Sending SMS with personalized sender

SMS with personalized sender are the ones that make the difference between an average SMS and a professional one, between success and failure, between an opening or being discarded.

A sender identifier is a very simple way to add a mark to an SMS so that the person receiving it can identify you quickly. In fact, it is highly recommended if you want to improve your opening rates.

There are many types of SMS that are more likely to be open than others. Among them, there are:

• Reminder SMS.
• Notices.
• Greeting SMS.
• Customer service SMS.
• Those that include information of interest.
• Offers.
• Sales.

But without a doubt, the factor that will make a difference and make the user open your message will be identifying the sender.

The use of SMS with a personalized sender works well because it allows you to identify yourself without the need for the user to have your number saved. It is more comfortable than all that. Additionally, it gives you more chances, as it is possible to include up to 11 characters and any alphanumeric character.

Do SMS still work?

However, there are those who still think SMS are obsolete considering all the new trends, technologies and updates that have been launched in recent months. But is that true? Is it silly to think of using SMS with a personalized sender? Or is it really useful and necessary?

You only need to look at the Upstream infographic. Mobile marketing is ideal for offers and promotions. In fact, 75% of users would like to be notified via SMS rather than by other channels.

The data show the potential of this device. Mobile penetration between people between 16 and 65 years old has reached 94%. These data represent a population of 21 and a half million individuals that can be reached with a SMS. It is your decision whether you want to optimize your SMS or not.

Additionally, a powerful SMS offers the following advantages to your company:

1. They do not need the Internet. You only need phone coverage. For that reason, any user in the world can receive your message, while emails, for example, need connectivity. Also, it is possible to receive SMS in any device, regardless of whether it is Android or iOS. There are few means of communication so direct and with as many possibilities as SMS.
2. They are read immediately. Not only are the opening rates high, but also statistics show that 96% of SMS are read. How high do you think that percentage would be if you send SMS with personalized sender?
3. It does not entail big expenditures. The cost-investment ratio of the SMS is among the most profitable for all the media usually used by companies.
4. Messages can be personalized and are totally unique and private. This is where you should really focus. SMS are one of the most private means of communication and marketing that exists. Most SMS messaging and marketing managers, such as MDirector, offer the possibility of personalizing text messages by including the recipient’s name in the message.

How to create an SMS with a personalized sender?

Without a doubt, cell phones are the most personal device a user can have today. Therefore, SMS Marketing could not be less. It is also oriented to offer a unique and personal service. In fact, it offers unbeatable opening and conversions rates when used by experienced and intelligent marketing professionals.

Any professional with some experience in mobile marketing knows there are three essential factors to create good strategies.

1. Make the message useful for the person who receives it. SMS are often used to make reminders for appointments, provide special discounts, etc.
2. Without a doubt, your message needs to include offer or content in accordance with the tastes and needs of the recipient of the message.
3. Custom SMS. If this communication takes place in such a private and unique environment, why would not the message be personal and adapted to each person?

MDirector is one of the most complete SMS Marketing platforms. It allows you to create SMS with a personalized sender or to include texts that vary based on the city, the postal code or any other aspect included on your database.

You just need to know how to do it.

1.- Choose the type of campaign

Once you have registered with MDirector, you will have access to this menu. In it, you will be able to see all the options at your disposal to reach your users by means of different channels.

You can create an Email and SMS Marketing campaigns, use Landing Optimizer or choose CRM Retargeting. You need to choose the option “Email and SMS Marketing” and click “Enter.”

When you get to the menu, you will also be able to see a summary of your most recent activity. Once there, just over that activity, you will find a small menu that allows you to “Create Delivery.” Within that option, you will be able to personalize up to 4 actions.

1. Email.
2. Test A/B.
3. SMS
4. SMS/Email.

Choose the SMS option and continue.

2.- Design it

Once you selected the action you want to carry out, the next step is to design the message that you will send on your SMS campaign. With MDirector it is very easy to create an SMS campaign, as you only have to fill in the fields.

Breaking down the design

A.- Determine to which campaign the SMS belongs using the drop-down menu. In case there is no campaign, you will need to create it beforehand.
B.- Customize the name of the campaign. Keep in mind it will only be used internally within the tool. Therefore, you can use any name to clearly identify the campaign.
C.- SMS with personalized sender. Here you need to include your brand’s name so that the user can identify you as soon as possible.
D.- There is an option to label the campaign. It helps you when performing searches by tag within the tool.

Content and personalization

E.- This is the field where you need to write the SMS content. Remember it is best to include links.
F.- Personalization of the campaign by treatment, name, surname, city and any custom field loaded in the database.
G.- Instructions for sending: remember that sending a SMS includes 160 characters. It allows you to include the header of the advertisement if necessary.
H.- Unicode characters: it is now possible to send SMS using UNICODE characters. This means not only the standard code for GSM is accepted. You can include, for example, Cyrillic characters, vowels with accents, etc. Keep in mind that if you use this code, each message shall be 70 characters long.

3.- Choose the contacts

An essential step in creating an appropriate SMS Marketing campaign is choosing who will receive your message, above all, because the entire campaign, which includes both the content and the tone used, will be based on that target.

Options to select contacts:

1. You can select contacts from your contact list once you import it to MDirector. Keep in mind that a good contacts database will allow you to make the selection more easily, choose the segment of the audience you are interested in to customize the campaign and send it. Contact lists include the segments of the audience that will receive the message.
2. Another option is to import contacts. For this, you can add them manually. Although it is also possible to import an excel sheet including names, age, gender, origin, telephone, email address, etc.

Choose in which list you will include the imported contacts and you will already have them well segmented.

4.- Program the delivery of the campaign

You already have your SMS with personalized sender and you have chosen who will receive it, but there is still something missing. You need to decide when to send it.

The last step is to send the message. You can schedule the delivery for a specific date and time. You can also make a test delivery to certain contacts in order to obtain reports about that delivery (clicks, opening, time from sending to opening, etc.).

From this moment on, your customers will receive messages and they will begin to interact with your brand.

One of the elements of SMS Marketing you need to be careful about is privacy. Imagine that your business works in private or confidential areas, such as medical services. Sending an SMS can be a useful way to keep your client informed and to remind him of appointments. It is more than helpful and relevant to the user.

Additionally, keeping communications more private by using codes can be a great way to let a customer know you care about privacy.

However, if you desire to launch an SMS campaign with a personalized sender to build that trust and to keep you in the top of mind, it will be necessary for you to have a professional SMS platform, such as MDirector. We can help you with the appropriate steps to get your Cross-Chanel strategy started.