Johannesburg, 28 Jul 2017
In spite of developments in mobile communications over the years, SMS remains a key player in communication for a number of reasons. This is mostly due to the higher delivery and read rates of SMS resulting from its ubiquity among consumers, compared to alternatives. But what are some of the opportunities for you to get the most out of this channel from a South African context?
1: No SMS campaign is possible without a clean database
Let's start with the data... if you want to send personalised SMS campaigns, you will need to collect mobile numbers to add to your CRM. This means you need customer profiles that are as complete as possible, so you can target them with content of interest. But don't underestimate the importance of correct, valid and current data - some campaigns generate as high as 40% non-delivery due to invalid or incorrect data, and since you are charged for the message regardless of whether it is delivered or not, this should be a starting point. Imagine reducing your messaging costs by that figure just by removing the invalid contact data! How? Use a real-time batch Number Verifier service such as that from CM. This will allow you to ascertain, amongst other things, which numbers in your database are valid and active. You can then remove the inactive data and send cost-efficient campaigns with a greater reach and a far higher conversion rate - in the marketing space, very valuable!
2. Interaction, personalisation and timing of your SMS campaign
A successfully sent and received message is the basis of your SMS campaign. In many situations, you can improve the value of the campaign by personalising the content, offering receivers the possibility to react and even scheduling the campaign to be sent at optimal times.
With the CM SMS Campaigns App, you can easily create merge fields to personalise your content and schedule the message to be sent at a pre-determined time. You can even enable Two-way Messaging so your receivers can send a reply via SMS, for example with a question, an answer, or a positive response indicating sales interest etc. And you can even increase your response / conversion rate by making the reply free to the user. Offering this type of interaction contributes to customer involvement and allows you to receive valuable feedback about your brand, product and service. The opportunities with what you can do with this are practically endless - think about automation of service queries, lead generation processes or even automating application or enrolment processes. Another way to enable interaction, is adding landing pages and to track the click-throughs and responses, or adding Web apps to your communication channels which allow customers to interact with you via apps like Facebook Messenger. But more about this later.
3. Push with SMS fallback
Even though SMS is the communication channel with the highest open rate (98% - with most messages read within a few minutes), it is a good idea to look into the possibilities of Push, especially if you have an existing or planned mobile app. By sending Push messages to the users of your app, you can easily share your message with your target audience and increase sell-through on app related services by encouraging app engagement. Despite the lower costs of Push, you might not want to limit yourself to this channel though. In SA, smart phone penetration is around 37% and is centralised around urban areas and where data coverage or WiFi networks are easily accessible... so while it is an engaging channel, not everyone can receive it. In addition, customers or employees who are offline, not using your app, or worse - have deleted it - will not receive the app notification. You can get around this by choosing a Hybrid messaging approach, such as the solution CM provides, where the recipient receives a PUSH / app notification if it possible, but falls back to SMS where it is not. This approach offers the best of both worlds - lower costs and higher engagement where PUSH is possible, while benefiting from the platform independent requirement of SMS, where it is not.
4. Integrate SMS in your customer care with Web apps
As stated earlier, there are more channels than just SMS to reach your customers effectively and your customers have an expectation for you to be available on their preferred channel or platform. There are various messaging apps available with which you can interact with customers and improve your customer care. Besides SMS, you can add channels like Facebook Messenger and Telegram to your customer care strategy thanks to customer contact tool GIN, the customer care tool will combine all your communication channels into one dashboard. From there, you can send and receive messages from all available channels, including Facebook Messenger and SMS. Depending on the situation, you can switch between these channels for a seamless customer care experience and enhance interaction with your customer.
5. Data for the best SMS campaigns
Peter Drucker coined the term, "what gets measured gets managed" - and for marketers, this is especially true and a critical component of the marketing process - tracking results. You've already read about how to improve the success of your SMS campaigns. But to see how successful your campaign really is, you need insight into relevant data. With CM's SMS Campaigns app, you can see all important data in one view - this overview contains important data like delivery and conversion rates. And with the built-in analytics, you can follow the live results and use these insights to further optimise your next SMS campaign.
In this post, we've covered some of the best strategies we have learned at CM to deliver optimised mobile messaging campaigns, gaining the best results. These tips are made possible through the CM platform - CM is a specialist and global mobile services company providing platforms covering the Text, Talk, Pay and Access pillars, allowing you to engage with your customers effectively.
Contact CM for more information.
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