for your business.
Ask questions or send surveys
Delivering the messages your audience values will increase marketing and sales effectiveness via messaging. Asking them directly is the only practical approach to learning this.
For instance, inquire with them about their interest in your newest offering. Just let them say “yes” or “no” in response. You may even ask this while the product is still an idea to save time and resources.
You can survey or question your customers about a lot more things. Electoral polls or client satisfaction with a specific service you provide, for instance.
Once you receive the results, don’t forget to follow up with your customers. They remain engaged and are more likely to participate again as a result.
However, remember that your audience joined your contact list because they want to get updates. Not to always assist you by providing answers. Sending at least three messages – two that benefit your audience and one that helps you – is recommended.
