Best Practices for SMS Marketing Dubai
SMS Marketing Dubai involves sending messages whether promotional or transactional to a very large audience. It relays offers, updates and other alerts to people who have subscribed to receiving texts from your business.
In this digital era, you may think that SMS Marketing is no longer in use but that isn’t true. It is still alive and thriving, moreover, it is helping businesses reach a lot of audiences at once. Let’s discuss that below.
1.
Why Should You Use SMS Marketing?
If you own a business, either it is an e-commerce store or a travel agency, you can make use of this form of marketing.
People who work in services, appointments, or products can also reach a wider audience through this.
And how is that possible? Find out below!
How Does It Work Effectively
Many people around the world own mobile phones.
85 percent of people in the United States alone carry a smartphone.
Moreover, around 5 billion people around the world have a secure mobile connection.
Therefore, it is easy to reach such a big audience with just a text message.
In fact, if you add a link to your website then it can generate engagement to your business site.
Moreover, people are constantly checking their mobile phones.
No seriously! You may be checking your phone about 80 times a day.
That means any promotional news is just a click away and you will get your eyes on it.
Moreover, SMS complements Email Marketing.
It closes the loop that emails have. These are long-form while SMS is instant short messages.
Hence, you can use these together to notify people of your products and services.
Though, unlike emails, there are no bounces.
The SMS will certainly reach the user whenever the mobile network is available.
Moreover, with SMS you can make direct one-to-one instant contact with your customer.
It reaches fastly to your audience and targets them specifically.
Additionally, they have a high engagement rate and most of these are read within 3 minutes of their delivery.
It is also great for areas where there is less internet availability and you don’t require any skills to use it.
Types of SMS Marketing
There are two types of marketing SMS messages that you can send.
1. Transactional
2. Campaign
Transactional messages are one-to-one messages that occur after a behavior.
SMS Marketing examples of this kind would be a confirmation message after your online purchase or a similar one by the shipping company notifying you of delivery.
Campaign messages deliver one to many messages. They relay news of new offers, promotions and event dates.
These SMS Marketing campaigns help to introduce the service offers of different companies in Dubai through SMS advertising.
Learn about how you can set these up later.
2.
Best Practices for SMS Marketing Dubai
Now that you know that SMS Marketing is good for your business, let’s find out the Best Practices for them.
You should know what works for your business by trial and error.
Even if you send a campaign or transactional messages you should make sure that it connects with your audience.
Choose To Message People With Permission
You can reach limitless people with SMS.
However, it will bring you no good if you keep messaging people who do not want to receive your messages.
Not only will your effort go to waste, in fact, but they can also associate negative feelings to your brand, such as annoyance and irritability.
Therefore, use SMS opt-in and only send messages to those people who are aware of your brand, frequently buy from it and have registered their number for updates and alerts.
Personalize Messages to The Receiver
Even if you are sending the same message to many people, try to personalize it.
Personalizing helps to make a connection between the business and the customer.
Write in first person or one way could be writing the name of the receiver.
Make sure that the receiver thinks you are directly communicating with them to build trust and give them a pleasant experience.
Divide the Audience
Not all members of your audience and customers are the same and like the same things.
You can segment the audience according to their gender, binary data and city nationality.
Then you can send similar messages to these groups rather than bulk SMS marketing.
Make Good Use of Time
You can make time-sensitive messages.
This will add a sense of urgency among your customers to immediately avail the opportunity before time runs out.
However, you need to be mindful about what time you are sending them these messages.
If you have a midnight sale then it is fine to send your customers messages immediately but if you have new stock then they should not be receiving messages at 3 am.
Unlike emails, people open messages immediately.
Hence, if you text them at the right time, then they are likely to open your link and check your website.
Otherwise, this may annoy them, and they might never check your messages if they come untimely.
Use Original Engaging Text with Company Name
Most bulk messages are sent through a shortcode.
You need to make sure that you use your company’s name instead.
This will help you retain customers otherwise, they will not trust the message and will have no idea about where it is from.
Moreover, you only have about 160 characters to write in a text.
You would want to make it short and concise but with a clear message and call to action.
Include promotion of your service and product while intriguing your audience about your business.
Hence, the content writing for this message is creativity itself. Short and powerful!
Incorporate it With Other Marketing Channels
As there are so many marketing channels, it is best to take them together.
You can complement SMS alerts with Email marketing and send both to your customers.
One can be a brief notification or time-sensitive alert while the other can be in-depth information with graphics about sales, new launches, events etc.
Now that you know the best practices and SMS Marketing’s effectiveness, it is time to set it up.
3.
How To Set Up SMS Marketing?
Once you are aware that your brand needs SMS Marketing in Dubai, then you can set it up easily.
It does not require any special skills and you will be done within 5 minutes or less.
However, you should make sure to insert your name rather than a shortcode when bulk messaging.
You can use tools like SendPulse to send bulk messages to your potential customers and target audience.
Create the SMS Marketing strategy and campaign by filling in the name of the sender i.e. your business company.
Next, add an original and personalized text promoting your brand and its products or services.
Segment it or make it general, but keep it under 160 characters.
Add the alerts, updates or notifications that you want to include such as order tracking code.
Then, you have to either manually add all mobile number/numbers one by one or add a list.
If you use a tool like SendPulse (a user friendly web based application) then you can send these messages all over the world.
Next, you decide on scheduling the message on the best time or send it immediately.
It’s that simple! You will get this done in merely 5 to 10 minutes and all of your customers or potential audience will receive your SMS alerts.
How Can Your Business Use It
Now that you are well aware of using SMS Marketing, let’s dive into how specifically you can use it.
If you own a:
- Sports Club
You can send event updates and game announcements.
Moreover, you can update people on new memberships and specifically on give their own membership alerts.
These SMS alerts can also include special discounts on purchases and confirm any booking made to the club.
- Food Business
If you own a food chain or a restaurant, you can give SMS alerts for taking orders and giving information about deliveries.
Moreover, you can constantly update your customers about promotional activities, discount coupons and new items.
- Travel Agency
Any travel company needs to update their customers regularly.
You need to send timely alerts about flight changes, weather updates, and cancellations.
Your customers need real-time, regular updates.
Moreover, SMS is the correct medium to provide them that as they can immediately check it rather than email which they may miss out on checking timely.
- Clinics and Other Services That Need Appointments
Furthermore, if you provide services that require appointments then SMS is a great way to reach your customers.
Medical clinics, spas and salons can all make use of booking appointments through SMS and alerting people about their booking.
This can act as a reminder for several people who may forget about their appointments and come late or early.
- E-Commerce store
Lastly, E-commerce stores and even other shops use SMS alerts to inform people about their sales, new products, discounts and coupon codes.
They can also go back and forth with you regarding your order and tell you when your order is confirmed and when it is sent for delivery.
You will receive these alerts immediately so you do not have to worry about your order being late.
Conclusion
Through SMS Marketing Dubai, you can reach a wide and global audience in less than 5 minutes.
Your customer base is also more likely to check these updates rather than emails.
Hence, it is an effective way to reach your audience and will not be outdated anytime soon.
Hence, expand into this form of marketing for your business.