Text messaging is a powerful tool for businesses looking to nurture leads, connect with customers, and drive sales. For effective text message outreach and follow-up, your messages must be relevant to your audience.
That means relying on customer data and analytics to tailor each of your text messaging campaigns.
So, how can you gather and use customer information to send relevant marketing and sales text messages? Follow these steps to get started:
Gather customer data
The first step in using customer data to improve your text messaging efforts? Gathering data on your customers. This includes information like:
- demographics
- purchase or booking history
- purchase and contract amounts
- buyer interests/preferences
- previous feedback or reviews
- abandoned items in carts
You likely already collect a lot of this data when leads/prospects submit a form on your website, through surveys and customer interviews, and/or by analyzing customer behavior on your website and social media channels.
Segment your audience
With that data and information, segment your audience of potential and current customers into different groups based on what they have in common. Just like you probably create email lists, do the same for anyone who opted in to receiving texts.
You might create text messaging segments for people who:
- recently purchased specific items
- scheduled an appointment within the last X weeks/months
- showed interest in a specific product or service but not purchased
- previously purchased but haven’t engaged with your brand in X weeks/months
- bought a subscription to a product/service
- identified themselves as part of a specific industry or job (super important for any B2B selling)
This allows you to write personalized, targeted text messages for each group. Well-targeted text messages have higher open and click-through rates, which leads to higher conversions and revenue.
Write relevant and personalized text messages
After segmenting your audience, create text messages that specifically target the needs and interests of each group. Use all the customer data you gather to specifically personalize your messages to increase the chances that your customers will engage with them.
The simplest example of a targeted marketing text message that you’ve likely been the recipient of yourself: If a customer recently made a purchase, send them a message thanking them for their purchase and offer a discount on their next purchase.
Here are a few example templates:
- “Hey [First Name], we noticed that you’re a frequent buyer of our [Repeat Product/Service Purchased). We wanted to thank you for your loyalty and offer you a special discount on your next purchase. Use code (discount code) at checkout.”
- “You haven’t shopped with us in a while, [First Name]. Don’t forget that we’ve got exclusive monthly offers for all returning customers. Curious to know what the deal is this month?”
- “Hi [First Name], I know that you’re a fan of [Favorite Product/Service]. We’ve got a new range of (product/service) that you might like. Check it out here (link)”
- “Happy birthday, [First Name]! As a special birthday treat, we’re offering you (discount) off your next purchase. Use code (discount code) when you (schedule, buy, etc.)”
- “Hi [First Name], since you recently purchased (product/service) would you leave a review? We always want your feedback (link to review)”
- “I know that you’re a fan of [Repeat Product/Service Purchased], [First Name]. Have you tried our newest (product/service) for [Job Type]? I can hook you up with a discount if you want to try it!”
Utilizing customer data to send relevant and personalized text messages helps you build customer trust. It shows your customers that you care about them and value their opinion. In contrast, generic and impersonal texts come off as cold and uninviting, which makes customers and leads feel disconnected from your business.
Ultimately, sending relevant and personalized messages leads to increased loyalty and customer lifetime value, plus higher engagement with your brand.
Set up automations to trigger relevant messages
Using all the customer data we’ve talked about, you can create automated campaigns with messages like those above. You tailor the messages to each customer’s interests/needs AND send the messages at just the right times.
Automating text message outreach potentially saves you hours each week and helps you reach your audience consistently. You write the messages, ideally utilizing custom merge fields, set delays between messages, and choose campaign triggers. The right messages then go out without much further manual work. You’ve just got to be ready to reply when your customers respond!
Common triggers to automatically send text messages include:
- recent purchases
- failed payments
- contract renewal approaching
- upcoming consultation/appointment
- elapsed time since last purchase or appointment
- accrual of loyalty points or similar
- upcoming expiration of loyalty points or similar
Carefully set up your triggers and workflows for automated messages so that they only send once certain conditions have been met. Otherwise, you look completely out of the loop and will definitely look/sound like a bot.
Especially when you know a text message will be part of an automated series of messages, focus on writing personal and more human messages. It should be obvious to your contacts that there’s a person on the other end ready to help them.
Improve your text marketing tactics with customer-focused messages
Gathering and utilizing customer data is the most powerful way to improve your text marketing efforts. Implementing these steps will help you to create a more personalized text message strategy, which will help to improve customer engagement and loyalty and drive sales.
See how Skipio uses your existing customer data to help you send relevant, personalized messages to get your customers engaging with you more often.