Offering your marketing digitally can also give your leads and clients access to resources and information about your products and services. If this seems overwhelming, don’t worry. With some front-end work and a reliable messaging partner, automations can make your digital marketing more manageable — and cost-effective.

1. Automate marketing messages to improve your customer’s experiences

It’s likely that your potential customers are looking for financial information at all hours of the day, and you can greet them each time with personalized messaging automation. Your first step in creating this positive experience is to ensure you aren’t sending any messages, directly or with automations, without their express written consent. Giving your leads and customers the ability to opt in to messaging can be painless when you add opt-in and compliance language to your digital and printed marketing materials or with a button on your website. Once you have the tools to capture consent, you can automate with a little upfront content creation.

One of the easiest ways to start your customer off with a positive experience with your company is by sending an automated welcome message. When a lead submits a form from your website or asks for more information and agrees to opt in to your messages, your preset welcoming message automation can send them an instant response. 

Filling out the form and submitting it triggers this message, and it doesn’t have to stop there. Your welcome message can also lead to an automated message flow that can gather information about your lead’s user metrics, like their financial goals and knowledge level. These messaging flows might ask your lead questions and ask them to reply using a keyword. Each keyword response triggers another automated message that may provide them with links to resources or applications, or it can trigger a response that explains when you will contact them.

These flows and automations improve the customer’s experience from the initial interaction and can keep it going throughout their journey with your company.

2. Increase profitable hours without sacrificing personalized interactions

With marketing automations in place, you and your team won’t have to spend their profit-making hours responding to each customer request personally. Your automated marketing responders can handle many tasks on your behalf, whether an initial welcoming message or one aimed at nurturing clients with links to educational posts or newsletters catered to their interests. 

Remember that data collecting flow mentioned above? This crucial data, combined with your CRM database, can help you personalize each automated marketing campaign. You’ll save time without sacrificing the quality of each interaction when you add personalized touches to each automated message.

Automated marketing doesn’t mean you’ll relinquish complete control of your marketing and communications to automations. With messaging services like SMS-Magic, you can easily switch from automated to personal conversations. Plus, your automations should be reviewed and adjusted regularly based on your read and response rates to your automated marketing campaigns. This will require updated content creation and adjustments to your keyword triggers and flows to keep automation marketing working its best for you.

3. Promote efficiency and reduce event no-shows with automations

Reminders about upcoming meetings or seminars or gentle nudges to download or read marketing content are other benefits that make adding marketing automation a priority. Once a client agrees to a set appointment date and time, it, unfortunately, isn’t set in stone. You can reduce no-shows by setting up automations to send reminders days and hours before the meeting. Add in the ability for clients to reschedule, and you’ll have time to slide another client into a vacant slot — keeping you on track and increasing your productivity.

SMS-Magic’s analytics lets you see what marketing messages aren’t read or responded to. This vital data — paired with your CRM database — can fuel your follow-up campaigns, specifically targeting those groups that haven’t taken action. Follow-ups and reminders are crucial to maintaining your customers’ forward momentum so they can experience all you offer. Automating these follow-ups frees you up and keeps you moving toward your business goals. 

The Bottom Line

Engaging in thoughtful marketing tactics means you’re nurturing leads and delighting your existing customers, but that doesn’t mean you’re always doing it from your mobile phone or computer 24/7. With a little up-front message creation, you can set SMS marketing automations to work for you — any time of day.

Ready to get started using messaging automations to work for your wealth management firm? To get started with SMS-Magic, contact our customer support team for a demo or a free trial!

The Rule of 7 was devised in the 1930s to quantify how many times a person needed to see a movie poster before they bought a ticket for the movie. During the ensuing decades, the rule held true for most products. A consumer needed seven “touches” from a company before they would internalize the marketing message and act on the call to action.

These days, with all the noisy messages surrounding us, a consumer may need more than seven touches. They may need up to 25 touches before they are ready to respond to your message. Fortunately, we have more channels to try than just movie posters. Multichannel marketing relies on your ability to create the mix of channels that will supply the needed touches to convert a prospect into a customer.

So maybe the Rule of 7 still applies, but it needs updating. Your mix of channels may need a little overhaul, too. Here’s a list of the channels you’re probably already using:

• Email
• Direct mail
• In-person contact at a trade show or conference
• Print, television and radio ads
• Social media
• Online ads
• Sponsorships
• Online communities
• Billboards
• Phone calls

We’d like to make the case for adding messaging to your channel mix. And here are five great reasons this could work for your marketing campaigns.

#1 – Your Customers Are Digital-First

Your customers have been “rewired” to be digital-first, according to a recent report by Adobe and eConsultancy. The lessons of the past several years have taught them to rely more heavily than ever on their mobile phones, their tablets and their laptops. Non-digital channels are still effective, but your customers look first to their digital devices. Messaging can be central to a digital-first marketing strategy.

#2 – Messaging Is Available 24/7, 365

Your customers are trying to solve problems in their own lives. Sometimes, it’s an ordinary task like scheduling a haircut or taking advantage of a great sale. But sometimes it’s a life-changing event like securing the right attorney after an accident or applying to college or buying a home. In those cases, your customer might want information about your company, product and services after hours. They might search for a lawyer in the middle of the night. They might wonder about interest rates in the middle of the afternoon. They might ask for a campus tour when you least expect it. With automated messaging, you can provide a personalized, but automated, response whenever your customers contact you. Once the first contacts are made, you can switch to in-person conversations, increasing your chances of making connections.

#3 – Attention Spans Are Getting Shorter

You don’t ever have very much time to attract attention, and messaging helps keep your appeal short and sweet. SMS messages are 160 characters long. Multimedia messages can be longer, but they often contain images or videos, making them very appealing. Customers expect messages to be short and to the point, and they are generally willing to give you the 30 seconds it takes to read your message. Use the message wisely and you can have a real impact. Customers trust that you won’t waste their time.

#4 –Premiums Are Effective In Most Campaigns

You probably offer incentives when you make an appeal. Coupons, sweepstakes and bonuses, among others, can help spur your audience to action. Offer something your audience values and you’ll see your response rate rise. Messaging allows you to ask for immediate action. For example, a university might send this message: “Text APPLYNOW to 534567 to waive your application fee.” The reply text might trigger an automated message that leads to an in-person conversation with an admissions counselor. In other industries, you might link to online coupons or offers, tailoring the offer and the response to your situation.

#5 – Compliance & Analytics Are Critical

You probably use a CRM to segment your audiences, direct your campaigns and report on the results. After all, knowing how your campaign performed is critical to your continuing success. The essence of marketing is to design and launch a campaign for a particular audience, gather data about how it performed, and use the analysis to design even more effective campaigns in the future. You probably are also impacted by privacy laws and regulations. They protect consumers and require certain adjustments for marketers. Messaging allows you to work seamlessly with your CRM and to prove compliance with its reporting capabilities.

Increasing your use of messaging in your multichannel marketing mix makes sense in today’s world. People are using messaging systems for an ever-increasing list of tasks, including very private functions like their banking. Other channels are also effective, but messaging can give your marketing an added boost.

If you’re ready to give messaging a try, contact SMS-Magic for a demo or a free trial today!

You have a choice of two: SMS or MMS.

You probably already use SMS messaging in your daily life. SMS stands for “Short Message Service” and is the type of service that comes with most mobile phones. When you text a brief message to family members with a quick reminder about the day’s schedule, you’re probably using an SMS message. It’s no more than 160 letters and numbers and doesn’t have any attachments. The technology has been around since the 1980s and is the most widely used messaging protocol.

If, however, you send a photo with your message, you’re using an MMS message. MMS stands for “Multimedia Message Service.” You can include photos, videos, audio clips, GIFs and more in an MMS message. MMS also allows you to send up to 1,600 characters in your message. Combining a message and an attachment generally creates a much larger file than a simple SMS message, but more about that in a minute.

What About iMessage, WhatsApp and the Other Services?

When you send or receive a plain SMS message, you’re using the cellular service on your mobile phone. If you’re using iMessage, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, WeChat or any of the other “Over the Top” apps, the app is using the internet to send the message, not a cellular service. The recipient of the message must also have the same app to receive the message.

For example, if you send an iMessage (which comes with your iPhone) your recipient must have an iPhone, too, or the message will be delivered as an SMS message. You can tell the difference because the bubble on your iPhone goes from blue to green when you message someone who doesn’t have an iPhone.

When you’re sending one message at a time, of course, it doesn’t matter much how it’s being delivered. When you start sending hundreds or thousands of messages at a time, however, the details become much more important.

What’s the Difference Between SMS and MMS?

At SMS-Magic, you have the capability to send either SMS or MMS messages from the minute you sign up for our service. If you have unlimited time and an unlimited budget, you can send MMS messages exclusively. If, however, you are tracking time spent and managing a budget, you’ll need to know when to choose one or the other.

SMS

• SMS messages are limited to 160 characters – text or numerals.
• One credit buys one SMS message.
• Each single SMS message or auto-reply generally takes 5 seconds to be delivered. Group SMS messages depend on the group size for delivery rates. You can expect 10,000 SMS messages to take about five minutes from the start of the send.

MMS

•  MMS messages can contain up to 1,600 characters.
• Four credits buy one message.
• Each MMS message may take up to a minute to be delivered through the messaging system and the carrier.

If you’re running a “text-to-join” campaign or something similar and expect a high rate of return, you probably will opt for SMS. Transactional messages like appointment confirmations, package tracking or password resets probably make more sense as SMS messages, too. Consider SMS when your messages are short, urgent, or concise or direct recipients to links with more information. Be careful with emojis because sometimes they can bump your messages into an MMS category.

Although budget may limit your choice to less-expensive SMS messages, you might have occasions when an MMS campaign will attract more attention. Humans remember pictures better than other information. If you hear something, you’ll remember 10 percent of it three days later. But if there’s a picture, you’ll remember 65 percent of it.

In 2008, BMW launched an MMS campaign to sell snow tires and enjoyed an outstanding 30 percent conversion rate. The campaign cost them $60,000. If they sent to 117,000 customers and 30 percent bought tires at an average cost of $1,300, the campaign brought in more than $45 million. That’s over $750 in revenue per dollar spent on the campaign.

Of course, not every company will experience that kind of result, but you may have campaigns that warrant higher send rates than others. In a 2012 study by ROI Research, 44 percent of respondents say they are more likely to engage with companies that post pictures in their ads. Your audience’s preferences will help guide what types of messages you send.

Managing Relationships with Carriers & CRMs

Do you have staff members who are experts at managing relationships with all the carriers you might encounter? Don’t worry! SMS-Magic does.

As part of our service, we handle everything you need from a carrier – from acquiring short and long codes to troubleshooting issues. We work with carriers every day and can save you the trouble of dealing with them.

In addition, SMS-Magic works seamlessly with Salesforce and Zoho and has the capability to work with most CRM systems. We can help you even if you don’t use a CRM at all.

Does SMS-Magic sound like the partner you’ve been looking for? We hope so!

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you how to accelerate your messaging campaigns with SMS-Magic!

If you’re thinking about adding text messaging to your marketing campaigns, you might be overwhelmed with the number of platforms your clients may use to receive short-message-service (SMS) or multimedia-message-service (MMS) messages. People in different parts of the world use a variety of platforms.  WhatsApp is the most popular service in India, while most users in the U.S. still use the native SMS text capabilities of their mobile phones.

SMS messages are limited to 160 characters and cost less to send than larger MMS messages. MMS messages, however, can include audio, video, GIFs and complicated graphics, among other rich media components. Your audience and campaign goals will provide direction for the best text vehicle, but what are your choices?

The “best” text messaging system depends on where your audience lives and what their preferred app is. Here is a summary of the most popular apps around the world:

As you can see, Facebook Messenger is the top app in North America and Australia, WhatsApp is most popular in most of South America, Russia, India and parts of Africa, and WeChat is the leader in China. If your company is based in the United States, you might not be familiar with apps like Viber, Telegram, Line, Discord, KakaoTalk, Phoenix, or Zalo, but if you’re trying to reach customers in certain countries, you may need to become familiar with their favorites.

Here are the most popular social media platforms in the United States as of Jan. 2020:

As you can see Facebook Messenger is the preferred app for those in the U.S. – that does not include the majority who are using the native texting capabilities on their mobile phones.

Here are the top messaging apps in selected countries outside the U.S[HR3] .:

Here is a breakdown of countries with the highest Facebook users:

WhatsApp also is one of the most popular apps in the world, so here is a breakdown of the top countries using WhatsApp:

Few companies have a budget that allows them to send unlimited texts to any particular app, so it is a best practice to narrow your selection to the best potential customers.

Let SMS-Magic Help You

The SMS-Magic team works every day to make building effective campaigns easy. SMS-Magic works with all the messaging apps, so you don’t sacrifice anything to reach your best customers wherever they are! We would be excited to share our experience and help you decide what is best for you.

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you how SMS-Magic can help you build and automate your text messaging campaigns!

That rule is courtesy of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, a law enacted in 1991 to govern phone calls and then updated to include texts and emails. TCPA seeks to protect consumers from receiving unwanted marketing solicitations, and its fines and penalties help ensure businesses take it seriously. The fines can be as much as $1,500 per message sent. In one of the first class-action lawsuits concerning texting, Papa John’s settled the case against it for $16.5 million in 2013.

Fortunately, with a little planning and a savvy text messaging partner like SMS-Magic, you can gain consent, reach out to your customers legally, and keep the necessary records to defend any actions against you. And most importantly, you can establish a relationship with your customers that lets them know you’re not going to fill up their inboxes with unwanted messages.

What Does the TCPA Require?

TCPA guidelines require that you must:

• Receive consent before any message can be sent.
• Mention your company name
• State the coupon or value proposition
• Mention the frequency of messages that will be sent monthly
• Disclose possible carrier costs and fees
• Give an option to ask for help and opt out of future texts

How Can You Approach Customers to Gain Consent?

Remember: You can’t text until you have permission. So don’t even think about buying a list of phone numbers and starting without consent. But if you play by the rules, where can you solicit customers for your text marketing campaign?

In a recent blog post, we provided a list of 20 ways to attract new customers to your texting campaigns and there are many more. As you design your campaigns to grow your text marketing list, you can include the initial TCPA information your customer needs in a small text block on the emails, trade show materials, business cards, product packaging, or other marketing materials. Here’s an example of how you can structure that text for a fictitious pizza restaurant:

Headline: Want Great Pizza Deals Sent Directly to Your Phone?

Subhead: Text CHEESE to 999999 to Start Receiving Weekly Offers

Graphics: Include your logo or other graphic

Small text: Message and data rates may apply. Max 5 msgs/mo. Consent not required to buy goods/svcs. Terms and conditions at pizzastore.com/terms. Privacy policy at pizzastore.com/privacy. For help, text HELP to 555111. To opt-out, text STOP to 555111.

If your company requires additional legal text for offers such as “May not be combined with other offers” or “Limited time only,” you can include the necessary text in the small text block. Notice that you can provide the web address for terms and conditions and your privacy policy. If your customers have questions, you’ve given them a resource for answers. You’ve even provided information about opting out before they need it.

Consider Using a Double Opt-In

Let’s assume your customer has opted into receiving text messages from your company with the offer we’ve just discussed above. They’ve texted CHEESE to your short code. Now what happens?

Simple. You automatically send them a confirmation text immediately. In that first message, you can provide some valuable information to them and keep yourself legal.

Here’s an example of the confirmation text:

Please reply YES to receive updates from the Pizza Store. Std. msg&data rates apply. Max 5 msgs/month. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel.

You’ve repeated your company’s name and asked your customers to confirm that they want to receive texts from you. You’ve provided a reminder about possible texting charges. You’ve told them how many messages to expect, and you’ve given them the tools to ask for help or stop the messages. And you’ve done all of this in seconds without disturbing your customer.

Extend an Offer

Of course, you can offer a special deal, coupon, discount or promotion with either the first touch or the confirmation text. Often, this type of extra incentive will prompt customers to opt in right away by providing a sense of urgency.

In the first example above, the Pizza Store could have offered an immediate discount with the promise of more to come via text messages throughout the month. Adding an incentive would only require a slight rewrite of the copy.

Be careful, however, how you word your incentive. Don’t use a vague statement like “Text us to receive a 10% discount.” Instead, be clear about what the customer must do to earn the discount. This is better: “Get 10% off when you join our SMS text list.”

Test, Test, Test

Your text campaigns will require thoughtful planning, and it will be easy to figure out what’s working and what’s not. Texts are immediate. You won’t have to wait long to determine if your appeals are successful or not. Adjustments are easy to make when you have data driving your decisions.

So, plan some A/B testing with email appeals for your text messaging lists. You can determine which email subject lines and body copy prompt the most customers to opt in. And as you build your text messaging lists, you can do similar testing to see what campaigns produce the best results. The beauty of text messaging campaigns is their immediacy.

Keeping Track of Who Opted In and Who Opted Out

You’ll also need to keep track of who has opted in and who has opted out, as well as who is already in the system to keep one person from opting in multiple times. SMS-Magic can make compliance a breeze, particularly if you have tied your text messaging campaigns into your CRM. No matter what industry you’re in – banking, higher education, hospitality, finance or others, we’ll help you keep up with customer permissions as they opt-in (and perhaps opt-out) of your messaging campaigns.

SMS-Magic is designed to track opt-in and opt-out requests so that you send only to the customers who have specifically asked you to. Our back-end systems are structured so that we can display individual requests, and we can prove you’ve complied with customer requests. You won’t have to worry about regulators asking to see your records. We use on-going processes to collect and store information about distribution and can share it with regulators, if necessary.

Does SMS-Magic sound like the answer you’ve been looking for? We hope so!

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you how SMS-Magic can help you build and automate your text messaging lists!

We’ve got tons of suggestions. But first, let’s make sure we spell out what express written consent means.

You must have express written consent before your company can legally send text messages to anyone. That means more than just asking for their phone number. It doesn’t matter who it is – an existing customer, a former client, a trade-show lead, or someone on a purchased marketing list. Before that first message goes out, your customer must say it’s okay.

The U.S. Congress created the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to combat unsolicited phone calls. Through the years, however, it has expanded to include new technologies like text messaging. It contains specific restrictions and penalties that companies ignore at their peril. The fines can be as much as $1,500 per message sent. In one of the first class-action lawsuits concerning texting, Papa John’s settled the case against it for $16.5 million in 2013.

What do you need to include in your messages asking for express written consent? Our recent blog will give you the details for your calls to action.

Here are our suggestions for gaining express written consent while abiding by TCPA regulations:

Trade Show Touches

If you regularly exhibit at trade shows, you can promote your text messaging program to prospects,  existing clients and lapsed clients with your booth signage. A stand-alone sign or banner can provide the initial instructions, and your text messaging program can automatically handle the exchange when the customer responds.

Business Cards

If you use business cards at trade shows or other business meetings, you can include initial instructions for opting into your messaging campaign on the business card.

Product Packaging

Include instructions for opting into your messaging campaign on product packaging, shopping bags, tote bags, napkins, or other peripheral materials you regularly give to customers.

Coupons & Discounts

You can offer coupons and discounts if someone signs up for your SMS marketing program, but be careful how you word your offer. Make sure you explain the coupon or discount is only available if they sign up to receive SMS marketing messages from you. So “A 20% discount is available when you join our text messaging list” is okay. “Text us to get a 20% discount” is not.

Emails

If you have permission to email your customers, you can send instructions for opting into your messaging campaign. Be sure to take care in the wording when you offer a discount, coupon or added bonus in your email.

Website

Pop-up windows on your website can prompt users to opt into your messaging program. You can also include information on static web pages that have high traffic.

Contests

Start a contest that includes opting into your texting program. Social media channels work well for this type of customer interaction.

Social Media

Use your social media channels to extend your offer.

Online Ads

Include your offer in online ad campaigns.

Signage, Point of Purchase

If you have a physical location that your customers visit, include your text messaging offer on store signage or point-of-purchase materials. Using a short code phone number can make it easy for a customer to respond.

Customer Receipts

Print your offer on customer receipts or include them on email receipts.

Radio, Television, Newspaper

Media that’s not online can provide a receptive, if different, audience.

Billboards

Drivers don’t have much time to read a billboard, so use clever short codes so that they can remember how to respond. Short codes, unlike long codes, use five or six digits to send a text. Sending “opt-in” to CHEESE could get you extra toppings on your next pizza.

Blogs

Include an opt-in message in all your blogs. Or create pop-up windows that appear while someone is reading a blog. You can provide a special white paper or case study as a premium for opting in. As with coupons and discounts, be careful how you word the offer.

Yard Signs

Yard signs are not just for homeowners. You can use them on your business property to encourage customers, clients or patients to sign up for text messaging.

Tee Shirts

Clever text on your team’s tee shirts can help spread the word at trade shows, charity events or community projects. Short codes would be a great way to keep the message brief.

What Should Happen After a Customer Opts-In

After your customer has opted-in, you’ll want to send a text confirming their participation. In that text, you can mention all the information they need to make an informed decision, such as what they can expect to receive, how often messages will arrive, applicable message and data rates, who you are, and how to opt out. That isn’t a complete list of the information you need to share, but you can find a list in our recent blog. Products like SMS-Magic can help you automate the messages that follow an offer response. What could be easier?

Keeping Track of Who Opted In and Who Opted Out

You’ll need to keep track of who has opted in and who has opted out, as well as who is already in the system to keep one person from opting in multiple times. SMS-Magic can make compliance a breeze, particularly if you have tied your text messaging campaigns into your CRM. No matter what industry you’re in – banking, higher education, hospitality, finance or others, we’ll help you keep up with customer permissions as they opt-in (and perhaps opt-out) of your messaging campaigns.

SMS-Magic is designed to track opt-in and opt-out requests so that you send only to the customers who have specifically asked you to. Our back-end systems are structured so that we can display individual requests, and we can prove you’ve complied with customer requests. You won’t have to worry about regulators asking to see your records. We use on-going processes to collect and store information about distribution and can share it with regulators, if necessary.

Does SMS-Magic sound like the answer you’ve been looking for? We hope so!

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you why your compliance worries will disappear with SMS-Magic!

That first company said they could provide customization within Salesforce,” he said in a recent Zoom chat, “but they really screwed it up.

The chosen company’s inability to work in the Salesforce architecture caused HeyTutor to delay their outreach at a critical time and slowed their growth. “We ended up circling back to SMS-Magic

Now, McClure said, everything that HeyTutor wanted to integrate has been integrated. “These guys (the SMS-Magic team) made it effortless and got everything set up right away. It’s been a pleasure to work with you.”

We hear similar stories all the time. Salesforce is a powerful tool, but you need experienced people who understand both the Salesforce architecture and the structure of their own messaging platform. Otherwise, you run the risk of crashing both systems – something no one wants!

No one wants to spend time, money and resources on a new platform just to learn that they don’t have what you need. So what should you keep in mind as you search for a messaging integration platfform to use with Salesforce?

1. Hire Experienced Salesforce Developers.

It doesn’t matter if you have Salesforce developers on staff or use contract developers; you must ensure you have experienced people at critical points like initial implementation or integration. We hear horror stories of inexperienced people changing security settings and unwittingly shutting down entire systems. Salesforce is very flexible, so your team must have a strong background in the basics.

2. Clarify What Customization Means to Potential Messaging Developers.

There’s a difference between “our messaging system can work with Salesforce” and “our messaging system is designed to integrate with Salesforce.” You want to choose a messaging platform that is ready to mesh with Salesforce. McClure said SMS-Magic had already built many of the customizations he needed, and quickly created new “stuff” to support the independent use case his company required. Don’t be taken in by promises. Ask for references from satisfied customers.

3. Always Test in a Testing Environment.

One of the first tasks your integration team should undertake is to create a testing environment. If something breaks there, no harm done because they haven’t made changes to the live system. Experienced developers will tell you that testing in a live environment is very risky, and it hinders trying new ideas. If you get the new idea wrong, it might take your system off line until you can fix it. Delays cost money.

4. Find a Team Already Using Salesforce Best Practices.

Salesforce is a great partner and can help your developers use best practices to get the most out of your system. Check your potential partner’s relationship with the Salesforce team. Are they a preferred client? Do they regularly discuss modifications with Salesforce? Do they have an easy working relationship with Salesforce? If not, you’ll want to move on to a provider like SMS-Magic that has a great relationship with Salesforce.

5. Ditch the Potential Messaging Vendor and Contact SMS-Magic.

You may want to interview other messaging companies, but we bet you’ll end up with SMS-Magic. We are a preferred integration with Salesforce, top-rated on the AppExchange, and enjoy incredibly high ratings with Salesforce customers. You can even give us a test drive without spending a penny. SMS-Magic offers a free trial so that you can get a feel for our product. If you’re as pleased as we think you will be, you can choose the level of service that’s best for your company.

Barsala, another of our customers, has two Salesforce developers on staff. Michael Copley, their chief technology officer, said his developers have been able to access the functionality of SMS-Magic and share it with other developers on their team. Developers working on Barsala’s API can ping a simple endpoint to send a message through the SMS-Magic package. It shows up in Salesforce attached to the appropriate records, and shows up in all relevant user interfaces for the support team.

We can provide the same service to you.

Let’s Go!

Does SMS-Magic sound like the answer you’ve been looking for? We hope so!

Contact us to set up a demo or to start your free trial. Let us show you how we can help you make the most of the conversational messaging!

First, let’s talk about what is Omnichannel vs multichannel. These two similar terms have different meanings.

• Multichannel refers to a business reaching out to their audience on several channels. Each channel sends the same content or message, with the goal of attracting as many responses as possible.
• Omnichannel refers to a business seamlessly communicating with buyers across multiple channels. These channels are able to interact with each other.  Your reps are able to have continuing conversations with Individual prospects and customers, no matter what channel they are using.

They simple difference? With Omnichannel you get seamless conversations blended together across channels.

These are just a few results that show why you want to adopt Omnichannel.

• Marketing: A recent study shows that marketing campaigns using three or more channels resulted in an 18.96% engagement rate.  Compare that to single channel campaigns that only get 5.4% engagement.
• Sales: When interacting with three or more channels, customers bought 250% more frequently than customers who communicated with only one channel. Even better, Omnichannel customers were 90% more likely to come back for another purchase.
• Service/Retention: Customer retention for Omnichannel support teams reached 66.12%, compared to 34.8% for a single-channel

What is Omnichannel in Messaging?

Omnichannel in Marketing

Omnichannel is most often thought of in relation to marketing. An Omnichannel marketing strategy means that every channel is integrated. Each channel responds to and updates customer data. Which means that each rep or user on different channels can use that data to be sure they are sharing relevant information, based on the conversation history of each individual.

In Omnichannel messaging, that means delivering seamless, continuing conversations,across all messaging platforms. For example:

• A prospect receives an SMS message with an offer and responds.
• The same prospect sends a new inquiry via Facebook, or WhatsApp.
• Omnichannel messaging lets your business users see both interactions as a continuing conversation. S they can respond with relevant questions or information, using the appropriate messaging channel.
• All of the above is done in a way that’s seamless for both your audience and your internal marketing users or sales and service reps.

Omnichannel for Sales

Increasingly, buyers are toggling between online sites and offline brick and mortars to research and buy products and services. In a recent study, Deloitte found that digital experiences influence 56 cents of every dollar spent in physical stores.

Omnichannel for sales eliminated the traditional barriers between channels, weaving all communications together and sharing data between them. This empowers  customers to conduct business with sales reps and companies however they want, and whenever they want. Reps can see every interaction, from marketing to prior sales conversations to service conversations.

Omnichannel messaging in sales empowers reps to see all messaging conversations across the entire buying journey, across all messaging platforms. For example:

• A prospect starts an interaction with a company via their Facebook page.
• The rep can immediately check for any other conversations across marketing sales and service. Reps quickly increase their knowledge of the prospect’s history, so they engage them with relevant questions or responses.
• If the prospect then decides to send an SMS to sales and that same rep is unavailable, another rep can respond to their request. The new rep can see the entire messaging history, so the prospect doesn’t have to repeat themselves to continue their buying conversation.

By implementing an Omnichannel messaging strategy for sales, your reps handle more buyers (6:1 over phone calls), and research shows you’ll close 40% more sales with messaging as part of the sales cycle.

Omnichannel for Service

Omnichannel for service allows your customers to reach out to you on any platform, blending all of the conversations around one case so reps can respond with relevant resolution options. True Omnichannel eliminates the need for customers to wait on hold and repeat themselves to multiple reps.

Omnichannel messaging in service empowers agents to send and receive case messages from multiple messaging platforms, such as SMS, WhatsApp and Facebook. For example:

• A customer can start a case through the business’s Facebook page or Whatsapp account.
• The customers can then ask questions via SMS when they’re on the go.
• At any time, they can move back to Facebook or WhatsApp.
• Reps see and respond to a single, continuous conversation.

This speeds time-to-resolution and increases rep productivity, since they can handle 10x more cases with messaging than with phone calls.

The Bottom Line

The question everyone should be asking probably isn’t simply “What is Omnichannel?” The true question is “What is Omnichannel messaging and how can I quickly use it?”

Omnichannel doesn’t have to be complicated. When you have the right messaging platform, all of your messages are seamlessly integrated into a single CRM record. Then, permitted users and reps  have the visibility they need, across the entire buying journey.

Going to Dreamforce ‘19? Be sure to stop by booth #210 to see Converse Omnichannel messaging in action. We’ll be demonstrating the use of Omnichannel messaging in service, blending SMS, MMS, Facebook and Whatsapp into seamless, full-visibility, customer service conversationsss.

That’s just what we wanted to do in this article. Answer that simple question, without all the acronyms.

What is SMS?

SMS is an acronym that stands for Short Messaging Service. It’s become the defacto name for text messages that come to your phone. Technically, it refers to the text messaging service that sends text-only messages to mobile numbers. That’s a carrier thing.

If you’re interested in knowing more about using SMS in business, check out this post!

What is MMS?

The acronym MMS stands for Multimedia Messaging Service. It refers to a text message that includes multimedia content such as pictures or video.

With MMS messages you can send:

• Audio files
• Documents
• Video
• Photos
• Vouchers

MMS messages get your audience’s attention. Since our brains process visuals 60,000 times faster than text content, we are automatically attracted to anything visual.

Want to know more about using MMS? Check out how you can leverage the power of MMS messaging for your business.

SMS vs MMS

So when do you use SMS vs MMS? SMS and MMS use the same text messaging service, they both send to mobile numbers. The obvious difference is that one can have text and multimedia and one contains strictly text.

For business messaging, there’s a difference in cost with SMS vs MMS.

• With text messaging, cost is associated with the amount of message credits used.
• 1 SMS message costs 1 credit. That’s a standard SMS message of 160 English characters.
• 1 MMS message costs 2 credits. Since you’re sending multimedia, it;s more dense and the carriers charge more for the extra data.

For interactive conversations and some automated campaigns, you can use SMS. This includes things like scheduling, appointment reminders and follow-ups, as well as rep conversations, compliance consent messages etc. SMS messages are also great to ask questions that capture deeper and deeper profiling information, so you can deliver an even more personal touch to every buyer, candidate, student, client and more.

If you’re using messaging to attract attention, think about an MMS strategy. Since 90% of the information processed by the brain is visual, sending videos or photos will grab the attention of readers.

Some examples of powerful MMS include:

• BMW sent personalized MMS messages to customers reminding them that winter tires are important during the cold months of the year. By targeting them based on specifications with their particular vehicle and emphasizing the importance of these specific tires, paired with an image, they saw a 30% conversion rate on 1,200 messages.
• PopSugar, the shopping platform ShopStyle, uses MMS to send messages to customers about abandoned shopping cart items. They include the image of the item and remind the customer it’s time to purchase! Often they include a discount code to incentivize the sale.

Companies can also use MMS for contests, coupons and holiday promotions.

Regardless of which messaging type you choose, you’ll enjoy the benefits of attracting more new prospects, converting more new clients and serving them better than you ever imagined possible. All with that personal touch that makes your business extra successful!

At SMS-Magic, we make sure there is no SMS vs MMS. For our customers, it’s SMS and MMS. Plus Facebook and WhatsApp. Our Omnichannel support seamlessly routes, blends and manages conversations across SMS, MMS, Facebook and WhatsApp.

We’ll be showing it off at Dreamforce. If you’re there, please come say hello and check it out! W’ll be at booth #210 showing off our Messaging Magic.