On the surface, SMS marketing seems like a fairly straightforward process – especially when compared to other forms of marketing outreach. Your brand fires off a few catchy texts and the sales come pouring in from the various members of your contact list. Simple stuff, right?Unfortunately, this “quick and easy” mentality gives way to a variety of easily avoidable missteps that can sink your campaign before it ever really has a chance to start connecting with your brand’s valued customers. To ensure that you’re not overlooking any pitfalls in your approach to text outreach, let’s take a moment to look over five simple SMS marketing mistakes that you probably don’t realize you’re committing right now.
Sending Messages That Lack Value
The first commonly overlooked SMS faux pas on the list comes from David Endris of Mobile Marketing Watch and covers the concept of sending messages that lack value. Essentially, Endris points out that many brands feel like they need to text with customers simply for the sake of “staying on the radar.”Yes, showing up in the mobile inbox on a regular basis is definitely part of the process when it comes to winning on this front. However, the SMS relationship between your brand and its contact list isn’t the same as the one you share with family and friends. Sending fluff messages or other offerings that don’t include a valuable call-to-action (CTA) or some other engaging inclusion is a quick way to turn off these viewers, so avoid the temptation to send a message “just because” when possible.
Failing to Leverage Delivery Reports and Other Metrics
Once your campaign is up and running, Endris notes that many brands rest on their laurels and accept merely good results. Sure, there’s nothing wrong with appreciating a job well done, but embracing this mindset does nothing but stymie the vast potential held within your SMS marketing operations.Instead of traveling down the easy path – something that comes naturally to brands that succeed on this front – commit to leveraging the power of delivery reports and other campaign metrics. These tools tell the real story of your campaign and provide the foundation on which to build optimized and refined SMS content going forward.
Including Ambiguous or “Lazy” Content
Jumping back to the quality of your content, Mobile Marketer’s Rimma Kats explains that even if you don’t forget to include the CTA or other value-driven centerpiece, it’s still quite common for ambiguous or lazy content to sneak into your text offerings. A text message is a personal experience, so your content should reflect this realization.Avoiding generic content is an especially hard endeavor considering how short and simple these messages can be in many cases. Thankfully, if you’re able to view these interactions as a form of “live conversation” and focus on getting straight to the point of the message, then Kats suggests that crafting intriguing, engaging, and direct content doesn’t have to be such a daunting task.
Firing Off Messages Too Often
On the subject of text frequency, Kats goes on to point out that enacting a messaging frequency that approaches daily intervals is a trap that plenty of brands fall into unwittingly. The truth of the matter is that bombarding your contact list with an overload of SMS offerings is an easy way to drive these potential customers away.A better course of action is to aim for the intersection of proper timing and value. Let testing and audience feedback guide your brand to the appropriate text frequency, and always be willing to keep an open mind for if – and when – this optimal point shifts up and down the frequency spectrum.
Forgetting Opt-Out Functionality
Of course, the biggest SMS mistake by far that your brand can accidentally commit comes in the form of forgetting to incorporate opt-out capabilities within its text messages. As Vic Dadson of Business 2 Community notes, this particular mishap doesn’t just come with a healthy dose of consumer ill-will, it can also lead to some serious backlash and fines from Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL.)For those brands that would rather not fall into this SMS pitfall inadvertently, always include the option to opt-out within each text message you send. If you can enact this tactic, and put to good use the rest of what you’ve learned here, then there’s no reason why your upcoming SMS campaign can’t avoid these common mistakes and truly take your mobile audience by storm.
