Why You Need a Blacklist and What It Can Teach You
One of the major metrics in SMS marketing is how many people opt in to receive your messages. But there’s a flip side to that metric: how many people opt out. In the ideal world, no one would ever leave your list and instead continue to make purchases or support your organisation for as long as you decide to message them. But that is not realistic and so you need a blacklist.
But in reality there are always some people who, for whatever reason, no longer want to get text messages from you. And when they do you need to remove their number from your marketing list. This usually means placing their number on the “blacklist”, or list of numbers you never want to contact again. I put the emphasis on the never because if you contact someone after they’ve opted out there are potential legal issues and fines you could have to pay. If someone wants out, let them out and do everything you can to make sure you don’t contact them again.
In our web based SMS service, you can set it up so that anyone who replies with your opt out keyword is automatically added to the blacklist. Then every campaign you send from then on can be cleaned against the blacklist to ensure those numbers aren’t accidentally contacted again. It provides a peace of mind when sending marketing messages that also saves you a ton of time trying to clean your list manually.
But the value of your blacklist goes beyond just saving you from fines. In fact, you can learn a lot from your blacklist.
While it’s a broad brush across all industries, average opt out percentages are usually less than 5%. So hopefully your analytics show that to be true. If your rate is much higher than that though, you’re doing something wrong.
Take a look at the campaign you sent that generated those opt outs. Then ask yourself the following questions:
Did you send too many messages? No one likes to be nagged. If you promised not to send more than four messages a month, make sure you didn’t send more than four. Or perhaps you sent a message every day letting them know about the sale and offering a coupon code. If people opted out in an exodus after that, you know now that your demographic has a low tolerance for daily messages. So if you’d increased your message frequency just before the larger number of opt outs, rethink your messaging strategy.
Did you send at the wrong time of day or week? If your messages are arriving during off hours they could easily annoy people enough to have them opt out. Double check when the campaign’s messages were sent and received then adjust future messages to be at more appropriate times. Another point to keep in mind is a study that showed messages received on weekends are 5 times more likely to result in an opt out than one received during the week. The study was across all types of marketing and industries so there will be exceptions, but it’s worth considering whether your messages could wait to be sent on a weekday.
Are your offers relevant? Look at the offer you sent with a fresh eye. Did you offer something different than you usually do? Perhaps your customers aren’t interested in the type of offering you sent in that campaign. Or it may have been the final message in a string of irrelevant offers that finally pushed people to opt out. You’ll never know unless you can take a step back and see what the data is telling you.
Ah the glorious blacklist! It’s more than housekeeping, and more than a metric to show how “badly” your campaign went. It’s a true source of valuable information, if you only take the time to look at it. You can also learn more from our free Mobile Marketing Guide.
Related Articles
Why Brits are Lucky When it Comes to SMS Spam
SMS spam is a problem worldwide. But in the UK, we’re less likely to get it than many other countries. Find out why that is, see some examples, and how you can do your part to keep your SMS messages free of spam.
What You Can Learn About SMS Marketing from These 7 Companies
The Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) issued seven monetary penalties against companies this year. We’ve read through them all – so you don’t have to – and discovered two lessons every company should learn about SMS marketing if they want to be successful.
3 Compliance Tips for Your Next SMS Marketing Campaign
When conducting an SMS marketing campaign, there are a number of compliance regulations you should be aware of, to ensure that your communications are as effective as possible, without being potentially damaging to your campaign or your business. If you're marketing to a UK market, the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR) gives clear guidelines on what falls within the rules. Here we've highlighted some key tips to ensure your next campaign is compliant, based on common questions that arise.
The ONE Thing You Never Want To Do In SMS Marketing
"UK B2C data for SMS marketing" - That was the search result headline I found while researching online. Interesting I thought. It must be relating to SMS marketing statistics for B2C (business to consumer) sales. Since I was searching for some updated information and studies about SMS I decided to click and read.
Can You Use SMS for “Cold Calling”?
Does the thought of cold calling fill you with dread? You might think it would be easier to use SMS messaging instead. And though it’s legal to do so in some circumstances, you might want to rethink using it that way. Read the full blog to find out why.
4 Simple Steps to Staying Compliant When Using SMS Messaging
Yet another company (Quigley and Carter Limited) have been fined by the ICO for not having permission to send SMS messages. In this case, they had outsourced their marketing to a third party who then sent messages on their behalf. So is staying compliant with the regulations regarding SMS messaging so difficult? It doesn’t have to be.
SMS Marketing Compliance and The New GDPR Regulations
As with anything in business, there are rules and regulations that need to be followed. Some of the key ones are laid out in the UK Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulation (PECR) - and while this can seem like a daunting document at first, it doesn't need to be...
Is SMS Marketing Complicated?
How hard is it to use SMS marketing? If you’ve been told it’s complicated, you heard wrong. Using SMS is simple, though there are a few things you should know. This blog shows you how simple it can be, and provides links to useful resources.
SMS Marketing – Steering Clear of Spamming and Harassment
Executed properly, SMS direct marketing is a hugely effective and successful means of building customer loyalty and improving sales. But even genuine and honest marketing companies can suffer huge damage to reputation or even break the law through simply lacking knowledge or not double-checking before releasing campaigns. Read this article to learn more about the definitions of spamming and harassment, current UK law and how to avoid simple but costly mistakes.
3 Important SMS Marketing Concepts You Need to Know
If you are looking to get going with SMS marketing it's worth learning a bit about the "tricks of the trade" so you avoid the common pitfalls and get off on the right foot. Read about three important marketing concepts that will maximise your success in this venture.