Jacob Morrow
2024-05-23 14:38:46
Are you tired of your marketing efforts getting lost in the digital space? Looking for a fresh yet effective way to grab your customers’ attention? Well, it’s time to revisit a trusty old friend—SMS notifications. Yes, you heard that right—those short, charming text messages can be a game-changer for your business. While SMS isn’t a new technology, its reliability and directness make it an unbeatable tool for connecting with customers instantly.
Curious about how this old-school method can boost your customer engagement? Let’s explore its potential together!
What is an SMS notification?
An SMS notification is a short, targeted text message sent from an application directly to mobile devices via the Short Message Service (SMS), as the same way as any other text messages. It can appear on the Lock Screen, Notification Center, and text message application of customers’ devices. An SMS notification is usually limited to 160 characters. No matter the type of business, you can use SMS notifications to inform and alert customers.
How do SMS notifications work?
Here’s the journey an SMS notification takes from a sender to a recipient:
1. Triggering event: An event, such as a user signing up for a service or placing an order, or a system alert or reminder, triggers the need to send an SMS notification.
2. Processing the event: The application (Sender) processes the event and decides an SMS should be sent. It composes the message, identifies the recipient’s phone number, and gathers any other necessary details.
3. Sending the request: The application sends a request to the SMS gateway API to send the SMS. The request includes:
- Recipient’s phone number: The phone number to send the SMS to.
- Notification content: The SMS text.
- API credentials: Authentication information like API key and secret.
- Sender ID (optional): The sender’s phone number or name.
Note
The SMS gateway API is integrated with the application, acting as the bridge between the application and the mobile carrier networks.
4. Processing the request: The SMS gateway receives, authenticates, and processes the API request.
5. Sending the message: The gateway sends the message to the recipient’s mobile carrier network, which then delivers it to the recipient’s phone.
6. Confirming the delivery: Once delivered, the carrier network sends a delivery receipt back to the SMS gateway. The gateway updates the message status, which the application can check if needed.
Note
If delivery fails due to issues like an invalid phone number, the SMS gateway will provide error codes and messages. The application can then handle these errors, retry sending, or use alternative notification methods.
What are the use cases of SMS notifications?
Your business can leverage SMS notifications for various purposes. Explore the following chart for their various use cases and examples.
How can SMS notifications help your business grow?
Having learned what you can send via SMS notifications, let’s uncover their benefits to see how SMS notifications help your business grow.
✔️ Wider customer reach
SMS notifications can reach anyone with a mobile phone. According to What’s the Big Data, the numbers of smartphone users is predicted to reach 7.1 billion. And people tend to keep their mobile phone with them at all times. This enables your message to reach a wider range of people. What’s more, SMS notifications can be received in areas without a good internet connection because they don’t rely on internet access.
✔️ High open and response rates
Compared to other digital channels, SMS notifications see much higher open and response rates. Studies show that 98% of SMS messages are opened, with 90% opened within 3 minutes. Besides, around 11% will respond to an SMS. The immediate, push-based nature of SMS, paired with its widespread use on smartphones, makes notifications hard to overlook. This allows your business to reach customers directly and effectively.
✔️ Direct, personal, and immediate connection with customers
SMS notifications are sent directly to customers’ mobile device and appear immediately, often with notification sound or vibrations. This ensures your important messages are seen instantly. Besides, SMS notifications allow easy personalization with the recipient’s name, specific details about their interactions with your business, and other tailored touches. This personal touch can make customers feel valued and build stronger relationships between customers and your brand.
✔️ Low cost and high ROI
Sending SMS notifications is extremely cost-effective, costing just a few cents per message, while still providing high engagement rates. Given its low cost and ability to precisely target customers, the return on investment (ROI) from SMS campaigns can be quite substantial. There's no wasted ad spend reaching the wrong audiences.
How do you send SMS notifications?
Here comes the most exciting part—how to send SMS notifications. Simply follow these key steps:
1. Choose an SMS notification service
First, you’ll need to select a reliable SMS notification service provider. Evaluate different providers based on key factors like ease of use, messaging channels, pricing, and reliability. If you’re swamped and need a shortcut to a trustworthy SMS notification service tool, our top pick is EngageLab SMS. You can move on to the next section to explore its standout features and see why it’s worth your try.
2. Create an account
Register for an account with your selected SMS service provider.
Once your account is set up, you can choose to send SMS notifications directly through the service tool, or follow the next few steps to send notifications from your application using API configurations.
3. (optional) Obtain API credentials
Once your account is set up, obtain your API credentials, like API key. These credentials will used to authenticate your application with the SMS service.
4. (optional) Configure your application
Integrate the SMS API into your application. You’ll be able to write code to send SMS notifications.
5. Test SMS notifications
Send SMS notifications to test phone numbers and verify that the messages are delivered properly. Check the message delivery rates and other metrics through the statistics feature provided by your chosen SMS service.
Why is EngageLab SMS worth trying out?
EngageLab SMS is not only easy to use but also includes great features to ensure you reach customers effectively.
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1
Global reach and security
EngageLab SMS delivers your messages to customers within 5s through high-quality channels, enabling a rather high delivery rate—that’s 99%! It directly connects to SMS services of carriers in over 200 countries and regions through the API. Additionally, it strictly adheres to global security and privacy regulations, such as GDPR and CCPA.
Note
GDPR stands for General Data Protection Regulation, a European Union regulation on information privacy in the European Union and the European Economic Area.
CCPA stands for California Consumer Privacy Act, a state statute intended to enhance privacy rights and consumer protection for residents of the state of California in the United States.
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2
Automatic channel switch
EngageLab SMS has a robust infrastructure with multiple SMS channels and intelligent management to maintain reliable message delivery. Importantly, it can automatically switch channels when needed. -
3
High-concurrency processing
EngageLab SMS provides notifications based on a technical architecture capable of handling billions of messages. This ensures customers can receive your SMS notifications during peak hours. -
4
Performance tracking
EngageLab SMS gives complete and clear statistics on sending records, status tracking, and transparent billing. You can check your SMS performance with ease anytime. -
5
Two-way interaction
EngageLab SMS allows your customers to reply to your message. Their responses will trigger automated workflows or further messages. This allows for interactive communication and between your brand and customers, which applies to various scenarios, like customer support. -
6
Notification templates
You can create SMS templates based on notification types with dynamic content to use and tailor whenever. This allows you to send consistent and personalized messages quickly without having to craft each one from scratch.
Now it’s time to unlock the unparalleled customer engagement strategies of EngageLab SMS yourself. Take the first step today with the FREE version. You’ll see how it can transform the interaction between your brand and customers.
What are the best practices for SMS notifications?
After learning how to send SMS notifications, it’s time to examine how you can make the most of this powerful tool. Sending SMS notifications effectively can greatly enhance your results. Let’s take a look at some best practices to ensure you’re getting the optimal impact from your efforts:
💡 Get consent from your customers
Be sure your customers have opted in to receive your SMS. This is essential for compliance and maintaining customer trust.
💡 Personalize your messages
Personalized messages see much higher open and response rates. Segment your audience and include relevant details like the recipient's name and past interactions.
💡 Keep your messages short and get to the point
An SMS notification is usually limited to 160 characters, so make sure your messages are concise and directly to the point. This helps ensure your important details are seen as effectively as possible.
💡 Add call to actions
To make each cent count, you can motivate the recipient to take action with each message, such as confirming an order or visiting your website. Add a clear call to action (CTA) and make it as easy as possible for your customer to respond.
💡 Provide value
Always add value to your messages, such as important updates, useful information, or exclusive offers. Avoid solely promotional alerts.
Final Thoughts
In summary, using SMS notifications can help get your efforts to reach customers off the ground. With EngageLab SMS, you’ll have all the tools to send SMS notifications easily and see quick results. We’d love to hear about your journey with it. Here’s to your business’s continued growth and success! 🍻
