Why Adding SMS Texting to Your Email Nurture Sequence is a Game-Changer

Email marketing has proven its worth by providing a versatile platform for delivering targeted content, personalized messages, and automated workflows. However, it’s no secret that the average email open rates have declined over the years, as inboxes become inundated with promotional emails. This is where SMS texting comes into play, offering a direct and immediate way to connect with your audience. 

Integrating SMS into your email nurture series lets you capture attention, increase engagement, and drive conversions like never before. SMS messages have an unparalleled open rate, with studies showing that 98% of text messages are read within minutes of receipt. Leveraging this high engagement rate, you can strategically send SMS notifications, reminders, or exclusive offers that complement your email content and provide a seamless user experience. Here are more details on how Fuze7 Marketing approaches strategy and implementation for SMS texting into email nurture sequences:

An effective strategy for adding SMS to email nurture sequences starts with creating a sense of urgency and real-time interaction that email alone often lacks. While email nurture series are effective for delivering educational content or guiding prospects through a longer buying journey, SMS can be instrumental in capturing immediate actions or responses. For instance, you can leverage SMS to send time-sensitive offers, event reminders, or appointment confirmations, prompting instant engagement from your leads or customers. Improving the customer journey with SMS texting in email nurture sequences starts with staggering your email and text message to keep the recipient from feeling advertising fatigue. 

Many email nurture sequence builders, such as Klaviyo, HubSpot, and Constant Contact, allow you to build SMS texting right into the email sequence. By harnessing the power of SMS texting within your email nurture series, you can bridge the gap between traditional email marketing and the fast-paced world of instant messaging. If you are looking to cut costs, or your sales team is struggling to manage your lead volume, consider hiring Fuze7 Marketing to build custom automation to fill the gaps. 

To legally send SMS text messages to your leads and potential customers, there are a few guidelines your business must follow. These include the following:

Consent: Generally, businesses must obtain explicit consent from recipients before sending them SMS messages. This can be an opt-in process, where individuals willingly provide their phone numbers and agree to receive text messages from the business. It’s crucial to clearly outline the purpose and frequency of the messages during the consent process.

Identification: Businesses should identify themselves in SMS messages. This includes providing the company name, contact information, and a way for recipients to opt out of receiving further messages.

Compliance with anti-spam laws: Businesses need to comply with anti-spam laws and regulations that govern electronic communications, such as the CAN-SPAM Act in the United States or the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) in the European Union. These laws typically require businesses to provide an easy and accessible way for recipients to unsubscribe from receiving SMS messages.

Privacy and data protection: Businesses should handle recipients’ personal information and data with care, ensuring compliance with privacy and data protection laws. This includes obtaining consent for data processing, securely storing data, and implementing measures to protect recipients’ privacy.

Advertising and promotional content: Businesses should adhere to advertising and promotional regulations specific to their industry or jurisdiction. One of the most highly regulated industries is beer, wine, and general alcohol sales. SMS texting is mostly banned in this industry, including businesses that are involved with alcohol but not directly selling it, such as wine-tasting tours and sporting events. It’s important to avoid deceptive practices, misleading claims, or unsolicited marketing messages.

Despite these rules, many companies continue to navigate SMS texting as the next wave of effective digital marketing. For marketing trends in 2023, SMS texting reigns as one of the top-converting tactics to leverage in a world of AI and automation. 

Increasing personalization with SMS texting in email nurture sequences is key when optimizing your email and SMS sequences. Adding merge tags that address a recipient by their first name, or directly mention the product or service they are looking for, greatly improves read rates and conversion follow-ups. Creating a seamless experience with SMS texting in email nurture happens when the frequency of emails and texts are offset, and the appropriate amount of days go by, before the recipient receives the next communication. Crafting premium SMS texts is as easy as getting to the point quickly, with customization that makes the recipient feel like they’re having a text conversation, rather than being sold on a product or service.

Each industry and service will have different timing for effectively converting leads or customers, and the general rule of thumb is to communicate heavily in the first few days, then back off and spread out your remaining messages over time. Remember, not all texts or emails need to be a hard sales punch. Sometimes it’s adequate to simply check in on a customer. 

So how do you know what messages fit into SMS texting? How do you want to represent your product, service, brand, and company? This process typically starts with what we call “key value propositions” or KVPs. Understand what aspects or elements of your business both solve common problems and set you apart from competitors. Nurture leads with SMS texting that can communicate your KVPs in a max of three sentences. 

Follow a structure of messaging in both email and SMS text that introduces your business and product in a way that turns someone with no knowledge of your process into a person who fully understand the benefits. By the end of your email and SMS text series, your customer or lead should fully feel a need based on a problem you’ve helped them understand. Then, write your content, and program your sequencing accordingly.

Fuze7 Marketing is celebrating 10 years in business! Our knowledgeable team of specialists has decades of combined experience, including the building and programming of nurture sequences that includes email and SMS texting. We’d be happy to discuss how these automated communication tactics can fill all of the gaps in your sales process! Drop an email to info@fuze7.com or give us a call at (503) 830-0355. You can also connect with us on our website.