A Quick Guide to Text Message Marketing for Small Businesses

Are you struggling to connect to your target audience and failing to tell them about any special promotions and offers? Well, it's time to leave the print marketing era and try something new, like text marketing. Since more people now rely on their phones, text message marketing for small businesses is an amazing way to inform potential customers about your services, piquing their interest.

Statistics reveal that around 78% of consumers prioritize text messaging over other phone activities like social media (66%) and emails (50%). So what are you waiting for?

This article is your complete guide to text message marketing for small businesses, its benefits, and the best service providers to opt for. Let's dig in!

Part 1. What is Text Message Marketing?

Typically, text message marketing is a strategy in which businesses send messages to customers sharing information about ongoing promotions, services, and other content.

It's a great way to keep customers updated regarding your business, building trust and a deeper connection with them.

The best part is that text message marketing for small businesses is permissions-based. This means messages will only go to recipients who have chosen to receive them.

Part 2. Why Should Small Businesses Use Text Marketing?

If you are wondering why you should opt for text message marketing for small businesses, here are some compelling reasons:

1 High Open Rate

Survey says SMS marketing has a 98% open rate and only 1% spam, which is impressive. In addition, 90% of consumers respond to a text message within 30 minutes.

Text messages often directly pop up on the recipient screen, making them hard to ignore compared to other marketing tactics like email that either go to spam or are overlooked. This maximizes your chances of interaction and conversion.

2 Cost-Effective

Text message marketing is quite cost-effective compared to print media and other paid advertising. This enables you to reach your target audience effectively without breaking the bank.

3 Increase Customer Engagement

Text message marketing for small businesses is great for increasing customer engagement. As it gives 2-way communication capability, you not only send messages but also receive feedback and customer queries. It fosters engagement so customers stay with your brand for a long time.

4 Complements Other Marketing Strategies

Text message marketing for small businesses also complements other marketing strategies.

For instance, you may share your social media links with customers through text messages. So when they visit your business profile, the effectiveness of your social media campaigns sees a boost.

Part 3. Types of Text Message Marketing for Small Businesses

The following are some of the types of marketing messages that you should know about:

💬 Welcome Messages: As soon as a customer gets on board, you should send them a welcome message sharing how you are grateful for their presence and also provide them with an incentive. For example:

💬 Promotional Messages: Promotional messages, as the name suggests, are the ones that tell customers about any sales or discounts that you are offering. These are great for driving sales and keeping customers excited about your brand or services. For instance:

💬 Transactional Messages: These messages are sent when a customer completes an action and are useful for sharing time-sensitive information like appointment reminders, shipping notifications, and new product releases.

💬 Event Invitation Messages: Event invitation messages are concise and invite customers to different business events like a new store launch or in-store promotions.

💬 Appointment Reminder Messages: These messages are helpful in reminding customers about their appointments so they don't miss out on their much-needed sessions, whether it's a cosmetic procedure or personal consultation.

💬 Abandoned Cart Message: Send these messages when you see customers have left items in their cart without checking out. Here's how it looks like:

💬 Limited Products Messages: These messages are sent when your business is quickly running out of stock to alert customers, creating urgency and driving quick sales.

💬 Birthday Celebration Messages: To make your customers feel valued and increase their loyalty, you should send texts on their birthdays offering special discounts or offers. Here's an example:

Part 4. 5 Text Messaging Services for Small Business

If you are looking for some reliable text messaging services for your small business, here are some options to consider:

#1 EngageLab

One of the best options you can rely on for text message marketing for small businesses is EngageLab. It's an all-in-one, highly integrated platform that provides you with a comprehensive set of advanced communication tools for smooth customer interactions.

The platform’s reach is huge, spanning over 200 countries and it can deliver messages in as low as 5 seconds with a 99% success rate. It uses intelligent technology that helps EngageLab automatically switch channels when there's high traffic so your messages are sent quickly to end customers.

EngageLab also includes multiple support points and backup options that make it a dependable solution for global business communications. The best part about leveraging this amazing text message marketing for small businesses tool is that provides reliable security. By helping businesses stay compliant with local and global regulations, including the CCPA and GDPR, EngageLab supports lawful and secure communication, allowing businesses to reach clients responsibly and with respect for privacy.

💡 Key Features

• Multi-Channel Marketing, including AppPush, WebPush, email, SMS, OTP, WhatsApp.
• Coverage in over 200 countries with a 99% success rate
• Quick SMS delivery in as little as 5 seconds
• Schedule automatic SMS delivery at any time without any hassle
• Provides you insights into the performance and delivery of text messages for optimization
• Can send all types of messages, from promotional to transactional, and even one-time passwords (OTPs)

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#2 Twilio

The next option on our list is Twilio, which is another text message marketing for small businesses tool. It enables businesses to reach customers across 180 countries without any issues.

There are tools integrated into this platform that make it easy for you to track engagement, message delivery, and text performance.

Other than that, Twilio empowers you to manage conversations, archive texts, and even set up message workflows without requiring any coding knowledge. This platform works with WhatsApp Business, so you can rely on it to further broaden your reach.

💡 Key Features

• Connect with customers in more than 180 countries using localized senders
• Real-time analytics to measure message delivery and engagement
• Compliance tools that ensure messaging adheres to global privacy regulations

#3 EZ Texting

EZ Texting is another one of the best text message marketing services that you can rely on. It allows you to send both SMS and MMS, which means you can enrich your texts with videos and images to capture the attention of your end customers.

What truly sets this text marketing platform apart from other options on this list is its AI compose feature that users can leverage to create messages that are personalized, driving excellent engagement.

There's a smart scheduling feature, too, that guarantees that the message reaches the audience at an optimal time. For your team, EZ Texting offers a multi-user inbox where team members can communicate and coordinate to address customer queries quickly.

💡 Key Features

• SMS and MMS messaging capabilities that offer excellent versatility
• AI-powered Compose for creating engaging text messages
• Smart scheduling to send text timely for enhanced response

#4 SMSBump by Yotpo

SMSBump by Yotpo is an incredible tool that's particularly designed considering e-commerce users in mind. It supports messaging in over 200 countries globally and is best for Shopify users.

There are tools in it that help grow your contact list through options like compliant sign-up forms, pop-ups, and footer widgets.

The presence of an audience manager is actually a sigh of relief for you in this competitive e-commerce world where offering personalized experiences isn't a choice but a necessity.

💡 Key Features

• Enables audience segmentation for better targeting
• Sends messages to customers in over 200 countries
• Advanced analytics that help track message performance and give you insights into who abandoned the cart
• Follow-up texts and reminders for people who visited your store or left items in the cart

#5 SimpleTexting

SimpleTexting is an amazing text message marketing for small businesses tool that is quite easy to use. It has a lot of features that can streamline and enhance communication with customers, including customizable templates and the capability to schedule messages for later delivery.

Not only this, but automated replies capability frees your team from the repetitive tasks of sending messages so they can focus on better customer targeting. The platform has built-in compliance tools that win the trust of customers, ensuring that all messaging practices are legal.

💡 Key Features

• Custom tags to segment customers and personalize messages with their names and birthdays
• Pre-designed message templates to quickly send repetitive texts without wasting time
• Analytics on open rate and conversion rate that pave the way for text optimization

Part 5. How do Businesses Measure the Success of Text Marketing?

Here are some tips that you can use to measure the progress of your text message marketing for small businesses:

Key Metrics

The first thing you should do to check the effectiveness of your text message marketing and for small businesses is to keep an eye on key metrics. These include conversion rate, interaction rate, reply rate, and list growth rate.

Tool for Tracking And Analyzing SMS Marketing Effectiveness

Another thing that helps you in measuring the overall success of your text message marketing campaigns is to use tools that provide statistics on how well your message has been delivered. By tracking data such as message delivery rates, you can make timely adjustments to your messaging strategy.

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A/B Testing

A/B testing is the process in which you compare two different versions of the same text message to determine which one performs better. You can segment your audience and send copy A to one group and copy B to the second customer group with changes in elements like CTA, message content, delivery time, and type of offers. Check which copy brings in the most engagement and then go with it to enhance customer interaction and interest in your services.

Part 6. FAQs about SMS Marketing for Small Businesses

Q. How much does SMS marketing cost per text?

SMS marketing cost per text varies depending on the vendor you choose; however, on average, it ranges from $0.01 to $0.05.

Q. How often should I send SMS marketing messages?

It's a good idea to send 4 to 5 SMS messages at the start, with 1 to 2 SMS per week; once you are aware of what your customers like, you can increase the frequency to 10 SMS per month.

Q. Is SMS marketing effective for small businesses?

Yes, SMS marketing is highly effective for small businesses as it has an open rate of 98% and is a cost-effective way to connect and engage with potential customers.

Q. Is SMS marketing illegal in the USA?

SMS marketing is legal in the USA, but businesses must ensure they have customer consent before sending text messages. You must also comply with TCPA, or you'll be fined up to $1,500.

Q. What are the legal requirements for SMS marketing?

The legal requirements for SMS marketing in the US include obtaining consent from customers, providing them a clear opt-out of text message marketing option, and ensuring compliance with TCPA.

Conclusion

Text message marketing for small businesses is an impressive way to reach out to your ideal customers and get feedback about your services. If you are wondering which text message marketing service provider is the best, there's no option better than EngageLab. You should get it today and scale your business by contacting customers in over 200 countries!

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