10 Ways How You Can Build SMS Database
SMS marketing is among the most effective tools in any company’s marketing arsenal. With an almost 98% open rate, it is better than email marketing, which has a mere 20% open rate. It is cheap and easy to deploy.??
As good as SMS-based marketing is, the challenge for marketers is constructing and maintaining an SMS database of interested customers.?
This post explains what an SMS database is, compliance regulations, and ten great ways to start an SMS marketing campaign with BSG Platform.
What is an SMS Database??
A text message database is similar to a friend’s list on social media or a contact list on a mobile phone. As part of your marketing strategy, an SMS database contains the phone numbers of real customers interested in your products. Collecting their phone numbers allows you to send them targeted messages to effectively promote your brand. However, you must obtain the customer’s consent before adding their mobile number to your database for bulk SMS.?
Why Build an SMS Database???
Strengthens Brand Loyalty?
Converting one-off customers into brand loyalists is a tough challenge for any brand. One way to overcome this problem is to send promotional messages informing them of great deals. Brands can create loyalty programs with value to build stronger connections with customers. Sending these promotional SMS with appealing offers will lead customers to opt-in for more messages.?
Helps With Getting Customer Feedback?
A customer contact database helps a brand collect useful feedback to improve its services or products. You can conduct polls and surveys with the customers in your SMS database to gather comments on a new product or where to improve your service. To properly collect feedback, it is important to use a two-way messaging service to receive customer messages easily.?
Helps to Measure the Success of SMS Campaigns?
As you carry out SMS marketing to make money, you should know how effective it is or which demographic responds more to the marketing efforts.?
The stats from the marketing campaign will help you know if the campaign is successful or needs improvement. Also, it will help you draw up a more coherent approach toward your target audience for future campaigns.?
What to Ask Your Clients Before You Build a Database
The benefits of starting a marketing customer database are fairly impressive, but remember that you can’t collect random numbers or purchase databases. That’s because doing so might expose you to legal issues, such as data breaches or unlawful use of personal information, which could ruin your reputation and cost you a fortune in fines.?
To avoid these troubles, you must organically build your SMS database solution with the client’s consent. So how do you go about this??
Apart from asking customers for their name, phone number, and email address, the most important thing to ask is their consent to receive promotional messages and offers from your brand.?
The need for consent is not mere courtesy but mandated by law. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the European Union makes it mandatory for entities to obtain permission from users before collecting their information or transferring such information.?
A breach of this regulation can lead to a fine of either €20 million or 4% of your global turnover.?
In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) prohibits sending promotional text messages without obtaining prior written consent from the receiver. A breach of this law makes a brand liable to pay a fine of $500 per SMS.?
Checklist for Compliance with SMS Regulations:?
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10 Ways to Build Your Text Marketing Database in 2024?
Growing and building your text message database starts with giving useful information and offerings to your target audience. Here are 10 ways to build your text marketing database in 2024:?
#1 Increase Engagement with Your Customers through Text Messaging?
Nowadays, people are more interested in a brand that shows its human side more often. This is why brands and company heads are getting more engagement on social media. Engagement with customers shows them that you care about them and their contribution to your business’s success.?
To get started, you can send a text message asking about their experiences with the brand. Keep the SMS conversation flowing by asking for reviews and their expectations. The suggestions help you build better solutions to fit their needs.?
#2 Requesting Customer’s Contact Details at Point of Sale?
This is a much more straightforward way to build a customer database. You can ask the client at the point of a transaction if they want to receive reminders, delivery messages, or special offers via SMS. If they agree, you can get their mobile numbers to add to your bulk SMS database. To do this effectively, train your staff to politely ask for the details and explain what it is needed for.?
#3 Use Mobile Keywords to Encourage Customers to Subscribe?
Building an SMS marketing database requires consent and active participation of the customers. To secure their consent, you can ask them to send a specific keyword to a short code to participate in a contest. For instance, an e-commerce company can use the keyword “SHOPPING,” or a travel agency can use “HOLIDAY” to entice clients. Anyone who sends the keyword to the provided shortcode can win a shopping voucher or a free holiday. Those customers who send the message have automatically subscribed to participate in the company’s SMS marketing campaign.?
#4 Explore Other Channels to Grow Your Customer Database?
Use other channels such as social media marketing, paid ads, informative articles, and content promotion to build your mobile number database. Many potential customers are online, especially the Gen Z population, who are mostly on social media sites. Explore these other options to grow your base.?
#5 Tell Your Email Contacts?
If you already have an email contact list, informing them of an alternative way of connecting with your business is a great idea. Your existing relationship with your email contacts will make it easy for them to subscribe to your SMS campaigns.?
#6 Website Opt-ins?
If you have a business website that collects user details, such as a booking, package delivery, or service provider site, you can create a box for customers to tick to opt-in to SMS campaigns. A simple “Yes, I want to receive promotional messages and offers via SMS” will do the trick. With that, you can get more numbers for your texting database.?
#7 Encourage Your Loyal Customers to Share?
Loyal customers can help advertise your brand to friends and family through word-of-mouth marketing. Surveys show that 88% of people trust recommendations from people they know more than other channels. Make it worthwhile for loyal customers to recruit new customers to your customer contact database by giving them incentives for every person they refer to your business.?
#8 Integrating SMS Opt-Ins with Email Marketing Campaigns?
Combining SMS and email marketing strategies can effectively expand your contact database. You can encourage your email subscribers to opt in for SMS notifications by highlighting the benefits, such as receiving exclusive offers, faster updates, or special discounts. This way, you leverage your existing audience to grow your SMS list.?
#9 Collaborating with Influencers for SMS List Building?
Influencer marketing is a powerful tool for expanding your SMS database. Partner with influencers who align with your brand values to promote your SMS opt-ins. They can share special discount offer message samples or create engaging content that encourages their followers to subscribe to your SMS notifications, driving more leads to your database.?
#10 Analyzing SMS Campaign Performance to Improve Your Database?
Regularly analyze the performance of your SMS campaigns using an SMS tracker and analytics tools. By examining metrics like delivery rates, open rates, and conversion rates, you can identify what works and what doesn’t. Adjust your strategy accordingly to ensure you are capturing high-quality phone numbers for your database.?
Channels You Can Use to Grow Your SMS Database?
The success of your SMS database depends on a series of activities across different platforms. Most businesses today use omnichannel strategies to engage with consumers on social media, email, and physical interactions at the point of sale. Here is a list of channels that can help grow your SMS database:?
Final Thoughts?
Building a good database for SMS marketing is crucial for brand growth, but it requires compliance with various regulations. To simplify the process, you can partner with experts at BSG to assist with your SMS list building. Using our SMS database software, we can help you leverage various channels to create a compliant SMS database and verify phone numbers