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FAQs

• What is SMS marketing?

  SMS marketing is a strategy that involves sending offers, notifications, and personalized content directly to your customer or prospect's mobile phone through text messages, otherwise known as SMS (Short Message Service). It's a direct and immediate way to engage with customers, and drive engagement or conversions through concise and targeted messaging.

• Why should I use SMS marketing?

  SMS marketing offers several advantages for businesses. Most importantly, it provides a direct and immediate way to reach your audience, as most people carry their mobile phones with them at all times. Its concise and targeted nature makes it ideal for time-sensitive promotions, reminders, or urgent updates. Text messages also have high open and read rates, which improves the odds of your content being seen. Additionally, SMS marketing is a great channel for personalization, and can be used to engage customers with exclusive offers and content. When used right, it can be a powerful tool for driving engagement, conversion, and brand loyalty.

• How do I do SMS marketing?

  Best practices for bringing SMS marketing campaigns into your business include:

  1. Get consent: Obtain permission from customers to receive SMS messages by offering opt-in opportunities through your website, social media, and email campaigns.

  2. Keep it brief: Create concise and engaging SMS messages that provide value to your audience. Make use of personalization, a clear call-to-action, and a sense of urgency when appropriate.

  3. Know your audience: Use SMS marketing automation to divide your subscribers into segments based on demographics, preferences, or purchase history. This allows for targeted messaging and better response rates.

  4. Test and optimize: Experiment with different timing and message formats to dial in the resonance with your audience. Use analytics to track performance and make data-driven optimizations.

  5. Make unsubscribing easy: Even though you have consent to send text messages, people have the right to change their minds. Include a simple unsubscribe link (or instructions) at the end of every marketing text.

  With solutions such as Mailchimp, you can optimize your SMS marketing campaigns with collected data and analytics in real-time. Mailchimp provides the automated text messages and SMS marketing tools you need to engage your audience, drive conversions, and enhance customer relationships.

• Does Mailchimp offer SMS marketing?

  Mailchimp is a multichannel marketing platform, and SMS marketing is available as an add-on for all paid Mailchimp plans. Use SMS (and MMS where available) to engage directly and efficiently with customers, send automated discounts, target customers by location, and more—all integrated with your email campaigns.

• How do I get access to SMS?

  SMS marketing is available to Mailchimp users in select markets with a paid marketing plan. After you agree to the terms, submit an SMS Marketing application, and get approved, you can purchase SMS credits from the SMS overview page, the SMS settings page, the SMS editor, or through an email link sent to the primary email address associated with your Mailchimp account.

  Learn more about SMS marketing

• How does SMS marketing work?

  There are two main types of SMS marketing: transactional and promotional. Transactional SMS informs your customers in real-time when something relevant happens, such as a shipped order or a confirmed appointment, while promotional SMS lets customers and prospects know about offers, sales, and opportunities. Both require opt-in consent—though each has a different set of additional legal regulations that apply to them—and both can be personalized to drive engagement, conversion, and loyalty.

  While SMS marketing has some unique benefits and considerations, such as the direct nature of text messages and a greater need for concise wording, it's similar in many ways to other marketing channels like email and social media. Acquiring consent, knowing your audience, staying on brand, personalization, and data-driven optimization are necessary strategies that apply to all forms of digital marketing, SMS included, and all can benefit from automation and segmentation to direct your marketing to the right people at the right time.

  If you're using a marketing platform like Mailchimp, which offers SMS marketing tools, automations, and analytics that work alongside your email and social media campaigns, you can take advantage of everything SMS marketing has to offer your business without a lot of extra effort.

• How do I use SMS marketing?

  How to best use SMS marketing depends on the kind of business you have, your marketing strategies and goals, and the other forms of digital marketing you plan to use in your campaigns.

  If you have an e-commerce business, transactional SMS can help you build a stronger relationship with your customers by providing notifications when orders are received, shipped, and delivered. You can also send promotional text messages with discounts and sales, making use of SMS automation and audience segmentation to reach customers you think would be more likely to engage based on their purchasing behavior.

  If you have a business that takes appointments, transactional SMS can help reduce your cancellation and no-show rates by texting appointment confirmations and reminders. And just as with e-commerce, you can reach out to customers with personalized offers, as well as suggestions to book again if it's been awhile since their last appointment.

  Whatever your business, Mailchimp can help you integrate SMS into the rest of your marketing efforts with a powerful set of tools, automations, and analytics that work alongside your email and social media campaigns.

• Is SMS marketing effective?

  SMS marketing can be very effective. Recent research shows that a majority of consumers prefer to receive marketing communications through SMS, and open rates for text messages can be extremely high. SMS marketing offers a direct, immediate, and personal channel to reach customers with timely notifications and offers. When used strategically and in compliance with regulations, SMS marketing has the potential to drive conversions, increase customer loyalty, and strengthen relationships with your brand.

• How do I collect mobile numbers for SMS marketing?

  There are a number of ways to responsibly collect numbers for SMS marketing campaigns, including:

  1. Opt-in forms: Allows visitors to voluntarily provide their mobile numbers on your website or landing page to receive updates or promotions through SMS messages.

  2. Mobile keyword campaigns: Promote keyword campaigns where customers can text a specific word or code to a designated number to opt-in for SMS messages.

  3. Contests and giveaways: Organize contests or giveaways where participants can enter by providing their mobile numbers, giving you permission to send SMS marketing messages.

  4. Customer checkout process: During the online checkout process, offer an opt-in checkbox for customers to receive SMS updates or exclusive offers.

  Remember to clearly communicate the purpose, frequency, and content of the SMS messages to gain customers' trust and ensure compliance with privacy regulations.

• What is an SMS short code?

  An SMS short code is a special telephone number that’s shorter than a regular telephone number. They’re usually five or six characters long. SMS short codes can be easier to read and remember, and may improve engagement because it is faster-sending and can be more professional-looking.

• Does Mailchimp offer SMS short codes?

  As of December 12, 2024, Mailchimp offers short codes to customers with SMS marketing enabled. Get pricing and other information here.

• How do I enable SMS short codes?

  Once your SMS application is complete, visit your SMS Dashboard and submit a request for a short code. We’ll get back to you ASAP to complete registration! From start to finish, the process can take 8 to 12 weeks. You can use your existing number for SMS marketing while your application is pending.