Capture and retain attention
SMS helps you get your new product in front of as many people as possible. Text messages have an open rate of 98% – a whopping 5X higher than emails and more than 30X higher than push notifications from mobile apps.
Easy to opt-in
Opt-in to an SMS campaign by a consumer takes two steps: send a keyword like “join” to your brand’s short code number, then reply “Y” to the response message. Simple.
Reach them when they’re most receptive
90% of texts are read in a few minutes. Schedule announcements for particular times so your product gets attention – when it hits shelves, when it wins media attention, or when your customers are likely to be most engaged.
Encourage opt in
Adverts, emails, contests and social media posts are useful ways to encourage prospects to opt in to your messages.
Play by the rules
Select an SMS API provider whose systems know SMS regulations across the world and can automatically deliver your messages to any country at the right time.
Segment audiences
For a successful product launch, you might not want to send your entire list every message. Your least engaged audience members might get the top line of your story, while your most engaged audience could get a more detailed version.
Launch Stages
Create awareness and anticipation for your product during the pre-launch stage. On launch day itself, it’s time to get your SMS campaign out as soon after the announcement as possible. Post-launch, continue to reach out to help convert audience members to buyers.
More successful campaigns
According to McKinsey, more than 50% of product launches fail to hit their targets. SMS can help you beat those odds. 29% of those who receive SMS marketing, click on links. 47% of those clicks lead to purchases – a healthy 14% conversion rate.
A receptive audience
70% of those who use a mobile device to search for a product are within a few hours of making a purchase. (Email doesn’t cut it: desktop users are about a week away.) Your campaign will arrive on the device consumers most readily associate with a decision to buy.
Channel of choice
Data cited by Digital Marketing Magazine indicates 75% of consumers prefer to receive product updates via SMS message.
Greater appeal to millennials
Millennials prefer receiving texts to emails. 83% of them will open your message within 90 seconds of receiving it.
Consider using MMS (multimedia messaging service) for added impact
A new product is exciting – and unknown. Use the first few messages to help prospects learn about your next big thing. Consider using MMS – SMS’s multimedia sister channel – to generate oomph with videos, audio clips and GIFs.
Be considerate
Limit your campaign to a few messages a week at most and try not to encroach on personal time. The optimal time to send a message is when smartphone use is at its peak: typically between 12pm and 6pm.
Prioritize security and expertise
Choose a messaging platform that shares your commitment to safeguarding customer privacy. Running large, effective marketing and sales campaigns requires an established, reliable mobile messaging provider – one capable of sending the highest volumes of text and picture messages in the shortest time.
The right provider should offer the flexibility you need to link your messaging to your CRM and other systems, automate the entire marketing process, and stay compliant.
Include a CTA
Don’t forget the all-important CTA – for example to push your customers to complete a task, whether that’s subscribing, entering a competition, participating in a sale, or responding to a survey.
How we can help
A library of ready-to-launch campaigns
A low-code drag-and-drop campaign builder
Data visualisations and in-depth reporting
Flexible APIs
SMS remains an effective, yet underutilized, mobile tactic among marketing leaders and is particularly valuable when used in conjunction with mobile techniques such as wallet, web and native applications to orchestrate a deepening level of customer engagement.
Gartner for Marketers