No one, and I mean absolutely no one, wants to receive a text that says it’s from a real person but sounds exactly like it’s from a bot. People crave human connections, even in marketing and sales texts.
Knowing that, it makes sense that you need to sound like a real person to engage leads and customers to yield the results you want. For most marketers using SMS, those results include higher click rates, reply rates, and/or purchase rates.
So how do you send text messages, even automated ones, that sound like a human wrote them to get those results?
1. Be Personable
The number one way to text like a human is to be personable. If your SMS marketing has low engagement, it may be because you aren’t being personal enough. Impersonal texts often don’t capture customers’ attention which leads to inaction and a lack of loyalty to the brand. You improve customer lifetime value by sending personalized texts.
The most basic thing you can do is include the recipient’s first name in a text. But that’s the bare minimum. When writing a personalized text, also consider customer history and information such as location, last purchase, birthday, seasons and holidays, and previous feedback. (In Skipio, use Custom Fields and CRM integrations to automatically sync this information to use in texts even when messaging large groups.) Gather this sort of information automatically through completed sales and/or by asking people when they opt in to receive text messages.
Personalizing your messages is easiest when you add contacts to different groups/lists that then each receive specific messages and offers. If certain customers love one product and have communicated to you that they don’t care about anything else, it feels very contradictory to receive promotions about the stuff they have no interest in. That’s going to make them distrust you. Create various lists/segments and update them often and regularly. You ideally already keep email lists, so do similar ones for text messaging subscribers.
2. Make It a Conversation
Connecting with customers is how you show them that they’re important and that you understand their pains and needs. Blasting out generic messages doesn’t create a connection.
Instead, the best way to connect is through conversational texting. (Yes, even with SMS marketing you should be having conversations.) Conversational texting simply means you have a conversation with the people you text. You want to get a response, keep the interaction going, and build a genuine relationship.
Text your leads and customers just like you would text a friend (within reason). To keep things conversational, avoid writing long messages like an email. Keep messages short and to the point. Avoid corporate or marketing jargon. Customers are more likely to respond and engage with your messages rather than ignore them because you actually sound like a human trying to talk with them. Texting allows you to be more casual and show off your personality. So, depending on your business, definitely use emojis.
Especially when sending texts to someone who has just opted in, you want to sound like you’re starting a conversation rather than immediately trying to sell something — because you are! Conversational texting basically forces you to keep messages personalized so you engage your leads and customers.
Ultimately, this two-way texting helps you know and understand your customers’ needs and intent and bridges any communication gaps.
3. Follow Up in a Timely Manner
No one likes to be ghosted. To sound like a human, you must follow up like a human would. This means that you need to reply in real-time as often as possible. As much as we’d like it to be, this isn’t sustainable on your own. You can’t manually follow up with every single new subscriber or customer as they come in.
Automate your outreach and follow-up to effectively scale with SMS marketing. Use automation to start and keep conversations going. Automation is best for creating real-time conversations when you’re busy and can’t actually respond. Automating text messages makes quick follow-ups possible, but make sure your automated messages don’t send until you’ve actually read the lead/customer’s message. Otherwise, you look completely out of the loop and will definitely look/sound like a bot. Be sure you also have a way to stop automated messages if someone has responded to a previous message.
Even when using automated messages, you can still make them sound personal and more human-like. That being said, not all messages should be automated, like If a message requires more of a human touch, such as customer service, support inquiries, or when you’re carrying on a back and forth conversation. Be mindful of automating too many of your replies and follow-ups.
4. Build Customer Relationships
A huge component of texting like a human is having a genuine relationship with the people you text. Being available and relatable helps you create that relationship. Humans naturally like to relate to others. The more relatable your messages are, the more customers will trust your business. That directly translates to stronger customer relationships.
As you might guess, it’s really by following the first three tips of being personal, carrying on an actual conversation, and following up in a timely manner that you build authentic relationships with your customers.
To further help you out, customize these types of relationship-building text messages for your SMS marketing strategy:
- [First Name], because you’re a repeat customer, you get first dibs on our newest products. Check them out before everyone else: [new arrivals link].
- Hey [First Name], we value your feedback. What do you think of your latest purchase, [Product Name]? Reply back and let me know!
- Hi [First Name], we’re going to be at (event name) this week at table (table #). Any chance we’ll see you there? It goes from (time of day).
- I’m a little biased, [First Name], but I’m obsessed with our new release, (name of new release). What’s it been like for you so far? Anything you really love?
- [First Name], have you seen the newest (product/service release)? Let’s schedule a time for you to check it out. Let me know what day this week works best for you.
Use text messages to stay connected to customers and build relationships by routinely engaging customers in genuine conversations, which makes it easier to talk about purchases and potential upgrade options without sounding too salesy.
Be a Human Brand
A good rule of thumb is if you wouldn’t like to receive the message you’re sending, your customers probably won’t either. People ultimately prefer to support and engage with human brands.
As you start using these four tips to send better marketing text messages, make it easier for yourself and your team by using Skipio, the most human business texting platform available.
Skipio is designed to help you communicate effectively and build relationships that matter to businesses. It helps you and every person on your team reach out consistently and personally. See how Skipio will work for you.
