The 3 Biggest Benefits of Using a Shortcode in Your SMS Marketing
Over 92% of people in the UK have mobile phones. SMS marketing is one of the best ways to reach out to them in a personal way. But for your marketing to be a real success, you need to get replies. Using a shortcode with keywords offers many benefits for your marketing. Although there are numerous advantages from using shortcodes let’s just take a look at the top three:
- The shortcode becomes identifiable with your brand. Recognition is important in marketing. When you’re competing for attention among other text messages you’ll want your customers to know the message is from you so they won’t ignore it.
- A shortcode is easy to type. If you want to have people send you messages, they’ll need to reply to your message, or type in your contact number. A short code is a five digit number so it ends up being much easier for people to enter it into their mobile than a traditional 11 digit number.
- Short means easy to remember. To maximise your mobile marketing investment, you’ll want to advertise your mobile campaigns on multiple channels. If people see printed material, or hear your shortcode on the radio, they can remember it well enough to respond to your call to action.
Using shortcodes is easy too. SMS providers usually have a dedicated code. You can rent keywords to use on their shortcode, usually for a small fee. For example, keywords on the fastsms shortcode costs just £25 per month (or just £250 if you rent it for a year).
Larger brands might consider obtaining their own shortcode rather than renting keywords on a shared shortcode. Just be prepared for a long lead time and monthly fees near a thousand pounds per month.
So for most businesses, the combination of shared shortcodes and rented keywords has all the benefits for SMS marketing without the extreme cost of a custom dedicated shortcode. If you want more information on using shortcodes for your business, click on the chat button and our representatives can answer all your questions. Or if you’d rather you can contact us via email or phone. Alternatively take a look at our free Mobile Marketing Guide which offers a wealth of info, tips and advice on SMS matters.
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