Texting is one of the most effective forms of marketing. Did you know that texts have more than a 95% open rate compared to an email rate of 21.5%? However, there’s another way that marketers can utilize mobile devices, and that’s through targeting notifications. So, what is SMS notification marketing? And how does it compare to standard texting?
An SMS notification is just a shortened preview of the text message a person receives. Utilizing this preview is a smart way to boost your open rate even further. Think about subject lines; you make them catchy and full of intriguing action words.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to increase your success even further with SMS marketing. It’s incredible what paying attention to SMS notifications can do. It’s a simple yet effective way to re-evaluate your approach to traditional advertising. And in less than five minutes, you’ll be an absolute marketing pro!
What Is SMS Notification Meaning in Marketing?
An SMS notification is the preview of a text message on your screen. You know, that little snapshot of what the sender has said to you? It can make you click instantly, have your stomach drop, or shrug your shoulders and ignore it.
So, what is SMS notification mean in marketing? It’s the bit that decides how recipients treat your text. And that’s incredibly important.
Now that you know the answer to “What is an SMS notification? “Let’s discuss the practicalities. What does a notification actually look like? How many characters do you have to wow your recipient?
The amount of characters you get will vary depending on what mobile phone the person receiving the message has. Generally speaking, this will be somewhere between 100 and 200 characters — around three to four lines. It’s best to err on the side of caution, though. The more impactful your first two lines, the better your results will be.
We challenge you to sell everything in your first sentence. If you can treat your opening line in SMS messages as a subject line equivalent, you’ll see great results. You’re motivating your marketing targets to actually open your content.
4 Reasons to Rethink SMS Notifications
Here’s the thing: whether you like it or not, mobile devices will create shortened versions of your texts. Even if you aren’t tackling notifications in your SMS marketing campaigns, somewhere, a mobile phone is doing that for you. Probably not very well.
So, instead of reasons to use SMS notifications, let’s consider reasons to rethink them. It’s time to regain control over how your SMS campaigns first reach customers, and here are four reasons why.
1. Boost Open Rate
When your preview is snappy and engaging, your open rate rises. It makes sense. Who would open a message with a dreary preview that doesn’t interest them? Nobody.
By taking control of your notification strategy, you invest in your open rate on a long-term basis. A good open rate is vital for longevity — it’s one of the main SMS marketing metrics you should be tracking.
2. Increase Lead Generation
No surprises here; if open rates increase, so does lead generation. The more people see your message, the more chance of desirable engagement you have. In turn, this does wonders for your profit.
3. Professionalism
Nothing says professional and trustworthy like a proper SMS notification. It’s one of those things you don’t realize matters until you see a bad preview. You know, the kind with half a sentence cut off and the least engaging opening line you’ve ever seen.
First impressions matter, so make sure your SMS campaign is putting its best foot forward.
4. Increase Customer Satisfaction
Yes, believe it or not, notifications do actually impact customer satisfaction. The right marketing content not only yields performance results but also builds rapport. The more connected your customers feel to your business, the higher their satisfaction.
It’s a clever way to continue to invest in your branding, associations, and customer relationships.
The Difference Between a Notification and Message
The simple difference is that a notification is a preview, while the message is the entirety of the content. When you send an SMS, if recipients have their notifications on, the first they’ll see is a preview. This either flashes up on the lock screen or drops down on the top of their screen.
Depending on whether the person decides to engage with it, they click on that notification to read the full message. The two categories are interlinked. It’s best to think of a notification as a doorway to a message.
However, you streamline the whole process by approaching them differently and purposefully playing to each of their strengths. The better your notification, the more likely recipients are to read your messages.
FAQ
Don’t rush off yet. In just a second, we’ll share some groundbreaking tips on actually getting the SMS contacts to start with. However, before then, let’s take one last look at the most commonly asked question. It’s important to consolidate your understanding.
What is an SMS notification?
An SMS notification is a brief preview of a text message that a recipient sees. It doesn’t reveal the full message but gives a snapshot — a brief introduction so they can decide their next action. It usually includes up to 200 characters across four lines of text and acts much like an email subject line.
Based on that notification, recipients will decide whether to immediately click open or complete an engagement action like a purchase. Who knows, they could also choose to ignore it or mentally label it as spam.
How many characters are SMS notifications?
SMS notifications are roughly between 100 and 200 characters long. However, it’s best to target a middle ground to allow for device and brand variations. Effective notifications are full previews of messages; they don’t cut off before getting to the point.
Remember, this is your chance to entice someone to open your text. Treat it as a mini marketing message in its own right.
Does everyone receive SMS notifications?
Anyone using a smartphone device will receive SMS notifications. There is a slight variation in how many characters Android versus Apple users will see. But as a whole, unless the user has set their phone to Do Not Disturb, they’ll get your notification.
Because of this, it’s important to be proactive about utilizing your SMS notifications. Whether you prepare or not, your contacts will get an SMS preview — it might as well be a good one.
Before you even get to the stage of fine-tuning notifications, you need the SMS contacts to start with. Text messages are one of the most valuable marketing channels.
There are many SMS marketing examples; use them to provide timely updates and promotional deals and to orchestrate retention strategies. With so many smartphone users, you’re guaranteed value for money.
So, to get started, you need to collect phone numbers. The best way to do this is through captive portals.
Captive portals are temporary blocks that pop up when customers try to join your guest WiFi. Instead of immediately taking them to your internet, they trigger a webpage form.
You can personalize this form, customizing what information it requests (while disclosing data collection to stay compliant with your marketing). Once users comply, they gain full WiFi access, and you get phone numbers. It’s a win-win.
At Beambox, that’s our bread and butter. We provide an all-in-one marketing platform with a customizable captive portal. The best part is we operate on a monthly subscription basis for ultimate flexibility (tax-deductible, of course).
You know the answer to “What is SMS notification marketing,” focus on collecting contacts! Start your Beambox free trial today!
