SMS Opt-In: Why You Want It and How To Get It
1 in 10 smartphone users grab their phone as soon as they wake up. That’s how fundamental smartphones have become to the way we communicate. In a Price Waterhouse Cooper study, 80% of those surveyed said they’d be happy to share their personal details with a company, as long as the company were upfront about how they intended to use the information. The point is, people are happy to opt-in – 49% of them according to a 2014 survey. After all, if your customers have explicitly stated ‘yes, please contact me’ and you provide them with timely, relevant and personalised information, then it is definitely a win-win for both of you.
The Opt-In: Why You Need It
The first thing to remember is that legally, you must give the customer the chance to both opt-in and opt-out of your SMS campaign – the default effect is not in play at this point, unfortunately. Satisfying the ICO requirements is fairly straightforward, as long as you:
- Indicate who you are
- Be transparent about your intentions
- State what your promotions are, and the T&Cs
- Clearly indicate a way to opt out e.g. text STOP to 87007.
Running an opt-in campaign can be hard work, and it’s tempting just to buy a list of pre-approved numbers where mobile users have given general agreement to be contacted by ‘third party retail partners’. There are some very good reasons why buying a list is not a great idea, like the case of the Leave campaign during the run-up to the EU referendum.
A strong opt-in campaign doesn’t have to start from scratch – you can leverage your more traditional marketing channels and your social media presence to create opt-in. Offering an incentive like a coupon or discount motivates nearly 30% of us to opt-in. And once we’ve opted in, then the default effect does come into play, with less than 3% bothering to opt out again.
Why Shortcodes and Keywords are Your Friends
We’re all familiar with shortcodes – the 5 or 6 digit numbers that appear on opt-in texts and are memorable and easy to use, perfect for creating awareness and brand identification. Shortcodes are used with keywords, which are the ‘Open Sesame’ that unlock the door to the discount or promotions on offer.
SMS marketing can offer you 2 options when you use a shortcode:
- A shared shortcode with a keyword that identifies you as the user, routing opt-ins directly to your company – this is the cost-effective, easy set-up option for a smaller business
- A custom shortcode where you control as many keywords as you like is an option for bigger organisations, who may be running multiple SMS campaigns, each with their own identity.
The Opt-In: How To Get It
We’ll assume that you’re not going to be doing any TV, billboard or radio advertising, though a guest spot on a local radio show would be a good way to promote your opt-in campaign by highlighting your shortcode and keyword. Let’s say you run a local bike shop, with a website, a Facebook page and an active Twitter account. You can leverage all these platforms, plus your bricks and mortar, to incentivise your customers to opt-in.
- In your store: actively promote your shortcode and keyword either on posters around the store or by word of mouth. Offer a free gift like a branded water bottle if customers sign up there and then.
- At the point of sale: encourage staff to offer customers a 10% discount on their purchase plus future special offers when they opt-in at the till
- On your website: use a call to action on your website with an incentivised offer, for example free shipping on your next order
- Email: you’ll certainly have an email list for newsletter subscribers, so include the call to action in your next mail out, offering access to a secret club when your customers opt-in to receive SMS messages
- Social media post: value doesn’t have to come in the form of a discount – opting in could unlock tips on bike maintenance, exclusive bike reviews or competitions to win gear, accessories or a bike fit.
How to Keep Customers Opted-In, Not Opting-Out
First, you need to make your communications relevant, so hit the right customer at the right time with the right information. Use your metrics cleverly and you’ll send hyper-personal information that your customers appreciate. If you have reservations about frequency, then use SMS to ask your customers how often they’d like to be contacted and with what information.
Now start a conversation with your customers. 64% of consumers prefer to communicate by text, so use SMS to your advantage. Follow up on new purchases with a short customer satisfaction survey and a personal discount code on completion. Engage your customers with gamification – for a bike shop, running a fantasy Tour de France league with regular updates and a killer prize on offer for the winner will begin to build a buzzing mobile community around your brand and encourage others to opt-in and get involved.
Finally, be very clear on phrasing – keep it short and to the point. Funny is often better, but whatever phrasing you choose, make sure you keep your wording consistent across all platforms, otherwise your campaign will seem confused and risk customers opting out.
So Why Do I Need Opt-In Again?
- Legally, your SMS campaign must be in compliance with ICO rules and for that you need opt-in
- You’ll know your customers want to hear from you
- You can target campaigns to specific groups of customers
- You can integrate a call to action across all your platforms
- Shortcodes and keywords build brand awareness.
At FastSMS, we offer a full range of SMS marketing services designed to help you get the optimum opt-in and then run an SMS marketing campaign. Contact us for more details.
Related Articles
Hefty fines for companies not following opt in SMS messaging policies
SMS Marketing: An Essential Guide to PECR
The PECR Regulations, better known as the Privacy and Electronics Communications (EC Directive) Regulations 2003 are one of the most important pieces of legislation affecting those involved in SMS Marketing. They exist to safeguard the privacy and use of personal information when used for direct marketing through electronic means, including communications by SMS. Parts of it crossover with the Data Protection Act 1998 (DPA) and where it does so, both pieces of legislation should be complied with. Unlike the DPA, the PECR is obligatory whether or not you process personal data in the course of your business. Read this essential guide to PECR for SMS Marketing to ensure you know everything you need to know.
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.
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.
Never Use SMS Marketing the Way This Company Did
You’d think a large, multinational company would have all the resources and planning it needed to run an SMS marketing campaign. But that isn’t always the case apparently. Find out the big mistake this one company made and how you can avoid doing the same thing in this blog.
SMS Marketing: Ensuring Compliance with the Law
All businesses are subject to the law when it comes to advertising and marketing. Companies cannot make false claims or mislead consumers via advertising materials, for example. Designed to protect consumers and commercial clients, the law regulates most forms of marketing in some way. With companies carrying out various forms of marketing activity, it can be difficult to keep on top of the relevant laws and guidelines. By working with SMS marketing experts, however, you can ensure that your marketing campaigns are fully compliant with the necessary laws and that you’re able to connect with your target audience lawfully and effectively.
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.
Proof SMS Messaging Gets Results: Giveaways and Contests
Companies use contests and giveaways all the time. It turns out that doing them over SMS messaging works really well, and offers some advantages over other channels. Read our blog to see the types of results various companies achieved when using SMS giveaways.