Three Uses for SMS Marketing in a Hair Salon

SMS marketing is popping up all around us, and it seems to be applicable to nearly any sort of industry. Here in the United States, we love all the bells and whistles on our smartphones. Keeping up with all the fancy apps and games out there is exhausting! Text messaging seems like something of the past – but we all continue to text on a daily basis, don’t we? There is no argument that text messaging is here to stay – regardless of whether or not you own a smartphone yet. All phones are capable of sending and receiving a text message.

The simple technology that never seems to go out of style has strung a chord with many businesses when it comes to an effective marketing technique. Hair salons are a great example of how SMS marketing works – and not only as a marketing technique. There are uses for an SMS application that go beyond advertising, and are more geared toward deepening the customer or client connection. To break it down to a basic level, there are three major uses for text message marketing in the hair salon industry. Let’s take a look at what they are.

First and foremost, text marketing works as a great marketing tool. In a hair salon, obtaining the client’s phone number is no problem – as in most establishments it is standard practice to record this in their database. Encourage clients to opt-in to receive notifications and specials via text from your business. This shouldn’t be difficult, because everybody loves to receive text messages. From here, when business is slow, send a message to the clients in your database about a special offer or a promotion; maybe a deal on a particular service – for a limited time, or perhaps a mobile coupon for them to redeem at their convenience.

Secondly, SMS marketing can be used for appointment scheduling. When a client makes an appointment, capture their phone number and ask their permission to send their reminder via text message. This is a very convenient way to contact clients and saves time by not making tedious phone calls. Send a reminder a day or two before their scheduled appointment. Not only does this reduce or eliminate the number of no-shows, this provides the client with ample time to reschedule their appointment if they need to. Now, the free time slot can be utilized by somebody else, nobody’s time is wasted.

The third use for SMS marketing in a hair salon, is sending notifications to your clients. Just make sure they are valuable. Let everybody know about a new product or service. Send out an occasional beauty tip - a new hairstyling technique, or how to use a particular tool correctly at home.

Three Ways to Avoid Restaurant Text Message Unsubscribers

It is most likely you are already aware of all of the fantastic benefits text message marketing provides for your restaurant. SMS marketing allows you to speak more directly to your customers, as well as target specific messages that are relevant to your diners’ preferences. Breakfast, lunch or dinner specials, happy hour deals or family oriented promotions can be sent to the correct demographic. By using text marketing in your restaurant, you can be sure no one gets left behind. This marketing method is wonderful indeed, however there is certainly a level of responsibility that needs to be maintained.

We are all familiar with spam, in fact, most people have a filter in their email account that captures all of those unsolicited messages so we don’t even have to look at them. Text message inboxes don’t have such a filter therefore the rules are strict when it comes to marketing using a text message platform. For a restaurant, it isn’t difficult to abide by some simple guidelines in order to stay within the best practice usage for SMS marketing. There are three basic rules to follow, let’s take a look at what they are!

1. If someone isn’t your customer already, it is vital that you obtain their permission before adding them in to your text message marketing database. In fact, even if they are your customer, they still must opt-in to your marketing plan. Your customer or future customer must give you their permission by texting-in, or opting-in. This is typically accomplished by encouraging your customer to engage in a call to action, for example: “Text JOE to 96000 for special deals sent directly to your cell phone!” People are very receptive to this - everybody loves a deal. Just make sure they are aware of what they should expect upon opting-in.

2. Give your customer options. Don’t force someone to receive your marketing messages. You must always include an opt-out message in EACH text message you send. “Reply STOP to no longer receive messages from us” This doesn’t mean people will follow through with it, but it does ensure you can earn their trust by providing them with the option. You can avoid complaints, and you will be avoiding the risk of prosecution – seriously!

3. Prevent customers from unsubscribing by allowing them to set their preferences. A simple way to do this is to direct the customer to your restaurant’s website, and from here you can offer them some choices. Maybe they aren’t interested in dinner specials, only lunch specials – your restaurant may be near their place of work. Perhaps someone who is 19 years old doesn’t want to receive happy hour promotions from you. Giving your diners some control over how they are text message marketed to will go a long way for your restaurant.

Which Statistics Matter in your SMS Text Marketing Campaign?

Implementing an SMS text marketing campaign into your business’ current marketing plan is the first step toward seeing success in return on investment. The process of building your database list, creating text marketing messages, sending them out and seeing results is great, but it doesn’t complete the whole package. Even though you are watching your business grow, there is still a final step that needs to be taken. Measuring and tracking the results you are seeing is critical to seeing success – in the long term. By doing this, you will be able to see what is working and what may need some improvement. Tweaking and adjusting your campaigns is the key to seeing optimal results.
There are three major statistics to measure when it comes to monitoring the success of your SMS text marketing campaign. Now, you are able to check on these statistics while your campaign is in action, this might be good to see how things are going – however make sure that the campaign is finished before you do your final analysis. The worst thing you can do while monitoring your numbers is to draw the wrong conclusion, simply based on timing of monitoring.

The first statistic to examine is the list growth. Don’t forget, your number one goal by incorporating an SMS marketing campaign in the first place is to grow your list! This growth rate number will measure the speed at which your campaign is growing, or in other words – how quickly people are responding to your “hook message”. This is important to follow, because it can be compared with previous marketing campaigns.

Next take a look at your opt-out rate. Watching your lists grow is certainly fun, not to mention encouraging – but you’ll also need to keep an eye on those who opt-out of your SMS marketing campaigns. If you are noticing people are choosing to no longer receive marketing messages from your business, consider this a red flag. This means something isn’t resonating with your customer or client base. It’s no big deal to make a mistake, as long as you can identify what isn’t making the connection, make the necessary adjustments, and learn from it in the future.

The final statistic to look at is redemption. Now that you know how many of your customers are opting-in, and opting-out – it’s time to take a look at which ones are connecting with your campaigns, and taking advantage of them. This is particularly effective if you use mobile coupons. You’ll want to know the percentage of mobile subscribers redeeming the promotion. This is the true way you will be able to measure your ROI – Return On Investment, as well as your CPA – Cost Per Acquisition.

Segmentation Using Text Message Marketing

Regardless of what industry your business is in, creating separate targeted text message marketing groups within your database is very important. This can work whether you own a retail store, restaurant or a salon. There are a great number of reasons why making smaller individualized databases are a great use of text message marketing. Different customer or client lists can be created by use of different keywords, or they can be manually put into the system at the point of sale. These lists will separate customers based on their shopping preferences. This way, any messages they receive will be relevant to what they are looking for – hence a higher success rate. Let’s take a look at some examples to illustrate the concept.

Retailers are a type of business that can be used as a solid example. They use SMS marketing to connect with their prior customers in order to encourage repeat business. This is really effective, but if you are a savvy retailer, you’ll understand that this is simply just a starting point. The opportunity to take the marketing technique a few steps further isn’t difficult. It just takes a little more planning. Retailers are using different lists to promote their store on a higher level – for example, personal shopper services, special events, preferred shopper hours of operation, or the arrival of new merchandise. Smart retailer are beginning to take it a bit further and create groups to target based on age, special interests, or buyer history. The bottom line is, not everybody shops for the same thing, or is seeking the same information. Pinpointing these differences will take your retail store or business in general to that next level.

This idea of segmentation doesn’t have to be complicated. It isn’t always necessary to separate your database into many groups, maybe two or three will suffice – depends on your business or industry. We can take a look at a restaurant to view the concept from a different perspective. Restaurants can use different groups or keywords to let their customers know about happy hour deals, menu changes, meal specials or special events. This works great - but what if someone is underage and doesn’t need to receive messages about happy hour? What if someone is a vegetarian and doesn’t want a message about your steak special? People have different preferences, especially when it comes to their dining choices. When a restaurant knows the difference between their different customers, they will find more success reaching each and every one of them. Take a look at times of day too. People who come in for lunch are a different demographic than those who make dinner reservations. Text message marketing allows you to send relevant messages to your loyal customers.

Prevent Buyers from Opting-Out of your Real Estate Text Message Marketing Campaign

If you are a real estate professional, you have probably heard of text message marketing. The benefits of SMS marketing in the real estate industry go far beyond advertising. The best part about this marketing method is the versatility that can be found within the platform. The opportunities to connect and communicate effectively with potential buyers and sellers are endless! The ability to create separate buyer lists based on preferences or qualifications allows your messages to be relevant, which in turn means they will be greatly appreciated. As with all great things, you can be certain there is a level of responsibility involved.

No one likes to receive spam, you know, those unsolicited emails that pop up in your inbox? Most people have filters that can capture and hide spam messages so that we don’t even have to see them. Not only are these sort of unwanted messages annoying, but they can potentially compromise the security of your computer. With text communication, there is no such thing as a spam filter. Luckily, we don’t need one in there for the most part – so the ultimate goal is to keep it that way. If you are a real estate agent and you are looking to implement text message marketing into your business, it is essential that you follow a few simple guidelines to ensure you don’t overstep any boundaries. Cell phones are highly personal devices after all!

1. Your list of potential buyers must be created from people who have opted-in. What does this mean? It means you need to obtain their permission before you send them any messages. Typically, this can be accomplished by posting a call to action on your sign rider. “Text 123MAIN to 96000 for listing details.” People find this convenient and they love the instant info factor, so you can be sure to expect many text-ins. Create your reply message to provide property details such as square footage, bedrooms, price . . . etc. Next, create a second message confirming their choice to opt-in to your list, in turn receiving more messages from you regarding this property, or similar properties.

2. Allow them to opt-out. I know this isn’t what you want to be reading, but it is the law! You must provide your potential clients with a way out. Put a disclosure at the end of each text message. “Reply STOP to no longer receive messages from us.” This doesn’t mean people will necessarily oblige, but they will appreciate the option.

3. People won’t unsubscribe from your text message marketing campaign as long as you give them a little control. Encourage potential buyers to log on to your website, and set up a few preferences. What is their price range? What areas would they like to consider? From here, you can target your messages to provide buyers with exactly what they are looking for.

Mind your Text Message Marketing Manners

All sorts of companies out there are taking advantage of text message marketing. Businesses that have chosen to implement this form of communication into their marketing plan have the great advantage of connecting with their clients and customers on a targeted and direct level. Whether you are just starting to understand the technology and how it applies to your individual business needs, or you have been using SMS marketing for while now – the important thing to remember is that text message marketing is a privilege. If you, as a business abuse the privilege, not only will you be tarnishing your own reputation, you may be damaging your industry’s reputation and level of standard as well. It can be easy to get carried away with how easy and fun text marketing can be, as well as how effective it is for your company – however you certainly do not want to be bothersome to your customers and clients.

The easiest way to get caught up excessively in the marketing method, is if you send messages at inappropriate times, or if you send messages too frequently. There aren’t any real set-in-stone rules for text message marketing, however there are a few guidelines to consider so as not to come off as annoying. You’ll want to avoid abusing your text marketing privilege as best as you can.
Firstly, be aware of when you send out your messages. A good rule of thumb to stick by is to send your messages during business hours: 9am to 6pm. You don’t want to risk sending a message when someone is eating dinner, or spending time with their family. Sure, it’s not as invasive as a phone call – but any interruption is still an interruption!

Secondly, don’t send messages just because. Your messages should always have meaning, and provide something of value. Sending a message just because you haven’t sent one for a while is not a good enough reason. This essentially defeats the whole purpose of text message marketing! Yes, you do want to make sure your business remains on people’s minds – however be subtle about it. Make yourself known as the business who is consistently relevant with their messaging.

Third of all, don’t overdo it. Definitely don’t send more than two messages per week. You know how it feels to get constant emails from that one site you shopped on months ago – it’s annoying! You don’t mind an email or two from time to time, especially if there is a coupon involved, but you don’t need to your inbox to fill up with meaningless messages. Same concept. For example, if you are promoting an upcoming special event, give your customers 2 or 3 days notice, and then one final reminder.

Five Steps toward Choosing the Right Text Marketing Software

So, you’ve heard the hype about text message marketing. Everyone is getting into it, it works wonders for your business, it is cost effective, simple, etc. The question is, how do you know which text marketing software to choose? When you type it into your search engine, it seems like a zillion companies out there are offering text marketing. Launching your SMS marketing campaign suddenly feels exhausting with all those choices. You want to make sure you make the right choice for your company, you’ll want to get the most bang for your buck and you want to make this happen fast. There are lots of factors when it comes to narrowing down your choices for a decent text marketing software. Here are a few simple steps to follow to help streamline this process:

1. You’ll want to find a company with a short code. A short code is a five or six digit phone number, which you will have your customers and clients text to – which in turn will capture their information into your database. From here, you will be able to send out mass messages to people who have opted-in. Short codes are easier to remember than regular phone numbers, they are catchy and effective. You’ll definitely want to rule out the companies that don’t utilize this text technique.

2. Now that you have narrowed down your company choices to those who use short codes, scroll around on the company’s website and look for a regular phone number. I know, this is the opposite of the last step, but it is for a different reason! If you can’t find a company phone number on the first page of their website, skip them. Why? Because you want to pick a company who is accessible. When you have questions, you will want to talk to a real person.

3. Now look for references. You’ll want to look for the sort of references that are from individual human beings, don’t be blind sighted by flashing company logos. Look for quotes from happy customers, real looking photographs, true tales of text message success. You want to know the company has customers!

4. You should have a smaller list by now. Narrow it down even further by seeking out the text marketing software companies that offer no other services. You need a company that specializes in text marketing only, no fancy other marketing methods included. If a company can specialize in a one particular thing, it is likely they will excel at it – and so will you.

5. Lastly, you need to seek out simplicity. Your list should be very small by now, and from here, sign up for a free trial and choose the company that provides you with the simplest steps to getting started with your campaigns. If you don’t get it, move on.