Text Message marketing is the fastest way to reach modern consumers. The average text message open rate is up to 98%, and 90% of people open a text within just 3 minutes. Compared to email, open rates are nearly 5x higher and the time to open is much quicker. While SMS marketing sometimes carries a negative perception, if it is done right, it provides significant potential for engagement & conversion and even can contribute to increased brand loyalty.

Some of the mean reasons people sign up to receive text messages include:

• They Already Love The Brand
• They’re About to Make a Purchase and Want a Discount
• They Purchase From the Brand Frequently
• It is a Brand They Want to Purchase from When There is a Sale
• They Want to Stay Up to Date on the Latest News
• They Want Reminders About Upcoming Orders or Appointments
• They Want Access to Exclusive Products or Discounts

While recipients have already opted in to receive your SMS messages, you risk them opting out if you aren’t sending them the content that they want to see. There are 3 main types of messages customers typically do want to see:

Transactional Messages
Information About Orders, Subscription Reminders, Delivery Confirmations

Exclusivity Messages
Unique Experiences, Personalization (such as Birthday Messages), and Quick Responses

Money Saving Messages
Discounts, Promotions, and Sales

The frequency and timing of your messages will vary depending on your target market and the type of product or service that you provide, but in general, most consumers are accepting of at least one text message from a brand per week.

Because SMS is the quickest communication it also has the potential for the fastest conversions. Timing your messages right can be vital to encouraging purchases. Generally, people are most likely to purchase SMS in the evening and less likely to buy something in the morning.

iFOLIO makes Scheduling, Building, and Sending campaigns easy by integrating each step into one flow. Once you’ve built and published an iFOLIO page, you’ll be able to send it in a campaign. The Campaign Builder is broken into 3 steps:

1. Schedule Your Campaign

From the campaign tab, you choose your iFOLIO from the slider and select a date and time to send from the date-picker widget.

2. Build Your Message

Step 2 includes the Visual Editors for Email and Text Message campaigns. Here we’ll focus on Text Message. In the Visual Text Message editor, you’ll be able to write your message and signature and choose an image to display in your digital text message. You’ll also be able to send a test message to yourself to get a preview of how your message will appear to recipients.

3. Upload Your Campaign List & Send

Step 3 is where you upload your formatted list of contacts who you want to send your campaign to. You can download the list template right from the menu or select a previously saved list. Once your list is selected, you’ll be able to schedule or send your campaign by pressing the button.

Get Permission
Few things make consumers more unhappy than unsolicited marketing messages. Make sure that contacts have opted-in to communications before you include them in your campaign lists. Offering an opt-out is also good practice for retaining credibility and trust.

Keep it Concise
Customers don’t want to read a long paragraph to find out what it is you’re offering. Keep messages simple and communicate your offer or information. Short, clever messages help encourage engagement and reduce opt-outs.

Add An Image or GIF
Grab attention and reinforce your brand by using the media library to upload content to use in your message.

Customize Your Signature
Add a personalized touch by customizing the signature at the end of your message.

Use a 10-Digit Dedicated Number
Choosing to send from a dedicated 10-Digit Number enables prospects to save your contact card to their contacts so that future messages will display the company name instead of the phone number.

Send at the Right Time
Monitor your results using Analytics and determine what time is best to send your campaigns. Again, generally, customers are more likely to purchase in the evening than in the morning, but it can depend based on your product or service and your target audience.

iFOLIO offers comprehensive real-time analytics so you can keep track of your campaign results easily and instantaneously. In the Campaigns tab of iFOLIO, you’ll be able to find insights such as Opens, iFOLIO Views, Shared Stats, Heatmaps of Interest, and more.

Learn More About iFOLIO Campaign Analytics