Why you should start using Keap's Text Marketing immediately

Have you ever gone scorpion hunting with a blacklight? Or, worse, smashed ten black widow spiders in your backyard in one night?

I have. In fact, most of us who live in the southwest have as well.

And this is why I absolutely love the quarterly text messages I get from our local Tempe Arizona pest exterminator, Creepy Crawly Pest Control. Every few months, my I-phone buzzes with a friendly reminder that it’s time for another spray. And every time I’m freaking delighted. I hit the reply with a “Yes! I just saw a black widow last night, when can you come?”

And within minutes I get a real text from Dawn, the owner, “how about tomorrow at 10am?”

And just like that, it’s scheduled. Honestly, I don’t even think about it anymore. They’ve been doing this for years, and I’ve been a loyal customer for years. I just reply to the text message and it’s done.

They make it stupid easy for me, and holy crap do I appreciate it!

Take a step back and consider the power of what this small business has achieved via automated SMS. Let’s list it out.

1. They removed the need for me to remember to call an exterminator, something I honestly don’t want to remember.
2. They’ve ensured that I never Google search “tempe pest controller” and scroll through their competitors.
3. My pests stay under control. They’re drastically reducing the risk of a customer jumping onto Google and writing a bad review because they saw a scorpion, even though it’s been two years since the last appointment.
4. They get more revenue out of me - simple as that. I pay them four times per year, like clockwork.
5. I’m delighted by them and recommend them to anybody looking for a referral.
6. They’ve earned themselves some free exposure (we call it earned media in the marketing world), and a valuable back link, because I’m writing about them in this blogpost. This will help their SEO.
7. They’ve deeply embedded their brand name into my mind. I didn’t need to look them up when I wrote this post.
8. They found a way to create a stable, recurring revenue stream.
9. They’re duplicating all of this automatically across hundreds, perhaps thousands of customers.

Wow.

But that’s only half the story! The above list would mean absolutely nothing if the underlying cost was too high. But it’s not. In fact, it’s ridiculously low. They achieved everything listed above with an automated text messaging system.

Think about that! Consider the cost to value equation at play here. This simple text messaging automated campaign is paying astronomical dividends for them.

Now, with Keap, you can do this too.

We just blew open the doors on this at Keap. We know it’s a feature you’ve been waiting on for a while. We were hard at work, getting it right, and integrating it into the full Keap product suite.

Why should you use text marketing?

As text messaging has grown in popularity, countless studies across a myriad of industries have discovered the following:

• Text messaging has an open rate of 94% compared to email at 21%
• 90% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes compared to 48 hours for email
• Customers respond to text messages within 4 minutes, compared to 48 hours for email
• Customers are 10x more likely to redeem an offer sent via text message
• The average adult looks at their phone 150 times a day (but how often do you use your phone for texts vs. emails?)
• 66% of customers made a purchase because they received a personalized text message
• 1 million messages sent since April 2021 (300 - 400K / month) and growing, so it’s tested, proven, and converting

Now you have the ability in all editions of Keap to send automated 1:1 text messages to leads and clients automatically when triggered by actions such as completing a web form, scheduling an appointment, and/or making a purchase.

In Pro and Max, you can send broadcast text messages in much the same way you've been able to send broadcast emails via Keap for over a decade.

So if you can create an email sequence inside of Keap, you can create your text marketing sequences and/or mix and match for best results: Multi-media, multi-step!)

Who should use text marketing?

Over 272 million Americans have a smartphone and they check them an average of 58 times per day. 82% of them open every single text! Here's another one: 68% of surveyed text message users say checking, sending, and answering text messages is the activity that they’re most engaged with on their phones throughout the day.

When should you use text marketing?

So here are some ways you can use text marketing to grow your business...

Convert New Leads

Convert more leads by automatically sending them a welcome text when they fill out a form on your website using Easy Automations.

Example - You have an offer on your website for a free initial consultation. When a new lead fills out a form, then a text is sent with a link to book the free initial consultation with you.

Follow Up

Follow up with customers automatically with a text message based on their activity. You could follow up after a sale, or to nudge for additional sales.

Example - You sell e-books online using checkout forms. When a purchase is made, a text is automatically sent to the customer thanking them for their purchase and asking for a review.

Event and appointment reminders

Ensure that your clients show up for events, webinars, and meetings and have all the information they need ahead of time with automated text message reminders.

Example - You are hosting a webinar with 500 attendees. You want to ensure that everyone attending remembers when it is taking place and knows how to access the webinar. A text broadcast is scheduled to be sent to the 500 attendees who were automatically tagged when they purchased the webinar on your website.

Communication follow up

Ensure that your most important emails are being read by sending an automated follow-up text message reminding your clients and referencing your sent email.

Example - You sent an email with important information following a webinar you hosted to encourage the attendees to purchase your coaching course. After the email is sent, trigger an automated text message - “Hello (first name), I sent you an important email about our coaching program. Let me know if you have any questions (phone number).”

Promotions and special offers

Close more sales and get repeat business by offering special offers and promotions to your customers using text broadcasts.

Example - You sell courses online and send a text broadcast to all customers who have previously bought a course with an offer to save 50% off another course purchase. This can also be automated through automated text messaging to send to a customer after they make a purchase.

Sales Team Notifications

Notify your sales team automatically when new leads get tagged or move through the pipeline.

Timely Updates

Send broadcast text messages to your customers to fill open appointment slots or communicate urgent updates.

Example - Tip of the week from coaches

Keap Text Marketing Features

• Personalize your message using merge fields
• Choose your audience using lists and tags
• Get notified when you receive replies from your customers
• See all of your sent messages on the contact record to stay organized with your activity and communication
• Customizable opt-in messaging: Automatic double opt-in with customizable opt-in messaging drives better engagement from your audience
• Easy text message builder allows you to see a preview while composing
• Free test messages: Send yourself a test text message before sending to your audience
• Built-in Compliance allows you to send with confidence and not worry about the legal implications
• Track your success in your app to see the impact of your marketing efforts - messages delivered, contacts opt-in, unsubscribed
• Toll-free marketing phone number allows you to send 4x more messages 3x faster than a standard local number and it is provisioned for you free of charge

Don't wait to start your text message campaign!

*Text Marketing is only available to US customers at this time.