Little Known Mistakes While Running a Bulk SMS Campaign

Every business has one ultimate goal––to make profits. The only way to thrive in such competitive and saturated markets is by focussing on innovative marketing strategies. SMS marketing is one such strategy that will help you boost your revenues. 

With smartphone users increasing to more than 90% of the population, it is imperative for businesses to be where their customers are––on mobile-friendly platforms.

Thus, there lies a flood of opportunities for marketers in the arena of SMS marketing. Done right, bulk SMS service can magnify your reach manifold. However, if you don’t implement it correctly, there could be a potential revenue loss and you could also end up damaging brand reputation.

If your SMS marketing campaign hasn’t been yielding desired results, then this blog is for you. We’ve curated a list of mistakes that you can avoid while designing your bulk SMS marketing campaigns.

• Not knowing your audience

Knowing your audience and understanding their behaviour, buying patterns, requirements, etc. should be every business leader’s first priority. You can’t create impactful SMS campaigns without knowing what your audience connects with. 

Marketers need to consider demographics such as age, gender, pain  points and lifestyle preferences. Align your campaign according to the said criterion to make it more appealing and personalised. 

To be able to do this effectively, it is important that you segment your audience into relevant groups and design effective message templates for each of them.

• Lack of personal touch

Once the SMS has reached the target audience, only content matters. Your content should hit the nail on the head—make readers feel special and, at the same time, brief them about your product. 

Do not forget to include the customer’s name in the text. And if you combine it with their purchase history, that’ll be the cherry on top! Don’t forget to keep them updated about your latest offers and promotions and ensure regular check-ins tailored to their needs. 

• Effective CTA is missing

SMS stands for short message service and, hence, the content should immediately draw the reader’s attention towards the CTA (call to action)––a.k.a. the purpose of the message.

The presence or lack of a CTA can make or break your SMS content. If you have one, you can lure the reader into clicking on that link or placing that call. However, if you don’t have one, you can leave your readers feeling uncertain about the next steps that they need to follow and, subsequently, your brand.

Thus, always remember to place CTAs strategically to ensure that your audience does not miss out. 

Bottom line: Never forget CTAs while developing bulk SMS campaigns.

• Wrong timing of SMSes

Timing is everything. And this mantra applies to bulk SMSes as well. Customers are highly likely to feel annoyed if they’re contacted at odd hours. And rightly so. 

Although India has managed to regulate promotional SMS timings (from 9:00 am to 9:00 pm), one can still go wrong. 

Have you noticed how prominent F&B brands usually send out their SMSes during meal-times? That’s a smart strategy to persuade users to hit that CTA in case they’re planning to eat-out. 

Keep in mind:

• Never text too early––before the person has his cup of coffee or too late when the customer is already preparing for bed or is asleep.
• Avoid sending messages during peak hours when people are preoccupied with other activities.
• Avoid sending messages during weekends as that can lead to a high unsubscribe rate.

Your customers may always be on their phones but you still don’t want to buzz them at the wrong time. Choose your time window carefully based on your industry and customer’s preferences.

Read more : SMS Guidelines in India: The Do’s and Don’ts

• Lack of consent

Make sure to add opt-in and opt-out options to your bulk SMS services. Always take consent from your audience before making them a part of your bulk SMS group. With so much noise from thousands of brands, customers are bound to get annoyed with too many promotional SMSes.

This also affects your brand reputation because customers will look at your business as inconsiderate. Lack of consent or permission can also force them to take legal action against your brand. 

• Long and convoluted SMS template

Modern day customers don’t have the time to open and read every text. They usually glance at SMSes and other updates from the notification bar and clear it right away. A short and smart combination of words in a line should be enough to put your message across and influence them positively without taking up too much of their time.

Always try to follow the 3C practice for your bulk SMS service—clarity, concise and call–to-action. Lengthy messages depict unprofessionalism and confuse your audience.

• Using colloquial or casual tonality

While every customer will not connect with professional sounding content, it is important for businesses to avoid unprofessional language and abbreviations as these make your brand look overly laidback.

The content should sound neither too casual and nor too professional. And it should be easy to understand. In order to improve your brand’s credibility and reliability try to use a language free from jargons  and acronyms.

• Not being consistent with bulk SMS strategy

Make sure to set an optimal frequency before you launch your campaign and stick to that pattern. The aim should be to strike a balance.  

If you send too many messages in one week and, then, too less in the following week following, customers will be confused and will opt-out of your bulk SMS service.

Being annoyingly frequent is also a common mistake made by marketers while running bulk SMS service campaigns. In these cases, even if people don’t opt-out, they will still disregard your texts. 

Both scenarios are risky.

Therefore, depending on your sector and type of subscribers, find the best and most optimal frequency for your business. 

• Choosing the wrong bulk SMS provider

You need to be very careful when choosing your technology partners. Markets for bulk SMS are more than saturated and you need to evaluate them on the basis of several aspects such as cost, uptime, delivery rate and backup. Carefully analyse and study online reviews for these service providers before investing your hard earned money.

You can choose a reliable organisation like Fortius. Our customers love us for the delivery rate and after-sales support offered by our experts.

Parting words

These common mistakes can be easily taken care of if one pays close attention to the details. Focussing on them will help you design the ‘ideal bulk SMS campaign’. Make the most of this tool as smartphones are the closest devices to customers and easiest to capitalise on.