Nate threw this up at my request. I have a client that want's to do SMS advertising messaging (unsolicited) to existing customers. I am strongly advising against it for the risk of alienating the existing customer base, but I wanted to get a quick feel for what others think. So if as many people could vote and chime in with their opinions, I would much appreciate it.
I am not much of a 'hater', but I really would hate this! I would immediately block the number and ensure I never patronize the biz that sent me the SMS.
By "open rate", are you referring to those that get opened and viewed? I've seen a few strange, unsolicited messages show up on my phone, which I have opened because I didn't know what it was in the first place. Had I known, I would have deleted immediately.
I would definitely not start sending out text message offers to people who didn't opt-in to a program. If this is a really valuable means of communication for your client, I suggest the best way to start would be sending one message asking customers to opt-in to receiving more.
As in: "Reply to this message with SUBSCRIBE if you'd like to receive exclusive offers."
As opposed to: "If you don't unsubscribe you will continue to receive offers."
If I remember correctly, you have to pay for every number you send a message to, so there's no reason to spend money sending messages to people who don't want them. I've explained that to clients many times. Don't try to trick people into giving you their contact info. Give them the opportunity to sign up and if someone doesn't, they were unlikely to take advantage of your offers anyway.
Right, opened and viewed. It could be misleading because on my old school phone I have to open a message in order to delete it (or at least I think I do). The open rate of a text message campaign might be more comparable to people seeing the subject line of an email rather than people opening and seeing the content of an email.
It would make me mad and I would remember this whenever I saw their product. My FAX number rings all day long with unwanted crap, but thankfully the machine dumps them on the second ring. I am not at all sure how I got it to do that, but I'm glad it does.
is that many don't have unlimited messaging on thier phone. So in effect you are having your target audience pay to recieve your advertisement. Straight into the shittter for me....
My Mom used to have a "do not buy" list. This was a roll of shelf paper hung up behind the TV. If someones add was too insulting to the viewers intelligence or something like that, up the company would go onto the list, never to recieve another dime of her money.
For me, this would definantly have to be an opt in system.
