Bulk SMS marketing. What you need to know.
How Important is Bulk SMS Marketing? According to Techipedia, 98% of SMS messages sent are opened, and 83% of them are opened within 3 minutes. Bulk SMS Marketing not only shows the opportunity behind texting as a communications medium but also how crucial it is to get the message right —Alright you have got their attention in the split second before they either delete your message, read and move on to read other messages or call you directly to enquire. ( Hubspot Post resource.) See our SMS Marketing Packages & Services Details So let’s take a look at some Bulk SMS campaigns that can provide content people actually want, instead of those spammy text messages we’ve all received that do more harm than good for your brand. What are the most common scenarios of sending SMS campaigns?
- When there is a sale of products
- When you want to make an announcement about events
- Communicating with your active customers
- Sending service alerts and reminders
Benefits of SMS marketing
SMS still earns its place because people actually read texts. A few reasons it works:
- High open rates. Around 98% of SMS are opened, most within minutes, far ahead of email.
- Cost-effective. Direct marketing by SMS can cost up to 80% less than many other channels.
- Highly targeted. Send to a specific group, so very little is wasted.
- Quick reach. A flash sale, an event, a seasonal offer, all can go out in minutes.
- Direct and measurable. Add a sender ID for brand recall, and a tracked number or link to measure the calls and clicks that follow.
Who you can target
We do not own databases, but we work with partners who do, so you can focus a campaign by:
- Age and gender
- Nationality, and Arabic or English speakers
- Income and profession, including VIP and high-salary segments
- Location, by city (Dubai, Sharjah, Abu Dhabi) and even home or work area
- Interests, such as shoppers and travellers
- Handset type, and more
The more relevant the list and the offer, the better the response. Your own opted-in customer list will always beat a cold database, so use both where you can.
Process of bulk SMS marketing:
- You define the target audience you want to send SMS marketing to. There could be various categorisation filters depending on your database.
- English is 160 characters where actual text is 149 characters and 11 characters is an OPTOUT1234 number so users can unsubscribe from SMS.
- Often after sending the SMS, we send the reporting so you know how many SMS were delivered and how many were undelivered.
- Moreover, the best report is the calls you will receive after the campaign which tells you the success rate.
What our SMS service includes
- Sender ID branding. Send from your brand name (up to 11 characters) so people see who the message is from.
- Character limits. About 149 characters for English and around 70 for Arabic, plus 11 characters for the opt-out.
- Compliance. Every SMS carries a mandatory opt-out and follows UAE TDRA rules. Sender ID approval usually takes 3 to 4 working days with the right documents.
- Reporting. You get a delivery report showing how many messages landed, and the real measure of success is the calls and walk-ins that follow.
- Fresh data. Lists are refreshed regularly. We run the campaign for you, and we do not sell databases.
Tips for a successful SMS campaign
- Lead with a genuine, valuable offer. People only care what is in it for them.
- Always use a sender ID so your brand is recognised.
- Time it well. Send when your audience is active, not late at night.
- Keep one clear call to action: call, click, or visit.
- Test different lists and messages, then scale what works.
- Start collecting opt-in numbers early. It is never too soon to build your own list.
The SMS marketing challenge:
SMS Marketing on your own database is 10 times better than sending SMS on databases where you don’t know them. Based on our experience, when you hire a database company to send your bulk SMS marketing, make sure the database is genuine, and talk to their past customers who have done SMS marketing and the results. Because admit it, people who don’t know you will be least responsive when they read your messages compared to your own customers. So as a client one must set their expectations right. SMS Marketing for brand awareness and broadcasting works well.
Bulk SMS marketing in Dubai - does it work?
SMS Marketing isn’t right for every business. Think about the goals you want to achieve from the SMS campaign. And for those businesses for which it is applicable, it’s crucial to use it in only the most appropriate scenarios. It also appears that SMS is rarely useful as a means of generating leads, customers, and revenue when it operates in a silo; it is most successful when there is a more integrated marketing campaign leveraging social media, Google Ads, pay-per-click, email marketing, website search engine optimization and more…
You may also consider showing your ads on mobile devices only within specific areas in Dubai, Abu Dhabi & UAE. These are hyper-targeted ads which will show on their google search on mobile devices only when they search for related products you sell. We have helped generate new calls and walkins for our clients.
Leads Dubai is a Lead Generation Company. We do Bulk SMS Marketing, Email Marketing, and Mobile Advertising using PPC Google Adwords. Contact us so we can suggest to you the right marketing channels to use to promote your products.
