- Short message service, or SMS, can help businesses maintain direct contact with customers.
- Customers must sign up to receive text messages, so conversion rates tend to be higher than email.
- SMS programs can come with additional costs, but one of the founders said it saved his business from failure.
- This article is part of the Small Business Marketing series, which explores the basics of a small business marketing strategy to attract new customers and grow your business.
When GreenPal, a program that connects people with local lawn care services, launched 10 years ago, it initially relied on emails sent to customers to book landscaping jobs or pay bills. He received no response, but his customer service team was inundated with calls.
"We'd say, 'We've sent you five emails,' and they'd say, 'Well, I don't check my email,'" Brian Clayton, the company's co-founder and CEO, told Insider.
After a year in business, the Nashville, Tennessee-based company decided to find a new way to communicate with its customers. So he turned to the short message service SMS, also known as text messaging.
Data shows that people check their phones every 10 to 12 minutes and spend most of that time reading and responding to text messages. The companies found: In a SimpleTexting survey, nearly nine out of 10 companies surveyed said they communicated with customers via text messages in the past year.
Since 2014, SMS marketing has helped GreenPal connect directly with 300,000 customers nationwide, increasing sales and engagement, Clayton said. Customers can request lawn care quotes, confirm listings and receive text reminders, and landscaping companies receive job alerts.
"I don't know if we'd be in business without SMS because we just couldn't find any other way to keep people informed," he said.
This is why SMS marketing can be an effective way to attract customers.
Communicate appointments and discounts directly.
Texting is often the preferred method of communication, and text messages typically open in just a few minutes, Barbara Casey, CEO of SMS marketing agency Mobile High 5, told Insider.
Consumers tend to be especially sensitive to text messages from companies because they are required by law to opt out of receiving them.
Text messaging allows small businesses to communicate one-on-one with their customers at any time on a specific topic, Casey said. For example, salons send appointment reminders, retailers offer discount codes, and restaurants can notify customers about the status of their orders.
Re-engage customers and increase sales
SMS helped GreenPal recover inactive accounts and reconnect with people who had signed up but had never used gardening services. Clayton said he often gives these potential clients a discount when they book services.
"We hear all the time: 'I tried you all last year and completely forgot.' Then I received your message,” she said.
GreenPal's SMS interface also allows existing customers to easily change their services, such as increasing the frequency of lawn mowing or adding trimming or gutter cleaning, Clayton said. The addition of these features has led to increased sales, he added.
By allowing customers to contact the company via text messages, GreenPal also reduced the number of customer service calls.
“The thing about messaging is that you want to surprise and delight people,” Casey said.
This means delivering relevant messages that customers want, rather than bombarding them.
Depending on the company and its goals, Casey recommended sending anywhere from a few text messages per month to one per week.
Follow the rules
The Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires companies to obtain customer consent before sending marketing text messages. Companies should also provide an easy way for customers to unsubscribe.
The law determines what text messages a company can send and when. For example, text messages can only be sent between 8:00 am and 9:00 pm in the recipient's time zone. Companies that do not comply will be fined between $500 and $1,500 per non-compliant text, Casey said.
Understanding these rules is the biggest hurdle small businesses face when starting SMS marketing, he added. Often, businesses will need to hire a company to create a custom program or use API services that offer SMS marketing, such as Mailchimp or Twilio.
"You can't do this on your own," Clayton said, adding that GreenPal initially tried it but ended up using Plivo for its SMS program.
While it's an added expense, he said texting has become the "lifeblood" of his business.
