Given the continuous complexity of businesses, globalisation of audiences, as well as rapidly developing technologies; we just cannot keep up using the old ways: manual entry, human-only tasks. Businesses are adopting all kinds of SMS Marketing automation to save time and drive efficiencies from sales right across to customer support and operations. 

Text message automation, simply put, is the automatic sending or triggering of text messages to individuals or groups of people with little or no manual intervention. Marketing automation has become increasingly popular with brands as it allows them to save time by pre-scheduling text messages to be sent in the future. Additionally, they are making use of other types of SMS automations by using time or action-based drip messages that are triggered by specific criteria.

The advantages of adding SMS marketing automation 

SMS marketing automation can support you in resolving specific issues: immediacy, personalisations, responsiveness and win-backs. 

While there are many benefits to SMS automation, you will find it best complements a multi-channel marketing plan and approach. To extend the scale of your campaigns and to drive even better sales, why not try adding an SMS offer a few days after your initial email marketing blast? In a mobile-first world, it’s an effective strategy to cut through the noise and prompt your target market to take immediate action. 

Together, your ideal marketing automation system should: 

•    Nurture potential customers throughout the sales funnel 
•    Provide a seamless customer experience for your target audience
•    Speed up lead generation processes
•    Automate repetitive tasks to save time 
•    Lower operational cost and spend 
•    Increase ROI, scalability and resources for other marketing activities

      And so much more! 

The most common SMS marketing automations

There are different ways you can add SMS automations to boost your business and marketing efforts. 

1. Promotional campaigns

Promotional SMS is one of the best ways to reach a dedicated list of contacts to market your brand.

It can also be used to get your audience to take action, especially when that action can be done online.

Some ideas for promotional campaigns include:

• Encouraging repeat or related item purchases.
• Reminder about abandoned carts
• Holiday marketing
• Alerting customers to VIP or special sales
• Simply letting customers know more about you and your business

2. Reminders & alerts

Send automated reminder SMS texts and alerts to your clients. A simple solution to reduce no-shows and inform about important events, appointments and confirmations.

Automated SMS messages can help you make sure that customers do not miss important notifications, information or urgent alerts such as: 

•       Online Appointment and event reminders (‘Your appointment is scheduled for tomorrow!’)
•       Instant Confirmations (‘Thanks for subscribing! Kindly confirm.’) 
•       Flash sales or end of season alerts (‘Your favorite items are back in stock. Buy it now!’) 

3. Cart abandonment and customer win backs

Cart abandonment is when customers add items to their online shopping cart but exit the website without making a purchase.

The message sent can contain many different (and combinations of) messages, such as the cart content, product recommendations and discounts.

4. Surveys and two-way SMS conversations 

Text messaging in business can facilitate better two-way conversations between you and customers. When we think about our personal text messages, it seems obvious that it is all about a two-way conversation. However, in business, it is often limited to sending out a single message broadcasting an offer, updating clients about opening hours, or directing customers elsewhere.  

Two-way conversations using SMS marketing automation allow for businesses to get more in-depth, and personal with their customers by building caring, personal relationships while gathering customer insight and greater business intelligence. 

If you’re a SaaS business, use SMS automation to send conversational prompts, surveys or, in the case below, invites for 1-on-1 consultations with customers who haven’t moved onto a paid subscription after trial. 

Find out more about SMS campaigns… Get in Touch!