5 SMS Marketing Case Studies: Text Messages That Delivered ROI

In 2010, the Viking Cooking School was looking to:

• Raise class enrolments.
• Maintain a dialogue to keep their current and past customers engaged.

Action

They sent their email marketing list a link to an opt-in web widget as well as providing an option to join the list by texting VIKING to the shortcode 313131. Customers were incentivized to join with the offer of weekly cooking tips and class discounts.

Image credit: https://www.eztexting.com/blog/innovative-sms-business-ideas

Result

In just four months, Viking had built a list of almost 300 subscribers. An early test campaign was able to fill eight spots in a class that was under capacity. That campaign cost just $15 to generate and ship and increased the class revenue by $632.

Pizza Hut wanted a better way to allow individual stores to engage with local customers to:

• Offer store-specific discounts.
• Notify customers about charity events.
• Encourage customers to pick up pizza for local events.

Actions

Pizza Hut created an offer for customers to get a free large pizza by texting FREEPIZZA to their shortcode and following a series of simple prompts. They advertised the campaign on social media, with an intended six-day ad buy and a limit of 100,000 free pizza codes.

Image source: https://uplandsoftware.com/mobile-messaging/resources/case-study/pizza-chain-sms/

Results

The social media campaign went viral, and the 100,000 codes were used up within 12 hours. The company allowed the campaign to continue until 160,000 opt-ins had occurred. Since the codes were only redeemable online, Pizza Hut was also able to get email addresses, thereby growing both their SMS and email mailing lists.

Goals

The time of year and the weather have a huge impact on the amount of business a car wash attracts. Delta Sonic wanted a way of driving traffic during slower times. Email marketing offered some success, but it wasn’t able to reach people quickly enough to combat weather-induced stagnation.

Actions

Delta Sonic advertised their text message club using signage at each of their facilities, a web sign-up form, social media posts, and signage at sponsored local events. As an opt-in incentive, they offered a free bottle of water or a slushie to new subscribers.

Image source: https://simpletexting.com/delta-sonic-success-story/

Results

Over two years, Delta Sonic had grown their SMS list to over 50,000 subscribers. On one rainy day, they were able to drive over 1,000 customers to their locations with an offer on internal cleanings. Without the use of text message marketing, they would have done a fraction of those sales, and their staff would have been left largely unoccupied.

Goals

Seattle Sun Tan wanted to add an SMS component to their marketing mix. Although they already had 80,000 email subscribers and 37,000 social media followers, Seattle Sun Tan did not yet have a database of their customer’s mobile phone numbers.

Actions

Seattle Sun Tan provided a way for customers to opt-in to their list by texting TANS to a specified shortcode. They raised awareness by spreading information about the signup process to their email list and their social media subscribers and by advertising throughout their stores.

To incentivize opt-ins, they offered a $20 coupon codes for new SMS subscribers to use on their next purchase. The code was set to expire five days after receipt, providing a sense of urgency.

Image source: https://www.tatango.com/blog/tanning-salon-text-messaging-campaign-generates-196000-in-first-30-days/

Results

In just 30 days, Seattle Sun Tan had grown their SMS list to 4,774 subscribers. Their coupon code had an impressive 57% redemption rate, and customers redeeming the offer spent an average of 500% more than customers without the code. They realized $196,101.87 in new sales from just the first month of the promotion.

Goals

The law firm of Ross and Pines was looking to make their communications more client-friendly and efficient. In particular, they were concerned about clients who don’t frequently use email.

Actions

Ross and Pines set up SMS capabilities and promoted them through the firm’s website. Some of the use cases they identified for text messages included:

• Sending appointment reminders.
• Providing clients directions to their office or the court.
• Reminding clients about court dates.
• Receiving accident and injury photos.
• Gathering case information.
• Answering client questions.

Results

By utilizing SMS marketing, Ross and Pines noticed significant time savings stemming from a reduced need for phone calls. The improved communication resulted in cases moving forward faster, and the ability to view client conversation histories led to a decrease in duplicated effort.

SMS Marketing isn’t just the future, it’s the present day. Without SMS as a core part of your marketing strategy, your brand runs the risk of lagging behind and failing to reap the benefits of the wider reach, and better engagement rates of catering to mobile devices.

Is your business currently using SMS and email as part of your wider strategy? Do you need help with the creation, automation, or increasing engagement?

Here at Swift Digital, we can help you with your email and SMS campaigns by providing tips on email and SMS best practices to make your next campaign a success! Start collecting SMS subscriptions today, and see how your ideal ROI is only a couple of text messages away.