The Difference Between Email and SMS Autoresponders: Part 1
One of the great things about email marketing is the ability to send pre-prepared emails to your list automatically. Everyone who uses email has seen them, even if they don’t realise it. Many common uses are for registration confirmations, order confirmations, and customer support responses (“We got your request and we’ll get back to you soon!”). There is also a whole world of email marketing built around autoresponders. But I’ll get to that later.
While you may be familiar with email autoresponders (especially if you’re in marketing) you may or may not know you can set up a similar function with SMS messaging. In concept, it works the same way. But there are some differences in how they are used which I’ll cover here.
What's the Same?
Both types of autoresponders are triggered by an action taken by the recipient. Usually for email, the person has provided their address to you for some reason. They signed up to get a special offer, your newsletter, or other information. In SMS, autoresponders are usually triggered by a keyword sent to you in a text message. It could be a reply to a message you sent, or it could be an initial text to you from a new person not yet on your list.
In both cases, you craft a message that gets sent automatically when the person contacts you. What the message is depends on what the person signed up for or contacted you about.
Here are some examples for both email and SMS autoresponders:
Confirmation messages – These can be for any request such as subscription sign ups, orders, or support requests.
Informational – Content such as tips, purchase related information, or e-courses (sequential content delivered in chunks designed to teach).
Engagement – Asking your subscribers to connect or comment via reply or on social media is another good use of an autoresponder.
If you are familiar with email marketing (as a marketer or as a recipient) you’re probably wondering how you can do some of these via SMS. Well, that gets us to some of the differences. Even though it’s possible to do all of these with SMS, how you do them is, or can be, different.
Come back for part 2 in the next blog to see how to put SMS autoresponders to work for you.
Related Articles
Proof SMS Messaging Gets Results: Opt-Ins
SMS messaging is one of the most effective mobile marketing channels. The proof is in the data, of course. In this blog post, you’ll discover how many opt ins businesses get, and how quickly they get them once they give SMS messaging a go.
What You Can Learn From a Bad SMS Message
In last week’s blog I covered how the Trump campaign sent unsolicited SMS messages to voters. This week I’m stuck on the same topic, but from a totally different angle: what we can learn from that failure. Because honestly, their biggest issue might not be violating the law. It might be the people they have writing their SMS messages. It’s time to dissect the message that spawned the law suit, and learn what we can from it.
How SMS Messaging Benefits Every Level of Education
Schools up and down the country are working tirelessly to increase the opportunities available to young people. But, with budgets being cut, these are tough times for many education providers. One of the biggest challenges facing head teachers, class teachers, and office staff is how to find cost-effective means of effectively communicating with the parents and carers of their pupils. That's where SMS text messaging comes in.
How Clubs Can Benefit from Using Text Messaging
Read how clubs can benefit from the use of text messaging services to reduce wasted time and increase customer satisfaction. They can confirm appointments in advance with an option to text back to cancel or re-schedule thus reducing no-shows. SMS is also great for sharing news and special offers with members.
5 Ideas for Your Easter SMS Marketing Campaign
Flash Sale Guide: How to run more effective summer sale campaigns
5 Ways to Use SMS to Save Money and Improve Your Retail Business
Every good retail business owner knows that the key to success is keeping his or her customers happy. Your level of customer service should be all encompassing to succeed and should consist of more than just being polite to the customer at the till.
Why SMS is the Perfect Tool for your ‘Beautiful Christmas’ Campaign
Christmas is coming and with it plenty of opportunities to increase your retail sales or market your services. If you're a hairdresser or beautician, you'll know how busy you get during the festive party season. It's still not too late to create an SMS campaign for Christmas and the New Year.
Why SMS Text Messaging is a Must For Your Recruitment Business
How SMS Marketing Can Revolutionise Your Beauty Business
There are many benefits of using SMS marketing for businesses within the health and beauty industry. From instantly connecting with customers to booking appointments and increasing sales, the opportunities for the health and beauty sector are huge when it comes to business text messaging. Due to the fast-paced nature of appointment booking within the industry, and the increasing competition, SMS marketing could be the key to separate you from your competition.