SMS marketing is one of the most efficient ways to reach a wider audience and boost revenue. It is also an effective strategy for increasing customer loyalty and retention rates.
SMS marketing should be a top priority for the rest of this decade, given that 85% of Americans own a phone.
You can only expect the same return on investment (ROI) levels as other successful businesses with a systematic approach to legally collecting phone numbers and expanding your list. After all, you can only send SMS to people who are subscribed to your list, so if you have subscribers, you won’t have any conversions.
Why You Should Start Compiling An SMS Contact List
Here are three quick arguments in favor of text marketing if you’re still on the fence:
- With an open rate of up to 98%, SMS marketing campaigns are highly effective.
- 95% of SMS messages are read within three minutes of being sent.
- The strict regulations prevent spam from being sent (ensuring SMS will remain a powerful channel)
Only some have their Facebook Messenger or email notifications turned on, but almost everyone with a phone has their text message alerts turned on immediately.
SMS is a much more powerful and straightforward way to reach customers and potential customers in a personalized manner. Yet, most companies are looking to the glitzy new up-and-coming social media platforms for brand growth.
10 Actionable Tips To Collect Phone Number For SMS Marketing
1. Make Sure Your Website Has a Signup Page
Having a sign-up form on your site where people can enter their information and subscribe to your SMS marketing is a great idea.
Put in place appropriate opt-in language in this form. The opt-in language you use must address both the legal requirements of your SMS subscription service and the benefits you will provide to customers who provide their information.
Since it’s one of the first customer contact points, it should be informative without being boring.
Some components of good opt-in language are:
- A statement of how often you intend to text each month.
- Including a link to your privacy and terms of service policies
- Disclosures must be clear and evident, and you must obtain permission in writing to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act
- An uncluttered interface with standard contact info fields like name, email, and phone
- What to do if customers want to opt-out or cancel
2. Make Sure Your Order Confirmation Page Collects Opt-Ins
An ideal time to ask customers to sign up for your SMS list is right after they have purchased on your site. They’ve just experienced the exhilaration of making a purchase they’re excited about and are clearly fans of your brand.
Having them enter their phone number to receive shipping updates is a smart move (which many people will want). You can also include a checkbox below that reads, “Want to receive exclusive SMS monthly coupons and deals from us?”
3. Provide Subscriber-Only Benefits
Many people are wary about divulging private information, such as email addresses. Not only that, but they are even more cautious about giving out their phone numbers.
For people to feel comfortable inviting your brand into their most private inbox, you must assure them that they will benefit in some way, such as receiving special deals, discounts, or other perks that aren’t available anywhere else.
In terms of special offers that customers can only access via SMS, some options include the following:
- Monthly coupons
- Free shipping
- Free samples
- Early access to new products
- Contests and giveaways
4. Make Sure Your Subscribers Know Exactly How Often You’ll Send Them Texts
No one appreciates being bombarded with unsolicited text messages (SMS). The best way to get past this hesitation is to specify the frequency of your message sending right from the start when people sign up.
You can include this information below your offer. Or you could even have it in your offer’s headline.
5. Use Contests to Encourage People to Sign Up
It’s hard to find someone who doesn’t enjoy winning a prize. As a bonus, this will also encourage more people to sign up for your SMS marketing list. You can rapidly expand your contact list with a “text to win” campaign and a hard deadline.
If you’re trying to get people to sign up for your mailing list to enter a monthly giveaway or a one-time prize draw, it’s essential to highlight the additional benefits they’ll receive.
6. Use Dynamic Display Email to Advertise Your Sms Opt-in
Whenever you send out promotional emails, include a call to action encouraging people to sign up for your SMS service. This section can be visible only to email subscribers not already on your text marketing list using dynamic display elements.
You can increase the number of people interested in joining your SMS program without worrying about spamming the people already on your SMS list by integrating your text marketing platform with your email marketing platform.
7. Make Use of Pop-Ups on Mobile Devices
The use of popups on websites is highly effective for gathering SMS opt-ins. They work best on mobile devices because users can easily click through the pop-up and into their preferred messaging service.
You can improve conversion rates by targeting customers who prefer to shop from their mobile devices with mobile-optimized pop-ups (which is excellent for eCommerce brands).
8. Give Them a Discount on Their Preferred Item
You can fine-tune the incentives you offer with the help of dynamic popups and dynamic display elements in emails.
Increase your opt-in text rate by offering a discount on a customer’s preferred product.
How Can OtterText Help
With OtterText, you can quickly notify customers of new products, run promotions, remind them they have abandoned their cart, and much more.
Beginning an SMS marketing campaign for your web store is as easy as installing a plugin, and no coding is required.
This free trial of OtterText will allow you to do the following:
- Create Opt-in Webforms: As soon as you sign up for a free trial or paid plan, we provide you with a Custom Opt-In web form to begin collecting subscriptions immediately.
- Text Keywords Sending your unique keyword to any number allows anyone with a mobile phone to subscribe to your text-based marketing and notification service. Because each keyword is associated with a specific demographic, it’s crystal clear who will be targeted by each campaign and what they’ll hear about.
- Create engaging, personalized SMS campaigns: The people in your contacts list aren’t just a phone number. They are a unique person, complete with a name and characteristics. Their first names will be automatically added whenever you use this function in a text, making it much simpler to include them.
Check out the full list of OtterText’s features and see why it’s the right platform for you!
