Text message marketing has become one of the latest and greatest ways to grow your target audience. As guests become harder to reach, text message marketing is a slick, convenient way to contact your audience. Unlike emails or paper ads, studies show that on average 98% of text messages are read. With so many voices competing for attention in the marketplace, making fast, meaningful connections is vital to keep guests returning. To help you grow, we’ve outlined the details of how to use text message marketing to increase customer retention.
What is Text Message Marketing?
Text message marketing—also called SMS marketing—is a tactic where businesses send out coupons, promotions, specials, news, and more to their target audience through opt-in text messages. These incentives and personalized communications help drive guests to your business. Because guests have to give businesses their permission to be marketed to, text messaging audiences are highly concentrated. This means they are more likely to respond to your text messages, use your services, and become lifelong guests.
Who Can Use Text Message Marketing?
What’s great about text messaging marketing is that nearly every kind of business can use it to increase customer acquisition and retention. It’s ideal for businesses, organizations, or nonprofits who want to reach a large group of people at the same time. Different industries can use it in different ways depending on their services and marketing goals. For example, a restaurant could use text message marketing to send coupons to guests or announce weekly specials. A gym, on the other hand, could increase member retention rates by sending class information or gym announcements.
How to Use Text Message Marketing
If you know your business goals, you’ll better know how to use text message marketing to meet those goals. Text message marketing can help meet a wide variety of marketing efforts, especially customer retention. Businesses who use text message marketing typically have one or several of the following goals:
- Provide a more personalized experience for guests.
- Have more people see their messages.
- Boost sales.
- Reach a large number of people all at once.
- Increase referrals and/or word of mouth buzz.
- Find a cost-efficient communication method.
- Collect and nurture leads.
- Tangibly see the results of their marketing efforts.
Why Use Text Messaging Software?
Your best step to get started with text message marketing is using text message marketing software. SMS marketing software allows you to send texts to many contacts at the same time and even schedule texts to send out in the future. This removes the hassle of sending out texts one by one, which can make it difficult to monitor the quality and efficiency of your marketing efforts. Best of all, SMS marketing software allows you to track the revenue and new guests generated through your text messages.
At Check This Out, our text message and referral marketing software is both comprehensive and simple for any business to use. We include unique tools for customer retention and acquisition to cover your marketing efforts from start to finish. We have an easy five-step process for kickstarting your SMS marketing campaigns:
- Import Your Existing Customers – Import your current guests’ phone numbers into your account via CSV file or manually.
- Create a Text Campaign – Create a custom text campaign to share a discount with guests, make an announcement, and/or invite them to your referral program.
- Customize Your Campaign – Customize your text messages with discount codes or links to order online or book their next visit. You can also add photos or videos to your texts for a highly-engaging text experience.
- Customers Onboard Themselves – Guests self-onboard to your customer base through QR codes or by texting a keyword customized for your business.
- Track Your ROI – Track your text campaign conversions, top promoters, and how many new and repeat guests come into your business through Check This Out’s referral and text campaign platform.
Valuable Texts to Send to Guests
If you’re wondering how to use text message marketing, you may not know what kinds of messages to send your audience or what your audience would like to receive. Here are a few examples of texts to send guests to increase engagement and customer retention:
- Specials & New Products – Your existing guests love to know what’s new on your menu or in your online store, especially if it’s for a limited time only. Capture your guests via text so they walk through your door sooner and don’t miss out.
- Discounts & Deals – Coupons and codes for discounts are one of the best ways to use text message marketing. They’re easy to redeem, and they incentivize guests to make purchases or refer your business to a friend.
- Request for Reviews – If your guests love your services, they’ll gladly leave a review if you send a friendly text message. For extra incentive, you can even reward guests who leave reviews with discounts.
- Sneak Peeks – Give guests a first look at your upcoming services, sales, and products to build their excitement and encourage them to visit your store.
- Appointment/Reservation Confirmation – Automated text messages that confirm reservations or remind guests of upcoming appointments make them less likely to miss their appointment with you. With the right tone and kind wording, they come across as helpful rather than pushy.
Best Text Message Marketing Practices
90% of the texts you send are read within three minutes, so it’s important for your texts to make a great impression right away. Here are several tips to write text messages that connect with guests and increase conversions:
- Keep it Brief – Friendly, to-the-point texts make it easy for guests to quickly read your message and respond positively. By rule of thumb, keep your texts under 160 characters for best results.
- Include a Call to Action – Whether it’s including a link for guests to click on or a verbal encouragement to book a reservation, each text message you send out should have a direct purpose and desired action for guests to make.
- Personalize – Using a guest’s name or showing them services/products they would be interested in makes them feel special and establishes a one-on-one connection.
- Timing is Everything – Make sure to send out texts when they are most likely to be read. Avoid late-night texts or early morning messages. Instead, schedule texts for around midday. Remember, simplicity is key, so only send out text messages 2-4 times per month to avoid coming across as overbearing.
Try Text Message Marketing with Check This Out
If you’re wondering how to use text message marketing to boost your business, chat with the experts at Check This Out today. With our word of mouth software, we combine text message and referral marketing tactics to encourage your unique customer base to refer you to their friends make a purchase. Our savvy team customizes the platform to meet your unique needs so you have all you need at your fingertips to start connecting with your costumes. Harness the power of text message marketing and get your demo today.