7 Top Tips for SMS & E-DM campaigns!
Here at Dataconversion we have plenty of experience delivering e-DM & SMS campaigns for our clients.
In fact, we have successfully completed over 30,000 to date, a pretty impressive feat if we do say so.
Of course, working on these campaigns has given us great insight into what works and more importantly what doesn’t!
This has enabled us to fine tune our campaigns to ensure the highest open & deliverability rates for our clients.
So, throughout this blog we will be sharing some of our top tips and tricks with you, that will help improve engagement on your next campaign.
Ensure that your database is clean accurate & GDPR Complaint
We would hope that your databases are spic and span following the introduction of the GDPR, the EU’s new data protection law. However, this is not a one and done kind of job. Databases require ongoing maintenance to ensure they are kept clean and compliant. Keeping on top of ‘Right to be Forgotten’ requests should be made an important priority going forward. Careful maintenance will reduce the possibility of you contacting an individual who has opt-ed out of your communications. And more importantly the possible fines that might ensue.
Bit.ly links
When using bit.ly links in SMS it is important to make sure that;
- You have a mobile site, or
- Alternatively, if it’s directing to your main site make sure it’s reactive to mobile.
If your site isn’t responsive to mobile, then you will likely see a high drop off rate. User experience is something which we always stress to our clients. If your customers click through a link and are met with a screen which is clearly not mobile optimised you can be sure they won’t stay there for long! Indefinite scrolling, pinching and zooming isn’t fun for anyone!
Another helpful tip when redirecting customers is to make sure your sending them to the right place! So, if your promotion is on floor cleaner make sure that the link you include goes directly there. Because we can guarantee that if it doesn’t, customers won’t go looking!
A/B Testing
A/B testing involves sending out multiple variations of the same marketing communication to see what works best for your customers. This can involve using different subject lines, artwork, send time etc. and testing to see which one gets the highest open rate, CTR or whatever metric you choose to measure success on. Ensuring that you A/B test frequently helps to improve performance.
As a general rule of thumb, in our experience the best times to send an e-DM include, 6AM, 2PM and 8PM. Why? Well these are the times that studies have shown people to be most active on their phones. However, it is important that you conduct your own testing to see what times work best for your audience.
Keep it snappy
When sending an SMS keep the text to max 2 credits i.e. 320 characters including spaces per text. Keeping your text short and sweet can impact your CTR. The space on a mobile screen is limited and therefore you need to be mindful of the amount of room you’re going to take up. Trust us, your customers won’t want to read a 500-word essay from you no matter how great the content might be. Keeping your text to 2 credits means your message will appear above the fold which we have found has a measurable impact on engagement.
Don’t be shady
With GDPR now in full force, matters regarding data protection are now more important than ever. You now must make it as easy for customers to opt-out of your communications as it was to opt-in. This means being open & transparent with your unsubscribe option. Using small text or light colour font is a practice which we would advise against as it can make you appear deceitful. And besides, if people don’t want to hear from you, why are you sending them communications to begin with?
Attention spans are short, subject lines should be shorter!
Your subject line can make or break your campaign. If it is not compelling then users won’t open it. We have increasingly been seeing clients use emojis, where relevant, in their subject line. This adds visual interest which can help your message to stand out thus improving open rates. Just beware though, they won’t translate across all platforms.
Get personal!
Sending your male customers e-DM campagin filled with female hygiene products isn’t beneficial to anyone! So, ensuring that you use personalise campaigns when possible is a must. You gather a huge amount of data from your customers, so use it! The more personalised your campaigns the more relevant they feel to the consumer and the more likely they are to engage.
