How to keep your SMS list subscribers happy

There’s a reason that your customers have opted in for your SMS marketing, a.k.a text marketing, service whether it be your hard to resist deals and services, to witty weekly updates. But you’ve realized, that in reality, acquiring your SMS subscribers actually is just half the battle. So the question stands, “How should I keep my subscribers happy and from opting out?”


1. Live up to your subscriber’s expectations

Each SMS should remind subscribers why they’ve signed up for your weekly messages. If you’ve initially offered a weekly deal, you can keep your messages interesting, but avoid deviating from your promises. For example, if your business is an upscale restaurant and you’re tempted to display your sense of humor with videos of LOL Cats, please refrain from doing so.
2. Keep your subscribers interested

There is more than one way to add value and excitement to your campaign than just offering deals. If you’re a restaurant, you offer your SMS subscribers with a reservation reminder program. If you’re a doctor, lawyer or hairdresser, you can remind your forgetful customers about their up coming appointment. Or you can involve your customers in your business and show them that you care about the quality of your services, simply by asking your SMS subscribers to respond with honest feedback about your service or product.

3. SMS your subscribers not too often and not too infrequently

Texting your SMS subscribers at an undesirable frequency is an easy way to sour your relationship. Once a week is a common assumption, but in reality, various variables are dependent on the happy medium, including the type of SMS marketing campaign you’re running, to the type of business that you run.

Get an idea about the frequency at which your customers conduct their business with you. For example, if you’re a hair salon running a deals based SMS marketing campaign, the realization that people tend to get their hair cut once or twice a month should clue you into sending your subscribers messages once or twice a month.

4. Use cross platform marketing to improve loyalty

A heavily discussed topic at Ad Week revolved around promoting the effectiveness of cross platform marketing – marketing on multiple channels, whether it be TV, mobile, or Internet devices. Because you’re restricted to 140 characters with a SMS, you’re only able to send a concise, yet descriptionless message. By integrating your social media page or website into your SMS marketing campaign, you’re able to provide subscribers with an online channel that they can use to find further information pertaining to your campaign. The more your subscribers know, the better they will respond to the campaign.

Remember that you will have a handful of subscribers without smartphones, so in the spirit of keeping your subscribers happy, offer a full URL that smartphone-less subscribers can use to find your social media page or website.

5. Give your SMS subscribers the option to opt out

The final tip may appear contradictory to retaining the loyalty of your subscribers, but it is one that every business must implement. Omitting the option to opt out of your SMS marketing campaign is quite like receiving junk mail that “forgets” to include the “unsubscribe” link, yet never seems to stop filling up your inbox. You can see how much this could potentially anger just about anyone, and in a world dominated by social media, it’s a potential PR nightmare. Simply, at the end of every message, add “Reply STOP to Opt out.” Your SMS subscribers will appreciate you for it.