Businesses See a Sales Lift with Texting

JookSMS’s Mata recommends closely monitoring response and close rates for certain types of business to see how well text messaging for sales performs. His company has found good, creative text messages to be very successful for selling flowers, for example.

Fast food chain Chipotle had success with a recent text message campaign, according to Casey Hill, growth manager at Bonjoro, a company that offers a personalized video messaging platform. Hill participated in the Chipotle program as a customer. First the restaurant offered a free burrito via a text message, then followed up over the next several weeks with other offers. Promotions like this typically see very high open rates, result in the company collecting valuable customer information, and boost sales, Hill says.

NOT COOKIE-CUTTER

However, while working well for many businesses, texting doesn’t always produce many sales benefits, Mata concedes. “There is no such thing as one solution for every client. Texting isn’t formal enough for some businesses; it is too restrictive for some others. Some [prospects/customers] find it to be intrusive.”

The privacy concerns with texting are somewhat similar to those for email or other forms of communication. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act of 1991 is very explicit about unsolicited texts. Opt-ins are essential and must be clearly spelled out.

Having a double opt-in or a very clearly worded disclaimer is critical for compliance, Pour says.

“There are very specific rules for texting for sales,” adds Mark Kosoglow, vice president of sales at Outreach. “You don’t want to cold-text; that’s an invasion of someone’s personal space.”

Scarborough adds that companies need to enable people to unsubscribe as easily as they can opt in.

And in the end, there is an even bigger caveat when it comes to texting: Experts agree that consumers are fickle, and their preferences can change quickly. Texting can be an effective sales tool, but consumer communication preferences can move to another channel in a matter of months. Some who had preferred text communications have already moved to Instagram and other communications platforms. Texting in sales efforts, if done correctly, might boost sales now, but shifting consumer tastes could make it less effective in the future. 

Phillip Britt is a freelance writer based in the Chicago area. He can be reached at spenterprises@wowway.com.

Sales Texting Best Practices

Though text messaging is still fairly new as a business communications tool, it is mature enough that experts have been able to come up with some industry best practices when it comes to sales. They include the following:

• Always ask permission.While this is also a best practice for many email campaigns as well as for loyalty membership retention and growth, it is absolutely essential for texting in sales. Texting is highly personalized, and as such it assumes a familiarity with the customer.
• Keep it short.While this is an axiom in other forms of advertising/marketing, the nature of texting limits how long messages can be before they start to lose their effectiveness. Experts agree that initial text messages shouldn’t be more than 160 characters, if possible, and should not include images.
• Give people something to act on.Enable easy purchases by providing a link to mobile checkout capabilities.
• Text three minutes before the top of the hour.Though primarily an axiom in B2B settings, this can be effective for B2C as well, according to Bob Bentz, president of Advanced Telecom Services. “That’s when busy people are waiting for the next meeting and have some downtime,” he says.
• Use short questions.If questions are used in the text message, keep them and the expected responses short, says Michael Lucy, an independent broker who represents 40 life insurance firms. He further recommends that the first question be a “trigger” for the remainder of the conversation. His company starts by using a piece of known information to engage and trigger the conversation; “Hi (client name), this is Mike responding to your inquiry about life insurance. The information I received says you are X years old, is that correct?”

Experts have also been able to identify a few things to avoid when using texting for sales. They include the following:

• Avoid being cute.While texts between friends and family members will often include emojis and abbreviations, such communications don’t have a place in sales.
• Avoid too much automation.While automation has many benefits, it is still too impersonal for anything but an initial text message.
• Don’t violate the Telephone Consumer Privacy Act.The penalties can be very stiff. “This is how a lot of lawyers make their living,” Bentz says.
• Don’t text in the middle of the night.