FAQ’s About SMS Marketing

Can I text my customers?

Yes! You most certainly can. In fact, you can do so without using your personal cell phone or purchasing any additional equipment. This is made possible through landline texting. You can text-enable your existing business phone to send and receive text messages with the help of a business texting service and a web browser.

However, first, you need permission. Unfortunately, you cannot use customer contact information to send unsolicited SMS marketing because of the TCPA.

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) was originally passed in 1991 to provide protection to consumers from telemarketing phone calls and has since been updated to include SMS marketing, as well. Businesses have a legal obligation to obtain express written consent from customers prior to sending any SMS marketing campaigns.

In other words, in order to start texting your customers, they need to opt-in to text communication from your business. You can provide opt-in instructions on your website, social media pages, brick-and-mortar location, etc. Many businesses even require a double opt-in; the first text they send a new subscriber is one that asks the recipient to confirm their subscription to text communications.

Should your business be accused of violating the TCPA, the burden of proof is entirely on you! Consider requiring a double opt-in for new SMS marketing subscribers to be sure that you’re covering all your bases and to have proof that your text communications are lawful.

It’s also important to make sure that subscribers have a clear and simple way to opt-out, should they no longer be interested in receiving texts from your business. For example, inform customers that they can respond ‘STOP’ to any text message from your business to be unsubscribed from your list.

Review the TCPA before implementing any text message marketing campaign, set the right processes in place, and text away!

Can I send a mass text using Gmail?

Technically, yes. You can use the Google Voice extension to send mass texts through Gmail. However, these mass texting tools are not intended for marketing purposes, as shown in the disclaimer written by the developer of the Chrome Google Voice extension.

In fact, sending mass promotional texts through Google Voice is actually a violation of its “Acceptable Use Policy.” Users found in violation of this policy may have their accounts permanently disabled and buried by Google, so it’s definitely not advisable to use this method for your SMS marketing efforts.

Instead, reserve this tool for personal use only. Any business that is interested in implementing SMS marketing into their overall strategy needs a business texting service.

How can I send a mass text for free?

As it was mentioned above, it’s possible to send free mass texts through Google- but only to a small number of people and not for marketing purposes.

Many business texting services, however, do offer free trials! For example, Text My Main Number offers a 14-day free trial to new customers who would like to test out our platform before making a financial commitment.

If you’re still in the research phase or just want to shop around a bit before making a decision, take advantage of free trials! Once you’ve got your favorite business texting services narrowed down, try out each platform to figure out which one best suits the needs of your business.

Even though you will need to pay for a business texting service to successfully implement an SMS marketing campaign, many services are customizable and quite affordable. Don’t let a little investment deter you from reaping impressive results.

What is the best business texting service?

In our humble opinion, Text My Main Number is the best business texting service around! 

However, whether you choose to go with us or one of our competitors, there are some features that you will definitely want to look out for:

• Scheduled texting- this feature will allow you to set up your SMS marketing campaigns and send them out at a predetermined time.
• Contact management- one of the ways to ensure the effectiveness of your SMS marketing campaign is to segment your contacts based on specific qualifications, such as personas. That way, you can make sure that each person on your list is only receiving the messages that will be relevant and interesting to them.
• Unlimited incoming SMS- your customers should be able to text your business at any time, without eating into your monthly text limit through your business texting service.
• MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service)- this feature will give you the ability to send pictures, videos, audio clips, GIFs, etc. as part of your SMS marketing campaigns.
• Recurring SMS- if you have certain texts that go out on a recurring basis, such as payment reminders, this feature is a must-have for your business.
• Integrations- the ability to integrate your business texting service with any communication or CRM systems already in use is crucial to maintaining productivity among your staff and keeping all pertinent information in one place.
• Auto-reply and keywords- these two go hand-in-hand because they will give your business the ability to customize auto-reply templates to designated keywords, such as common inquiries from customers.
• Text-to-landline- we’re always singing the praises of landline texting and for good reason! As it was mentioned earlier, this feature will allow you to text-enable existing landline phone numbers without any interruption to your voice service.

Is SMS marketing effective?

Yes!

Here are some important statistics you should know:

• 9 out of 10 consumers say that they want to communicate with businesses through text.
• About 98% of texts are opened.
• 95% of texts get a response within three minutes of being delivered.
• 96% of Americans have the ability to send and receive texts.
• Over 65% of marketers say that SMS marketing is “very effective” for them.

When done right, your business can see huge results from your SMS marketing campaigns. For best results, you should aim to master an omnichannel marketing strategy by using your SMS marketing in tandem with other tools, such as email.

— Hopefully, this article served to shed some light on any lingering questions you may have about SMS marketing. For any additional questions or concerns, contact us today!