In times of complex email marketing, people are looking for ways to compete with other brands. In these times, SMS marketing comes in quite handy. Moreover, 3 out of every four Generation Zers say they spend too much time on their smartphones. So, it makes it easy to reach out and cement your position in the market.
But how do you know if your SMS campaign is a success? With open rates of SMS, you send. If you don't quite understand it in depth, let us take your hand and walk you through it - helping with the latest knowledge on open rates in SMS marketing and their importance for your business.
Ready to start? Let’s get into it.
Understanding the Importance of SMS Open Rates
The SMS open rate is the percentage of text opened by recipients. For example, the open rate would be 60%.
If you have high SMS open rates, it means your SMS marketing is a success. But in case it is low, you might need an audit to overcome the problems causing a low open rate.
Importance of Open Rates in SMS Marketing
SMS open rate is a significant metric to measure the efficacy of your SMS campaigns. As compared to other channels like email, SMS marketing is known to have more impact on potential customers.
No, we are not making this up; it is in the numbers. SMS has a 98% open rate, which implies that almost 98 out of every 100 SMS messages delivered to customers are opened. This is much higher than the average email open rate of 21%. Knowing how many people open and read your texts can help you improve your content, timing, and overall engagement strategy.
So, Why do SMS open rates matter?
SMS open rate matters. Why? It is because they can help you determine the impact of your marketing campaign. A higher SMS open rate means better engagement, as content, timing, and frequency are just right. If an SMS marketing plan isn't working, knowing the open rate is critical for accurately representing the cost-benefit analysis. So, how can we improve the open rates for SMS? Here are the techniques you need to go on with it.
Crafting Engaging SMS Messages
You might hear it again and again to keep it simple, short, and clear. Well, this is the indication of engaging SMS content. Add some creativity, brevity, and relevance in your SMS with a catchy name or subject, and you have a good chance to win the audience.
If you are lost and don’t know how to get on board with SMS marketing message optimization, here are some SMS message writing tips to make them effective.
- Clear and concise content
- Add Call-to-action
- Personlize your message
- Make opt-out options clear
- Create Urgency
- Use Images to visualize your SMS
- Track and Analyze
- Segment your audience
When you are working on it, the major aspect is to personalize the message, and this is the most challenging part. So, let’s talk about it.
Personalization Strategies for Higher Open Rates
There is no doubt that SMS is one of the most effective ways of interacting with your audience. On top of it, this is a low-cost choice because it doesn’t require internet, and it is instant.
Moreover, SMS personalization will help businesses perform better and stand out while also strengthening their connection with their audience.
If you are thinking about investing more in text message marketing, consider the following benefits of personalization in SMS:
- Boosts Revenue
- Increase brand loyalty
- Makes you more connected to your audience
- Helps with customer retention
- Offer better conversion rates
- Personalized SMS marketing offers far greater ROI than other channels
Timing and Frequency Considerations
As we talk about SMS sending frequency, expert marketers advise sending 4-5 messages per month. More or less, 1-2 SMS per week. Now, if you are considering the best times to send SMS messages, consider the hours from 1 pm to 5 pm. This is when your audience is active and quite engaged with their phones.
If you can’t get your head around the timing strategies for SMS marketing, we can help you with some amazing tips. So, other than sending SMS at peak hours, consider the following:
- Send time-sensitive information
- Consider your audience
- Monitor and adjust the timing
- Be mindful of acceptable hours
- Promote opt-in across all media
A/B Testing and Optimization Techniques
A/B testing for SMS is an efficient way to improve mobile marketing efforts and increase conversion rates. By testing several versions of your SMS messages, you may learn what works best for your audience and your goals.
But, in mobile technology, how can you plan and carry out effective A/B tests for better SMS message optimization? Here are the tips on improving SMS performance through A/B testing:
- Test subject lines, content, CTAs, imagery, link titles, and send times
- Define your goals, such as engagement and CTR
- Test one variable at the time
- Always repeat the process for tracking at best
Building Trust with Your Audience
Customers are voluntarily providing their personal information and allowing firms to connect with them directly. However, remember that permission is everything when it comes to building trust with SMS subscribers. So, you must understand the Importance of trust in open rates. Here are the strategies to help you establish trust in SMS marketing. Other than permission, you can get hooked to your campaign with the following:
- Send valuable content
- Be respectful of your customers' time
- Personalize messages
- Ensure compliance with regulations
- Include the customer’s personal information in the text message
- Always identify your company in the message and greet consistently
- Reinforce your communication culture in other channels
Compliance and Consent
In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is a federal statute. It regulates telemarketing spam. SMS marketing compliance under the TCPA requires companies to seek written authorization from mobile device users before sending marketing text messages. So, if you want to practice Consent-based SMS marketing, here are some of the legal considerations for SMS open rates:
- Always get consent and eliminate any subscriber confusion
- Respect the privacy and keep a balance with the frequency of your SMS
- Provide a clear opt-out option for your subscribers.
Analyzing and Acting on Data
Using data to improve open rates is another way to keep your SMS game smooth. However, to get the data analysis for SMS marketing, you need to collect feedback. So, what can you do to get meaningful insights for further analysis and determine your next step? Here are the ways to get actionable insights from SMS data:
- To analyze the data you collected, use survey analytics tools or simply simple spreadsheets.
- Evaluate the data for patterns, trends, and critical areas for improvement.
- Identify where your company shines and where it needs to improve.
- Concentrate on addressing consumer concerns and improving pleasant experiences.
Case Studies on High-Performing SMS Campaigns
SMS is the second best channel for marketing campaigns, and we can prove it with some successful SMS marketing campaigns. Yes, not all SMS campaigns are the same. Some result in strong consumer engagement and conversion rates, while others result in dissatisfaction, unsubscribes, and brand reputation damage.
But if you want to feel some inspiration and look deeper into the learnings from top-performing SMS marketing, here are the top examples of high open-rate SMS campaigns:
- Urban Outfitters: Their SMS campaign helped them receive an ROI of 27x+, resulting in a 230% increase in buy volume and a 32% rise in onsite conversions yearly.
- Pizza Hut: After some time of running an SMS campaign, it was discovered that their marketing method was 142% more effective in driving incremental sales than TV advertisements and online ads.
- Games of Thrones: Even your favorite show ran the SMS campaign and provided a series of messages with reminders about the show and links to subscribe to the services to stay updated with the season. In two months, SMS ad camping helped them gain 70,000 subscribers.
Leveraging SMS Marketing Tools
There are many moving aspects in SMS marketing, from keeping track of hundreds of phone numbers and user preferences to making sure each message complies with the law. Since we live in a world that demands efficiency, therefore many marketers decided to use SMS marketing tools. Can it be effective for your business? Yes, here are the ways SMS marketing software can automate SMS marketing for you:
- Bulk SMS messages
- Automate and schedule for the right time
- Analytics and Reporting
- Integrate with other CMS as well
If you are looking for experts with Tools for open rate improvement, Scraping Home is offering it all. You just need to reach us, and we can steer you to success with SMS marketing.
Staying Updated with SMS Trends
At last, if you really want to improve the SMS open rates, you need to stay updated with SMS marketing trends. There is always something changing and shifting in the market due to economic dynamics and political conditions.
So, try keeping up with the SMS industry changes. Don’t know what are the latest 2023 trends impacting SMS open rates? Here are the ones to watch out for.
- 10-Digit Long Codes (10DLC) Reign Supreme
- Text Discounts Drive Sales.
- More innovative ways to connect with customers using SMS marketing
- Text to pay and text to give
- Trustworthy SMS Marketing
Conclusion
Finally, all you need is full-proofed strategies for SMS open rate improvement. We at Scraping Home are well aware of the latest trends, and with the in-depth knowledge of your business, we can really guarantee you the best results. So, reach out to the team and give your business revenue the boost you desire.
Key Takeaways for Better SMS Marketing Performance:
- SMS open rates are a crucial metric for measuring the success of your SMS marketing campaigns.
- Personalization is a key strategy for higher open rates.
- Timing and frequency considerations suggest sending 4-5 messages per month during peak hours.
- A/B testing and optimization are vital for SMS performance improvement
- Building trust with SMS subscribers is crucial.
- Compliance and consent are essential.
- Leveraging SMS marketing tools automates campaigns and enhances efficiency.
- Staying updated with SMS marketing trends is essential to adapt to evolving market dynamics.
