We know it can be a grueling task to think of new and innovative ideas to improve your mobile marketing strategy. Not everyone has an Albert Einstein in their business to come up with new ideas, so we thought we would lend a hand, or two.
Along with our 25 tips and tricks of mobile marketing post, that gives you all the tips you need for a successful SMS campaign, and on the back of our blog about What SMS can do for your business, we thought we would give you some examples of how we have seen SMS marketing being used successfully.
Below are some examples of how business text messaging can be used, along with an example scenario and an example text message. We hope this helps.
Marketing/Sales
Example in practice
– You have a sale on or you have a great new product that you want to shout from the hills about. By sending your customers a text message you can pretty much guarantee that your message will be read.
Example SMS – “Hi Bob, we have a great sale on at the moment, 50% off!! Get down to our store or visit us here www.link.com whilst stocks last”
Updates
Example in practice
– A customer logs onto your website and purchases a pair of shoes, immediately after buying they receive a text with the details of the purchase and a thank you. A day later they receive another text message saying their order is out for delivery, and a final message after their order has been delivered saying thank you.
Example SMS – “Good news! Your order has been delivered, we hope you like them – and why not team them up with our beautiful summer dresses www.link.com”
Communication
Example in practice
– A staff member has put in a request for some shifts but is not able to come into the workplace to check which shifts they have got. Using an automated system you can send a message to the employee with the date of the shift, along with the start and finish time and a link to a full list of their shifts.
Example SMS – “Your next shift is on 29/03/2017 from 9.00am to 3.00pm. If you need to change this, please contact your line manager. For a full list of your shifts follow the link www.link.com”
Surveys
Example in practice
– One of your customers has come onto your website and used your online chat service, they spoke to one of your team members about a problem they were having with the system. After you have finished the conversation and fixed the issue you can send them an SMS survey with a couple of questions to find out if the team member was helpful, if the problem was fixed and if they would recommend you to a friend of family member – take a look at our SMS surveys.
Example SMS – “Thank you for chatting to Phil at Big Software, out of 5 (5 being excellent) how would you rate our service today?”
Conversation
Example in practice
– A customer has come onto your website with an issue with one of the products they have bought. They do not want to spend a long time on the phone and possibly on hold so they decide to use your texting service. They message you with their problem and wait for a reply.
A couple of minutes later one of your customer service team replies to the text and continues the conversation via text until it is fixed, or they ask if they can ring the customer and fix the problem over the phone, meaning there is no need for the customer to ring up and wait for a long time for someone to take their call – this can also be done by our amazing email-2-SMS system.
Example SMS – “Customer: Hi, I have a problem with the t-shirt I bought from you, it has a rip in it, are you able to replace it? Gemma”
Customer service: “Hi Gemma, thank you for contacting Clothes4U. Can I ask for the receipt number please? This is the 11-digit number on the email we sent to you or on the receipt you got from the shop.”
Booking Appointments
Example in practice
– One of your customers tries ringing you as they need to make an appointment, but unfortunately they cannot get through as the lines are busy. They go onto your website and see they can make an appointment using their mobile phone. They enter their mobile phone number and hit enter.
A couple of seconds later they receive a text with a link on it, this takes them through to what looks like a professional appointment booking system. After they enter their details and a couple of screens later they have made an appointment – welcome to mobile journeys.
Example SMS – “Thank you for making an enquiry for an appointment at Dental Care Ltd. Please follow the link to make an appointment with us www.link.com”
Reminders
Example in practice – A customer has just called up and booked an appointment next Wednesday at 13.30 pm. You sent a text messaging saying thank you for the booking, and confirmed the time and date, to ensure that it is correct. The day before, you send them a message with their appointment details on reminding them of their appointment with you.
Example SMS – “Don’t forget your appointment tomorrow with Recruitment Ltd at 13.30 pm. If you can’t make it, reply to this text or call us on 0123 4567890”
Take payments
Example in practice – Your company has lots of customers with unpaid debts. You have tried chasing them up by phone and even sent a letter, but only a handful have responded.
You send them a text message explaining that they still owe you some money and include a link to pay it. With a 98% open rate, you get lots more people clicking the link and paying off the debt – take a look at our mobile journeys.
Example SMS – “Dear Jane, our records show that you still owe us £87.67. This needs paying immediately. Please follow the link to make the payment www.link.com”
Do you want even more example SMS messages? Well if you do, take a look at our other blogs that can help you in case you ever get stuck, we have over 20 example SMS messages or if you are in the retail sector have a look at our blog that has example SMS messages just for retailers.