SMS for Sales: Benefits, Use Cases & Best Software

Introduction

The SMS market is flourishing and is expected to grow by a CAGR of 21% by 2030. With the growing demand, business owners are now realizing the importance of utilizing SMS for sales and are quickly incorporating the same to simplify marketing and customer communication.

If you are new to this, then we’ve got your back. In this article, we share how you can use SMS for sales, its benefits, and some of the best tools so you can engage your customers more effectively and boost your bottom line.

What is SMS for Sales?

In business, SMS is utilized as a communication channel for generating sales leads and engaging customers via text messaging. Companies use SMS to promote a new product or service, to share updates on discounts and offers, share promotions, and other similar things. SMS is easy to implement and has a high potential for ROI, and the best part is that even customers prefer it as a communication channel. Keep reading as we reveal to you the benefits of SMS for sales and some of the best tools to consider for the same. 

Why Should You Choose SMS for Sales?

Have a look at these metrics for using SMS and email as communication tools for sales, and see for yourself why SMS is a much better choice:

Benefits of SMS for Sales

There are so many benefits of using SMS for sales, let’s have a look at them: 

Cost effective

SMS marketing is way cheaper compared to other forms of marketing and advertising solutions . And since SMS have a high open rate, a high response rate and can even be customized to a good extent, it has the potential to give more ROI. 

Customizable

SMS marketing allows you to customize and engage with your customers the way they want. For example, the kind of communication they want to receive, the frequency of messages, how they prefer to be contacted, and more. The more you tailor communication with the customer as per their wishes, the more likely it is for you to receive a better response from them. 

High open & response rate

SMS has a very high open rate of 98% as compared to emails (37%) or any other digital marketing channel. Additionally, studies show that SMS has a response rate of 45%, which is quite good as compared to the response rate of email (6%). This is because text messages are simpler and require less effort to read, and because of this, the chances of your customers reading your sales SMS and taking action are quite high. 

Greater marketing success

Did you know businesses that use SMS as a marketing channel are 683% more likely to achieve marketing success compared to those who don’t? Text messaging is not the only marketing platform that you can use; however, its simple and easy-to-use nature and high success rate make it a great option to consider. 

Measure success easily

SMS marketing tools allow you to measure the success of your sales campaign and help you analyze where things can be improved. Tools such as Emitrr come with analytics and report options that allow you to see how your sales campaign is performing through metrics like click-through rate, SMS delivered and opened, SMS responded to, etc. 

Combine with other marketing tools

Have a CRM tool already in place? No worries! You can combine and integrate SMS for sales tools to simplify communication with your customers. You can sync customer information that already exists in the system and manage it all in one place. And you can even integrate email marketing with text messaging and create campaigns for both. 

Low spam rate

Email marketing comes with a lot of filters that marketers need to take care of so that their  emails do not end up in spam. However, this is not the case with SMS marketing. Once your customers opt-in to receive your sales messages, they will always be able to see the message in their inbox until they opt out. 

Significant customer demand 

As a business owner, you may wonder if your customers even want you to text them. Thankfully, as of 2024, 79% of consumers subscribe to SMS marketing messages, showing a 12% opt-on rate growth year-over-year. This means your customers are open to getting text messages from you, and all you need to do is send them. 

Best Practices For Sales SMS

Get permission 

The first step in sending sales SMS to customers is getting permission to text them. Make sure that your sales prospects sign up and willingly opt-in to your sales text message program. There are legal consequences for violating the anti-spam policy for texting, so make sure you do this right before you start texting your customers.   

Keep the SMS short

Standard text messages can only be of 160 characters, so make sure to keep your sales SMS short and crisp. However, make sure you do not overuse slang or short forms. 

Keep timing in mind

As per texting regulations, you can send sales SMS to customers only between 8 am and 9 pm in the time zone of the recipient. So make sure you keep these timings in mind and send SMS at a reasonable time that makes sense for your campaign. 

Include a CTA

To increase your click-through rate, make sure to add an effective CTA to your sales SMS. Action-oriented words such as “learn more,”  “shop now,” etc., encourage customers to interact with your sales campaign. 

Offer value

SMS for sales should not just be about promoting your service or product; rather, it should also be about providing value to your customers. So make sure your sales SMS focuses on the customers and offers them something of value to get the best results. 

Use Cases of SMS for Sales

Promotional texts 

SMS can be utilized to send promotional messages for:

• Sale announcements
• Discounts
• Events
• Limited-time offers, and more!

Product launches 

Using an SMS service is an excellent way to promote a new product or service. Sales marketing through SMS can offer:

• Easy linking to websites
• High open rate
• Personalization

Shopping cart abandonment

According to Baymard Institute, the average cart abandonment rate is 69.57%, and recouping these lost orders could be a great sales opportunity for you. For this, you can set up automated abandoned cart SMS reminders to prompt or remind the customer to checkout and complete the purchase from you.. 

Have one-on-one communication 

Allow your customers to text you back and take the conversation further to close deals, offer support, and connect with your customers. Utilizing two-way texting via SMS is a great way to incorporate conversational commerce into your sales strategy and generate more leads. 

SMS alerts

SMS can also be utilized to set up and send SMS alerts for urgent matters to both large groups and individuals simultaneously. For example, a business can use SMS alerts to:

• Send updates for orders
• Notify customers about changes in store timings
• Provide access to account information, and more

Contests and giveaways

If you use giveaways or contests to generate leads for your business, then text messaging can be a simple and unique way to run these contests or giveaways. For this, you simply need to promote a keyword that participants can text you, and you can select the winner from the entries received. 

Drip campaigns

One-off campaigns are good for time-sensitive offers or product announcements. However, for more frequent messages, you can automate SMS by setting up drip campaigns. You can create drip campaigns for:

• Product suggestions
• Weekly tips
• Blog updates
• And more!

5 Best SMS Software for Sales

Emitrr

Emitrr is one of the best SMS for sales software. This software comes with plenty of texting features such as drip campaigns, scheduling, personalization, link shortener, mass texting, broadcast messaging, and more! Emitrr also integrates with over 500 CRM tools and software and is the only tool that has a 5-star rating for its customer service on Capterra. When it comes to pricing, Emitrr offers the best value for money with volume-based plans starting at just $149 a month. So, if you are looking for an all-rounder software that offers all the necessary features at the best price, then Emitrr is for you.

Best features of Emitrr: 

• Message personalization
• Analytical reporting
• Dashboard
• Drip campaigns
• Mass texting
• URL shortener
• File sharing
• SMS scheduling
• Opt in, opt out option
• Two-way messaging

Textline

Textline is another good sales SMS software that caters to multiple industries such as retail, e-commerce, home services, etc., boasting plenty of SMS features such as two-way SMS and MMS, mass texting, and more. The software offers three kinds of pricing options starting at $20 per month per agent, which might add up quickly. Overall, a good option to consider. 

Best features of Textline 

• Automated text campaigns
• Conversation management 
• Integration with CRM tools
• Attachments
• SMS marketing templates & customization  

EZ Texting

EZ Texting is a powerful SMS marketing software that offers easy-to-use features for running sales or marketing campaigns. The software caters to all kinds of industries and is meant for growing businesses. EZ texting’s pricing starts at $20 per month and goes up to $3000 a month. Ease of use and plenty of SMS for sales features make EZ texting a good choice; however, its customer service and expensive price tag are two major pain points to consider. 

Best features of EZ texting: 

• AI message composer
• Manual contact upload
• Click-to-text generator
• Drip campaign
• Recurring texts

SlickText

SlickText is a popular SMS marketing service that offers easy-to-use marketing tools, targeted text messages, and automated workflows. The company offers a text blast service, SMS short codes, and more to simplify SMS communications. SlickText offers a free plan for basic features, and for advanced features, the pricing plan starts from $29 per month and goes up to $2,399 a month. SlickText’s ease of use and affordable pricing make it a good option; however, the software may lag and could get buggy at times. 

Best features of SlickText:

• MMS picture messaging  
• Mass text messaging
• One on one texting
• Repeating messages
• Auto-replies

Textmagic

Textmagic is a featured business text messaging software that enables businesses to send sales messages to customers and simplify the process via different features. The software comes with a variety of features, such as 10DLC texting, toll-free texting, and more. Textmagic’s pricing starts at $24.5 a month and goes up to $100 a month. Textmagic’s features and customer service are really good, but its pricing is high compared to other options. 

Best features of Textmagic 

• SMS campaigns
• Personalized messages
• Mass texting
• Scheduling messages
• Unlimited users 

How To Sell Through SMS?

It’s necessary to craft the best sales text messages to win over customers. So, you must understand how to use SMS for sales. Here are some top ways to use SMS for sales: 

1. Create a list of SMS subscribers
2. Partner with an SMS marketing platform
3. Formulate the SMS campaigns 
4. Determine an optimum texting frequency 
5. Analyse and optimize results 

Let’s deep dive into each of these. 

1. Create a list of SMS subscribers

Build and nurture a list of SMS subscribers for a successful text message sales campaign. To create your subscriber list:

• Get express consent from your customers
• Keep up with compliance regulations
• Stay in touch and integrate with other support channels
• Pay attention to acquiring quality subscribers over quantity
• Give your customers the option to opt-in through your website
• Make opting-out easier

2. Partner with an SMS marketing platform

Choosing the right SMS marketing platform is critical to your campaign’s success. A tool like Emittr ensures you access to the right tools at an affordable price while complying with TCPA requirements. Here’s what Emittr helps you with:

• Set up text messaging campaigns to maximize ROI
• Import all your contacts and lists with a few clicks
• Automatically sync data from your CRM
• Send tailored messages in bulk 
• Receive replies to your sales messages 
• Track delivery rate and failed messages
• Monitor response rate by filtering campaign responses 
• Track all marketing metrics to constantly help improve your campaigns

3. Formulate SMS campaigns

Clear, concise, and direct messages get better responses than long messages. Here are some things to keep in mind:

• Aim for brevity: Long-winding texts defeat the purpose of using this channel. Keep your texts short and impactful.
• Follow texting etiquette: For example, send texts during business hours. When messaging international clients, check the time in their country.
• Add a CTA: Keep your texts actionable by telling readers what to do next.
• Be professional: Use a professional tone, address the reader by their name, and identify your brand in every message.

4. Determine an optimum texting frequency

Don’t text your customers incessantly. Sending too many messages looks spammy and you might just end up losing your customer’s trust.

Each message should offer your prospects or customers value. You can use SMS to tell them something cool about your product or service, share potential use cases, or offer a demo on how your product or service will specifically help the recipient or their business.

You can set up automated texts if you have a defined sales workflow. For example, you can offer customers a one-off new customer discount when they abandon the cart.

5. Analyze and Optimize

Experiment with your SMS for sales strategy and study the results. Determine what’s working and what’s not. Are customers responding more to discount offers or free trials? What segment of customers is more responsive to text messages?

Optimize your strategy based on these observations to maximize your ROI on text messaging. Feel free to experiment with new ideas and optimize as you go. However, make sure the experiment isn’t detrimental to your reputation.

Why Emitrr is the best SMS Software for Sales?

After comparing and looking at the 5 best SMS software for sales, we think Emitrr could be the best option for you, and here’s why: 

It’s customizable

Emitrr allows you to customize messages using properties such as name or last name. All you need to do is upload a list of contacts with the customer’s name or last name and select a property to send a customized message to multiple people at once. 

Allows you to run drip campaigns

Using Emitrr, you can easily set up automated drip campaigns and schedule them according to your preference. You can even track the performance of this campaign by analyzing and tracking metrics like sent messages, failed count, trigger count, response count, etc.  

Offers mass/bulk texting features

Using Emitrr, you can run different types of campaigns for different use cases and send the sales SMS to your customers at once via mass or bulk texting feature. 

Send Images, Files, etc.

Emitrr allows you to attach images or files to your SMS. 

So, if you wish to send your customers a coupon code or greetings, etc., in the form of an attractive file or image, then you can do so very easily using Emitrr.

Integrate with CRM tools

Emitrr integrates with over 500 external tools and software such as Mailchimp, Salesforce, Z Hubspot, Zapier, etc. So if you are already using a CRM tool, then you can integrate Emitrr with it and sync your customer information for all future communications. For instance, if you’re using Salesforce CRM, your team of trained Salesforce specialists can easily integrate Emitrr with it, improving workflows and customer interactions.

Excellent support

Emitrr takes great pride in offering exceptional customer support. Emitrr is one of the only SMS software that has been rated 5/5 for its customer service on Capterra. With Emitrr, you can get in touch with the support team 24/7 via different channels such as chat, call, etc., and get the best customer support. 

Allows you to send reminders and follow-up messages

One of the biggest challenges that business owners face is abandoned carts, but you can send automated reminders to your customers regarding this and prompt them to complete the checkout process using Emitrr very easily. You can even set the frequency and time to send out these reminders and get more conversions on auto-pilot mode. 

Offers web-chat to text feature

Emitrr also offers this cool web-chat-to-text feature, which basically sends an SMS to the customer on their phone directly; if they come to your website and leave the web chat in the middle, ensuring you never miss out on a sales prospect. 

FAQs

Conclusion

Using SMS for sales can supercharge your top line if you play your cards right. Create a well-defined strategy, follow SMS best practices, and use a platform that equips you with the capabilities needed to execute and automate an extensive SMS campaign.

While the market is crowded with SMS solutions, Emittr stands out with its extensive feature set, user-friendly interface, and cost-effective SMS solution.

Learn more about how you can drive revenue and profitability using SMS with Emittr—schedule a demo today!