Seven Lessons I Learned Launching an SMS Program

November 19, 2021November 26, 2021 Stan

SMS programs are a fantastic way to grow your Eloqua tree with a new branch of communications. They provide a quick path to sending a message to your target audience, and research shows that open rates can be as high as 98%!

Having lived through the build and launch of a national SMS nurture program, there were some “oh… woooooow.” moments I wish I knew ahead of time like…

You Gotta Loop In Legal (and That Takes Time)

SMS Programs are very big on compliance and transparency when it comes to their audiences.

What will your Terms & Conditions (T&C) state to your audience?
What needs to be outlined?

Be sure to check in with your legal team to start this process of generating your own compliant documentation as soon as possible. Some companies will give you a standardized piece of copy to use for your Terms & Conditions, but every company treats compliance differently.

Between…

the initial meetings where you’ll need to walk legal through your SMS program and all of the in-depth intricacies of functionality
the internal legal reviews of your program
your own prep meetings before meetings with legal
follow up meetings with the vendor to answer legal’s questions
maybe meetings between your vendor & legal
the time it takes legal to draw up drafts and drafts of T&Cs
filtering through the multi-layered approval process with main stakeholders

it can take many months before your Terms & Conditions is solidified.

Ask Your Vendor For A Guide to SMS Compliance

Then read it. Memorize it. Learn it. Live it. Talk to your legal team about it. Nuggets of TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) wisdom can be shared and you’ll learn things like you need consumer express written consent to opt them in.

How many years do you need to store consent for?
Do you have to disclose how many times you’re going to text your audience and what about (hint: yes)?
Where do Terms & Conditions play in all this?

Get comfortable with SMS compliance and study the laws of the jungle.

You Can Buy Messages in Bulk

With the contract my company was on, we had to pay for every message we sent, and received in the SMS program. You could buy them per message at a set price, or buy in bulk at a discounted per message rate. Most people opt to buy in bulk (and there might be room to further haggle there).

Picture this:
- One text message is defined by 160 characters, so keeping the number of SMS messages used down to one message is desirable.
- Imagine you have a list of 2,000 to text message. You send an SMS follow up reminder to users who haven’t read the email. Your average open rate is 13%, so that’s potentially 260 people receiving 1 message.
- And if your characters are above 160 and it’s 2 messages? That’s 520 messages.

See how quickly it can be to burn through messages?

You Should Track Your Messaging Burn Rate

This will inform how many messages you buy in the future. Do you really need 50,000 messages? Maybe you overestimated and only really need 30,000 given the slow summer months. Depending on your list sizes and who you are targeting with these messages, that will dictate how many you should aim to buy.

Start off slow- over a quarter, keep track of:
- the number of campaigns utilizing SMS
- the numbers of users in your organization requesting to use SMS in their campaigns
- the average number of texts sent
- the average number of texts received from your audience.

See what that number looks like over three months. Let that influence how many to purchase for the next quarter, and eventually you’ll have a year’s worth of data to show what usage looks like.

Writing SMS Copy Is An Art

Here are some tips for writing effective SMS copy– it’s an art. Every character counts. Eloqua allows you to even incorporate personalization. Remember though- some First Names can be long. If you craft your message short enough to keep it under 160 characters with personalization, it may extend into more based on a person’s first name. Also, take into account the standardized OPT OUT and HELP messages you can tag at the end of all of your texts. Those also count towards your 160 characters. Suddenly, it’s a bit tight in the 160 character parameters… Be sure to bookmark this generator link to help you when writing your SMS copy.

You Need to Tell Your Audience (More Than Once) What Your Shortcode Is

After all this work you’ve done, you don’t want them to block you! Over and over, you should communicate what your short code is to them so they recognize you when you text them. Even encourage them to save your number to their phone for future reference.

Before Launch, Designate A Team To Review Inbound Messages

Who is going to own reviewing the inbound messages? Your audience will write back to you. It’s very easy to text back. Some may even need genuine help. Who is your point person or department to review these messages on a regular cadence? Setup automated reporting and plan ahead for someone to review the inbound messages from your audience so you can take immediate action if needed.

Need help launching your own SMS program? Our Twilio SMS Pro app allows you to send from multiple numbers, setup keyword opt-out messaging, update the contact with opt-outs, and more. If you need help planning or implementing your own SMS program, Relationship One is here to help!

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