With a data-driven society with information available at our fingertips, sometimes it is hard to focus on sorting everything out. Given that 95% of Americans now own a smartphone, it makes sense you would start focusing more marketing efforts on smartphones, but how do you make sure your texts are giving your customers what they want? Here are 4 ways you can improve your SMS Marketing campaign today.

1. Be brief

Nobody wants to get a textbook message from a business explaining all the specific details about some kind of promotion. Customers prefer to get something that tells them the main point and then can click to get more information. For example, a text could say, “20% off today only,” with a short link that then explains the details of the offer. Another example would be, say, if you are in a legal battle and are trying to keep your customers up to date with information. A text that says, “Legal battle update: Things are looking good!” with a link to your actual update would also be appropriate.

Just remember to only use sms marketing with brief messages.

2. Timing

The timing of when you send your text is extremely important. If you send messages in the middle of the night or too late in the evening, it will annoy customers. However, if they get your sms marketing offer right before making a decision about their purchase, that is ideal. For example, a fast food restaurant may want to send texts to customers an hour or two before lunch with a deal encouraging customers to come into the restaurant.

Timing it right is also about sending the right kind of offer. For example, a customer who just purchased a car from you probably doesn’t want to start getting a bunch of text offers for deals on new cars. They already bought a car. You’d be better off sending deals for oil changes in your service department or reminding them about your referral program. Timing means you need to know what your customers actually want and personalize your messages accordingly.

3. Track what’s working

Every business is different, which means the customer response to your sms marketing is going to be different. The only way to know what is really working and what your audience really wants is to keep track of the responses. See which texts tend to lead more towards opt-out status vs sales. You can even just track which customers click on the link in the text and which don’t. All of this information can help you tweak your approach until you have a much better texting approach specialized to what your customers want and need.

5. Text customer service

Another thing to keep in mind is that marketing and customer service often work together. Don’t shut each other out. In this respect, AI Chatbot works really well through texting to communicate with customers, so you don’t necessarily have to use live agents to answer questions all day and night while still providing superb service to your customers. Don’t take your text marketing for granted. SMS is a tool that can be used throughout your company to give better service and better problem-solving.