Three tips for SMS push elements based on the 5W2H method

Here is a summary first. Please scroll to the bottom for failure cases.

Based on the 5W2H method, I have summarized some elements of SMS push:

1. WHY: What is the purpose of texting?

Before sending SMS push notifications, we first need to clarify our purpose. Is it to attract new downloads and registrations, push activities, or perform churn recovery? This is the core thing we need to understand clearly. Different purposes will lead to different push methods and different results. If you don't understand this clearly and just push for the sake of pushing, you will naturally end up spending money but not getting the corresponding results.

In the daily operation process, the common operation purposes of SMS push are generally as follows:

1. Attract new customers

Guiding users to quickly complete registration through SMS copy and short links is a common method of attracting new users.

For example, in the currently popular cash loan field, one of the customer acquisition channels for many companies is through text messages, such as the marketing text message of a cash loan product:

[XX Xia] You have good credit and have been qualified for priority payment of 5,000 yuan! No need to wait to use money, just apply and withdraw cash! For more details, please click: http://t.cn/RpFZvQ1

After clicking the short link, you will be redirected to the registration page to register. It is simple and direct.

2. Promotion/activity push

For some platform-level activities or large-scale activities that require more resources, SMS push notifications can be used to notify users, which can also achieve the purpose of promoting activation.
For example, the marketing text message of JD.com’s Super Brand Day event some time ago:

【JD.com】921 Xiaomi Super Brand Day! Xiaomi MIX2 Note3 is on sale now, with 6 interest-free installments for mobile phones and up to 1300 yuan discount on TVs. dc.jd.com/YnjnQQ Reply to BK to cancel the order.

3. Reawaken lost users

For lost users of your product, you can use relevant information such as purchases they have made on the platform, activities they have participated in, or previous business behaviors to push text messages to try to awaken them.

For example, when I was looking for a job in college, I registered and submitted my resume on Dajie.com, but I haven't logged in for more than 2 years. Recently, I started receiving text messages like this:

[Dajie.com] The head of Alibaba 's department is very interested in you and hopes to have further communication with you. He specially invites you to join its talent pool! dj.me/NGXiOcK Return to TD to unsubscribe.

2. WHO: To whom the text message was sent

After determining the purpose of sending, we need to clarify the recipients of the SMS push. How to choose the recipients of the SMS will also affect the results of the SMS push to a certain extent. Before sending SMS messages, operations personnel need to use background data to classify users based on the purpose of SMS push and select the user group that best suits the purpose of the push for sending.

Taking churn recall as an example, if we need to recall lost active users, then we may need to consider the following dimensions:

1. Select users who were once active on the platform but are currently churned;
2. Identify the time point when users churn , determine whether users are likely to be revived, and remove users who have been churned for too long;
3. Understand the customer’s past core behaviors on the platform.

The above three are just basic entry points. In the process, we may need to define many details, such as [how to define the user's activity level], [whether users with different churn time need to be treated differently], [which dimensions are included in the customer's core behavior], etc. The more detailed the dimensional distinction is, the more conducive it is to the refined division of users. In the subsequent writing of SMS content and the selection of push time, we have more information to refer to, and the higher the success rate of the push will be.

3. HOW: How to send text messages

How to send here mainly includes two aspects: push content and push time.

1. Push content

Push content is the most important point in SMS. The design of the copy directly determines whether the customer can accept your SMS and take the next step. I usually refer to the SMS push of various platforms, and during the operation, I have the following experience:

1. Keep the content brief and the topic clear
2. The content needs to contain points that can seduce users
3. For content involving numbers, the numbers must be clear

2. Push time

The choice of push time determines how likely it is that the customer will check your text messages as soon as possible. How to choose the push time also needs to be selected according to the push purpose:

• If it is a marketing SMS, you can combine the target user 's product with the high-frequency time period and push it near the corresponding time period to achieve the purpose of rapid conversion ;
• If it is a churn recall SMS, you can combine the high-frequency periods of customer use of the product in the past and the customer's identity attributes to select overlapping periods for push notifications. For example, for a food delivery platform, if the information on the platform can determine that the user is a white-collar worker, then the success rate will be much higher if the push is conducted during peak meal times such as lunch time or after get off work in the evening.
• If there is no relevant data for reference, users with the same attributes can be grouped and pushed at multiple time periods throughout the day to form an A/B test to summarize the best push time.

Case Study

Finally, here is an unsuccessful example (from myself):

Purpose: To awaken lost users in Guangdong of the pharmaceutical B2B platform

The purpose of this push is very clear, which is [loss awakening]. Since the platform no longer invests in attracting new users and awakening lost users, taking this reality into consideration, I made some changes in the selection of users, changing it to [lost users in Guangdong region of the platform, and also lost users of a certain merchant]. The purpose of this choice is, on the one hand, to reduce the cost of the platform itself in the process, and on the other hand, to cooperate with the regional business manager to support and assist the merchants in operations. At the same time, the corresponding resources can be invested by the merchants. After successful awakening, the [purpose of lost awakening] is achieved for both the merchants and the platform.

After the general standard for selecting users was established, considering the high user mobility of the platform and the corresponding merchants in Guangdong, we selected lost users who met the standard in the past three months for recall, reducing the number of samples for easier tracking and making it easier to adjust the plan at any time. At the same time, due to the B2B nature of the platform, we also extracted information on the top 50 varieties purchased by customers in the past three months, including the purchase frequency, purchase quantity, average purchase price, platform minimum price, regional minimum price and other information of the corresponding varieties of customers. We also compared this information with the varieties currently still on sale in the merchant stores to find overlapping variety information. After screening, we found 30 downstream merchants that met our requirements, with a total of 11 categories that can be pushed. We also suggested that merchants refer to the platform's lowest price for the corresponding varieties and the regional lowest price to prepare for purchasing discounts.

Finally, we wrote discount information text messages for each product that the buyer had purchased in the largest quantity and that the merchant was still selling, and pushed them during the time period when customers in Guangdong region used their mobile APP most frequently. Finally, within 3 days, 3 lost users logged into the platform again, all of them added products to the shopping cart, 2 users placed orders, and one of them placed an order at the target store on the day of logging into the platform again, and made a repeat purchase the next day.

The result of this call-up itself was poor, with 10% login conversion and 6% order conversion. The reasons after review were:

1. The sample size is low, and the data is greatly affected by a single user;
2. No offline survey was conducted on users before push notifications to understand whether the users lost or became users of competing products;
3. Push content has no connection and requires customers to operate across platforms, which is costly.