The market research company, eMarketer, recently released a report describing the state of SMS, or text message, marketing in 2021. In the report, which you can download here, eMarketer discusses how marketers can use texts to drive significant revenue for their businesses.
Wunderkind was shown to be an industry leader in the space when eMarketer called upon our CEO Ryan Urban for his thoughts 8 separate times—more than any other company.
And it’s no wonder why. In just a few months since launching text messages, Wunderkind clients are already seeing significant success:
- 7 – 10% of total digital revenue driven for clients through texts alone.
- 60% total lift in owned-channel revenues after launching a texting program with us.
Here are a few key best practices to follow:
It’s not a matter of “when” but “how” to best run text campaigns
More customers are looking to employ text messaging in their platform than any other emerging technology per eMarketer. It’s clear that the question isn’t when you need to run campaigns but rather how is the best way to do it. If you’re one of the many marketers who are unsure of the best ways to run text campaigns, we have three guides in our resource center that can help. Or, simply reach out to one of our text messaging experts to learn more.
Texts work best as a complement to email
Texting is inherently a much more personal medium than email tends to be. In contrast to many other marketing channels, texts are almost always opened by the recipient in order to clear the notification from their phone. This gives you an assurance that your prospects will see your messages, but it also means that your texts will have to be a lot more personalized than email.
Because of this, both email and text should be used as a way to market to your CRM list. For best results, give site visitors the choice of which medium they prefer to ensure you’re interacting with them in their favorite channel. Look for a vendor that can run both for you under one roof. This will help you maintain a cohesive brand experience while also ensuring you aren’t reaching out to customers too many times. Brands who have done this with Wunderkind have seen performance reflect this channel cohesion—with some driving up to 25% of their total digital revenue through Wunderkind alone.
Text messages should add incrementality to your business
Incrementality is mission critical to the success of any text-based campaign—especially if you’re running campaigns for the first time. When extra budget and resources are pushed behind a new marketing channel, it’s easy to mistake the overall revenue it’s bringing in with ROI. Oftentimes, marketers who are first running text campaigns will see a huge jump in performance of this channel, only to see others drop significantly. This doesn’t mean that your text messaging campaigns are better than any other channel. Instead, it likely means that your texts are taking revenue away from the other channels in your marketing mix—reducing the ROI for all of your efforts. When thinking about your first SMS campaigns, make sure you’re working with a partner that can help you understand how to leverage the incremental power of text messaging. Then, watch the revenue roll in.
Consider the type of messages you’re sending
We estimate that there’s an 80-20% split between pre-scheduled text campaigns and triggered sends in favor of the former. While there are certainly advantages to pre-scheduled texts, especially if you’re targeting a specific audience set or promoting a sale, it misses the mark when it comes to the true power of texts. Instead, look to leverage your site data to create highly-personalized, one-to-one messages that can be triggered to automatically send based on the site visitor’s behaviors.
Messaging frequency is key
The frequency of how often you can message customers across different marketing channels varies wildly. In the overall hierarchy, the frequency might be highest for a medium like display and it would be towards the bottom for Texts. Do not pair the frequency of your text campaigns with your email marketing cadence. You’ll experience massive CRM list opt-outs at best and at worst you’ll churn customers for the long haul. The good news is that most consumers want to receive marketing messages in their texting apps. You just have to be careful with how much or how often you do it. As you’re kicking off your campaigns, pre-determine how many times you’re willing to interact with potential customers across both email and text based on the amount of risk you’re willing to take in order to drive each sale.
Ensure you’re CRM list is growing & staying healthy
One of the most challenging aspects of text message marketing is maintaining healthy & growing CRM lists. When thinking about your CRM list, you should keep your company goals and the purpose of your email efforts in mind. For example, email might be an incredibly important tool for you when it comes to acquiring and converting new customers. In this case, you may want to prioritize email list capture on your site and focus your text messaging on maintaining and growing your current customer base. To ensure that you’re continuing to grow your lists, implement both email and text captures on your site. Work with a vendor who gives you the ability to capture new customers into each channel based on their importance of each to your business needs.
Interested in learning more? You can check out eMarketer’s site to download the full guide for yourself. Or, simply head to Wunderkind to learn how you can drive high performing text campaigns for your business today.