Why use chatbots with your SMS marketing?
SMS marketing brings branded messaging directly to consumers’ pockets, letting shoppers opt in to receive notifications and offers wherever they are. But what if those text notifications were just the beginning of a whole conversation?
In 2022, 70% of consumers opted in to receive texts from businesses, with 61% of consumers expressing an interest in being able to text a business back. Conversational SMS chatbots are not just the future - they’re now.
Chatbots add value to SMS marketing by allowing recipients to ask questions, select options, and be guided toward conversion. They add a personal touch to SMS as a channel, and increase productivity for human sales and support agents.
Read on to discover why chatbots are the best thing that ever happened to SMS, and how a text messaging bot can create conversations that convert for your business.
SMS chatbots save money and increase ROI
Texting is already a surprisingly affordable marketing channel, with messages costing as little as one cent to send. Adding a chatbot into the mix makes SMS messaging even more cost effective, saving on human agents’ work and maximizing the channel’s potential for ROI.
Many SMS marketing packages aimed at small to medium enterprises rely on human agents being available to send mass messages and respond individually to feedback where necessary. At best, you might get a few simple response templates.
Chatbots such as Instabot change the game for businesses of all sizes, allowing you to create and customize complete automated scripts that keep the SMS conversation going without taking time away from your sales and support agents.
This development could spare your business the cost of hiring new agents, or allow your existing employees to spend their time talking to qualified leads or existing customers, increasing the likelihood of conversion further down the funnel.
SMS chatbots give real-time responses
Chatbots cast your SMS marketing net wider, as they’re able to take on multiple concurrent conversations 24/7, across all time zones. This allows hundreds of new leads to engage with your brand in the time that it would take a human agent to have one conversation.
An SMS chatbot conversation can be spread out over hours or even days. Your recipient may want to take some time to consider their options, or they may think of a question hours after the initial conversation. In this case they can simply return to the text conversation on their phone, and be in touch with your helpful bot within seconds.
SMS chatbots create personalized conversations
Personalization is no longer a marketing perk - it’s a must-have. 70% of millennials feel frustrated when marketing messaging is impersonal, making them less likely to convert. On the other hand, personalized messaging and offers make shoppers feel seen and heard, increasing their trust in a brand.
SMS chatbot conversations can be targeted to certain segments of your contact list, ensuring that the right messages are getting in front of the right people. Furthermore, each recipient can customize their experience by asking and answering questions via text, just like a human conversation.
Because SMS marketing is still growing as a channel, text messages are less likely than email to be mistaken for spam or immediately deleted. By taking the time to personalize your chatbot scripts you can retain that sense of intimacy, starting a real conversation and keeping engagement going.
Discover the power of SMS bots with Instabot
If your business or agency is looking to take text marketing to the next level, Instabot is the simple, scalable and affordable chatbot solution for you.
Instabot’s powerful bots create automated conversations that convert via web chat and SMS, allowing you to tap into the power of text marketing without sacrificing time. Discover the power of personalized, real time SMS conversation for yourself by trying Instabot now.
If you want to transform simple text notifications into powerful conversations, learn more about Instabot’s SMS chatbot solution and start your free trial today.