International SMS for business: opportunities and benefits

How to send messages abroad? Technically — just like within your own country. And what if it’s about SMS distribution? What if you have more than 50 subscribers in your base?

Everything you need to consider for business distribution to other countries, as well as which companies should pay attention to SMS communication with clients in Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, France, Italy, and more than 158 countries worldwide — below.

Four factors that made the world closer

Not so long ago, selling goods to other countries was a prerogative of large companies, as abroad, each market has its own laws, buyer preferences, and promotion specifics. However, now this opportunity is increasingly being realized by medium and small businesses. It is based on four external factors:

1. The development of social networks and the availability of electronic platforms for trade. Foreigners can learn about your product primarily thanks to smart targeting and well-designed pages in social networks;
2. Mitigating language barriers. On one hand, more people speak English well. On the other, instant text translation services are much more advanced than they were three years ago. This allows foreigners to find and buy products even on platforms like OLX;
3. Mass migration. It is sad, painful, but true: at least 3 million people have fled the war and are now living in different countries. Among them are certainly your clients — those who have reached out to your company before;
4. The entry of new postal carriers to the European market. A few years ago, poor delivery services to foreign countries were a hindrance. Now the situation has changed — many examples show that parcels from Ukraine to countries like Poland and Germany arrive not in a month, but in 5 days.

In which marketing cases should you send SMS to other countries?

A logical question arises: why send SMS to clients who live abroad? Especially if you have two distinct categories of customers:

• Fellow countrymen who ordered your product in the past, i.e. before February 24, 2022;
• Foreigners who learned about you and bought the product through electronic platforms.

Primarily to remind them about you — and not lose the customer.

SMS distribution is a silent form of advertising, and it’s the silence and conciseness that makes it stand out against the constant information noise. After all, just because someone follows you on Instagram doesn’t mean they’re checking your offers every day or waiting for your stories.

International SMS distribution: what values and reasons should you use?

If your product is material — clothing, jewelry, home decor, etc. — the best accent would be not “sale” or “promotion” (considering shipping costs, such an offer may not interest people), but anything related to emotions and status — originality, uniqueness, supporting traditions, etc.

However, if you’re selling intangible things — knowledge, self-discovery, experiences, trips — then the topic of discounts and benefits will be more than relevant. As will the high quality of the service that differentiates you from competitors.

Lifehack 1:

Sometimes postal carriers offer promotional periods for sending parcels to specific countries. Don’t miss this great informational opportunity to remind clients about yourself — even if you have only 30 clients in that country.

For example, one bookstore once decided to send SMS to a few clients in Poland. Over two weeks after the SMS campaign, five parcels with orders were sent to the same postal office, and all of them were new people. The client who definitely lives there (because they bought from you before) didn’t place any order this time, but it can be assumed that she simply shared the information with others.

Lifehack 2:

You can update your bulk sms list and find out who among your clients is currently abroad by performing an HLR Lookup with SMS CLUB. Read more about how, why, and how often to organize this in the article “What is an HLR query?”.
In short, after such “cleaning”, invalid numbers can be safely removed from the database, and those in roaming can be separated into another table.

What to consider for sending SMS abroad?

There aren’t many general tips for sending SMS to Europe, Australia, or America.

• To send SMS abroad, it’s important to check the time zones. This is especially relevant for overseas distributions, but even in European countries, a difference of two hours matters. It’s not just about the fact that advertising sent at night is considered poor taste. Simply put, SMS at the wrong time could violate the laws of the country, which can result in fines.

• In most countries, SMS distribution must be carried out only with the subscriber’s consent. That’s why — never buy databases, create and protect your own.
• Don’t be intrusive. Don’t remind people about your business every day or even every week. Ideally, once every one to three months.
• If you’ve interacted with this person — start the SMS with a name. It’s polite, and it also shows that you understand who you are writing to and why.
• Check spelling. Especially when sending SMS in English. Of course, typos and mistakes aren’t the worst thing that can happen, but why damage your image?
• Send SMS abroad through a professional service. This is both technically necessary, as sending messages between different operators in roaming requires an API or SMPP connection. This is also required by marketing laws in other countries, which impose significant fines for violations.

Ultimately, the SMS provider sets up all the connections and ensures message delivery if you need to send an SMS to a Polish, German, Czech, or British number.

In conclusion

For mass SMS distribution abroad — to any country and to any provider’s number — you need to complete 4 steps:

1. Register on the site, providing bulk SMS services;
2. Set up your own Alpha-name if you don’t have one. This is necessary so your message is more informative and doesn’t go to spam;
3. Go to the “Personal account”;
4. Create the distribution.

With our service, you can sell your products and stay in touch with clients in 158+ countries worldwide. SMS Club cooperates with over 1,000 mobile operators.

• How can I find out who from my clients is abroad?
• Which countries have special rules for SMS marketing?
• What is an Alpha name and why do you need it?