Personalization of bulk sms: how to implement and automate it

Thanks to personalized marketing, company sales increase by up to 20%. One of the effective tools of this strategy is textings addressed to specific customer segments. They take into account people’s interests, age, and financial capabilities. Users open such SMS messages twice as actively as “regular” ones.

The goal of individualized SMS campaigs is to help create an emotional connection between your business and the customer. This increases the likelihood that a person will continue to choose you over your competitors.

Next, we will discuss how to establish a quality system for individual messages, how personalized mass sendings work, and how to balance between profitability and respecting the customer’s personal boundaries.

Age, gender, and history: what you need to know for individual bulk sms

There is a belief that personalized SMS is only name-based, meaning it starts with the client’s name. This is not entirely true, as there are much more important parameters in the approach to personalization::

Age, location, and social status

People aged 25 and 35 have different tastes and values, so the offers for them cannot be the same. Whether the customer’s age should influence the Tone-of-Voice depends solely on your product. In some cases, it is unnecessary.

Location is more relevant for offline businesses such as pizzerias, cafes, shops selling perishable goods, hair salons, and beauty salons. Mentioning that “you are nearby” is often crucial.

Gender

Here, the focus is primarily on differences in thinking and information perception. To grab the attention of a male audience with personalized offers, the emphasis should be on technical parameters: width, length, thickness, quality. If addressing a woman, focus on aesthetics: style, exclusivity, interesting patterns. Notice the difference:

• “Triple-fold calfskin wallets, polished and waxed, 30% discount”
• “Handmade leather wallets with personalized engraving, wide color range, 30% discount.”

Of course, some products are universal. In some cases, adding emotional touches to the message would look odd, for example, if you are selling technical parts or software.

It’s also inappropriate if a man suddenly receives an SMS with a purely female product selection.

Your history  

This means what exactly a person buys from you and how often. This is the most important point in the “personalization of bulk SMS” because it allows you to take into account the person’s interests, tastes, and financial capabilities.

To select optimal offers, you need to initially track what the person buys, when, and for how much. For example, there is no need to entice a client who always buys embroidery thread kits with bead embroidery kits.

Name

Here, there are certain risks. They are related exclusively to the quality and relevance of your database.

Yes, it’s ideal if you are 100% sure that the message addressed to Adelaide will indeed be read by Adelaide.

If you’re not sure, it’s cheaper to stick with a neutral “Dear customer.” People will react to a message without a name if it is relevant and contains an attractive offer for them.

Customers dissatisfied with a purchase or service will respond negatively to personalized name-based messages. Another unpredictable category is customers who interacted with your company once a long time ago.

Therefore, carefully and regularly update your client database — it is your main treasure, achievement, and source of success. Focus primarily on your target audience, considering their preferences and previous purchase history. It’s definitely not worth wasting attention on people who are not very interested in your offers.

What informational reasons to use for personalized SMS

The personalization of messages and sendings can revolve around any events and business offers, as well as holidays, especially national ones.

Holiday reasons

Here, in general, everything is clear, but there is a nuance: when preparing pre-holiday messages, it is worth considering the overall information background in the country. It is better to postpone the sending or change the text in time than to send congratulations during a dark moment for the country.

Should you congratulate the client on their birthday? Yes. Many people delay purchases, knowing that on their personal holiday they can expect an individual attractive discount or bonus.

You may not need to congratulate them specifically, but simply inform them a couple of times a year that such a program exists.

As for congratulating the client’s family members on their birthdays — this directly depends on your business. It’s appropriate if the entire family uses your company’s services. If not, even asking such a question in a survey can be seen as an invasion of personal boundaries.

Marketing reasons

These are organizational messages, such as reminding the client about an appointment or that their purchase is already on its way.

If your company has a loyalty program, every event — from changes in bonus balance to discounts on the client’s favorite products — is a reason for a message.

If such a program doesn’t exist or isn’t planned, the reason could be an update to the product range, discounts on specific product groups, etc. The main thing is that the personal offer is different from the mass one, meaning it’s not available to everyone.

But even without this, there are plenty of reasons — the main thing is to choose the “tastiest” and not abuse the person’s goodwill. One message every month or two is enough.

Automation of sending: step-by-step instructions

At first glance, it seems that an individual strategy is a troublesome task. It is, but personalized campaigns with the help of a service significantly ease this work.

Let’s consider how this can be done with the example of congratulating clients on their birthday.

1. You’ll need an Excel table containing the following information: 1st column — the client’s phone number, 2nd column — their birthdate, 3rd column — their name (if provided).
2. Log in to the SMS Club service account or register. 
3. Create a unique alpha-name or choose from existing ones. If it’s already there, you need to confirm it.
4. Save the file with the table in txt or csv format and upload it to your account in the “Number bases” section.
5. Go to the “Birthdays” section and carefully follow the prompts that appear at each step.

Thus, all clients from your database will receive birthday greetings every year. The text can and should be edited — both the wishes and the offers. Similarly, other personalized bulk SMS can be set up.

Conclusions:

Personalization is a path that most often brings success and pays off.

For example, one educational project sent 10,000 SMS to a “warm” subscriber base. From the 123 applications received, 8 educational courses were sold. This is a good result — considering the tough competition in the niche and the availability of some lessons for free.

However, to achieve this or even better results, you need to test different campaigns options and analyze their effectiveness.