sms text messages

3 SMS Tips for Marketing Automation

July 16, 2016

3 SMS Tips for Marketing Automation

SMS is a great way to send short, direct and timely messages to customers. But before you fire-off a fast one to the list of contacts in your marketing automation system, check out our top three tips for using SMS like a boss.

Tip 1: What’s the Use?

This may sound basic, but take time to consider your SMS use case. Ask yourself these questions:

  • How do I want to use SMS to engage contacts?
  • Is this a cross-channel effort?
  • Do I want to set up triggered alerts?
  • Is this for event notifications and reminders?

Your use case doesn’t need to be a 25-page thesis with screen-shots and 3D bar graphs, but it does need to clearly define your objectives. Once these are known, you’ll have the knowledge you need to create an engaging and successful SMS campaign.

Tip 2: Crank Up the Volume!

It’s important that you determine how many SMS messages you plan to send—both daily and monthly. Most marketers think of volume only in terms of monthly usage since those numbers determine costs, but with SMS, daily volumes are just as important. Having a solid estimate of your daily volume is vital to avoiding costly spam infractions with carriers. Plus, establishing your daily volume estimates will enable you to decide whether a long or short phone number best fits your use case.

Tip 3: Go Long! Or Short…

There are two types of phone numbers you can choose from to send SMS via Eloqua: a long code or a short code.

New SMS users will find long codes are great to experiment with as you develop your SMS skills and strategy. However, most carriers limit the number of daily messages that can be sent from long codes to prevent spamming. Among the many advantages that long codes offer are:

  • A familiar and consumer-friendly 10-digit number (what most people use to text)
  • Low-cost
  • Great for sending SMS messages in low volumes
  • A respectable processing speed of 1 message per second

Short codes are the heavy-lifting, all-powerful biceps of SMS, and they feature multiple advantages, including:

  • A 5 or 6 digit, carrier-approved number
  • No daily message limits
  • Great for sending high volumes and/or time-sensitive messages
  • A fast processing speed of 30 messages per second

If you anticipate sending 250  SMS messages or more on a daily basis, choose a short code. If, however, your daily SMS volume is below 250 a few long codes should suffice.

Let’s Talk SMS.

If you’d like to learn more about SMS and marketing automation, contact SureShot anytime. In the meantime, be sure to download our new eBook, Visions From the Future of Marketing Automation: An Explorer’s Guide to Cross-Channel Marketing. It’s full of insights, use cases and best practices for a host of marketing channels.

Posted in Cross Channel Marketing, Marketing Automation, The Conversation