{"id":1309,"date":"2022-07-08T12:46:04","date_gmt":"2022-07-08T12:46:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test.thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/?p=1309"},"modified":"2022-09-09T15:36:33","modified_gmt":"2022-09-09T15:36:33","slug":"6-reasons-why-people-are-unsubscribing-your-sms-list","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/6-reasons-why-people-are-unsubscribing-your-sms-list\/","title":{"rendered":"6 reasons why people are unsubscribing from your SMS list"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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Help! My list is shrinking.
6 reasons why people are unsubscribing from your SMS list<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

SMS is ancient. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been with us for over 25 years and is embarrassingly basic, compared to the other feature-rich messaging apps. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sending a text is the equivalent of using an old BT rotary dial phone to make a phone call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Vintage<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Beautifully designed though these devices are, they\u2019re utterly incomparable to a modern smartphone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Surely it\u2019s time for SMS to quietly shuffle off and retire gracefully.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RCS messaging<\/a><\/strong> (that absolutely no one has heard of yet) looks like it might be a contender to replace SMS. But RCS is beset with all sorts of problems <\/a>that might mean it falls flat on its face before it\u2019s out of the starting blocks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For many brands, SMS remains the most effective marketing channel<\/a> despite its limitations. Read rates for SMS are at 93% <\/strong>(mobilesquared) and response rates to SMS outstrip email by a country mile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So when a marketer starts to see the number of subscribers to their opt-in SMS list shrinking, it\u2019s a real cause for concern.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are some of the top reasons why your SMS list might be shrinking<\/strong> and what you can do about it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. You\u2019re not offering anything of value to subscribers.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

This seems painfully obvious but your subscribers joined your list because they thought they we going to get something for nothing<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That could mean special product discounts or perhaps useful information that isn\u2019t available elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever it was that tempted them to sign up in the first place has to be delivered upon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For example, the discounts available to SMS subscribers should be different and potentially better than for non-members. 
A feeling of exclusivity is important to keeping your customers feeling valued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

‘If I can get the same discount just by visiting the website, why would I bother being part of the SMS list?’<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Make sure that there are tangible benefits that customers would miss out on if they weren\u2019t on the list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. You\u2019re pummelling them with SMS spam<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Your customers probably joined your list to get exclusive offers and discounts not to be assaulted by an avalanche of spam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you send too many texts, you\u2019ll quickly find your members unsubscribing in alarming numbers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpam is a waste of the receivers\u2019 time, and, a waste of the sender\u2019s optimism.\u201d <\/strong>
Mokokoma Mokhonoana<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

While there\u2019s no hard and fast rule on the optimal number of texts to send, if your sending more that 2 or 3 texts a month, you\u2019re probably overdoing it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

SMS fatigue is very real and sending too many texts is one of the shortest routes to reducing the size of your list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Less is most definitely more.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Your messages are confusing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

160 characters is a tiny amount to get your message across.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With that, you have to announce who you are, make your offer and provide clear instructions on how to respond.. If you can inject a little charm or humour, so much the better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s no mean feat and arguably one of the greatest copywriting challenges in marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With so much to convey in such a small number of characters, it\u2019s tempting to try and cram in as much information as possible. This usually means that you have to revert to awkward abbreviations and text speak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This often leads to confusion and the resulting frustration drives people to follow the unsubscribe instructions<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Kwik<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To illustrate whatt can be done, this text from Kwikfit <\/a>is one of the best we\u2019ve ever seen. Although strictly speaking it’s a reminder rather than a pure marketing text, it still has all the elements in place that marketing texts should aspire to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Be clear, concise and keep it very, very simple.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

4. Your links look spammy or even dodgy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most SMS marketing campaigns contain a link to a mobile landing page where users can redeem an offer or make a purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To reduce the numbers of characters used, most marketers use a URL shortener. There are plenty to choose from and they all do a very good job.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The problem with most\u00a0URL shorteners\u00a0<\/a>is that you end up with a link that gives you no indication of what website you\u2019ll be sent to if you click the link.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s always a moment\u2019s uncertainty followed by relief that you\u2019ve not been sent to some fraudulent phishing site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Standard URL shorteners just look a little unprofessional.
For example, The SMS Works homepage can be shortened to this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/tinyurl.com\/yxsshqsq<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that gives you no indication where that link might take you as well as being utterly unmemorable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A much better solution is to use a URL shortener that retains your brand or domain name as part of the shortened URL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

That way your customer will have the immediate confidence that they\u2019re not going to be taken anywhere they didn\u2019t expect and click through rates will improve as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rebrandly <\/a>have got a great solution for this. They even have a tool that allows you to create unlimited unique URLs<\/a> so that you can track individual customer journeys. Their service isn\u2019t free but the small cost will be hugely offset by improved response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5. Your messages are poorly targeted<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most brands hold huge amount of information on each and every customer on their database. It\u2019s surprising then that most companies simply splurge out exactly the same text to absolutely everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

They take no account of the widely different customer profiles and huge differences that make up their target market.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the most powerful advantages of SMS is that for no additional cost, you can create multiple offers<\/strong> to match different types of customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By sending the same text to everyone, you\u2019re missing a great opportunity to match your offer more precisely to your customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Segment your data <\/strong>into broad customer types and present them with offers that are most likely to appeal to them. You should get a much better overall response rate.
 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

6. You have a weak or vague incentive to join your SMS list<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Unless your opt in SMS lists is being constantly topped up, it will tend to slowly reduce through natural wastage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Customers move on, mobile numbers expire and people opt out for a whole range of reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep the numbers growing you have to be providing a genuine benefit that people outside \u2018the club\u2019 can\u2019t access.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The benefits need to be crystal clear as well as attractive as possible. You also need to explain at the outset how many messages members can expect to receive and the usual reassurances about how you\u2019re planning to use their data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

People need know that they won\u2019t be spammed and that their data is secure before they\u2019ll offer up their precious mobile number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SMS is alive and well<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Until something better comes along, SMS remains an incredibly quick and agile marketing tool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

To prevent your SMS list dwindling, follow these simple guidelines and your campaigns will be as successful as ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can we help at all? We\u2019ve got so much experience between us; we may be able to offer you some useful advice or at least have an opinion on how you could improve your SMS marketing campaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please get in touch<\/a> and we\u2019ll be delighted to get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Related articles<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A guide to opting our of SMS<\/strong><\/a> Do you have to include an ‘opt out’ on all your texts texts or is it just the marketing ones. Buckle up, this article will take you through all you need to know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A complete guide SMS APIs<\/strong><\/a> This is a detailed look through many of the considerations when evaluating SMS API providers. It’s split into sections to make it easier to use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are SMS grey routes?<\/strong><\/a> Have you heard of SMS grey routes? They’re a cheaper option for sending SMS. But should you consider using them to reduce your SMS bill?<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Help! My list is shrinking.6 reasons why people are unsubscribing from your SMS list SMS is ancient.  It\u2019s been with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"disabled","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/351"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesmsworks.co.uk\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}