Text message marketing might be easy to overlook, but it has its advantages.

After all, businesses must use every option available for successful marketing. The more engagement opportunities offered to customers, the better your chances are of turning leads into sales.

Read on to find out why you should invest in SMS marketing and how to create a text subscription service.

What is a Text Subscription Service?

An SMS subscription service is exactly what it sounds like. You build a list of phone numbers from customers and potential leads and then send marketing material. You can do this either individually or as a group.

The best platforms let you create a text subscription service for different groups. You can then send different material, ranging from updates for repeat customers to discounts for new leads.

Why Should You Create a Text Subscription Service?

So, what advantages does text messaging marketing offer businesses? Well, consider the following:

• Text messages have a significantly higher open rate than emails. It’s 98% compared to email’s 20%.
• You’ll reach your customers immediately. People open texts more than emails because they almost always have their phones to hand.
• You don’t have to worry about the dreaded spam label.
• Engagement and response rates are at least 8 times higher for text message marketing than email marketing.
• 74% of customers would prefer to receive more text messages from a business. Clearly, the market is wide open.

As you can see, there are clear benefits to creating an SMS subscription service. Despite it being one of the oldest (new) communication methods, surprisingly few businesses use text message marketing.

What Can You Do With a Text Subscription Service?

SMS marketing has plenty of possibilities for improving engagement and increasing your marketing reach. Let’s look at a few use cases to illustrate why it’s a good idea to create a text subscription service.

Confirming Appointments

Text message marketing is the perfect platform for sending appointment confirmations to customers. In fact, 67% of respondents in one survey said it’s their preferred method of receiving confirmations.

You can use the same service to send booking texts for last-minute appointments or cancellations. Adding a URL at the end of the text, which takes the customer to your booking platform, makes it quick and easy to fill missed appointments.

So, an SMS subscription service helps cut down on missed appointments and fill cancellations.

SMS Surveys

Consumer feedback is vital for improving services. Have you received a text after interacting with a business’s customer services department? Probably.

Texting your customers simple, clear multiple-choice questions tailored to your business makes it easy to collect valuable feedback. Using a scoring system (e.g., 1-5) means customers don’t need to think much about their feedback, which can improve response rates massively.

Sending Special Offers

Using an SMS subscription service to send exclusive discount codes rewards loyalty and encourages people to sign up. After all, if a customer finds out they can receive a 15% discount just for submitting their phone number, they probably will.

The service’s nature allows you to send super time-limited offers, which customers can use almost immediately.

Plus, it’s easy for customers to share the message with their friends and family. This generates business and is perfect word-of-mouth marketing, which we all know is still the best kind.

Useful Tips for Creating a Text Subscription Service

When you decide to create a text subscription service, it’s vital to consider the finer details. Below are some tips for getting the most from your text message marketing:

• Short code texting is ideal for these situations because it allows you to send bulk messages quickly and easily.
• However, long code texting is necessary for individual texting, such as booking appointments.
• Millennials and other text-savvy consumers are the perfect target market for text message marketing. 75% of millennials say it’s their preferred form of marketing.
• Keep your messages short and sweet. No one wants several pages of text to read.
• Only text during typical working hours (e.g., 8-5).
• Make it easy for customers to opt-in and out, and only send to people who opt-in.

Text Subscription Service Options to Get Started

If you’re convinced that an SMS subscription service is right for your business, here are 3 top picks that allow you to create a text subscription service:

1. EZ Texting

EZ Texting is a full-service SMS marketing platform with flexible pricing options. It offers analytics, automation, message templates, and various marketing features. There’s a free trial, and the monthly cost ranges from $19 to $299 depending on your needs.

2. Simple Texting

Simple Texting is a flexible text message marketing platform with plans to suit all business needs. Its only real downside is the 160-character limit for SMS, but this isn’t a massive issue. Prices depend on the number of texts you’ll send a month.

3. Podium

Podium offers plenty of customer interaction services, including SMS marketing. You can send, receive, and respond to texts in real-time from the central hub, making Podium clear and easy to use. Its service is annual, and you must message them for a custom quote.

Using Textr for SMS Marketing

Textr is launching a mass text message marketing service specifically designed for businesses. It allows you to send and receive messages, promote your business with numerous marketing tools, and collaborate using Textr’s existing marketing features.

What’s more, Textr offers a Number Carrier Lookup Tool so you can get current and reliable carrier data of customers. Combining this with our SMS subscription service means it’s never been easier to use text message marketing.

Conclusion – Utilizing SMS Marketing

Done properly, an SMS subscription service is a powerful tool for any business. You can interact with customers quickly and easily, send exclusive offers, collect feedback, and much more.