Text Message Marketing Best Practices

The following is excerpted from a blog by Spark451, a Jenzabar Company.

As the digital landscape continues to evolve, and text messaging becomes more of a fundamental mode of communication in our day-to-day lives, people are spending more time on their phones than ever. Research indicates that people spend an average of four hours and 37 minutes on their phone every day, with younger generations, such as Gen Z, spending about six hours a day on their phone. Statistics also show that there has been a steady increase in cell phone usage over the last several years. With this increase comes the growing opportunity to utilize text messaging as an effective marketing tool.

In this blog, I’ll outline key factors to consider when sending text messages in your marketing campaign, and go over tips on how to enhance the effectiveness of each one.

First, let’s discuss the most significant benefits of incorporating texts into your marketing strategy: 

• It's a Faster Way to Reach Your Audience
  95% of text messages are opened within 90 seconds from the time they are received.
• It's an Additional Medium of Communication
  Having multiple ways to engage your audience and carry out your marketing plan diversifies your marketing strategy and puts your message in front of your intended audience wherever they are.
• It Has a Higher Response Rate
  People are 134% more likely to respond to a text message than an email.

Next, our focus will shift to the key components needed to create and send effective marketing text messages.

Keep It Personal

Making sure the content of your texts is appropriate for the target population is always important, but so is personalizing your messages. Using customized elements and tailoring your message to a particular recipient group has been known to increase engagement, with some reports showing recipients are 29% more likely to respond to a message if it’s personalized!

Below are some examples on how you may better personalize a text and build rapport with your audience: 

• Include the preferred first name of the recipient.
• Include the recipient’s major or field of study.
• When applicable, tailor the content to a specific geographic area.
• Mention the name of the student if your text is going to parents.
• Customize your sending groups based on what you know of your target population’s preferences and interests. 

Read the rest of the article for more texting tips! You can find the full article here.