In the business SMS world , personalisation can be generated in a number of ways, for instance, adding a client’s first name to text messages. However, it can be taken far beyond that and implemented in a number of more sophisticated and creative ways. Admittedly, using someone’s first name in marketing is a very effective action, as it engages your reader much more effectively as they open your message. However, due to the 160 character limit of text messages, there isn’t always sufficient room for a person’s name, as well as the desired message and the required opt-out information. For this reason, businesses need to incorporate other methods of personalisation into their text messages.
In order to do this, it is vital to know and understand who it is you’re targeting. Businesses need to know who is on their list, what they wish to purchase from them, what services they tend to use, what age they are, whether they have kids, and any other information they can gather. Recognising what questions would be beneficial to ask for your particular business or organisation is crucial so that one can create an appropriate personal message. One particularly effective technique is through learning your clients’ birthdays, as this gives you the opportunity to send them an annual personal message to them, perhaps offering them a deal or discount they can’t refuse. After all, customers are probably more likely to treat themselves if it’s their birthday. However, to be able to send a multitude of completely personalised text messages, more questions need to be asked. The key to this is gathering data, because the more you know about your customers, the more personalisation you can generate.
Getting to know your customers is key – for example, travel agencies which book worldwide trips for all sorts of different people need to identify what these different types of people desire. Though it is possible for people who travel the Bahamas every summer to be interested in going to Iceland instead, the travel agency knows they’d be interested in receiving an early booking special 15% discount for holiday packages to the Bahamas with summer travel dates. Offering them this discount is a form of personal message, as the recipients will be aware it was intended for them due to their past trips. This utilisation of information on clients’ previous trips can enable travel agencies to personalise offers for future trips. Here the content and intention are what has been personalised in the text message.