This document provides an overview of SMS marketing and its benefits. Some key points:
- SMS has high open and response rates, making it an effective marketing channel. Campaigns can see response rates as high as 45%.
- SMS is versatile and can be used for various types of campaigns like promotions, customer loyalty programs, surveys, and more.
- SMS is cost effective compared to other channels, with messages as low as 2.5p each. This provides a strong return on investment.
- The document provides examples of SMS marketing campaigns and ideas, and outlines best practices for creating an effective SMS strategy and measuring results.
1. Why SMS Marketing?
A guide by Mobile Interactive Group
Integrated mobile and digital communications
2. Why SMS Marketing?
With a large percentage of brands and organisations now investing in a mobile website, how do
you channel customers to your site, engage with them on a personal level and drive additional
revenue?
Our experience has proven that consumers respond best to relevant, timely and personalised
marketing. Companies that treat the customer as a unique individual and not just a target are
achieving exceptional results.
This is where the humble SMS adds significant value to your marketing strategy and really
dominates the market in terms of response rates. The adoption of SMS marketing continues to
grow across the globe as consumer spending slows and marketing departments are forced to
become more creative and cost effective.
Read on to discover the benefits of using SMS marketing, the statistics and ideas for campaigns.
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3. SMS Marketing Stats
77%
of the world’s
98%
of SMS messages
83%
of SMS messages
population own are opened are opened within
a mobile 3 minutes
Just 6% of marketing emails are responded to
SMS clients have seen up to 45% campaign response rates
SMS has a higher direct response rate than telemarketing, email and direct mail
Put simply, there is no other technology or
delivery method that is more personal, timely and
immediate – making SMS a no brainer for
delivering marketing campaigns.
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4. 5 Reasons Why SMS Marketing
Delivers Results
45%
45%
1. Delivery 2. Versatility
SMS delivery is virtually There is almost no limit to the type of marketing messages
instant. SMS messages that can be sent or received. The flexibility of SMS means
can be sent and received messages can be used to deliver text alerts, subscriptions,
within a few seconds, broadcast advertising, customer loyalty campaigns,
regardless of where in the competitions, customer profiling, reminders, cross-selling
world the recipient is. and more.
45%
45%
45%
3. Response 4. Personalisation 5. Cost
Response rates can be SMS messages can also The cost benefits of using
as high as 45% via SMS be tailored to be relevant SMS are clear. With SMS
campaigns, mainly due to to the customer’s age sex, messages costing as little
the fact that replying to preferences, location and at 2.5p each, nothing else
SMS messages is quick needs. matches up and delivers a
and convenient. more compelling ROI.
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5. SMS Mobile Marketing Ideas
CRM and Customer Geo-fencing Offers Integrate Social
Location-based mobile
Profiling marketing is new, simple and
Media
Data is key to any marketing Around 50% of social
very powerful. Imagine when
strategy. If you already own networking comes via
your customers walk past a
your own customer data, mobile so utilise this to your
store or place of relevance,
why not start with a simple advantage – integrate social
they automatically get sent
profiling campaign to improve media updates into your
a discount via SMS if they
its effectiveness and increase delivery mechanic and start
purchase that day. MIG can
the amount of data you hold offering your customers real
immediately enable you to
on your customers. Send out choice. Don’t have a mobile
reach over one million opted-
an interactive competition site? Why not send mobile
in consumers on their mobile
and ask for key information users to your Facebook mobile
phones when they are in a
in return such as contact page (now an automatic
mind-set to make a purchase.
information or personal redirect).
preferences. Good incentives
could range from free concert
tickets, ipad giveaways, meal
vouchers or ‘clothes for a
year’.
Promos & Discount Reverse Auctions SMS Receipts
Give away something valuable For every purchase your
Coupons via SMS reverse auction. customers make, send
Demonstrate your generosity
Thanks to the auction them a receipt via SMS.
to your customers by offering
mechanic, customers are These receipts can then
promotional coupons
asked to make a lowest unique contain details for entering
and discounts via mobile
bid for the item. Unsuccessful competitions, cross sell
marketing. Drive peripheral
entries are prompted to bid promotions and surveys.
sales by offering discounts
again, resulting in numerous
based on previous purchases
entries per person.
and drive them online or
instore.
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6. 4 Easy Steps to Success
To deliver an effective mobile marketing campaign via SMS, you need to get some
basics right first.
Here are 4 simple steps to help you on your way to a killer campaign….
1 Create and manage a contact list
If you don’t already have a database, the good news is that there are a million ways to acquire
one. Ask new customers to register for alerts online, complete surveys, or run a competition that
requires customer details in return. MIG has a market first and unique integration with Experian,
enabling the profiling of our powerful consumer opt-in database to segment and engage your
ideal customer profile match.
It’s also important to give your current customers a reason to join your distribution list. Discounts,
access to premium content and special offers are all good ways to persuade them to part with
their information. Convince customers they are joining an exclusive ‘text club’ rather than just
another mailing list.
Best practice permission: On any online form, always make sure there is a checkbox present that
enables customers to ‘opt-out’ from receiving promotional messages.
Be personal: Segment your data and create different distribution lists that are categorised by age,
gender, purchase history, personal preferences, financial profile etc. This is really worth doing and
will ensure your campaign gets a higher response rate and is relevant. There is nothing worse
than receiving an irrelevant SMS message from your favourite brand.
2 Create campaign copy
You’re limited to 160 characters per message so make them count. Don’t try and be clever, just
get the message or promotion across clearly. The main benefit of SMS is its simplicity not its
technical superiority. Don’t forget to include an unsubscibe.
CTA: Include a clear call to action within your 160
characters. What do you want your recipient to do next?
Is it to phone in, visit a store or click a link? Make sure
Store
your CTA is clear and if possible, add a timeframe - so Fashion
there is a sense of urgency. A good, basic example is day with
all order
20% off r your
3o
s
urself to ://bit.ly/rtc1U STOP
something like: “Treat yourself today with 20% off all Treat yo Visit http
0!
over £5 ore. To unsub
scribe tx
t
st
nearest
orders over £50! Visit http://bit.ly/rtc1U3 or your nearest to 8888
8
store. To unsubscribe txt STOP to 88888”
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7. 4 Easy Steps to Success
Cont’d’...
3 Deliver campaign via intelligent tools
We are experts in the build and delivery of inbound and outbound
mobile marketing campaigns.
Our mVoy Communicate platform is a flexible, web based platform
that allows you to build and manage campaigns yourself or we can
deliver it for you as part of a managed service.
Whether it’s a one off promotion or a series of complex, multistep campaigns, mVoy
Communicate allows you to produce quick and simple SMS, email or social media campaigns.
4 Measure success and learn
Tracking and reporting on the results of your campaign is key if you want to measure success
and improve on the next one. Before you send your campaign, ensure you are clear on what
metrics are important to you and monitor them throughout the delivery of the campaign.
Typical metrics to monitor include how many recipients received your campaign and how
many responded? If you are using a multistep delivery (dynamic messages driven by customer
responses), monitor at what point people are dropping off and tweak or tailor the message
accordingly.
Image: Screenshot of campaign set up
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8. Case Study
ASOS / The Princes Trust
Overview
MIG worked with ASOS and The Princes Trust
to maximise the auction of Cheryl Cole’s dress
collection.
Strategy
MIG put in place a dedicated shortcode that
allowed ASOS customers to make a lowest unique
bid for the dress of their choice. The reverse
auction mechanics meant that users could be
knocked off the winning slot and were prompted to
bid again.
Results
The auction was available for 10 days and attracted
over 70,000 unique bids during this time. Press
coverage was excellent - driving further revenue for
The Princes Trust.
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9. Case Study
New Look Mobile Marketing
Overview
MIG work with New Look across the entire mobile
marketing mix.
Strategy
MIG has delivered an award winning
mCommerce site, a transactional iPhone
app and supporting SMS mobile marketing
campaigns.
Results
In the first 3 months the mCommerce site
delivered:
An increase in mobile sales of over 500%
An increase in orders of over 60%
An increase in revenue of over 45%
Want to learn more?
To learn more about mobile marketing or to speak to one of our friendly experts, please email
mobile@migcan.com or call +44 (0)207 921 5599
www.migcan.com
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