The Biggest Reason Why Your Text Message Marketing Program Doesn't Work

Text message marketing is broken. The concept of delivering mobile-ready content to consumers’ mobile phones is solid, but the strategy and execution are lacking for most companies. In this article we are going to unpack why your text messaging marketing program doesn’t work, and in doing so, provide you with a few ideas on how to fix your text message marketing program.

Let’s take it from the top:

The biggest reason why your text message marketing program doesn’t work is because relevant content is not delivered to consumers when they actually need information.

Mass Marketing Mindsets Don’t Work for Text Message Marketing Programs

One of the first questions people ask when initiating a text message marketing program is, “what is the best day and time to send text messages to consumers?”.  There is all kinds of data out there that provides insight into the best days and times to deliver text messages to consumers, but it’s all wrong.

Mass broadcasts of generic content, no matter if it’s formatted to work well on a consumers’ mobile device, is just noise. The best day and time to deliver content to me could be completely different than the day and time that is best for you. The key to unlocking this door is to figure out a mechanism for informing your text message marketing program of the best delivery time for each individual person because the best time to deliver your text message content is when your audience is at “peak receptivity” to receiving said content. Not everyone is at “peak receptivity” on Tuesday mornings between 9am and 9:30am.

What is Peak Receptivity?

Peak Receptivity is a concept that describes the level of openness a consumer has to receiving your brand content. A quick example of how that might look:

Not Peak Receptivity – It’s 9am on a Tuesday morning and you send an automated text message to your list telling everyone about a great sale going on this weekend. Although some folks on your list will appreciate the heads up, many are probably busy working, getting kids ready for school, etc. They are not thinking about your brand or what they are doing this weekend (and how you fit into those weekend plans).

Peak Receptivity – It’s Tuesday at 9am and consumers are already entering your store. While your customers are in your store, they are thinking about your brand, products, and services. They are open to receiving information and messaging from your company. You simply need to create a strategy around identifying who is in your store and how you will push mobile content to your customers while in store. Technologies exist to make this happen for businesses large and small.

Text Message Marketing Programs Must Be Informed by Real World Data in Real-Time

In order to be able to trigger relevant text messages to consumers when they are at peak receptivity the trigger must be informed by real world data in real-time. A great way to obtain that data is to get customers to engage in some sort of activity in-store which leverages digital technology. By getting consumers to engage with digital technology in your store, you then have the ability to offer them a value proposition that provides them with something of value (ie. the mobile content that you want to deliver to them via text message) in exchange for them providing their mobile number. Once you capture that consumer data (mobile number) you can then pass it through the cloud to the delivery mechanism that is going to push out the text message to that consumer’s phone.

Text Message Marketing Programs Must Have the Ability to Respond to Data Inputs in Real-Time

Once you have the strategy in place for your customer engagement activity and a mechanism to collect mobile numbers in your store, it’s time to close the loop. The last critical component to sending text messages to consumers when they are in your store at peak receptivity is to connect the in-store data collection mechanism to your text message marketing platform. That text message marketing platform must be able to react in real-time to the data that is being fed to it through your in-store data collection app. Once connected and configured, the closed loop system that you have created will allow you to do the following:

• Engage shoppers in-store
• Collect mobile numbers from customers in-store
• Securely pass customer data to your text message marketing platform
• Instantly deliver relevant content or coupons which will enhance or compliement the customer’s shopping experience

3 Steps to Creating Closed Loop Text Message Marketing Campaigns In Your Store

1. Create a unique in-store activity that gets consumers engaged
2. Use technology to enhance the in-store experience and capture critical customer data in store
3. Connect the in-store data capture mechanism to your text message marketing platform so that you can pass the data from your store to your text message marketing platform in real-time (OR use an all-in-one app to collect mobile number and send text messages to shoppers real-time)

Deliver Relevant Mobile Content Which Enhances Real World Experiences in Real Time

The beauty of mobile is that you can leverage it on the go. In order to make your text message marketing program successful, it’s important to make sure you’re delivering your mobile content to consumers at times when it is hyper-relevant. Those times are going to differ for every customer. The key is to provide consumers with relevant content at a time when they are open to receiving it. The content itself should then enhance or compliment the real world experience that customer is having in that  moment in time.