Ultimate Guide to Text Marketing

Over the past decade, text marketing has become wildly popular due to its massive read rates and reachability. Think about it, when you text a group of people, they see that message pop up right away on their phone with a preview of its content. In most cases, 98% of the people you send a text message to will read it, giving you incredible power.

But, as they say, with great power comes great responsibility. So, to help you on your journey, we've put together this guide with valuable information and guidance to make texting a standout channel for your organization.

What is Text Marketing?

Text marketing is the ability to market a brand, product, or service through text messaging. Businesses and organizations will collect a list of opted-in contacts and use a text marketing platform like Mozeo to send their messages. Plus, like with any marketing, the consumers have an option to be removed at any time. 

Know Before You Send

How would you feel if someone texted you and you had no idea how they got your number? Probably pretty angry. It's happened to all of us. Don't make that same mistake, especially with your business or brand.

You cannot send text messages just because you have someone's number — you have to have consent. Always. Get. Permission.

We feel it's our responsibility to be transparent with you about the responsibilities of sending text messages. As the text message sender, you are responsible for securing consent and ensuring your contacts opt-in to receive your text messages. For more on the topic, please visit our guide on texting consent. 

Text Marketing Benefits

Here are some great benefits to text message marketing.

Brand Awareness
Keep your business in front of your audience so when they're ready to buy, they know where to go.

Promotions
Use texting to share different promotions or deals or to promote your products and services.

Nurturing
Keep your customers engaged during slow times, or help your customers find similar products that will lead to additional sales.

Build Your Strategy

To start, we recommend focusing on building your contacts list. The most significant reason to use text messaging is your ability to market directly to the hands of your customers. No other marketing medium can promise that. 

Research shows that engaged customers are more likely to recommend your products, boosting sales potential by 12%. So, it's critical to get your customers engaged and build a rapport that lasts a long time. There are plenty of ways to build a list of people who want to hear from you. Check out our post on the best ways to increase your contacts list size.

Recommended Send Rate
You'll want to track your contact list retention to make sure the messages you're sending resonate. We recommend sending 1 - 2 messages per week. We acknowledge this will be different for every organization, but one of the worst things you can do is send too many messages - this will undoubtedly drive opt-out rates.

Build Rapport
At first, you want to keep messaging simple. It would be best if you focused on building deep rapport with your list of numbers. Customers need to feel comfortable with your message language, frequency, and brand. Also, consider sprinkling in a deal now and again. We've found that customers stay on a list because they know they may not get a deal now, but they will down the road. After some time, consider sending longer text messages with more content or adding pictures to drive the point home.

How to track your success

Throughout your text marketing journey, you should continuously be tracking your performance for success. Keep a close watch on your opt-outs. This will help you to make sure your messages are well-received. A low opt-out rate is a sure sign of things going well.

You can also do simple tracking in your store by telling folks to show their phone to redeem an offer. You can even take it further by using custom codes to track progress. Gauge what is going to work best for your business and put together a tracking report.

Lastly, be sure to keep an eye on your inbox as customers may have questions. This is an opportunity for you to be proactive and help close more deals.