Businesses all over the world are switching to text message marketing. The reason being the fast open rate and a direct communication channel. If you wish to send professional text messages, then you must know-how.
Text marketing is a comparatively newer means of marketing. While this medium is not very complicated, you need to still find the grounds to use it best. In this guide, let us talk about sending professional text messages from your business.
Why should you send professional text messages?
Text messages are personal and very direct. Hence, they can be tricky when it comes to finding professional ground. Sending professional text messages helps in maintaining that balance. It helps your customer understand that you are making a proper relationship with them. However, you are not being pried or invasive.
Sending professional text messages further allows you to communicate with your consumers directly. Instead of waiting for them to call you or make the effort of sending emails, a simple message does the job. Moreover, it reaches faster and you can also get replies sooner.
How to send professional texts?
If you want to use text marketing for your business, then there are some etiquettes. Follow them and you will be good to go. Your customers may just appreciate the messages more than annoying phone calls and buried emails.
Take permission
The first and foremost rule, and we can’t stress on this enough, is to get permission for sending messages. According to the TCPA, you need ‘express prior consent’ to send out messages. This permission can be in any form. You can take permission at an event, make them sign a form, or anything easy to document. Moreover, you can use ExpertTexting’s widget feature to put it up on your website. Interested parties can sign up by filling the simple form. Other ways of taking permission are to get people to opt-in with your keyword or QR code.
Without permission, you can lose your loyal customers, or even bear legal charges. Keep it professional, follow the rules!
Keep it short and sweet
Each text allows only 160 characters. This is the grounds of texting no matter what kind of texts you are sending. Of course, with the advancing of text messaging you can send longer texts. However, they charge multiple depending on the number of characters. ExpertTexting allows you to craft messages of up to 800 characters which is roughly five text messages. Smartphones can concatenate these messages into one long message. However, you do not have to use all of them.
There are plenty of ways you can keep the message short and sweet. Stay on topic, come straight to the point, and don’t use excessively difficult-to-read language. Messages tend to become long if you are adding a link to them.
ExpertTexting has a link shortening feature. This feature allows you to compress the link into as few characters as possible. Thus, saving your characters. You can also track the link and the click-through rate on ExpertTexting later on.
Right frequency
Nothing good can come out of texting your consumers very frequently. It is annoying and may come under spam even if they opt-in voluntarily. Hence, you should have a set of terms and conditions that should clear the expected number of messages that you will send out. Moreover, your messages should be at the right time. The best time is usually the business hours. However, do thorough research on when you should be sending messages.
While too many messages are not good enough, too little are not good too. A smaller frequency may easily make your consumers think that you do not care enough. Moreover, they may forget that your business exists and every once in a while, a message from you may count as annoying. Hence, you may lose subscribers easily.
Easy replies
Sometimes, all your consumer wants are to have easy communication with you. ExpertTexting allows you to have two-way communication with your customers easily.
However, your role here is to ensure that the receiver knows that you are easy to respond to. A simple question with a yes or no answer is the perfect example.
Replies also include the actions that you want them to take. For example, if you want them to visit your store, you should have a link with the map or something similar. Your customers should have a vivid idea of why and what you require from them.
Create a signature
Signatures are the easiest way to create a credible and professional image for your text marketing. Emails allow you to send longer signatures. You can add your name, number, address, and every single detail.
However, text messages need to be short and precise. A simple sign with your business name can make a world of a difference. It shows you are owning to every message that you send out.
Avoid informal language
The language and tone of the messages depend greatly on the kind of business that you own. However, even with the most informal tone, you need to keep in mind your professionalism. Avoid using slang words, offensive phrases, or ambiguous tones. All these can create confusion or even make it very offensive to the customers.
Instead of using short language, simply use clear, crisp, and easy sentences. You do not need to write long and hard-to-read words. Or, you do not have to use vocabulary that is difficult to understand. The aim is not to show off your writing skills, you just have to get your message through.
Begin with ExpertTexting
ExpertTexting is one of the best services to send out professional text messages. The biggest factor is that it is reliable. You can send messages instantly or schedule them for a later time. Moreover, you can count on those messages to reach them at the right time.