The Importance of SMS Marketing for Local Businesses
You’ve spent the time and money on ads and SEO to bring in the leads. Now what? Not every lead is a hot lead. In fact, most leads aren’t hot. You have to move them through their buyer’s journey to the point that they’re ready to buy. You have to move them through your marketing funnel.
If you run a local business, texting and SMS automation are important for lead nurturing. You can use SMS to send promotions, appointment reminders, or even provide customer service.
But if you want to ensure your customers and subscribers are getting the best service possible, be sure to use segmentation to target them with messages that are relevant.
Text message automation is one of the most important aspects of lead generation and lead nurturing. It can help local businesses communicate with leads in a non-intrusive, personal way, which makes them more likely to respond.
You can create automated SMS messages to send a variety of messages, including promotional offers and updates. These can include flash sale notifications, abandoned cart reminders, loyalty discounts, or other announcements to your subscribers.
An SMS campaign can be triggered by various events, such as an order confirmation or delivery update, or at a predetermined time. You can also use automated SMS messages to notify subscribers of changes to your policies or services.
Automatic text messages can be a great way to help local businesses increase customer satisfaction and boost their sales. It can also free up valuable employee time and help them focus on other tasks.
Higher Open Rates
SMS messages achieve much higher open rates than emails. That’s a huge win for your marketing efforts.
Texts have a 98% open rate, which is more than five times better than email (emails average 20%). And consumers who opt-in to receive texts are 40% more likely to convert.
These figures prove that text message automation can be a powerful marketing channel for businesses of all sizes, with incredibly high ROIs.
Texts are delivered directly to mobile phones, which makes them more convenient and immediate than social media or emails. Plus, they are legal and relatively inexpensive to use.
Automated Follow-Up
A good automated follow-up strategy is a critical part of the sales process. Without it, you risk losing prospects at every stage in their journey to a sale.
Whether you’re using email or SMS, it’s essential to automate your messages so they can reach customers at the right time. By sending personalized texts to your prospects, you can build relationships and boost conversions.
You can use text message automation to schedule appointment reminders and send promotions, too. It’s an excellent way to improve customer convenience and save your employees valuable time.
More Personal
Aside from email and phone calls, texting is one of the best ways to engage and nurture leads. And text message automation can make the process even more personal by providing automated, personalized messages to your contacts throughout their journey.
Automated texts are perfect for sending recurring messages such as birthday greetings, appointment reminders, and more. They also have the advantage of being sent at specific times that are most convenient for your customers or subscribers to respond to.
Unlike emails, SMS is more personalized and conversational, which makes it a great way to start conversations and build trust with your contacts. Plus, automated texting is incredibly cost-effective and can generate ROIs as high as 600%!
Conclusion
Most local businesses rely on email and phone calls for lead generation, but SMS is one of the best ways to maximize your business’s reach. This type of marketing is easy, convenient, and non-intrusive, and it’s also highly personalized.
SMS campaigns are especially effective for e-commerce businesses, as they can create an engaging experience throughout the shopping journey. Text messages are a great way to promote new inventory, sales, or specials. They can also be used to inform customers about sold-out items, which can re-engage past visitors or entice them to make another purchase.