Incentives That Grow Your SMS Subscribers

Nick Cherry • Jul 10, 2018


Growing your SMS subscribers database is the foundation of any SMS marketing campaign. We are going to share with you strategies that have produced results time after time when implemented correctly. 

 

Whether you are a small or a large enterprise business, you can learn how to grow your database numbers from 0 to 1000s in months. If you haven't started SMS marketing yet, these strategies can help guide you on how to see growth from day one.

Encourage people to opt-in with incentives

 

Start with a well-structured promotional offer that asks for people's mobile phone numbers. This can be a real challenge because, unlike email, where you can have unlimited accounts to avoid a hostile take over from spam, most consumers use a single number, and it's usually kept sacred and only given to people they know personally. So this is a big ask for most people, especially since we go to great lengths to protect it like it's our social security number.

 

Over 58% of consumers said they would be more willing to opt-in using their phone number if their preferred brands offered a redeemable coupon as an incentive. In other words, people will permit you to message them if you give them something valuable in return.

 

Asking for mobile numbers in exchange for putting them on a newsletter list isn't offering them much incentive, but getting 30% off their first order or a buy one get one free offer might do the trick. It's possible that adding people to a newsletter could eventually result in them getting special offers; however, because the incentive was not clearly advertised, the customer has no idea what you are telling them. If you're giving something away, it's important to advertise what is actually going to happen upon giving you their number.

Create a high-performing offer that converts

Let's say you are a service provider and your business has multiple locations, and your pricing model offers customers different membership levels. You could use SMS messaging to encourage people to join by giving them a hard-to-refuse number for your VIP Membership like "Join today and get our VIP Membership for only $5.00" or, even better, give them the first month free if they text "VIP" to 34512.


Here you have made it clear what they will get in return for opting in using their number, and you've told them how.


If you want to capture their number by having them fill out a form, you could say, "Sign up to receive text alerts and get $20 off your first month." This means you need to create an exciting ad with a simple form with a single field for people to enter their mobile numbers. 

 

Here is an example of how to structure the incentive:

A tire company could do "TEXT 4TIRES to 55432 and get $175.00 back on select sets of 4 tires and installation" or "Text SCHEDULE to 55432 to schedule your next oil change and get a FREE Car Check-Up."

 

Here you are putting the instruction first; when you say TEXT 4TIRES, you're telling the consumer what they need to do, and you're also being upfront and letting them know that they need to give you their mobile number to be eligible for this deal.

People have placed a value on their mobile numbers, and if you're offering $5.00 off an item that costs $100.00, you're telling the consumer that their number is worth $5.00, and they still need to pay nearly the full price. That's not a good deal for the consumer or you because you're not going to get much (if any) ROI from your SMS campaigns. 

 

Know the value of each number

 

It's essential to know the value of every single phone number, and you get this by testing offers that should be enticing enough to give up. And it really should be a win for the consumer, even if it's not always 50% or $100.00 off. Giving up a mobile number is a two-way investment. When consumers feel like they got a good deal, they will associate this with a good experience. Additionally, they will share this coupon with others by forwarding it around to friends and posting it to social media, which is excellent for finding new people to redeem your coupon multiple times, but you'll want to ensure the expiration is explicit.


SMS Commerce providers like Radiance Commerce can help you manage the subscribers that have already opted and redeemed a coupon or those who may have opted-in but haven't yet used their coupon. Knowing this is important for a couple of reasons; the first is, it tells you how effective your coupon offer is, and two, you can see who expressed interest but may need a nudge or a reminder. The ones that opted in and redeemed you now know the value of their numbers and send them similar offers in the future.

Don't forget the expiration date

For those who need a nudge, you can send them messages reminding them of the deal and when it expires. Expiration dates can be a huge motivator when used correctly. When you put an expiration on a coupon, it starts counting down from the day it's advertised. If you make the length of the expiration date too far out, you're not creating a sense of urgency, and it's more likely the consumer will forget about it.

 

The idea is to get people to use the coupon right away by sending another text message within a reasonable amount of time from the day they opted in (not 235 days from now). Another tip is to include it in the offer headline, "This weekend only, get 35% off.." or "Purchase today and get an additional 25% off...".

 

Your SMS provider should also have a point of sale system or an integration with your e-commerce platform to help manage the coupon codes. They will give you insights into who redeemed and who didn't and make sure that the same customer cannot keep using the coupon again and again. If your goal is to grow your list by the thousands, you'll want a way to manage coupon fraud right out of the gate. 

 

Another thing you'll want to be aware of and learn is how to handle the consumers who love to opt-in, get the offer, and then opt-out, and you never hear from them again. The best way to get an idea of how many there are who do this is to see a 24hr-48hr performance report; you'll also want to see which offers contributed to these opt-outs as it could be an unintentionally misleading message which can result in a lack of trust with your brand.

 

In conclusion

It's essential to understand your customer and how SMS marketing works. It is not a way to spam people, and we would strongly advise against anyone building a list and sending messages as they would email. In conclusion, if your business intends to ask people for mobile numbers, you need to make it worth it.


Radiance Commerce works with e-commerce companies looking to reach their audiences using messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and SMS marketing. To learn more about how you can get off to the right start with SMS marketing, contact one of our SMS experts for a live demonstration.

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