Improve Your Lead Nurturing by Baking SMS Into the Mix

Peter Sharkey in Marketing automation on 17th of Oct 2016
SMS Marketing Software

SMS Marketing Software

Domino’s is known for many things. Chief among them: terrible pizza. What they’re not known for is cutting edge technology choices or sophisticated marketing campaigns (beyond throwing a ton of money at TV ads). But one savvy franchisee found success in the unlikeliest of places: SMS marketing.

What SMS promotions used to look like

Domino’s roots date back over 50 years, when their original claim to fame—pizza delivery in 30 minutes or less—firmly planted them in the hearts and minds of broke college kids everywhere (especially those with the munchies). One local Domino’s franchise ran a promotion at a UNC-Charlotte basketball game, having students reply to a SMS short code with their email address for a chance to win a free pizza. This simple strategy resulted in nearly 600 opt-ins (almost 15% of the attendees) and another few hundred added to their Facebook group. Mr. Swanson, the franchisee who came up with this straightforward guerilla marketing tactic, uses coupon codes to measure each game’s campaign and says that redemption rates hover between 20-25%.  Chuck E. Cheese, who also knows a thing or two about terrible pizza, serves as another unlikely source for SMS inspiration. They’ve previously run a promotion where you text an email address to a number to be added to their email newsletter.

Chuck E Cheese SMS programOh the childhood memories.

Wait…an SMS ad to join an email club? Confusing, right?!

Text program reply messageWow, this picture is old.

These campaigns are easy, low-tech operations we’re used to seeing (and ignoring) when we’re out and about. But what about a more sophisticated use case? One that works with bigger ticket items or a consultative sales process (read: not impulse purchases).

How SMS can aid your lead nurturing efforts

Marketing automation emails generate twice as many leads as your typical spray-and-pray email blast. Marketing automation helps lead genThe two methods are compared so often, that it’s no wonder people automatically assume marketing automation refers to just automated emails. However it goes far beyond that. Here’s why. Consumers hop from device to device, browser to browser, and channel to channel when navigating through their customer journey. This multi-everything approach is now the norm in most cases, and it requires several touches (like double digits) along this circuitous route in order to generate paying customers. Typically when someone fills out a form during this process, they receive follow up emails to reaffirm their decision, tell them what to do next, and nurture them over the next few days or weeks. The trouble is, email open rates continue to decline (thanks in large part to ever-increasing competition and email providers who are attempting to cut down on spam). Here’s where SMS comes in. It boasts average open rates of 99%, while also capitalizing on our apparent crack-fiend-like obsession with checking text messages every 10 minutes; jonesing for a fix when we feel that familiar vibration emanating from our mobile. SMS provides us with greater potential to win a prospect’s attention. Recently, my company analyzed what the lead generation process looks like in an aggressive sales marketplace. We noticed that SMS is already supplementing many traditional email follow ups. For example, we went to the landing page of one company, filled out the form to become a lead, and were immediately sent the following text message. Text message example Interesting. In addition to the business-as-usual email follow up, they sent a text. But more importantly, they were using the text to augment follow-ups in other channels, and get us (as the consumer) to be on the lookout for an upcoming phone call. That’s really smart if you think about it for a second. People are naturally suspicious of unknown phone numbers on their cell phone (and for good reason; thanks, call centers). If someone calls you with an unknown number, or even worse, an 800-number, you’re going to hit the big red button on your phone faster than…well, just super fast. That’s why some of the savviest outbound sales efforts also use local phone numbers so that the matching area code lowers the prospect’s suspicion and increases the likelihood that they answer the call.

TL;DR?

Phone conversions are between 30-50%. In other words, way higher than the pathetic-in-comparison ~2% on websites. But good luck getting someone to actually answer. Savvy consumers have been through the wringer before. They know how the game is played. Blending in a friendly, introductory SMS notification helps you bridge that gap between online opt-in and phone conversation though, giving you a much better shot to close more deals.

How to combine SMS and marketing automation

Adding SMS to your lead nurturing activities is no different than sending email (except for that huge response rate discrepancy mentioned). You can do it on the front-end in your drip email campaigns to increase the amount of people who sign up, during the middle of the sales process to re-engage cold prospects, or on the back-end to generate repurchases and referrals. Autopilot integrates with Twilio to deliver SMS campaigns that include personalized fields like first name, company, and more. (You can also tap into a ton more through the Zapier connection). Text message follow up The best marketing automation sequences, though, go far beyond a basic follow-up notification. That’s just the start. Instead, the true power of marketing automation lies in its ability to recognize context and utilize timing to tailor upcoming messages accordingly. When you translate that from BS-marketing-consultant speak to English, it means that you can now see if someone doesn’t pick up that phone call previously alluded to, and send a different message to the new prospect as a result: Another text message example All of these actions are pre-choreographed ahead of time, tailored to your customer’s journey. If someone does this, send that. If someone doesn’t do that, send this instead. And if you’re using the right marketing automation tool, you can take this a step further by pulling in personalized details like first name and company name, giving your seemingly commercial text message a more personal and authentic feel.

Conclusion

SMS campaigns used to look, feel, and work as well as Domino’s pizza tasted. But thanks to consumers who’ve become a lot more comfortable with receiving these pervasive messages, and technology that’s advanced in the past few years, you can now incorporate SMS into your lead nurturing and sales efforts to augment overly-competitive, clogged up, and increasingly underperforming channels (ahem email). Marketing automation technology ties all of this together, allowing you to trigger and send off personalized SMS notifications at the right time to make sure yours are seen as friendly updates or reminders (as opposed to the spammy and pushy reputation SMS has had in the past). How are you using SMS marketing in your marketing automation efforts? Let us know in the comments.

marketing automation templates

Try Autopilot today Start free trial.

Signup for free
comments powered by Disqus