Targeting your Bulk SMS

Who is your campaign aimed at?

Getting the right message to the right individual is the most important element of any text messaging campaign.

By segmenting your database of customers into small sub-sections and running a number of closely defined, highly targeted campaigns, your message is likely to generate a higher response. It's fairly obvious that the more relevant your message is to an individual, the more likely they are to respond.

Any data that you hold on your customers can be used to refine your targeting.

The text message itself

With only a maximum of 160 characters, it's obviously crucial that your message is as precise as possible. It needs to be clear who the message is from, what the purpose of the message is and how you expect people to respond.

It's worth putting some thought into how you want to come across to your audience. Do you want to use cut down words so that you can say more in your message? Or do you want to keep your message as brief as possible. Remember you don't have to use all 160 available characters.

Try and avoid putting in complicated links to web sites that need to be carefully typed, i.e. www.abc.co.uk is better than www.abc.co.uk/av23?/text/respond!

Here are a few examples of text messages that have been used in successful campaigns……

Mobile Phone Retailer
"Upgrade Offer for Existing Customers - Get a New Mobile with your Existing Number for FREE - Call 0123456789 or Upgrade Online @ www.phones.co.uk"

The timing of your text message campaign

The timing of your text messaging campaign can have a dramatic effect on the response rate.It is worth testing to identify the most responsive time to send your message.

If your message includes a telephone number to call, make sure that you are able to handle the response. Stagger your campaign over the course of a few days so that the response peaks are smoothed out.

Follow-up Bulk SMS

You can significantly enhance the response rate by running a follow-up campaign. People that didn't respond to your initial message may well be encouraged to do so with a second reminder and a 'reinforced' offer.

Measuring the success of bulk sms

Measuring the success of your campaign is important in assessing your return on investment.

Responses should be logged and subsequent spend from customers calculated.

If your message directs people to a web site link, then you can track the uplift in web traffic using basic tracking services that are commonly available.

It's also useful to compare the costs of text messaging against other direct marketing channels.
We've found this simple Excel sheet that automatically compares text message costs with the cost of a direct mailing campaign.

Test first

Before sending out your campaign, send out the message to your own mobile phone to ensure that the message appears and reads as you intended.

A message that seems clear on a computer monitor may have a very different feel when read on the screen of a mobile phone.

Is your message SPAM?

It is essential that your customers have 'opted in' to receive your message. Your response rates will increase dramatically if your customers are expecting a message from you.

The Wireless Marketing Association (MMA) has a code of conduct for the use of text messaging which has 3 main guidelines.
· It must be clear whom the message is from.
· Users should always have an easy way of opting out.
· Users must provide consent before receiving marketing messages and the opt-in must be in a clear format.

Find out more by visiting the MMA's web site, click here.

The future

The future of all mobile marketing is set to continue its dramatic rise. Despite the fact that new messaging formats are being widely discussed and hyped in the media, simple SMS texting with 160 characters will be the standard format for many years to come.

What are the options

Here's a short summary of the main applications of text marketing…..

• One way broadcast - sends a message to a database of mobile phones at a given time
• E-mail Gateway Broadcast - Using a standard e-mail application, a personalised broadcast or bulletin can be delivered to any number of mobiles. This is also good for SMS-enabling web & off-line applications
• 2 Way Interactive - Allows consumers to respond to a text message. Can be used for the following…..
  - Competitions
  - Quizzes
  - Surveys
  - Loyalty clubs etc..

Valuable Tips for SMS Promotions

• Interactivity is a must. Successful messages will be those that invite participation and response.
• Add some value, and nothing adds value like free stuff.
• Hit the target. Acceptance of text advertising stems from the relevance of the products and services promoted.
• Facilitate easy opt-out. Maintaining control of the flow of messages to a mobile device is perceived as highly important by users. Right now, the SMS space is where interesting stuff arrives. So spam messaging could easily backfire.
  Text Marketing is all about communicating more effectively not getting over-excited about the technology itself! It's tempting to develop a highly sophisticated 2-way interactive campaign simply because you can and the technology is there to allow you to do it.

Unless consumers can see a real and tangible benefit to your offer, they will not respond. Simple one way campaigns can be far more effective and generate much higher responses. Having said that there are obviously situations where 2-way interactivity is central to the campaign. It's simply a case of matching the objective with the appropriate application.

How can users pay for services

Subscription - Users pay for the service using either credit/debit card or cheque.

Reverse Billing - The service is paid for via the users' mobile phone bill. Currently only Vodafone and BT Cellnet have reverse billing capabilities. Each operator has a different billing structure and high volumes are required to make this option profitable.

Premium Rate SMS - A user sends a text message to a central number and is charged a premium rate, which appears on their mobile phone bill.

Premium Rate Phone - Users call a premium rate number and are charged for all the time that they are connected to it. A code is entered, relating to the chosen product or service and the service is automatically activated.

Call Back - A text message is sent to a central office who then call the user back and take credit/debit card details.