Review These 5 Things Before You Click 'Send'

If your finger is trembling over the "send" button, have you done all you can to make sure that your text message marketing will hit the mark? Before you click send, make sure that your customers will truly enjoy your text messages. Review this checklist before you commit to that text.

1. When Are You Sending That Text? 

Much of the success of text message marketing rests on the idea that your customers are ready to listen to your message and act on it. The best times to send a text are often during regular business hours. Avoid Mondays as people have a lot of work to do. Make sure that you avoid sending a text during rush hour, says Mobile Marketer: "people cannot read or engage with a text message during common rush hours, typically 6:30 am to 8:30 am and 4 pm to 7 pm local time." 

Of course, there are always exceptions based on your target audience. If you're aiming for more involvement in a weekend activity or sale, Thursdays or later in the work day on Fridays could be an excellent time to send out a text. If your message is highly relevant to a single specific time period, you could break the rules and send a text during off times if it will help your readers through those times. A text designed specifically to get customers through Mondays will go over better than a text that reminds them of an activity that's coming up on the weekend.

2. Who's Getting the Text? 

Always make sure that your customers have opted into your text message marketing campaign. This means that they have made a commitment to subscribe and that they know what they're getting into. Your leads must understand the number of messages they've committed to, what those messages will be about, and how to unsubscribe. When customers are actively interested in receiving the messages you send, it's more likely that they'll hit the mark.

3. Did You Check Your Spelling? 

Whoops: you sent out that last text with a spelling error or an incorrect URL. This is not only ineffective as a marketing tool, but it also makes you look less professional. In a Disruptive Communications survey, "people flagged poor spelling and grammar as their number one turn-off." Before you send that text, make sure that you've checked it with a spelling and grammar program.

4. How Long Is Your Message? 

Text messages are not the venue to wax poetic: at least not if you have more than 160 characters' worth of poetry. As you craft your message, make sure that it's the right length. Otherwise, you could lose a lot of your potentially-interested readers as your text could be sent as multiple, smaller texts. It won't make a lot of sense, and it won't make a high impact either.

5. Do You Have a Strong CTA? 

What exactly do you want your readers to do? A text that just provides information won't spur your customers to action. Before you send that text, make sure that you have simple, direct instructions for your customers, such as "Text DRINK to 45728 to get a free drink with purchase." There are plenty of places where you can talk for a long time about the virtues of your product, but texts are designed for action.

At EZ Texting, we use our experience in the world of text message marketing to help you grow your business. Understand your customers' needs and reach out to them in the way that suits each customer. Sign up for free today.