In last week’s blog post we covered the importance of making sure your text-messaging strategy includes industry-specific content. This week we are highlighting how personalized and relevant SMS messages provide even better experiences for your audience, increase engagement and lead to more successful messaging programs in general. These days, personalization is much more than just a marketing buzzword. The reality is that 74% of consumers expect companies to treat them as an individual, and not a profile. Not only that, but 79% of consumers also say they are only likely to engage with an offer if it has been personalized. But what does it mean, in practical terms? Personalization means learning about prospects and customers, so you can send them specific content that resonates with them personally. Examples include nurtures, offers, event invites, helpful content and messages across the customer journey.

Challenges with Personalization

Traditionally, the most common way to provide personalized content to audiences has been to progressively profile with web forms. This method has presented several challenges, including:

• Regulations Regulations are increasingly limiting for form profiling via web pages. GDPR eliminates the ability to “gate” content by forcing a form fill to receive content. A vendor MUST deliver content without the form if requested.
• Configuring the Technology Configuring Web forms and marketing automation can be complicated and sometimes requires deep technical help and customization.
• Site Traffic Your leads, contacts, and customers don’t visit sites that frequently or may not visit again for a long time, decreasing the chance to collect more data points.
• Gated Content If you don’t have much gated content, you can’t collect as much information, and people that visit the site may not go for gated content, meaning they don’t see the second form. Also, many prospects exit the process when presented with a form.
• Behavior Tracking Concerns Many customers are concerned with behavior tracking on websites. This is an increasingly significant issue for marketing.

How to Send Personal and Relevant Content with SMS Messages

Text messaging is a great way to provide a personal and relevant experience to your audience. You can leverage SMS progressive profiling and increase results. Text messages have a 95% read rate, and over 60% response rate, which means you can streamline profiling with texting. Get the most specific and accurate insights about your audience with simple questions, provide the most relevant content, buying journeys, offers, and event invites, and build robust personas to understand your prospects’, customers’, or market’s needs. Here are some pointers on where to start:

1. Start by asking simple questions that matter to your audience.
Instead of assuming, ask them about their preferences. Start with the basics; how they want to communicate with you, how often they’d like updates, their specific areas of interest.

2. Share insights to get more information.
You know that customers who buy a specific product often need help in 3 potential areas. Tell them that and then ask what they need.

IF you know a candidate needs 4 specific skills to qualify, ask them about those skills. You’ll save both of you time and energy.

3. Show them you understand their world.
Offer a relevant set of keywords to answer a question. They’ll recognize that you understand their needs.

Simple keywords also make it easy to quickly respond, and to analyze responses to deepen your personal profiles.

4. Be thoughtful.
Building relationships takes time. That’s true in business and in life. Send 1-2 questions a month. Don’t SPAM. Ask questions that matter to them, not to you. After all, it’s about their needs, not yours.

5. Go deeper.
Create stages of profiling. Start with the basics to develop pertinent segments or personas. Develop profiling questions that relate to these specific personas, so you can deepen your insights in an even more relevant way. When you identify the next layer of personas, go even deeper.

Bridge the Personalization Gap with Converse SMS Messages

We built Converse with features that empower you to easily send the most personal and relevant messages to your audience.

Compliance peace of mind
Assured compliance means you never have to worry about consent, audit trails or opt-outs. Converse manages compliance for you. We also offer a report designed to give you the tracking and control you want and need to measure text messaging compliance

Easy configuration
Converse automatically generates native Visualforce components as you use the Clickable Wizards to define your configurations and settings. Messaging components including Send SMS Button, Send SMS Page, Conversation View page, and Converse Desk are all automatically generated in Visualforce pages. All you have to do is drag and drop them to the appropriate pages and you’re ready to message.

Content Templates
Converse provides industry-specific content templates for several popular use cases, including profiling and surveys, which can then be tuned to fit your specific messaging needs. You can also develop your own message templates and save them to use across multiple campaigns.

Automated profiling
Take our pre-built automated profiling program and tune it to collect the right information from your audience at the right time.

Seamless SMS messages across the customer lifecycle in Salesforce
The Converse Inbox is a Visualforce component that dynamically configures itself to its environment, across Classic and Lightning, Sales and Service consoles, utility bars, records or full desks. We offer pre-configured desks for specific user needs.

Full message history
The 360° message history provides a holistic view of all of a lead or contact’s interactions with marketing, sales and service across your business. You can quickly get the context you need to provide more relevant messages.

Dashboards
Use our dashboards to know what your audience really wants. Analyze keywords and behaviors. Gauge the success of your campaigns and learn where your messaging can improve.

Implement profiling with text-messaging to send the most personal and relevant content to your audience. Profiling with Converse gives you reliable insights that you can leverage to increase engagement and build stronger relationships. If you are in the midst of or planning to implement personalized messaging, make sure to check out a demo that includes progressive profiling with Converse. Just text CONVERSE to 36343 to experience it on your phone.