SMS or text message marketing campaigns are a great way to reach current and new customers. However, many businesses fail to utilise this channel to its full potential. One reason being that people often get lost in how and what to measure. That’s why the team at WildJar is here to break things down into simple terms so you can see which metrics matter.
Let’s start with the basics. What exactly is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing campaigns involve sending promotional material and transactional messages to customers via text message. Usually, these communications relate to time-sensitive offers and updates, along with notifications to people who have agreed to receive such messages. The advantage of SMS marketing campaigns is that they can easily be made personable to the recipient, resulting in high open rates.
Okay, but how exactly do we measure campaigns?
Good question. Like any marketing effort, getting the best returns comes down to how well you can measure data. Why? Because this allows you to tweak and adjust your efforts based on the numbers coming back.
We’ve listed some of the most important SMS marketing metrics below.
A key metric to consider when it comes to SMS campaigns is list growth rate. This is a measure of how quickly your subscriber list is growing. If you are experiencing steady growth, then this indicates that you are acquiring new customers and retaining them well. On the other hand, a reduction in growth likely suggests work needs to be done in marketing to new users.
Tip: list growth rate can be calculated on a weekly, monthly or yearly basis.
Use this formula to calculate list growth rate (Subscribers at end of a time period – subscribers at the beginning)/(subscribers at the beginning of the time period)
Up next we have list size. This metric relates to the total number of phone numbers that have a subscription to your campaign. Information like this is key because it helps you to measure how large your base audience actually is. Keep in mind, however, that this number will not always be completely accurate. The reason being that chances are your list will include deactivated phone numbers that are no longer used.
Staying on top of attrition or drop off rate is key to SMS marketing. By doing so, you can determine what needs to be changed. For instance, if customers are unsubscribing in large numbers, this could be because they are no longer interested in your service, they find your messages intrusive or the value of your content is lacking. With attrition rates in mind, you can adjust the frequency of messages and the quality of content being delivered to make sure things stack up as they should.
WildJar can help if you want to improve the performance of your SMS marketing campaigns. Our end-to-end call-tracking and SMS call reporting software is perfect for businesses of all sizes. Contact us and book a demo today.
