How to Improve SMS Marketing Conversion Rates

As direct and powerful as it is, SMS marketing is not a guaranteed traffic driver or revenue generator. And it’s a very different channel to email, push, etc. So until you get to grips with it, it will seem like it’s not an effective channel for your business.

There are many reasons why your campaigns aren’t yielding conversions. Maybe you’re not personalising them enough. Maybe your data is bad or you’re not using it to its full potential. If this is the case, explore different phone number APIs that enhance data quality and targeting for more effective SMS marketing. Or perhaps you’re not being direct enough with your customers. Whatever it is, you need to identify what the problem is before you can attempt to improve campaign performance. The average conversion rate for SMS is 29%. So if your campaigns are falling short of that target, then you need to iron out the issues. 

The vast majority of your customers should respond positively if communicated with by text. 91% of consumers have said they are happy to opt-in to SMS marketing. So gathering the data to use for SMS campaigns isn’t the hurdle. It’s often poor use of data that businesses struggle with.

There is a certain element of grind that comes with creating successful customer engagement campaigns. But putting that grind in will be beneficial to your conversion rate later on.

Treat Your Data Well

You cannot go into your SMS marketing campaign blind and expect it to deliver good results. Any good campaign, not just SMS, starts with putting in a shift with your data. Gathering all of your customer data and taking the time to understand it will improve campaign quality and conversion rate.

Businesses that struggle to put together a good campaign often just aren’t doing enough at the beginning. Concise, relevant content and messaging becomes much easier to create when you understand your customer data first.

You need to think about what you’re actually doing with your data once you have it. Make sure you capture processes are accurate, treat it well and don’t just let it sit there.

Storing your data

Companies that integrate and save their data in one place are far better able to gather and analyse that information. Utilising a customer data platform has always been quite advantageous for businesses. 

There are many ways you can use information after it has been consolidated to learn more about your customers and their behaviour. This deeper understanding of your customer can help mould your SMS marketing campaigns into successful ones. Overall, making decisions for your organisation based on this data ensures that they are trustworthy and well-informed.

The initial data collection enables businesses to deliver offers and product promotions that they are confident their customers will find interesting. There was a time that you would consistently distribute the same content to all of your customers. However, B2C marketing has long since advanced past that.

Personalisation gets the best results because it increases customer engagement. And a higher level of engagement often means that your conversion rates will see the benefits too. That all starts with proper data storage and utilisation.

Segmentation and Targeting

Your data plays a very important role when it comes to your customer segmentation. You need a good understanding of your data to know how to group together your segments.

Whether it’s information on the customer’s behaviour, spending patterns, or interests, customer segmentation depends on precise first-party data.

Segmentation becomes much easier for your company to implement when all of your data is housed under one roof. Additionally, it means that your segments will be much more in-depth and utilise a variety of data types. 

Your ability to personalise your messages increases when you segment your customer base and target certain groups using your data. Personalisation here takes the following two forms:

• Make sure the campaign content is tailored to each individual (use their names, profile information, products they’ve purchased, etc.)
• Only communicate with them about topics that are relevant to their interests or lifecycle stage.

Segmentation is the most effective way of putting your data into action. Your SMS marketing will improve by sending texts to particular segments and will bring your conversion rates closer to that 29% mark.

Practical Ways to Increase Conversion Rates

All your data understanding and analysis comes before you get to the stage of actually putting together your campaign. 

There’s many different things to include in order to increase conversion rates through SMS marketing. Below are a few things to keep in mind to get your SMS campaigns off the ground.

Customisation & Personalisation

Any campaign aimed at increasing conversions must be personalised to be successful. Customers demand more from businesses than irrelevant communications that give the impression you only care about money and ignore their preferences. In the current digital climate, sending generic campaigns won’t work.

It’s the same when it comes to SMS marketing. Any communication with your client should be relevant and personalised to them. Use their name. Show them something they are interested in. You’ll start to see improvement in your engagement and conversion rates.

Clear CTA

Your engagement and click through rates will rise if they contain a call to action. Messages containing a CTA perform significantly better than those without them.

Users consume a lot of content on a daily basis. They will frequently need to be prompted to click through your particular text or piece of content. It also gives a specific goal to complete, so customers know where to go to take action.

Directing customers exactly to where you want them to go will likely lead to an increase in conversion rates. Giving your customer one road to go down when it comes to SMS marketing and being direct about it works.

Use a Branded URL

Mobile operators can often mistake your links for spam if they don’t recognise what company they’re related to. This is why you should consider using branded URLs in your campaigns.

They give your texts a more personal touch as your link is related to your products, services, or name. As opposed to using a bit.ly URL.

Branded links are also more frequently clicked, giving your SMS marketing campaigns a more credible and polished appearance. 

Don’t Stop at One Text

Text messages have an open rate of over 90%. But that doesn’t mean that a customer will always convert the first time around. People are busy and won’t always have time to follow through on what you want them to. A text is often opened within the first minute of receiving it. But customers can forget about them just as quickly.

Finding the sweet spot for your texts to lead to conversions is a science in itself. It’s been tried and tested by many businesses in the past. The results they’ve seen is that customers will generally convert after the third text you send them.

Keep in mind though that this isn’t from sending random offers and hoping that it’ll land the third time around. The texts you send should always be relevant.

So, don’t be afraid to continue to include them in your SMS marketing campaigns multiple times. But do keep in mind that sending irrelevant messages will only annoy customers. 

Create a Sense of Urgency

People will always act quickly if you create a sense of urgency. The fear of missing out is real so take advantage of it, it could work wonders for your campaigns. A time-sensitive sale, offer, or product availability will lead to higher click through rates.

This sense of urgency should be reflected in your text messages. Here are a few examples:

• This deal expires today!
• Time is running out!
• Your gift card is almost expired!
• Limited stock available!
• Selling Fast!

If a customer thinks they might miss out on something, they are much more likely to make converting a priority.

Use of Language

When it comes to SMS marketing you are limited to a certain amount of characters. You need to understand the type of language your customers might use and try to mirror that to a degree. 

Being too formal will come across as unnatural in a text. Remember the environment in which you are sending your message across. Having some fun with it can be far more engaging and memorable for the customers. But do keep in mind that you still need to direct them towards completing a goal or conversion.

Timing

When attempting to increase your notification success rate, timing is crucial. Poor timing is frequently the cause of low CTRs. It’s unlikely that a notification sent at 2 AM will perform as well as one sent at 2 PM.

Consider segmenting your audience by time zone. Nobody enjoys their phone buzzing in the early hours of the morning or late at night. It irritates them, and they will probably ignore your notification.

Identifying time zones means that you can send your SMS campaigns at optimal times. Ensuring that they will be seen by the receiver.

There are various times of the day when activity is at its peak. You can find this among your intended audience by using your data. Higher CTRs can be achieved by being aware of this user activity peak and taking advantage of it.

Takeaways

Keep in mind that there isn’t a single rule that applies to all sms campaigns. What works for you at a particular time may not work the next time you do it. The most important thing is to continually test your campaigns and ensure that they are tailored to each customer.

It can be challenging to design the ideal campaign for your clients. There’s no doubting that. But keeping these practices in mind will certainly keep you on track.

If you want to find out more about how SMS marketing can help your business increase engagement and revenue, get in touch with us and we’ll show you how.