8 Mistakes the New Message Strength Meter Will Fix

Meet SMSBump’s Strength Meter - Shopify merchant’s newest text marketing and automations buddy that will make texting even easier.

It comes with 8 predefined tips to help you craft the best text messages that will not only bring more customers to your online store, but also outstanding conversion rates. And what’s better than that?

Just like a true buddy, the Strength Meter will guide you every step of the way, letting you know when your text message is rather Medium quality and needs more fine-tuning. It will congratulate you when you make it Strong, and celebrate with you when it is mind-blowingly Powerful.

 

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Let’s take a deeper look at our Strength Meter’s biggest…well, strengths. And see how you can implement the suggestions we have provided, all based off of experience and the most common mistakes merchants make when crafting text marketing campaigns. 

 

Tip #1: Promote brand recognition

The {SiteName} short code helps you increase brand awareness and make a name for yourself.

Every great relationship, offline or online, starts by introducing yourself to one another. Including your store name at the beginning of every text message quickly lets your customers know who is texting them and builds credibility.

You can easily add it with the {SiteName} short code that will automatically fetch your Shopify store’s name.
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Notice how the strength of your text message just went from Medium to Strong after you added your site name! Awesome, right? 


Pro tip: For an even more personalized feel, turn to your customer by their name using the {FirstName} short code. This way you will shorten the distance between yourself and the customer, and will make them feel appreciated. 

 

Tip #2: Include a link to your website 

Including a link to your website is one of the ways to get customers to click and it is a step towards greater engagement. These links could advertise your entire website, or specific sections of it such as your homepage, product page, collection page, or a landing page.

Not to mention, providing a link in the SMS gives your customer a quick way to access your website, eliminating the need for them to open their browser, typing in your store name etc.

Trust us - they will appreciate it!

Remember to keep track of your links and clicks - two of the key measurements to determine the success of every campaign.
site_url_SMSBump
To include a link to your Shopify store, simply click on the {SiteURL} short code, or paste the link you want recipients to click.

If you wish to include a link to a specific page on your website, type it in manually (or paste it), which leads us to our next suggestion.

 

Tip #3: Make sure you follow link protocol 

If you are manually adding a link, make sure you always start with https:// and not www.

This is important for two reasons:

  1. https://” indicates that the link is encrypted, which makes it more trustworthy and safe from a user point-of-view 

  2. some devices don’t always recognise “www.” URLs, making it impossible for those customers to open your link and check out your store. 

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SMSBump wants to make sure all of your recipients will be able to go onto your website and get a hold of the awesome deals you are offering. If by any chance you make a mistake, the Strength meter will detect it and remind you to change it. 

 

Tip #4: Don’t forget the discounts

Make sure you always include a discount code that they can use either now, or later to checkout from another device, for instance when they go back home after work and want to continue shopping from their desktop computer, tablet, etc.

A small discount will get you a long way, no matter if you are launching a text marketing campaign or setting up an automation. Give your customers free shipping if they abandoned their carts an hour ago, or if you want to reward them for making a purchase.

Stir up some intrigue by offering a 5% discount on your newest collection, or a bigger (e.g. 15%) discount with your summer sale announcement. 79% of customers say they have placed an order after offered a fixed amount discount (e.g. for every purchase over $50, get $10 off).

No matter what you decide, discounts convert and they convert big

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Tip #5 - Images and GIFs increase click-through rates 

Adding product images or promotional banners help you boost your link clicks by making an instant connection between your recipient and what’s being advertised.

If you are targeting customers in the US, don’t miss out on including an amazing high-res image from Pexels, a fun GIF from GIPHY, or design your own visual and upload it.

Visuals stir up emotions, they are more memorable and shorten the distance between you and your customer through humour, excitement, beauty or other form of sentiment.
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Pro tip: Images work especially well with abandoned cart reminders. Enable the image grid option to include  images of all items your customer placed in their cart but didn’t purchase. Seeing all those products they were so close to buying, will create a spark and gently nudge them to hit “Proceed to checkout”.

More on how to use visuals to make your text marketing campaigns even more appealing, read here
 

Tip #6 - Special characters warning

To make sure you don’t accidentally overspend, SMSBump included the special character warning tip, which triggers as soon as you include a special symbol in your text messages. It reminds you that instead of 160 characters per text, you now have 66 and should be mindful of the message count.

What do we consider special characters? These are all foreign alphabets, the number key (№), the apostrophe sign (`), emojis etc. 

Observe what happens when we accidentally enter an apostrophe sign (`), instead of the regular one (‘), and an emoji. 
special_character_emoji_SMSBump

Tip #7 - Watch the message word count 

Wordy text messages aren’t always worthy. The word-count suggestion triggers if you go over 300 characters. It’s purpose is to both indicate that you might be going overboard with the length of your text message, and to remind you it is going to cost you more and not just in terms of money, but it might overwhelm the recipient.

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The word-count tip “challenges” you to try and say more with fewer words. Users nowadays want their content concise and clear, without any extra fluff, and your subscribers will respond better to shorter messages. 

 

Tip #8 - Never forget the unsubscribe option 

This is not so much a tip as it is a reminder. Despite all our features being built for compliance, merchants should always make sure they abide all TCPA, CTIA and GDPR regulations and follow the best practices.

The opt-out option is a mandatory requirement for all text marketing messages and automations, and if you have not enabled the Add STOP to opt out, the app will not allow you to send out your SMS.
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Note: whereas the opt-out option is only compulsory for text messages and automations that contain offers, discounts and any other form of marketing verbiage, we always advise Shopify merchants to also include it in all other automations, such as shipping confirmation, order paid or cancelled etc. 
 

The results? You created the most powerful message ever.

The Strength Meter makes it much easier to know if you are on the right path to a perfect text message, doesn’t it? As a gift from us, here is how an A-grade text message should look like if you’ve implemented all tips successfully:

{SiteName}: Hello, {FirstName}! What's cooking? Ready for Labour day? Get some of our GRILL & GO items: {DiscountCodeURL}! Whip up the best steaks with {DiscountCode} for a 15% discount:. Reply STOP to opt out. 

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Be At Full Strength With Your SMS Marketing Campaigns 

SMS is growing to be one of the most preferred means for eCommerce merchants to communicate with their audience. On top of the outstanding 98% open rate and 3-second read-through time, text messages are now even easier to master with SMSBump and the awesome Strength Meter. Install the app and start getting more and more customers with strong, personalised text messages that will blow the competition out of the water!  

Start growing today

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