Understanding Conversion Rates With SMS Marketing

It’s one thing to have prospects, but failing to convert prospects doesn’t do any good. Getting prospects can be challenging and time-consuming; therefore, maximizing conversion rates is paramount.

Through the use of SMS messages and their high open rates and engagement rates, converting prospects into paying customers has never been easier or more efficient.

SMS marketing campaigns can be an incredible resource for increasing sales, converting prospects, and building brand loyalty.

What is SMS marketing?

SMS marketing involves using SMS business texting to send promotional and marketing messages to prospects and customers.

SMS texting has been around for a long time — since the early 90s, to be exact — and technology has significantly advanced over the last few decades. Today, SMS stands out among other marketing channels, often offering better ROI than social media or email campaigns.

SMS is an acronym that means Short Message Service and is considered the gold standard and method of texting to this day.

Sure new messaging services have been created and developed since SMS’s creation, like Rich Communication Service (RCS), Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), and online messaging like Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and iMessage, but SMS still holds the universal crown.

The reason for this is simple. SMS is the only messaging service available on every phone, carrier, and mobile operating system.

For instance, iMessage is only available with data between two iOS devices, and RCS is only available with data between Android devices. However, SMS is always available on both, with or without data.

There are two ways to use text message marketing. The first option offers the least amount of resources and simplicity.

Anyone with a mobile phone can use SMS marketing by sending a text from that device to a customer. However, when you need a message sent to several customers, it becomes much more complicated and time-consuming.

The second and more efficient way is using an online platform offering SMS marketing tools and services, such as TextSanity. This method allows you to collect and organize customer data into audience groups and send mass text messages that aren’t set up as group text messages.

In other words, you can simultaneously send single-thread messages to customers who opt-in.

With group messages, the entire group gets the message and see’s all responses. With mass texting, everyone still gets the text but on an individual basis.

What are conversion rates?

Conversion rates are the metrics used to calculate how many prospective customers are converted into paying customers.

It’s an important measurement to understand because it illustrates the effectiveness of your digital marketing efforts and the reputation of your products and services.

Conversion rates are related to, but different from, other KPIs such as click-through rates (CTRs) and response rates.

Your conversion rates must be high, or your mobile marketing efforts will yield low returns on investment (ROI).

Remaining competitive in today’s economy requires innovative thinking and intelligent investing. SMS texting is a proven method of increasing conversion rates at a much lower cost than other methods and marketing mediums.

What do conversion rates mean for your business?

As we just mentioned, conversion rates illustrate whether your SMS marketing strategy is effective or failing. Your average conversion rates are a clear indicator of your path to success. If conversion rates are low, your growth is either low or slow.

High conversion rates mean your sales are up, your ROI is up, and your company is growing. Their importance can’t be understated.

Of course, retaining customers and building brand loyalty is essential, but increasing your customer base is necessary for long-term sustainable growth and success.

Insight on web performance

Conversion rates also function as a great indicator of your web performance. All of your digital touchpoints, including SMS business texting, cost money to sustain and promote.

Today’s consumer expects a robust digital presence from the companies with which they conduct business. Low conversion rates indicate that this area of your marketing strategy needs revamping or development.

SMS marketing and business texting provide opportunities to drive prospects and customers to your eCommerce sites via links. These links encourage engagement and assist you in collecting customer data that you can use later for tailored and specific marketing.

Data on consumer interest

Consumer interest data is some of the best information your company can collect on customers and prospects because it aids in your endeavor to create highly-focused audience groups for later marketing messages.

Knowing what customers are interested in is vital information for product development and marketing.

SMS marketing collects this data more efficiently and consistently than any other marketing medium, including email. SMS texting is far superior to email marketing in every category.

Understand communication preferences

Understanding communication preferences is essential for creating an enhanced customer experience. Knowing how and when your customers want to communicate prevents miscommunications or unwanted messages.

Americans are addicted to their mobile phones, so much so that over 80% of users report feeling stressed when they leave their phones behind. Most go back and get it. This means most customers will always have their cell phones with them.

With texting being the preferred method of communication for over 90% of cell phone users, offering this service will positively impact your conversion rates and customer satisfaction.

How can you increase conversion rates with SMS marketing?

Now that we know why SMS marketing is a powerful and resourceful tool for your marketing strategy let’s look at a few ways that you can use it to increase your conversion rates.

Personalization

As we mentioned, using an online SMS marketing platform like TextSanity allows businesses to collect customer data to tailor marketing and transactional communications.

One of the tools our platform offers to do this is using text message keyword campaigns. Keyword campaigns are automated and encourage interaction. As the customer responds, more keyword messages can be programmed to send automatically.

Collecting this data and personalizing the content leads to increased marketing strategy effectiveness.

Another helpful tip for return on investment optimization across all marketing channels is including a call to action (CTA). Including a CTA in your communications can create a sense of urgency, pushing those on your subscriber list to make a purchase.

Market to previous customers

Marketing to your former and previous customers is also a critical component of any marketing strategy to increase conversion rates. Timing is crucial when trying to get a past customer to come back and spend money or become a subscriber.

Offering discounts and deals is a great way to entice their engagement and increase their conversion probability. Our platform provides tools designed to help with this timing through automation.

For instance, retailers or small businesses in eCommerce can target abandoned carts. Sending a specific coupon or informing customers about a flash sale could make the difference between solidifying a sale and losing one.

Automation is another essential element and benefit of SMS marketing and business texting.

Instead of sending individual messages and having to use an outside resource to keep track of timing, SMS marketing automates the process. It sends the intended messages to the selected group of customers without any intervention by your marketing team.

Drip campaigns

Drip campaigns are one of our favorite customers tools. Drip campaigns combine keyword campaigns and marketing rhythm into one tool and send pre-determined messages automatically to a selected audience or targeted group of customers at a defined rhythm and timing.

It’s unlikely that you’ve never received a drip campaign from a company you’ve done business with in the past.

The way it works is simple. Once a customer opts in to receive messages, a federal regulation, your TextSanity drip campaign will begin to deliver text messages to the customer.

The goal of drip campaigns is to encourage engagement, direct customers to your eCommerce site, convert prospects, increase sales, and gather additional valuable data. Our platform utilizes tags to help categorize customers based on their likes, dislikes, values, and demographics.

You can create a customer tag for almost anything you desire. Tags unleash the power of SMS marketing and drip campaigns.

The bottom line

Your bottom line is what we’ve been discussing throughout this article and represents the minimum conversions and sales your company needs to remain successful and increase growth. At TextSanity, we believe that SMS marketing and business texting is the best way to grow and sustain conversion rates.

We offer multiple tools designed to make your marketing strategy work effortlessly with high success. We believe SMS marketing is the best way for your company to achieve a level of growth and success you never dreamed possible.