Campaigns with Character: How Advertising, Informational, and Service SMS Differ

SMS Campaigns — Primarily a Personalized Communication Channel with Customers, and Only Then a Marketing Tool

SMS is a convenient way to organize communication with customers. It’s convenient because messages are sure to be received, even in areas without internet access.

Additionally, people aren’t tied to a specific messenger — not everyone uses WhatsApp or Viber. And there’s no need to download yet another app.

Any business can use three types of campaigns — advertising, informational, and service. Each has its own character. Below, we’ll explore which messages are the most human and which lead to the most unsubscribes.

Advertising SMS Campaigns

This type of campaign is the most demanding and “troublesome”. With them, it’s not just about notifying your customers about promotions, discounts, sales, new products, or exciting events. You need to capture the attention of hundreds, if not thousands, of people who already know about your company.

Here are a few characteristics typical of advertising SMS:

• Mass distribution. Messages are instantly sent to a large number of customers. People see and at least glance at them within minutes of receiving them. SMS messages are stored on the phone, so if someone is interested in the information, it’s easy to find.
• Creative approach. Creative SMS campaigns can strike right at the heart and motivate customers to buy your product. However, they can also become a marketer’s nightmare if unsuccessful, leading to unsubscribes or the sender’s number being blocked, which is unpleasant.
• Delicacy. SMS doesn’t distract people like cold calls do. It’s unknown how many subscribers block a number right at the start of a conversation. But think about your own reaction to an untimely call from a company representative.
• Minimal attention required. It takes just a few seconds to read a message. Thanks to this, SMS campaigns don’t annoy users. Keep in mind that in Ukraine, there is a strong trend toward reduced viewing of ads on the internet, in the media, and in targeted brand follow-ups. Consumers cite market saturation with advertising and the desire to take a break from it as the main reasons.

Five Tips on Laws and Ethics

For mass advertising campaigns to have the desired effect and for customers to remain loyal, it’s essential to follow a few rules. All but the last are regulated by Ukrainian laws — “On Personal Data Protection”, “On Electronic Communications” and “On Advertising.”.

1. Send mass messages only to customers from your database. That is, to people who have voluntarily given you their phone number and consented to the processing of their personal data.
2. Using someone else’s or outdated databases for SMS campaigns is a bad idea. If a person is contacted by a company they’ve never interacted with, the chances of building a positive relationship are slim, especially if the message is personalized and starts with the recipient’s name.
   
   Tips on how to build your own database can be found in the article “Consent for SMS Campaigns: Example, Survey Template” here.
   
   
3. Work on the quality of your database. Regularly update information, remove inactive phone numbers, and segment your customers into specific groups.
4. Don’t send advertising messages too often. Firstly, to avoid violating the law, which clearly defines what spam is. Secondly, to help ensure that SMS advertising stops being associated with spam altogether — it’s unfortunate that some companies have used this tool too aggressively.Note: According to the 2023 updates in the Electronic Communications Law, you can send up to five messages to one contact even without their consent. More than five messages is considered spam.
5. Always consider the information context in the country at the time of the campaign and assess whether your offer contains any unnecessary triggers. For example, the word “Hero” should be used strictly for its intended purpose, and the events we are all experiencing are certainly not a reason for promotions.

Informational SMS Campaigns

The nature of these messages is reserved and businesslike. Their purpose is to organize relationships with customers. There is no place for advertising or product promotion here. Instead, they provide important, useful, and necessary information for the consumer.

What to include in an informational message?

• Remind about individual bonuses or the pleasant amount accumulated on a loyalty card.
• Notify about emergencies that have caused service disruptions.
• Inform about changes in the tariff plan or service conditions.
• Highlight changes in service hours or a move to a new address.
• Request feedback on products or services.

SMS notification services allow you to automate the sending of such and other messages. And it’s not always necessary to start with a generic “Dear Customer”: it’s more appropriate to address the person by name.

You can also congratulate someone on their birthday or a national holiday. It’s not necessary to offer discounts or gifts — just a few warm words will suffice.

Any personalized SMS will reach the recipient without your additional intervention — before or after the relevant date or event. You only need to enter the data once.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Push Notifications 

The functionality of service SMS campaigns can be transferred to another technology — Push notifications. These are messages that periodically appear on the screens of mobile phones or computers.

They can be perfectly tailored for various tasks, such as reminders about scheduled payments, visits, discounts, promotions, and so on.

They also make it easy to set up trigger-based campaigns, depending on the actions a person has taken on a website or in an app.

For example, if a customer has selected a product but hasn’t completed the purchase, after a while, a message like “You have three books in your cart, would you like to complete your purchase?” will appear on the screen. And if the books have already been shipped, the notification might be an invitation to a poetry evening or a webinar with the author.

Push notifications have their advantages for businesses, but they also have drawbacks.

1. They are delivered only if mobile internet is available. And since they quickly disappear after being read, it’s impossible to know for sure whether the person read the message or dismissed it like an annoying fly.
2. They constantly grab attention, and at some point, consumers unsubscribe. It’s very easy to do this. Additionally, any browser allows the option to block ads altogether.

Service SMS Campaigns

They are also called transactional or operational SMS, and not without reason—there is no room for unnecessary words here. By nature, these are the strictest, impersonal, concise, and, surprisingly, human SMS.

The main purpose of these messages is to inform the customer about specific actions or operations they have already completed or need to complete.

For example:

• Order status (received, processed, in progress);
• Shipment status (tracking number, courier phone number, parcel in the post office);
• Payment status (received, credited, receipt sent);
• Confirmation code for registration/login on the website or in apps.

These messages can also be easily automated through an SMS service, and intervention is only necessary in non-standard cases. For example, if the desired product color is out of stock, or if delivery is expected not in the stated three days but in a month.

Customers expect service messages. That’s why they can be written in Latin characters, allowing more characters to fit in. Remember, the length of a standard message in Cyrillic is 70 characters, while in Latin it’s 160. For advertising campaigns, using Latin characters is not recommended, as Ukrainian words in foreign letters are harder to read.

Moreover, despite being in Latin, these messages help preserve customers’ (and sometimes sellers’) peace of mind. People don’t need to worry whether their money has been received, if the product or size is available, or if the seller has sent the tracking number.

Additional Capabilities of Service Messages

Sending SMS reminders to clients about appointments or scheduled visits is a convenient option for beauty professionals, veterinarians, medical practitioners, and other specialists who work directly with clients. It’s certainly more efficient than sending messages manually, as it eliminates the human factor and potential errors.

Auto repair shops can also remind car owners when it’s time for an inspection or repair. This applies to services that maintain and repair air conditioners as well.

These reminders can have variations:

• The option to reschedule or cancel the appointment;
• Additional details such as arriving 10 minutes early, bringing test results, ensuring access, etc.

There is also another type of communication that can be conducted through campaigns — SMS reminders about overdue payments. Sometimes a client forgets or doesn’t manage to pay on time, or a technical issue arises that the person didn’t notice.

In most cases, a simple reminder is enough. If the situation isn’t resolved, you can add information to the request, such as “Please make the payment to continue using the service”.

Usually, such messages are sufficient. Sometimes the message might be: “Dear customer, your subscription has been suspended due to an outstanding balance of 500 USD. To restore access, please settle the debt. Thank you for your cooperation”.

Conclusions

SMS campaigns positively impact the image of companies, especially those in the service and sales sectors.

For instance, messages from taxis and other transportation services, beauty salons, recreational studios, delivery services, and stores that operate exclusively online are considered the gold standard of business communication — at least in Ukraine. This method is quick, clear, and unobtrusive. Use this tool, and professionals will help you tailor it perfectly for your needs.