SMS Tools for Business [Use Cases and Strategies]

If you're tired of your messages getting lost in the email abyss, we have a solution for you.

Short message services or SMS have become an indispensable tool for businesses globally. It's the ultimate way to secure your communication strategy and deliver your message to the correct prospect at the right time—and it involves more than carrier pigeons.

In a time when text messaging is more than "Are you up?" at 2 am, we're exploring the untapped potential of SMS for your organization.

This article explains what best SMS marketing tools offer, why businesses should use them, how to implement them, and what strategies work best with these solutions. These strategies are so effective they make the unsubscribe button reconsider its life choices.

So grab your smartphone (or grandma's Nokia, if you're feeling nostalgic), and let's get your company texting its way to success.

What Are SMS Marketing Tools?

Various types of SMS marketing tools are available, ranging from basic platforms for bulk sending, such as SMS Global or ClickSend, to more advanced tools with complete personalization and SMS automation tools.

Talk about automation, it's actually one of the noteworthy features of the best SMS tools. With these features, companies can schedule messages, set up triggers, and automate text messaging, saving time and ensuring timely customer communication.

Besides automation, most of these platforms are great CRM (Customer Relationship Management) tools that assist in keeping track of client interactions, just like Ringy. This data allows you to tailor communication to specific client needs and focus on the prospects with the highest chance of converting.

Some other features of SMS tools include but are not limited to:

1. Personalization: Customizing messages with recipients' names or other personalized information for a more engaging and relevant experience.
2. Analytics and Reporting: Tracking and analyzing the performance of SMS campaigns, including delivery rates, open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates.
3. Compliance: Ensuring SMS marketing campaigns adhere to regulatory requirements and privacy laws, such as obtaining opt-in consent from recipients.
4. Integration: Connecting with other marketing tools, CRM systems, or databases to synchronize and streamline data management.
5. Two-Way Communication: Supporting two-way communication, allowing recipients to respond to messages or engage in a conversation with the business.
6. Scheduling: Planning and scheduling SMS campaigns at specific times to optimize engagement based on the target audience's behavior.
7. Drip Campaigns: Sending scheduled messages over time to nurture leads or guide recipients through a specific marketing funnel.

Other popular SMS marketing tools include Twilio, Ez Texting, TextMagic, and many others. You must choose a platform that aligns with your specific needs, budget, and compliance requirements while effectively reaching and engaging your target audience.

Why Businesses Should Use SMS Tools

Apart from the advantages mentioned previously, we're here to tell you that there's more. SMS tools are cost-effective for building loyalty, engagement, and sales.

And which business wouldn't want that?

Let's look at some key benefits.

Boosts Customer Engagement

Retention and engagement go hand in hand. That's why organization proprietors should consider the difference between one-time purchases and customer lifetime value (CLV.) Bain and Company did some exciting research on customer retention which shows a 5% increase in client loyalty could potentially increase profits by up to 25%.

It only makes sense that you would focus on customer engagement to grow your bottom line.

Here are a few ideas to increase customer engagement:

• Create surveys
• Host monthly contests
• Send a welcome message
• Address clients on a first-name basis

Regular reminders about your enterprise, even without a specific offer, create a lasting impression and increase the chances that your brand will be the first choice when consumers decide to buy.

Provides an Immediate Communications Channel

The era of extensively preplanned marketing strategies has faded into obsolescence. Enter SMS tools and text marketing, an instrumental conduit for immediate communication.

Imagine this scenario: inclement weather is forecasted, potentially leading to a downturn in customer visits. You think, "What could be done to bring more clients into the store?"

You could leverage the power of text marketing to swiftly disseminate targeted promotions, enticing patrons to visit your establishment.

A vast canvas for inventive expression lies within this communication channel, characterized by its informal nature. The informality of text messages offers companies a direct and agile means of reaching their audience while serving as a fertile ground for cultivating distinctive and imaginative messaging strategies.

Text Messages Can Be Personalized

If you haven't already figured it out, personalization is king when marketing to and attracting consumers. By tailoring content to meet your future and current customers' unique needs, it's essential to utilize insight and reports to understand their requirements better.

Ensure that your personalization efforts extend beyond the prospect's name. Use personal data such as birthday, age, and previously purchased products to understand what could make the customer tick.

You can also categorize and segment buyer groups based on how often they visited your store or website, their average spend, or how long they have interacted with your organization. This data is invaluable as it allows your marketing team to create engaging, enticing offers around the type of client you're trying to reach and ultimately convert.

Cost Effective Marketing

Venturing into this marketing endeavor may appear cost-intensive during the initial list-building phase, but the long-term returns are bound to be substantial.

As you work towards assembling your list, consider these three aspects:

1. Cost-Effectiveness Over Time: Despite the initial investment, the accrued benefits of a well-established list prove to be highly cost-effective in the long run.
2. Variable Timeframes: The duration for list completion is contingent on sales volume, with some businesses achieving this milestone in a few months, while others may take up to a year.
3. Hire an Expert: Collaborating with a specialist in SMS tool marketing expedites results. Their extensive knowledge accelerates the list-building process, ensuring quicker and more significant outcomes.

Partnering with a seasoned professional in SMS marketing not only streamlines the journey but also amplifies the efficiency and effectiveness of list development. Investing in expertise translates into accelerated success and a robust foundation for future marketing endeavors.

Easy to Track Results

In marketing, leveraging powerful text messaging platforms opens a gateway to invaluable intelligence, transcending mere communication.

These SMS tools offer a wealth of data beyond fundamental interactions, providing intricate insights into buyer behavior and engagement.

Key facets of intelligence derived from these platforms include:

• Origins of Customer Engagement: Understanding where a customer joined your platform lays the foundation for targeted and personalized interactions.
• Redemption Insights for Multi-Location Businesses: For enterprises with multiple locations, tracking where customers redeem offers becomes a strategic advantage, enabling nuanced and location-specific marketing approaches.
• Comprehensive Purchase Analytics: Beyond basic metrics, these platforms reveal whether customers redeemed an offer and made a purchase. This comprehensive insight is instrumental in gauging the tangible impact of your marketing efforts.
• Timely Customer Engagement: Insights into the last time a customer checked in or used an online texting feature to follow through with a purchase allow for timely, relevant information that can enhance the purchaser's experience.
• Frequency of Interactions: The ability to track how often customers engage with your firm provides a holistic view of their loyalty and preferences.

While many platforms may provide data on customer interactions, an accurate measure of success lies in tracking the journey from text to purchase. This elevated level of SMS testing tools goes beyond superficial metrics, ensuring a profound understanding of the efficacy of your messaging strategies.

It's worth noting that "do-it-yourself" platforms often don't deliver this granular level of analytics, highlighting the importance of opting for robust solutions for a more comprehensive approach to customer engagement and success tracking.

How to Use Tools for SMS Marketing

Business text messaging doesn't have to be a tortuous labyrinth of despair. You should consider a few best practices and strategies to improve your chances of success.

Follow these guidelines to begin your journey with SMS marketing.

Ensure You Have Permission to Message Your Leads

It's against the United States and Canadian law to send SMS marketing material to people without consent. Before setting up your SMS campaign tools, your priority objective is to confirm that your list of prospects is okay with receiving messages from your organization.

Without permission status, you're doomed.

Not really, though-just take people off this list who cannot be confirmed.

Remaining compliant is essential when setting up an SMS campaign, so we recommend checking out how Ringy's SMS Opt-In system works. As the rule goes, customers must opt-in to receive information from an organization.

Craft Your Message(s)

We already know who's king of the castle, personalization, of course. Messages need to be crafted in 160 characters or less and in a concise, relevant way that matches the customer's profile while getting straight to the point.

A great way to automate this process is through utilizing AI tools.

Ringy, our CRM sales software, has a premium add-on feature that allows you to respond to clients at lightning speed. It uses AI to correct text, suggest replies, and respond to your customers manually or automatically-you decide.

Who wants to hire extra support staff when you can let AI help boost productivity?

Reach the Right Customers at the Right Time

Understanding where customers sit in the sales pipeline is crucial for knowing the best time to message them. You don't want to be overly pushy, but at the same time, you want to ensure these prospects receive contact from your company.

Marketing automation and DRIP campaigns are a great way to stay on top of prospects while delivering them a consistent feed on content that edges them towards taking action.

Examples of this include:

• Send customers promotional SMSs on their birthday
• Weekly updates for new prices and promotions
• Regain old customers with new deals

Whatever you decide to do, remember to focus on the customer first and build your strategy around that. This helps keep things professional and allows you to meet the customer where they're at—their mobile phone.

Give Customers a Way to Opt Out

Ensure that your communication channels respect your customers' preferences. Incorporating a clear opt-out mechanism for SMS messages is not just a legal necessity but also reflects your commitment to ethical engagement. Providing an opt-out option demonstrates your genuine intent to foster meaningful connections rather than engaging in unwarranted communication.

Track Results and Implement Improvements

After you've sent out your message, it's essential to delve into the performance metrics to gain a deeper understanding of its impact. If your message includes a hyperlink, track the number of clicks to evaluate the level of engagement and interest it generated among your audience.

For campaigns that feature exclusive discount codes, take the opportunity to analyze how many recipients actually redeemed the codes during their purchases.

To derive meaningful insights from this analysis, compare these performance figures to the total number of messages you sent.

By calculating response rates, conversion rates, and other relevant metrics, you can gauge the overall success of your campaign. This iterative approach enables you to refine your SMS marketing strategy, tailoring future messages based on what resonates most effectively with your audience.

4 SMS Marketing Strategies for Email and SMS Marketing Tools

Wondering what types of approaches work best with email and SMS tools? This section delves into different methods designed to maximize the impact of your marketing campaign's messages.

Regardless of whether you're a seasoned marketer or just venturing into marketing on these two channels, we suggest trying these strategies to elevate your efforts and bring a fresh perspective to campaigns.

Welcome Messages

Enhancing the onboarding experience for your customers goes beyond just emails. This personalized touch acknowledges their decision and sets the stage for a meaningful, lasting relationship.

Let's delve into various scenarios and message responses.

As you explore various scenarios, envision how these personalized touches can reshape the initial interactions with your marketing effort's participants, fostering a deeper connection and setting the stage for long-term customer loyalty.

New Product Announcements

Creating hype and letting customers know new stock has arrived is crucial for getting those sales. Utilizing SMS tools and a well-thought-out advertising plan can help you inform consumers on when to start checking out your online store or physical shop.

We recommend implementing this tactic seasonally to avoid potential over-communication and ensure a positive customer experience.

Promotions

SMS tools excel at delivering time-sensitive promotions directly to customers' mobile devices. When integrated with email marketing tools, businesses can orchestrate comprehensive campaigns that blend the immediacy of SMS with the more detailed content available in emails.

This strategy allows for strategic promotion sequencing, ensuring customers receive enticing offers at the right moment. By employing this synchronized approach, businesses can effectively drive sales, cultivate customer loyalty, and optimize their overall promotional efforts.

Customer Surveys

Understanding customer preferences and feedback is crucial for business growth. When combined with email marketing tools, SMS surveys provide a seamless way to collect valuable customer insights.

Sending SMS invitations to participate in surveys, followed by more detailed surveys in email format, ensures a comprehensive data collection process. This integrated approach facilitates a higher response rate while businesses gain actionable feedback for refining products, services, and overall customer experience.

SMS Tools - Final Thoughts

Now that you understand the power of SMS for business outreach efforts, it's best to consider tools that work coherently to improve your results.

Ringy, our CRM solution, is the perfect option for growing organizations looking to manage all stages of the sales process and customer interactions, whether from email, SMS, chatbot, VoIP or other communication channels.

At Ringy, we care about your business and offer software integrations with various operational and marketing tools already in your tech stack.

Request a demo to find out how Ringy helps streamline your marketing efforts and makes managing your customers a breeze.