5 Common SMS Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Blog Image: 5 Common SMS Marketing Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

What if your SMS marketing campaign was already doomed to failure? Such a marketing campaign can still be very successful. Unfortunately, many businesses end up making SMS marketing mistakes that keep their campaigns from achieving success.

What are the biggest mistakes, and how can you avoid them? Keep reading to discover the answers!

1. Sending Messages to Invalid Numbers

Some of the SMS marketing mistakes companies make are pretty simple. For example, if you're not careful, you might be sending countless messages to invalid numbers!

To avoid this mistake, grow your list of numbers organically instead of buying a list. Try to gather numbers from your email marketing list, and make sure you have API equipment that can make sure the numbers you send to can actually receive messages.

2. Sending Messages Without Permission

Sending messages to customers without their permission is always a bad idea. Not only does it make customers angry, but it also may violate state and local laws!

Make sure you get customer permission with an opt-in form and clean instructions on how to opt out of messages. This will keep you legally covered while giving customers an easy way out. This ensures that anyone who continues receiving messages are those who are really interested in what you are sending.

3. Recycling Email Messages Into SMS Messages

If you have an SMS marketing strategy, you probably use email marketing as well. And you may be tempted to save a bit of time by using the exact same messages for both email and text.

However, this is a bad idea for several reasons. Email is best suited for longer messages filled with imagery and other production flourishes. Text, meanwhile, is optimized for short, text-only messages that get right to the point.

Long story short? Use different messages for email and text to make sure you are getting the most out of each marketing platform.

4. The Right Message at The Wrong Time

Sometimes, the issue isn't the content of your SMS marketing. Sometimes, the issue is when you send the messages! On the most basic level, this means understanding your customers' time zones. It makes no sense messaging them in the middle of the night with an urgent CTA.

In fact, you should use your CTA to determine the timing. If you are a restaurant offering free appetizers via text, make sure to send this out in the late afternoon to make customers hungry for dinner.

5. No CTA

The goal of SMS marketing is to get customers to take a specific action. Despite this, many businesses do not include clear and simple CTAs in their text marketing.

In our previous example, the CTA might simply be to visit your restaurant for dinner. But you can also use CTAs to get customers to enter contests or even answer a quick poll about your business.

The CTA is the most important part of your message. Make sure the rest of the text organically leads to it.

SMS Marketing Mistakes: Your Next Move

Now you know these common SMS marketing mistakes and how to avoid them. But do you know who can help you make the most out of your text marketing? We specialize in products and services to take your SMS marketing game to the next level. To see what we can do for your business, just contact us today!