You can approach SMS marketing like any craft — either cover broad ground as a generalist or dive deep into certain areas as a specialist. Bulk SMS is the generalist’s tool. It sends the same message to thousands of people, hoping to catch someone’s interest. It’s quick and reaches a lot of people, but it often falls short when it comes to making meaningful connections.
On the other hand, targeted SMS marketing is like being a specialist. Instead of sending out a generic message, you craft personalized texts that resonate with specific groups within your audience. This tailored approach can help with better engagement and build stronger customer relationships.
If you want to set your brand up for success or offer the best possible experience for your subscribers, you’ll need to stop treating SMS marketing as a batch-and-blast tool.
In this blog, we’ll explore why moving beyond bulk SMS messages is crucial and provide tips on how to create more targeted SMS today.
What Is Bulk SMS?
Bulk SMS, or mass text messaging, is the practice of sending the same text message to a large group of people all at once. This approach typically requires a specialized software or marketing platform designed to manage and send SMS messages at a large scale.
Unlike pay-per-click ads or sponsored content, bulk texts rely on customer consent — thanks to regulations like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), which mandates that you must have permission to collect phone numbers or send text messages.
Sending More vs. Sending Less: Why Targeted Messages Resonate More Than Bulk SMS
Just because you can send marketing messages to all your customers at once doesn’t mean you should. While bulk SMS can reach a wide audience quickly, it might do more harm than good to your business.
Let’s look at a few reasons why mass SMS fails to hit the mark:
Quality Over Quantity
Focusing on engagement is the best way to get the most out of your text marketing.
Bulk SMS marketing means you’re mass texting your entire contact list in hopes of engaging all your customers at once. It might also send more texts per week to help your customers remember your business.
However, mass text messaging doesn’t have mass appeal. The result: lower response and conversion rates. These messages may even feel spammy and might turn away potential customers.
Targeted SMS marketing, on the other hand, segments your contacts and sends appropriate or relevant messages to specific segments instead of bulk messaging the entire list. This strategy favors sending genuine text messages that nurture relationships with your customers and convert them into loyal ones.
When done right, targeted SMS marketing can be twice as effective as bulk SMS marketing. Sending targeted messages over a period of time can improve your brand image and get a better response from your customers.
Immediate Reach With High Open Rates
With countless distractions competing for your audience’s attention, getting them to notice your messages can be a real challenge. Targeted SMS marketing offers a powerful solution. As most people are glued to their mobile phones, SMS has open rates as high as 98% and messages are often read within minutes.
For instance, if you send a text reminder about a flash sale, your customers are likely to see it and act quickly if they’re interested.
In contrast, email marketing typically has an open rate of around 20%, and your email can sit in an inbox for hours before being noticed.
Cost-Effectiveness
In addition to its immediate reach, SMS marketing offers a considerable return on investment (ROI). Businesses can see up to 25x ROI with text message marketing. This not only makes SMS a quick way to connect with customers but also a highly effective and cost-efficient tool for boosting your marketing results.
Personalization and Targeting
Like any other marketing channel, an effective SMS marketing strategy will nurture your customers at all stages of the funnel. When you send generic promotional messages through bulk SMS, you aren’t addressing the specific needs of your contacts. These messages can hurt relationships.
Unlike broad, one-size-fits-all campaigns, personalized SMS messages speak directly to the individual’s needs, preferences, and behaviors. This level of personalization increases engagement and fosters a stronger connection between your brand and the customer.
Here are a few examples of personalized messages:
- Welcome offer for new subscribers: “Hi [Name]! Welcome to [XYZ Brand]. As a thank you, here’s 15% off your first purchase. Use code WELCOME15 at checkout!”
- Birthday discount: “Happy Birthday, [Name]! 🎉 Celebrate with 20% off your next purchase. Use code BDAY20. We hope your day is as special as you are!”
- Abandoned cart reminder: “Hi [Name], it looks like you left something behind! Complete your purchase today and enjoy 10% off with code SAVE10.”
You can also use personalized text messages for follow-ups, order confirmations, appointment reminders, or promoting new products.
High Engagement and Conversion
Opening a text message is just the first step. The real win is getting customers to engage and make a purchase. This is where SMS marketing truly shines. With its highly targeted approach, SMS messaging achieves a remarkable click-through rate (CTR) of 19%, meaning nearly one in five recipients will take the next step.
To put this into perspective, email marketing averages a 4% CTR, and Facebook struggles to reach even 1%. The personalized nature of SMS marketing, combined with its immediate reach, makes it a powerful tool for grabbing attention and converting that attention into tangible results.
How To Begin Sending Targeted Messages Rather Than Bulk SMS Campaigns
Here are a few tips you can use to start sending targeted messages today:
Choose Your SMS Platform
Modern marketers require message service platforms that can do more than just texts. To truly stand out, you need a solution that allows you to scale campaigns efficiently, automate personalized messaging, and deliver content that resonates with your audience.
The SMS marketing platform should support these needs while also offering advanced features like two-way conversations, multimedia messaging, and short codes to ensure your campaigns are as effective as possible.
In short, you need a solution like Bloomreach Engagement, which is an AI-powered solution with a suite of features that can elevate your SMS marketing efforts.
With Bloomreach, you can:
- Grow your audience using SMS sign-up units and text-to-join keywords
- Easily design and manage campaigns with our visual builder
- Monitor performance with our SMS campaign evaluation dashboard
- Streamline your workflow with prebuilt templates and AI-driven send times
- Personalize communications using MMS and other advanced tools
- Enhance brand presence with customizable contact cards
Build and Segment Your Subscriber List
Growing a robust subscriber list is crucial for the success of your marketing efforts, but it’s just as important to do it responsibly. Ethical practices allow you to build trust with your audience and ensure you’re compliant with legal regulations like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA).
Here are a few ways you can grow your subscriber list ethically:
- Opt-in forms: Place clear and simple sign-up forms on your website
- Incentives: Offer discounts or exclusive deals in exchange for subscribing
- Multi-channel promotion: Promote SMS sign-ups through social media and email
- Double opt-in: Use a confirmation step to verify subscriptions
- Events: Collect opt-ins through contests or events with clear entry terms
Bloomreach Engagement simplifies this step for you by offering customizable, TCPA-compliant sign-up forms that automatically include the necessary legal language. This ensures that your subscribers are fully informed and have explicitly consented to receive your messages. It also allows you to validate your list against “Do Not Call” registries and ensure people who unsubscribed are respected, keeping your list clean and compliant.
Once you’ve ethically grown your SMS subscriber list, the next step is to segment it for targeted messaging.
Segmenting your list allows you to tailor messages to specific audience segments, making your communications more relevant and engaging.
Additionally, by capturing zero-party data during the opt-in process, you can start personalizing messages right away, increasing the likelihood of higher engagement and conversion rates.
Create Clear, Memorable Text Messages
It’s all too easy for customers to ignore marketing messages, which is why your messages need to engage immediately and leave a lasting impression.
Here are some ways to create clear, memorable messages:
- Keeping your message brief and focused
- Personalizing the message using relevant details
- Using straightforward language to avoid confusion
- Clearly stating the call to action
- Adding engaging elements to capture the attention
Bloomreach offers tools that enhance these practices. With features like customizable templates and segmentation, you can craft messages that are personalized, clear, and engaging, ensuring your SMS campaigns effectively reach and resonate with your audience.
Schedule and Time Your Messages
When it comes to sending SMS messages, getting the timing right can make all the difference. Rather than sticking to a generic send time, it’s essential to tailor your messaging to when your audience is most likely to engage. Understanding and personalizing send times based on your audience’s habits ensures your messages are seen when they’re most impactful.
It also helps to be mindful of how often you send messages. Finding the right balance is crucial — send too many, and you risk annoying your subscribers; send too few, and you might miss valuable engagement opportunities. Aim for a schedule that keeps your audience interested without overwhelming them.
Bloomreach’s AI-powered optimal send time and smart frequency policy features take the guesswork out of scheduling. By analyzing individual user behavior and historical data, it determines the perfect time to send each message, ensuring your marketing campaigns reach your audience when they’re most likely to engage. This personalized approach helps maximize your SMS campaign’s effectiveness and ensures your messages make a significant impact.
Monitor and Optimize the SMS Campaign
SMS marketing requires an agile approach with a strategy that can adapt when necessary.
Bloomreach Engagement helps you stay on top of your game with its straightforward evaluation dashboard. This tool provides real-time insights into key metrics like revenue impact, audience engagement, and conversion rates. With this data, you can quickly identify what’s working and where adjustments are needed.
For instance, if you notice an uptick in failed messages, you can promptly address delivery issues. If engagement rates are lower than expected, you can refine your messaging or timing to better align with your audience’s preferences. Bloomreach’s platform simplifies this process, allowing you to make data-driven improvements effortlessly.
Additionally, integrating customer data — such as purchase history and preferences — into your campaigns helps make your messages more relevant. Bloomreach streamlines this integration, enabling you to create targeted, personalized communications that resonate with your audience.
Transform Your SMS Marketing Campaigns With Bloomreach Engagement
To truly connect with your audience, you need more than just broad reach — you need meaningful engagement. While mass SMS may seem like a quick fix, it often falls short in building lasting relationships with your customers. Targeted SMS marketing allows you to deliver messages that truly matter, fostering deeper connections and better results.
Bloomreach gives you everything you need to make this transition smoothly. With advanced marketing tools for personalization, segmentation, and real-time analytics, you can craft SMS campaigns that drive real impact.
Ready to elevate your SMS marketing? See how Bloomreach can help you connect with your customers like never before.
