Build Product Buzz and Drive Customer Acquisition with Conversational Text Marketing

More About Conversational Text Marketing

Before we dive into building product buzz and driving customer acquisition, let’s unpack the ins and outs of conversational text marketing.

The Definition of Conversational Text Marketing

What is conversational text marketing? Conversational text marketing refers to marketing that allows for two-way conversations between a business and its customers. With conversational text marketing, you can send your customers SMS texts on their mobile phones, and they can reply.

This one-on-one conversation provides a more personal way for brands to communicate and engage with their customers. It also lets customers receive real-time responses, providing a positive customer service experience.

How to Use Conversational Text Marketing to Build Product Buzz

Conversational text marketing can be an excellent tool for building product buzz, but what exactly is product buzz? Produce buzz refers to a marketing strategy in which you aim to get people talking about your product. For instance, you want to get the word out about a product release or a new merch line.

Now, how can conversational text marketing be used to build product buzz? Conversational text marketing can be used to build product buzz as it provides a way to send out teasers and previews, request customer feedback, host contests and giveaways, and invite customers to participate in product trials.

Send out Teasers or Previews of Your New Product

Sending out teasers or previews of your products is a prime way to encourage product buzz.

For instance, you could text your customers a link to a video clip describing your product or a blog post showcasing its features. With conversational texting, you can share sneak peeks and exclusive looks at your product to help build hype around your product launch.

Ask Your Customers for Feedback on Your Product

The key to product buzz is to get your customers talking about your product; requesting their feedback is one sure way to achieve this. For example, you could send SMS texts asking your customers to leave a review about your product or text them a survey or questionnaire regarding their experience with your product.

Run Contests or Giveaways

Aside from encouraging your customers to talk about your product, you want to generate excitement around your product, too. One way to go about this is by hosting a special contest or giveaway in which you gift your customers with free products.

For example, you might send out SMS texts announcing a social media giveaway, in which your brand gives a product to the customer whose comment on your social media account gets the most engagement. Or, you could send an SMS invitation regarding a contest where your company will award the winner a sample of your new product.

There are many different ways of hosting a contest that can get your customers stoked about your product release.

Invite Your Customers to Participate in Product Trials

Inviting your customers to join product trials or beta tests via text gives them exclusive access to your products and makes them feel like VIP customers.

This is an opportunity to show off your latest products to customers who are already loyal to your brand. Of course, the more memorable they feel, the more likely they are to brag about their experience with your product to friends and family, which could generate new customers interested in your new product.

How to Use Conversational Text Marketing to Drive Customer Acquisition

Now, let's move on to customer acquisition, which refers to attracting new customers. This can involve gaining new customers after they purchase your product, but it can also include when customers subscribe to your mailing list or show interest in your business.

So, how can conversational text marketing be used to drive customer acquisition? Conversational text marketing can be used to drive customer acquisition in various ways, as you can use it to send invitations to product launches, provide promos, share updates, and, again, run contests or giveaways.

Send out Text Message Invitations to Your Product Launch Event

Your product release deserves some fanfare, so make an event and invite your customers via text. In your SMS message, include all the details about the event, such as the time, date, and location. To incite excitement around the launch, offer exclusive promo codes, samples, or freebies to those who RSVP.

When customers feel part of something special, they're more likely to interact with your business, make purchases, and remain loyal to your brand.

Offer Discounts or Promotions to Those Who Subscribe

Everyone loves scoring a good discount, so use conversational text marketing to treat your customers to a promo code they can put toward a purchase with your business.

One approach you can take is to give a special discount to your customers when they subscribe to your text marketing list. This helps you reach new customers while sparking their interest in your brand, encouraging them to purchase, and getting your marketing content in front of their eyes.

Share Updates About Your Product

Customers like to feel informed before purchasing, and conversational SMS marketing offers the perfect opportunity to share all the news about your product.

You can send texts with content that covers new features about your product, highlights special aspects of your product, or announces upcoming sales. You can even include links to videos or blog posts offering more information about your product to empower your customers to purchase.

Run Contests or Giveaways

Hosting contests and giveaways isn’t just suitable for creating product buzz; it’s also a prime way to generate leads. In fact, one recent survey revealed that 34% of new customers are acquired through contests. After all, contests and giveaways encourage followers to engage with your brand and share your content. And the more customers who interact with your contests, the more eyes you’ll get on your business.

Benefits of Using Conversational Text Marketing

Now that you understand how these mobile marketing strategies can create product buzz and encourage customer acquisitions, let’s consider some of the advantages of using this kind of marketing approach.

What are the benefits of using conversational text marketing? Some of the many benefits of using conversational text marketing include increased engagement, improved targeting, and better ROI.

Increased Engagement

Text marketing has a 98% engagement rate—six times the engagement rate of emails— meaning you have a unique opportunity to connect with your customers.

Your customers already agreed to receive your marketing content, which shows that they're interested in hearing from your brand. And because they're willing to accept your conversational text messages, they're often inclined to follow your call to action, whether using a promo code, attending an event, or responding to your survey.

Improved Targeting

Your customers must opt-in to receive your conversational SMS marketing messages, which suggests they want to learn more about your brand. This can help you create a more targeted approach because instead of messaging random customers who might not be interested in your business, you're sending messages to customers who are receptive to your content.

Furthermore, you can use SMS texting features to segment your audience, making the content even more relevant. For instance, you could send targeted messages to those who have already purchased from your brand or those in a specific area where you're hosting an event.

Better ROI

Using conversational text messaging as part of your marketing strategy can also improve your ROI. Text marketing is a cost-effective and efficient way of communicating with your customers, especially compared to other marketing channels. You can use it to improve your customer relationships, enhance customer loyalty, and improve brand awareness—all of which positively contribute to your marketing ROI.

Best Practices for Using Conversational Text Marketing

With a better understanding of some benefits, what are some best practices for using conversational text marketing? Some best practices for conversational text marketing include starting with a clear goal, personalizing your messages, offering value, consistency, and tracking your performance.

Start with a Clear Goal

Before sending your customers mass messages, consider what you'd like to achieve. Are you looking to gain new customers? Promote your new product? Or get feedback from your customers? You'll quickly set benchmarks and track your success when you have clear goals.

Personalize Your Messages

Personalizing your messages can make your customers feel like they're not just another customer in a sea of other customers. Adding personalization to your messages, including their name or referencing a past purchase, can help build rapport and trust between your business and your customers.

Offer Value

Don't just send texts for the sake of sending texts. When sending conversational text messages, be sure to have a purpose, whether to offer a special promo code, inform your customers about a new product, invite them to an event, or encourage them to take a poll. If you start sending fluffy texts with no substance, that's a surefire way to make your customers opt out of receiving your marketing content.

Be Consistent

If you want to run a successful conversational marketing campaign, it helps to send texts regularly. This way, your customers will come to expect and look forward to receiving your messages.

Track Your Performance

Tracking your performance and analytics can help you determine if you're getting the kind of results you expected. For example, are your customers opening your texts, clicking links, or opting out? Monitoring your customers' behaviors and interactions with your marketing campaigns lets you know whether to experiment with your strategy or stick with what you're doing.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Using Conversational Text Marketing

In addition to following the above practices, it helps to know what common mistakes to avoid when using conversational marketing, such as sending too many messages, texting irrelevant messages, and not tracking your results.

Sending Too Many Messages

Less is more when it comes to sending SMS messages. If you're bombarding your customers with messages all day, there's a good chance they'll start ignoring your messages—or worse, opt out. Instead, follow a cadence to help keep your customers engaged.

Sending Irrelevant Messages

Along with sending too many messages, sending irrelevant messages will annoy your customers, too. If you're sending texts without value or purpose, you're taking advantage of your marketing privileges. Don't have anything important to say? Then, hold off until you do.

Not Tracking Your Results

How can you determine if your marketing campaigns are successful without tracking your performance? If you're not monitoring your metrics, you're unthinkingly sending out messages and hoping they're performing well. To avoid this mistake, use your analytics tools to track your results.

Future Trends in Conversational Text Marketing

Of course, conversational SMS marketing is constantly evolving, and with the onset of AI technology, we can expect to see new trends hitting the marketing scene.

So, what are the future trends in conversational text marketing? We expect future trends in conversational text marketing to revolve a lot around automation. After all, automation makes it easier (and quicker!) for businesses to interact and respond to their customers' questions and concerns. A big part of this involves incorporating artificial intelligence (AI). Using machine learning, AI can generate pre-programmed responses to customers' inquiries and assist chatbots with answering customers in real-time, improving the customer service experience.

Are you interested in adding conversation texting to your marketing strategy? Contact EZ Texting today to start your free 14-day trial (no credit card required!