Personalising Your SMS Marketing

What exactly is personalisation? Does it simply mean adding a first name to your SMS marketing messages? Or is it more than that? You’ve probably guessed – it’s way more than that.

Using people’s names in marketing is great. It does provide a certain level of personalisation that can get people more interested in what you’re sending them. Of course in text messaging, you don’t always have the room for a name, your message, and the required opt out information … usually there just isn’t enough room. So how can you make your marketing messages personal?

Find out about the people on your list. Who are they, what do they buy from you, what services of yours do they use, how old are they, do they have kids? Figure out what questions would be helpful to have answered given your business or organisation so you can create a personal message. One easy way is to know someone’s birthday. That’s one personal message you can send each year. You probably want to market to them more than that though, so get the answers to all those questions you just thought up.

Here is an example. You run a travel agency that books trips all over the world for all types of people. But are those people who go to the Caribbean every spring interested in going to Iceland instead? Maybe. But you know they would be interested in an early booking special for 10% holiday packages to the Caribbean with travel dates during the spring. Those people would consider that a personal message from you, their travel agent. You know they like to spend spring walking the warm sandy beaches and snorkelling in the bright blue waters. Use whatever information you have about your clients’ past trips to personalise offers for their next trip. It’s the content, and the intention, that’s personal in this type of marketing message.

Another example comes from a study done in the US by the American Academy of Pediatrics. The study evaluated how text reminders for vaccinations could help improve the timeliness of immunisations. They discovered that children were 27% more likely to be immunised if the parent received a text reminder that included the date the doses were due. Dr. Stockwell, who led the study, commented that people in the study liked getting the texts because it made them feel the doctor’s office cared about them. The messages were personalised to each child’s information, which in turn proved to the parents that the doctors were really concerned about their children.

If you can make the people on your list feel as though you care about them, know them, or are at least interested in them, your marketing will be much more successful. Go ahead. Give it a try and see how much better you do compared to generic marketing messages.

To learn even more how to get the best out of your marketing read our “Mobile Marketing Guide“.