Personalising Your SMS Marketing
What exactly is personalisation? Does it simply mean adding a first name to your SMS marketing messages? Or is it more than that? You’ve probably guessed – it’s way more than that.
Using people’s names in marketing is great. It does provide a certain level of personalisation that can get people more interested in what you’re sending them. Of course in text messaging, you don’t always have the room for a name, your message, and the required opt out information … usually there just isn’t enough room. So how can you make your marketing messages personal?
Find out about the people on your list. Who are they, what do they buy from you, what services of yours do they use, how old are they, do they have kids? Figure out what questions would be helpful to have answered given your business or organisation so you can create a personal message. One easy way is to know someone’s birthday. That’s one personal message you can send each year. You probably want to market to them more than that though, so get the answers to all those questions you just thought up.
Here is an example. You run a travel agency that books trips all over the world for all types of people. But are those people who go to the Caribbean every spring interested in going to Iceland instead? Maybe. But you know they would be interested in an early booking special for 10% holiday packages to the Caribbean with travel dates during the spring. Those people would consider that a personal message from you, their travel agent. You know they like to spend spring walking the warm sandy beaches and snorkelling in the bright blue waters. Use whatever information you have about your clients’ past trips to personalise offers for their next trip. It’s the content, and the intention, that’s personal in this type of marketing message.
Another example comes from a study done in the US by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study evaluated how text reminders for vaccinations could help improve the timeliness of immunisations. They discovered that children were 27% more likely to be immunised if the parent received a text reminder that included the date the doses were due. Dr. Stockwell, who led the study, commented that people in the study liked getting the texts because it made them feel the doctor’s office cared about them. The messages were personalised to each child’s information, which in turn proved to the parents that the doctors were really concerned about their children.
If you can make the people on your list feel as though you care about them, know them, or are at least interested in them, your marketing will be much more successful. Go ahead. Give it a try and see how much better you do compared to generic marketing messages.
To learn even more how to get the best out of your marketing read our “Mobile Marketing Guide“.
Related Articles
To Txt Speak, or NTTS. TITQ.
Is it a good idea to cram more information into your precious 160 characters by using "txtspk" acronyms and abbreviations? Yes and no! It depends on the audience and the message. In this post you can pick up some insights into this question and join us in dissecting a real life example.
Five Things Every Marketer Needs to Know About SMS
There's no better time to take a closer look at SMS marketing - could it fit your marketing strategy? What should be at the forefront of your mind when you look at whether SMS could fit with your business? Here we've highlighted five things you should know before getting started.
3 Common Errors That Will Ruin Your SMS Marketing
You worked hard to get those customers on your SMS marketing list. But now they are unsubscribing like crazy, or maybe just no longer responding to your messages. What happened? Maybe you’ve committed one of the following common, but easy to fix, errors that can completely drive your customers away.
5 Winter Phrases for SMS Marketing [Infographic]
SMS Marketing: 10 Things You Shouldn’t Do in Your Marketing Strategy
In order to gain success with SMS marketing, certain strategies need to be put in place. Here are a few top tips on what not to do when marketing your business through SMS messaging.
More Examples of Calls to Action in an SMS Message
In a previous article I shared two examples of SMS marketing messages I received and how their call to action worked, or not. This time I want to share two more examples to help you in crafting the perfect call to action for your SMS marketing messages.
How a Text Marketer can Learn Valuable Lessons from Long-Form Copywriters
In terms of storytelling, SMS text messaging is probably as far removed from long-form, direct-action copywriting as you could be. However, the SMS marketing writer can still learn a lot of lessons here with regard to overall approach, content and composition.
What Makes a Great Call to Action in an SMS Message?
Marketing messages, whether in print or electronic have many parts to them. In the beginning there’s the hook that entices someone to continue reading, and near the end is the call to action. That’s where you make it clear what you want someone to do after reading the message. There are many parts in between these two, but these are, arguably, the two most important.
What to do When Your SMS Campaign is Failing
Here's some ideas on what you can do to help your SMS campaigns to do better. Use the following checklist to see if you’re using all your possible channels.