Lessons from the 'yes' campaign: How not to annoy customers with SMS
When I got the SMS from the marriage equality "yes" vote team my and many people's first thought was: how did they get my number?
Turns out a computer program randomly generated the mobile numbers to which the campaign's messages were sent. This cutely sidesteps privacy laws, but we'll get to that.
Joel Norton is the chief executive of Kalido, a betting organisation that sent people on its database messages while they were at the racetrack.
Photo: Dima KomarovNo matter what the cause, I don't like receiving messages when I haven't given out my number. So I asked digital marketing business Kalido's chief executive Joel Norton if he recommends small businesses follow a similar approach and use a computer-generated database for SMS marketing.
"Absolutely not," he said, qualifying, "[the 'yes' campaign was] able to get away with it, partly because it was a one-off campaign. They're not really interested in developing a customer relationship and growing customer engagement.
The text message sent to thousands of Australians as part of the 'yes' campaign on marriage equality.
"For any other business, you're trying to increase customer loyalty. You're trying to get a greater connection with the customer, so you don't want to annoy people. You're not going to get a great return on investment effectively spamming a list of people to say, 'Come and buy something.'"
The "yes" vote got up – but there's no way to prove whether the SMS campaign swayed anyone's vote.
Says Norton: "If you clicked through to the link and went to the web page, the experience was around PR and awareness for the 'yes' vote than anything else. The conversation stirred up after it about how they got people's number just created more awareness and PR. You could say it worked for them in that way, but it's not something I would advocate at all for any other business."
Research shows SMS marketing is on the rise. According to CRM software provider Salesforce's 2017 State Of Marketing Report, 74 per cent of businesses have tried mobile marketing. This is partly because the tools with which to crete campaigns have become easier to use.
SMS Broadcast's Lee Gaywood, with his fiance Gemma Cooper. SMS Broadcast organised the 'yes' campaign SMS.
Norton says SMS marketing should be incorporated into an integrated marketing strategy, rather than being viewed as a stand-alone tool. "That's really where you get the value from it."
So, back to the privacy issue. Above all, SMS marketing campaigns must comply with privacy laws.
You must have explicit permission to send people an SMS, which usually involves them opting in to receive messages. You have to identify the business as the sender and you must give people the ability to unsubscribe. Businesses that breach the rules face fines and other penalties.
If you've ticked the privacy box, then Norton says the idea is to embed SMS marketing into the overall communication plan.
"Don't think about SMS in isolation. We see the best results when you're using SMS in combination, whether that's with email or direct mail or some other form of communication."
SMS as a marketing tool has specific purposes. It's great to use it to communicate before, during and after an event, to remind guests about the location, for instance.
It's now also possible for businesses to message people on their database when they are near a physical store or instore.
In one example, a Kalido customer, a betting organisation, sent people on its database messages while they were at the racetrack. Only people at the track got the messages, allowing the business to be really specific in their marketing.
Norton designed Red Rooster's SMS messages that are sent to customers waiting on an order. The system is based on a series of five SMSs, which incorporate live data from Red Rooster's mainframe system and their driver's GPS tracking.
I asked Norton what's really sexy in this area at the moment. The response doesn't sound that exciting, but it's good advice.
"It really is around the idea of having a connected customer journey. A lot of businesses are using SMS in isolation. They'll use it around an event or something, but what they should be doing is thinking about how improving the customer experience leads to higher revenue, customer loyalty and engagement."
Where once it was the province of our personal lives, it's now convenient for us to access airline and pretty much any ticket, special offers, barcodes, receipts and calendar appointments, and much more via SMS.
It's a very important tool in the small business marketing arsenal.
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