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12 SECRETS OFA dozen key moves toward SMSsuccess mined from 16 years of textmarketing experience.

TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31. Let Recipients Know Who You Are . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42. Perfect Your Timing. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53. It’s Not the Size of the List That Counts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64. Pay Attention to Character Count. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75. Incorporate a Call to Action. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86. Personalize Texts, Automatically. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97. Make the Content Fit the Audience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108. High-Value Offers Drive High Engagement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119. Maintain a Top-of-Mind Presence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1210. Match Your Strategy to Your industry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1311. Following Up Improves Conversions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1412. Learn from Each Message . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1513. Examples of Text Marketing Success. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16

IntroductionThe businesses and organizations that invest in text message marketing are poised for massive successthis year.More than 50% of consumers check their phones 5X per hour — that’s 120 times over 24 waking hours.Additionally, most recipients respond to a text within the first three minutes of receipt, and nearly 90%of recipients respond within 30 minutes. You won’t see this kind of engagement with any othermarketing channel!As a pioneering and industry-leading text message marketing provider, we’ve helped more than 165,000businesses, agencies, and organizations grow their audiences and revenue through results-drivenstrategies and tactics.Read on to discover what we’ve learned from their successes and how to create your own winning textmarketing formula.312 Secrets of Text Marketing

1Let Recipients Know Who You AreBased on our data, using our “Company Name” field to announceyour business helps drive a 30% higher click-through rate.We attribute this engagement surge to creating a better userexperience; Contacts appreciate knowing who is sending themmessages before opening them.Our internal testing has backed that up, showing that whenrecipients know who a text is coming from, they are more likelyto open and respond. Once you feel confident in your tone youcan experiment with adding your brand name in the body ofmessages, but check your analytics afterwards to see if ithelped (or hurt) your messaging.412 Secrets of Text Marketing

2Perfect Your TimingWhen it comes to text message marketing, timing is everything.While you should always send messages during waking hours —remember to consider time zones — messages sent during weekdayafternoons generate more engagement compared to text messagessent during early working hours or after work.Our data shows that even though campaign sends peak aroundnoon, clicks on those campaign messages peak between 3 p.m.and 4 p.m.Of course, sending a little earlier or later may be right foryour industry, a la early messages from gyms and yogastudios, but later messages from bars and restaurants.512 Secrets of Text Marketing

3It’s Not the Size of the List That CountsThinking about sending the same message out to every singleone of your contacts? Reconsider this approach.The “more is more” mentality doesn’t count in textmarketing. In fact, our research shows no definitivecorrelation between the number of text recipientsand click-through rate.Instead, send targeted, high-value messagesto specially segmented groups. Not onlywill this result in a greater ROI, but byusing our contact managementfeatures you can segment andpersonalize messages for animproved customer experience.612 Secrets of Text Marketing

4Pay Attention to the Character CountSMS (Short Message Service) text messages are 160 characters inlength, while MMS (Multimedia Message Service) text messages caninclude images and video and allow for a character count beyond160 characters.This allows for a lot of freedom in generating messages, but as ageneral rule our research reveals that text messages with thehighest engagement remain roughly 20-25 words in length.Typically, shorter messages are easier to read, comprehend, andact on.These brief messages are also often the types of helpful textsboth businesses and their customers love, like appointmentreminders and purchase and delivery notifications.712 Secrets of Text Marketing

5Incorporate a Call to ActionEach text message should be actionable. What do you want yourcontacts to do upon receipt of your message? Make the next step aseasy as possible, but make sure it requires a direct response.A text message reply or a phone call are popular text messagingcalls to action, but the most effective CTA we’ve often seen tomaximize ROI is using a trackable link in the message.Our free link shortener is built into our platform’s messagingfunctionality. It not only frees up more characters in yourmessages, but also gives you the ability to accurately trackmessage performance. When a customer clicks on ashortened link provided by your platform, those actionswill be gathered in your reporting dashboard, allowingyou to adjust and optimize your messaging over time.812 Secrets of Text Marketing

6Personalize Texts AutomaticallyPersonalization has become a marketing buzzword. The moretargeted your messaging, the better received it is. Ourinternal data show that including personalized elementslike the recipient’s first name in a text increasesengagement by as much as 46%.Even better? Our platform includes automatedpersonalization. We make it easy to insert yourcontacts’ information directly into massmessages by using personalization tokens.When composing a textmessage, the personalizationtoken will appear like this:(Candy Boutique) Hello {#FirstName#}!It’s been awhile since we’ve heard fromyou. Check out our newest gift baskets:https://tapit.us/w76H. Free shipping onall orders through New Year’s.But when your contactsreceive it, they’ll see:(Candy Boutique) Hello Sharon! It’sbeen awhile since we’ve heard fromyou. Check out our newest gift baskets:https://tapit.us/w76H. Free shipping onall orders through New Year’s.912 Secrets of Text Marketing

7Make the Content Fit the AudienceWhether you’re sending a text-only message (SMS) or a multimediamessage (MMS), what’s most important is the relevance and value ofthe content to the audience.Our research demonstrates that an SMS can be as effective as anMMS — if the content is right. Depending on your industry orneeds, you may be using both to reach your audience. Continualtesting and analysis can help you land on the right type ofmarketing for your contacts.Note that recent studies show that MMS marketingperforms better than online advertising. And unlike aplain text message, MMS messages typically generategreater interest.1012 Secrets of Text Marketing

8High-Value Offers Drive High EngagementWith the support of a powerful text message marketing provider, textmessaging can take your promotions to the next level. More than30% of our customers use texting for promotions, and theiraudiences tend to be highly engaged.But the close connection to your customers and clients offeredby text marketing should be respected, and their loyalty to yourbusiness or brand should be rewarded. As such, it’s a bestpractice to send these followers your absolute bestpromotions and offers. Exclusives, pre-sale offers, and bigdiscounts all apply.This attention to detail will, in turn, benefit you bydelivering happier customers and a greater ROI.1112 Secrets of Text Marketing

9Maintain a Top-of-Mind PresenceRecurring Texts are another key way to stay visible to youraudience. A prime example of a Recurring Text Campaign is ayearly birthday message or a monthly reminder of loyaltypoints and rewards. We found that our users’ Reminder Textshave an incredibly strong engagement rate of nearly 60%.People are busy, and they have a lot of information comingat them. If your first message is ignored, it could have beenfor a large variety of reasons. In your follow-ups, adjustyour timing and tone to find a style that resonates whereearlier messages did not.1212 Secrets of Text Marketing

10Match Your Strategy to Your IndustryConsider your industry when you’re deciding on your text marketingstrategy, and what tools you’ll need. For group messaging (a.k.a. masstexts) our data show that industries like retail, education, entertainment(including bars and restaurants), automotive, sports and recreation,and nonprofit and religious organizations tend to have audiencesthat are highly engaged when receiving a mass text.Yet for industries that provide a personal service to a client or aprospect who may want to set up an appointment, demo, orinterview, responding to prospects via two-way texting maybe your go-to feature. Texting directly with clientsthrough two-way texting allows you to keep all of yourclient communication separate and organized.1312 Secrets of Text Marketing

11Following Up Improves ConversionsInternal stats demonstrate that using automated texts for Drip andReminder Campaigns increases your ability to convert a prospect into apaying customer.It’s easy to set up automated texts to follow up on your initialmessage. Our research revealed that a Drip Campaign follow-upmessage can improve the click-through rate on your campaign byas much as 355%!A Drip Campaign allows you to automatically send a timedseries of texts to a group of contacts, and you cancustomize these campaigns with special triggers. Forexample, a customer who signs up at a retail locationmight get a different message than a customer whosigns up online. This way, you target youraudience with messages that appeal moredirectly to each of them.1412 Secrets of Text Marketing

12Learn from Each MessageAs text marketing pioneers with more than 16years of experience, we’ve learned a lot about text.Once you start your own text marketing campaignsyou can tailor that knowledge to the unique needsof your business and its customers.Keep an eye on open rates and use trackable linksto measure click-through rates. And though no onelikes to see opt outs from their text marketing lists,they’re still communicating useful information.Opt outs on the rise? Maybe you’re sending toofrequently or the content doesn’t present a highenough value proposition for your customers?Adjust, optimize, and send again!Learn from each message and you’ll get closer andcloser to what your customers want to see fromyour messaging.1512 Secrets of Text Marketing

Examples of Text Message Marketing SuccessSee for yourself how industry-leadingorganizations use EZ Texting to betterengage with their customers andgrow their businesses.Lee & Associates Uses TextMarketing to Get CommercialReal Estate LeadsAn ongoing text marketingcampaign using custom Keywordsand 10-digit textable numbers hashelped commercial real estatebusiness Lee & Associates WestLA close major deals, resulting inmore than 1 million in revenue.Think Idea Studio Used TextMarketing to Win Placementin a Hulu ShowWorking with the local governmentof Searcy, Arkansas, Think IdeaStudio used our text marketingplatform to launch a campaign for itsclient to win 500K in investmentand be featured on Small BusinessRevolution, a show that airs on Hulu.1612 Secrets of Text Marketing