Personally, I receive countless text messages daily. In this era of WhatsApp Messenger and other instant messengers, SMS messages appear a bit old-fashioned. Yet, these messages are clear indicators that SMS always remains an integral part of mobile marketing. And several companies use SMS marketing to increase sales of their business.

Before I speak about how to use SMS marketing to increase sales of your business, let's look at some of the flipsides of SMS messaging in general. That would give you a clear idea of how you can use SMS marketing effectively.

Flipsides of SMS Marketing

In simplest terms, SMS marketing involves sending messages in bulk to hundreds or even thousands of mobile phone numbers within a specific geographic location or the entire country in a few seconds. This depends upon the nature of the business.

Banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFCs), the Indian government organizations, utilities providers, eCommerce websites and several others use SMS marketing to reach existing and potential clients.

The messages are about existing or upcoming service, offers, promotions, cautionary notification, bill payment alerts, and any other information. However, not every SMS that I receive is useful. This brings us to the major flipsides of SMS marketing-

• SMS messages often go unread by the user since most people in India use WhatsApp and other messaging platforms.
• The National Do Not Disturb (DND) service that mobile telecom companies in India have to offer under Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines enables users to block all marketing SMS.
• As a common tendency, most mobile phone users don't bother to read SMS messages anymore.

If we consider these five factors, you can easily imagine the difficulties in using SMS marketing to increase sales of your business. At the same time, these needn't be an impediment or hurdle to your business. You can use SMS effectively for your business by following some simple tips.

Read more : 5 Highly Effective SMS Marketing Tips to Improve Black Friday Sales in 2019

5 Tips to Use SMS Marketing to Increase Sales for Your Business

These simple tips might help you overcome the above flipsides of SMS marketing and help increase sales of your business. 

1. Send a SMS Alerts to Right Customers 

As per the TRAI rule, never send unsolicited SMS messages to anyone merely because they're an existing customer or a potential client. And the best way to do so is ask your customers to subscribe voluntarily to SMS alerts from your business. 

You can do so by providing a link on your mobile with an assurance that you won't share their mobile number. Also, assure the customer that your business will send an SMS only when there's a piece of important information or exciting offer or new launch. This is the best way to use SMS marketing to increase sales of your business.

2. Use SMS Wisely With Brief Info

Nowadays, you can get bulk SMS packages that allow you to send end number of messages. 

If you're subscribing to such bulk SMS plans from any messaging solution provider, it's tempting enough to use the service at its best. And this proves extremely counterproductive when you use SMS marketing to increase sales of your business.

Obviously, you won't have a special offer daily. Nor would there be any newsworthy SMS that you can send every day. As a result, you might end up sending meaningless SMS messages to an extent that your loyal customer would block them. Therefore, subscribe for bulk SMS packs that just about meets your needs. And use SMS judiciously.

Read more: 5 Clever Ways Businesses Use Text Messaging

3. Use Shorten and Customize URLs for Boosting Online Sales

As text messages have to limit, you can send only 160 Characters in a message. So utilise the power of URL Shorter and use customized shorten URL like: http://bit.ly/brandname, it boost Click Through Rate (CTR) and looks more trust worthy and readable for your SMS message that would tempt people to make online purchases, if you are running an online business. 

Also it helps your customers to make a purchases or buy your services after visiting your website. People usually take instant decisions when you make a special offer. Since an SMS is read on the move, a shortened URL can direct customers to your website to place orders.

At the same time, do not send URLs unless you have something really special to offer. That would force a client to ignore your messages. And this translates as failure of your SMS marketing to increase sales for your business. Use SMS with shortened URL only to launch campaigns or a sale.

4. Use Call-to-Action Buttons 

As you can see, we have seen certain advantages of SMS marketing and how to use it to increase sales of your business. If this attracts you, there're specific actions you can take.

• Create excellent SMS content by reading some online tutorials.
• Subscribe to a bulk SMS service depending on your needs.
• Read DND conditions and tempt your SMS recipients to override it for your business.

These three steps will help you use SMS marketing to increase sales of your business.

5. Timing Is Crucial for Bulk SMS Campaign

A major advantage of SMS marketing to increase sales of your business are the large number of festivals in India. Indian banks and NBFCs utilize SMS marketing to the fullest during festivals. They send a message that greets people. At the same time, the SMS alerts them about special offers available for using their app, credit card or debit card or other promotions. Therefore, one of the essentials are getting the timing right to engage SMS marketing.

Conclusion

Nobody can predict the future of SMS marketing since mobile technologies continue to evolve rapidly. If you closely monitor the trend, it indicates more of Multimedia Messaging System or MMS marketing that contains pictures, video, music and text. Till such a time SMS exists, you can SMS marketing to increase sales of your business. The key to using SMS marketing also lies in the content. Remember that nowadays nobody reads long content. This means, your SMS has to be precise and to the point. It should spur the customer to act immediately and take action that results as sale for your business.