In the ever-evolving business world, automated text marketing campaigns have emerged as one of the most effective customer engagement tactics. At TL Connects, we’ve seen how beneficial it can be when merchants tailor text messages to specific customer behaviors and milestones. Our platform is built to help merchants manage various automated text marketing campaigns.
7 Tips to Increase Customer Engagement with Automated Text Messages
Automated text marketing can be a powerful tool to engage customers and drive business results and more revenue. As with any marketing tactic, having access to this tool is only helpful if you know how to use it and continually looking for ways to improve. Here are a few best practices we encourage our merchants to use:- Make it easy and enticing to sign up. Getting people to sign up for their text marketing program is the top tactical challenge for text messaging services. You can incentivize sign-ups by using a point-of-sale kiosk that makes it easy for customers to enter their phone numbers.
- Optimize your timing and frequency. It’s essential to be mindful of the timing of your automated texts. For example, sending a text one hour after a visit can often be more impactful than an immediate text. Additionally, avoid bombarding customers with excessive texts; find a balance between staying in touch and not overwhelming them.
- Contextualize messages with personal insights. Personalized messages resonate better with recipients and foster a sense of being known, leading to higher engagement rates. Including the customer’s name and suggesting a specific call-to-action provides a way to create a more human connection.
- Don’t forget to be human. Marketing texts can often feel cold or “salesy.” Don’t be afraid to incorporate a human touch by offering a funny, inspirational, or encouraging tone in your texts, depending on your brand voice.
- Incorporate GIFs and images into your texts. Visual content effectively conveys messages, evokes emotions, and leaves a lasting impression. According to a recent study, 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase if they receive a text message with images and media (Source).
- Provide a clear call to action. Each automated text should have a clear and compelling CTA. Whether you encourage customers to visit a store, redeem a discount code, or participate in an event, the CTA should be clear and easy to act on.
- Regularly monitor and analyze performance. As with any marketing approach, merchants need to learn and improve as they go. Businesses should track metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates to gauge the effectiveness of their text marketing campaigns. Then they can use this data to make informed decisions about content and cadence.
