Mala McAlpin SMS marketing can be extremely effective if carried out correctly. We’ve seen countless clinics do their text marketing to perfection, but we’ve also seen plenty of missteps. We recently covered off some scenarios where text marketing can be extremely helpful in clinic, so this time we’re covering exactly what to do and what not to do when engaging in sms campaigns.
Don’t
- Bombard your clients. Too-frequent text campaigns can quickly upset clients, particularly if you haven’t targeted your recipient list closely enough and someone receives a campaign immediately after receiving a treatment.
- Include long hyperlinks. Not only does it make the message extremely difficult to read AND use up valuable character limits, but clients may look at a it whilst on the go or at a glance and straight away write it off as spam if the hyperlink is very long. Use a URL shortening provider like Bitly to shorten any links.
- Use abbreviated language or text speak, such as “C U Soon”. Yes, it uses less characters, but it looks extremely unprofessional. And remember, proper punctuation and grammar is everything.
- Run the risk of upsetting your clients. While it’s great to be specific and to-the-point, phrases like ‘have your wrinkles returned?’ could make some clients feel self-conscious and upset rather than nurtured and content. Your clients want to feel great when they visit you, and this applies to every single interaction and association they have with you.
- Use too many capital letters. We all know caps look aggressive (and as with links, the ‘spammy’ rule applies.
Do
- While too much caps can be off-putting, using capitals on a single word at the beginning of a sentence like ‘NEW treatment available’ can be very effective in calling attention without being overwhelming.
- Include an opt out. Of course nobody wants to give clients the option to remove themselves from your list, but it’s an absolute must. If you don’t provide the option, this will cause some indignant clients to never return.
- Include a call to action. Make sure you’re asking clients to do something, whether it’s visit a link, call the clinic, book online etc. Clients won’t follow through on your text marketing if the ‘next step’ isn’t clear.
- Be specific. Target certain groups with certain messages, be strategic about who you’re sending to. For example, filter through your client list and export contacts that haven’t visited for 6 months in order to concoct a ‘we haven’t seen you in a while’ text. The more personalised your text messages are, the better.
