Best Tips for Effective Bulk SMS Marketing

Bulk SMS marketing is designed for success. It's one of the most effective methods to reach a wider audience faster and efficiently. But SMS marketing messages aren't created equal. Some brands consistently see better open, response, and click-through rates than others. And why is that? The answer is simple: It's all in the understanding of the medium and using it effectively.

So, What is Bulk SMS Marketing?

If you want to utilise Bulk SMS marketing effectively, you will need to understand what it's all about. Bulk SMS marketing, also known as Mass SMS marketing, is the sending of specific text messages to a database of consenting contacts. In simpler terms, it's a marketing practice that involves sending a text message to a lot of people at once.

Bulk SMS campaigns typically require specialised software applications or marketing platforms with built-in bulk SMS sending capabilities. You will also need a top-of-the-range contact data enrichment tool like the Find Person API by Trestle, which is one of the most reputable enrichment APIs on the market right now.

The reason to employ an enrichment tool is so you can learn more about your customers to ensure you are sending relevant messages.

What Are Some of the Top Tips for Effective Bulk SMS Marketing?

Bulk SMS marketing is one of the most powerful marketing channels if you use it correctly. Here's how to do that:

1. Obtain Permission and Use That to Build a Database

The first tip for making the best use of bulk SMS marketing is sending messages only if customers have provided consent. Even though you're sending these texts with good intentions, some users may view them as a distraction and even opt for legal action in extreme cases if you didn't seek their permission.

Once you have a contact list of customers who have granted you their permission, you can use that to build a contact database so it's easier to send the texts. While at it, make sure to provide clear opt-out instructions for the customers who are no longer interested.

2. Identify Yourself

Make it easier for the recipients to know that the messages are coming from your business. The best way to do this is to use your company name as the sender. Of course, you will have to check any regulations that exist around sending messages this way to avoid legal issues.

3. Use Short URLs

Short URLs are a more attractive way of sending texts with links to your website or any other target since they are shorter than conventional web URLs. Take, for instance, Bit.ly, which is one of the most popular link compressors. Such compressors reduce links that contain hundreds of characters into a few dozen.

Given that SMS services will have character constraints, reducing the characters in your messages is crucial to ensure they are complete. You can even shorten your URLs further through custom short URLs. This is usually a good idea since branded links attract more clicks.

4. Personalise Your Messages

You should always tailor your messages if you want to strengthen the bond you have with the recipients. Doing this makes your communications more relevant, and customers will view your brand as a partner as opposed to a competitor.

The best part about personalisation is that there are several ways to do it. You can choose to either personalise the recipients' names or the message itself, depending on a buyer's previous interactions with your brand.

5. Use UTMs that are Trackable

Urchin Tracking Modules (UTMs) are codes that can be attached to a URL to track its performance in digital marketing campaigns. These codes give more information, such as the traffic sources, campaign effectiveness, and marketing channels. Even though your bulk text provider can provide some of this information, using UTMs will let you know what happened after the user got to your website.

You will get the deeper details, such as how long a user remained on your site, the pages they opened, and even whether they made a purchase or downloaded anything. This helps you know which message got the most traffic and which got high-quality traffic.

Enhance Your SMS Marketing With Trestle

SMS marketing, despite being one of the oldest forms of marketing, is still as solid as it has always been and even better for the companies that dare to go the extra mile: that's what you want to do. Bulk SMS marketing is a great solution for companies that want great results when interacting with a wider audience.

And to make sure you are reaching the right audience, you need to verify, validate, and enrich contacts before adding them to your contact list. That's something Trestle will make so easy for you, so be sure to visit trestleiq.com for all your contact data quality needs!