Lesson 6

Outbound SMS Marketing

Learn how to send personalised messages, promotions, competitions, and more with SMS marketing. There are two types of SMS marketing—outbound and inbound.
Lesson 6
Outbound SMS Marketing

Stay in touch with your clients by sending personalised messages, promotions, competitions, and more with SMS marketing. There are two types of SMS marketing - outbound and inbound. Today, we’re going to cover outbound SMS marketing.

6.1 What is Outbound SMS Marketing?

Outbound SMS Marketing generally refers to the sending Bulk SMS campaigns to a list of recipients who have opted-in. These types of campaigns are bound by the same SPAM legislation, as discussed in the last lesson.

Basic features you can expect from this system are:

  • Contact list upload
  • List Validation (Removing landlines and invalid numbers)
  • Personalisation
  • Scheduled messaging
  • Templates
  • Reply processing
  • Opt-out mechanism
  • Delivery reporting

More advanced features also include:

  • List segmentation
  • Staggered sending
  • Reply automation
  • Link tracking

6.2 Creating High-Quality SMS Marketing Messages

Identify the recipient with a personalised SMS message

Quality SMS marketing platforms allow you to use a custom variable to identify the user. When you upload a list or add contacts you have the option to also upload a name. This name can be inserted automatically into the SMS message with the variable eg. [First Name].

Their name will be inserted from the database in place of the variable.

Identify yourself

To comply with the SPAM Act you must identify yourself with either the customisable SMS Sender ID or within the message. If you would like the recipient to reply, you will need to send the message from a virtual number, so your only option is to identify yourself within the message. This is always a good idea anyway.

Identify the reason they are getting the message

Text messaging is a very personal medium. People that receive text messages without knowing why will get very upset, and it will have a serious negative impact on your brand. Tell the recipient why they are getting the SMS message.

Create a valuable offer or something the recipient would really want and make it relevant

If you get a text message without some kind of offer it will be discarded very quickly. Make sure the offer is something that they would respond to.

Add a call to action

Always include a call to action. You can ask them to reply to your text, call a number, or click a link, directing them to a mobile website.

Don’t forget your opt-out

To comply with the SPAM Act you must provide an opt-out mechanism, you can do this in several ways but it must be obvious. The SMS standard is to allow the recipient to reply STOP to the message, however, if you want to set a Custom Sender ID you can ask them to text a virtual number or direct them to a mobile unsubscribe page.

Go back to
Australian SMS Professional: Rapid Induction E-Course
Lesson 7
Inbound SMS Messaging