How to write text message copy? Improving copywriting skills for SMS marketing

On the one hand, a lot of money and energy are invested, but on the other hand, customers are tired and disgusted. Why do some customers not even read text messages? Why do some text message customers forget after just a quick glance? Why do some text messages seem unreliable even though they contain legitimate content? How to create black hole-level attraction in just a few lines of text? Instead of falling into oblivion and not getting a single "dumpling" in return for a long time. How to write text message copy? How to improve the effectiveness of SMS marketing?

1. Clarify the purpose of SMS marketing

First of all, you must clarify the purpose of SMS marketing and understand what you want to do most so that you can carry out targeted marketing.

Limited by the form and length of text messages, text messages cannot contain everything and need to be highly condensed and refined. The general structure of a text message is salutation + marketing theme + event time + promotion point + participation form/address/short link + signature.

Customers need to quickly clarify three points in the text message:

1. Who sent the text message?
2. What to do now?
3. What can it bring to me (is it what I want, is it valuable enough for me)?

The purpose of SMS marketing - SMS copywriting - customers need to make three points clear. Both ends need to be met, and there needs to be a balance point in the middle.

2. Use appropriate text messages

When writing a copy, you can follow this process:

Planning - customer analysis - selling points - participation forms and conditions - copywriting - polishing.

Different copywriting and different forms will produce different results. How should we write the most suitable one?

Saiyou has summarized 7 common types of SMS copywriting, which you can use as a reference to develop better creativity.

1. Straightforward

This is a very common type of text message, which is simple and straightforward, gets straight to the point, and can highlight the key points of the content.

Example of SMS:

1. Friendly

Be friendly, caring and considerate, get closer to customers and increase their acceptance.

Example of SMS:

1. Funny

Being humorous and witty will increase customer acceptance, but you should be able to put yourself in other people's shoes and avoid being overly self-satisfied.

Example of SMS:

1. Blessing

Start with holiday greetings and birthday wishes.

Example of SMS:

1. Thanks

Market by expressing gratitude to customers, impress them with emotions first and then with discounts. Of course, such text messages are usually sent to old customers to wake up dormant customers and avoid customer loss.

Example of SMS:

1. Preset Class

Preset conditions and preconceived notions can easily make customers feel confused or even think that you are a scammer. But if there is someone who needs it, the effect is very good.

For example, the bank often sends text messages saying that you have been rated as a high-credit customer by our bank and have a credit limit of 50,000 yuan, which can be collected immediately... After clicking on it, I found that it was for applying for a credit card. If the customer is short of funds or wants to apply for a high-limit credit card, he or she might apply immediately.

Example of SMS:

1. Suspense

Create suspense and attract interest. For example, the SMS case of Tantan:

[Tantan] XXX, one of your contacts has set you as a "secret crush". Since you don't use Tantan, your contact has sent a text message notification...

Even if you don’t believe it, wouldn’t you still feel a little itchy and want to open Tantan to see if there really is someone secretly in love with you?

This successfully aroused people's curiosity.

Example of SMS:

3. Four key points to follow in SMS copywriting

1. Make sure you understand your customers and provide enough value

First, there must be enough sincerity, and secondly, the ability to understand the needs and preferences of target customers, cater to their tastes, or allow customers to quickly recognize their value.

If the customer reads a bunch of text messages you sent but only thinks that you are asking him to make purchases, then he has undoubtedly failed.

To give an example that may be more extreme, China Merchants Bank offers an activity for old customers where they can buy a mobile phone for only 10 yuan. Not only do customers like to hear about it, they also take the initiative to post it online, helping the bank with its "promotion".

We may not be able to be so generous when doing SMS marketing (of course, the rich can do as they please~), but it is still important to grasp the needs of the target group and show enough sincerity.

1. Respect your customers

First of all, you should not disturb customers easily just because of the convenience of the SMS platform. You should pay attention to the frequency and time. It is not advisable to send text messages casually when the customer is very busy at work or when he is resting.

The time for sending SMS marketing can be used as a reference through the following two charts:

Also, marketing text messages must include an unsubscribe reminder, and users who have unsubscribed should not be sent text messages again. Otherwise, it may cause resentment and even receive complaints.

According to Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory, people's desire to be respected is at a very high level.

Why does SMS marketing cause so many people to be disgusted? Because mobile phones and mobile phone numbers are actually relatively personal tools, and the portability of mobile phones means that sudden text messages can easily affect customers' normal experience, and they subconsciously think they are offended. Therefore, we must respect our customers and create a sense of exclusivity and bargain for them. Such a good thing is not something that everyone can easily have.

For example, newly registered users of food delivery will receive high-value red envelopes; for example, as mentioned earlier, customers who are about to upgrade their bank gold cards will be given the opportunity to buy Huawei's flagship mobile phone for 10 yuan; for example, some old China Unicom customers will receive 100M broadband for one yuan a month.

Giving enough of a discount is important, but so is timing and carefully creating the “feeling”.

Respect customers, SMS marketing will reduce customers' negative feelings and increase customer satisfaction and stickiness.

1. Easy to understand

According to a survey conducted by Saiyou SMS platform, more than 80% of people spend an average of no more than ten seconds reading text messages. Therefore, the text and content of SMS messages should not be too complicated to understand, nor should there be too many thresholds and prerequisites.

For example, "Log in to receive it" is better than "Register an account and fill in information to receive it", although the actual operations may be similar.

For example, what do customers need to do after receiving a text message? Which type of customers will find it more convenient and more likely to like it? :

Some of the details are also very important, such as whether the website opened is a mobile version or a web version, whether you can successfully jump to the software store, etc. For example, you only need to enter your mobile phone number to receive the red envelope text message from Ele.me.

1. Create a sense of urgency and scarcity

Urgency and scarcity are two driving forces. People often want to go out but lack the person to pull them out or a plausible reason.

When making any decision, I always tell myself that there is no rush to think about it, and there is no need to decide now because such decisions can be found everywhere.

Therefore, you need to create a sense of urgency and scarcity in the text message. Good things are not always available, and not everyone can easily participate.

If you are in the e-commerce industry or often pay attention to e-commerce, I wonder if you have noticed that Taobao's Double Eleven activities are becoming more complicated every year. The various activities have also increased the threshold. Why?

In addition to screening customers, the purpose is to create a sense of scarcity and high value, because there are too many people participating in Double Eleven, and things that are too easily obtained are often not cherished or valued by anyone. The common slogans used during Double Eleven, such as "start grabbing at midnight", "activity only for today", "activity ends at xx o'clock/day", etc., are all aimed at creating a sense of urgency and scarcity, prompting customers to take immediate action.

4. Use SMS A/B Testing to Optimize SMS Versions

Finally, how do we know what version of marketing text messages is most effective and best suited to the target audience? The best way to do this is to test it directly, using the A/B testing method . SMS A/B testing is to create two (A/B) or more (A/B/N) SMS versions and send them to groups (target groups) with the same (similar) composition.

After that, relevant data and feedback from each group are collected, and text messages are sent in bulk through the SUBMAIL SMS platform, as well as visual analysis reports generated in real time.

Through these data, feedback and SUBMAIL analysis reports, we can further understand which method is better, so as to continue to improve and perfect it towards the version with the best effect and most suitable for the target audience.

SMS A/B Test operation process:

Using SMS A/B testing can help you continuously optimize and improve SMS marketing versions (sending time, SMS copy, content/form, etc.), thereby improving marketing effectiveness and forming a virtuous circle of SMS marketing.

Summarize

How to increase the impact of text message copy? Follow these steps:

Author: Community Research Society

Source: Community Research Society