How do you calculate the conversion rate of a SMS  campaign?

What is the conversion rate?

Sometimes called the conversion rate, the conversion rate is the number of targets achieved divided by the number of contacts who received a message during your campaign. It is therefore expressed as a percentage (multiplying the result by 100).

The first objective is usually sales, but downloading a PDF can also be one, as can filling in a contact form.

Let's take a concrete example: you've run a SMS marketing campaign to encourage your contact base to buy a product using a promotional code. You sent out 1,000 SMS and 100 of your contacts bought the product using this promotional code: the conversion rate of your campaign is 10%. (100/1000 = 0.10 then 0.10×100 = 10)

Why calculate the conversion rate?

It is an essential element to optimize the cost of your communication. In addition, combined with other key performance indicators (KPI's) such as the click-through rate and the conversion rate, it can help you improve your communication, strengthen your hooks, refine your way of segmenting your contact base and thus, in fine, increase your sales.

How do I know if my SMS campaign has generated conversions?

As a SaaS platform for sending SMS, smsmode^©️ provides a significant amount of data (reception rates, sending errors, responses, unsubscriptions...). But unlike a website, SMS in itself does not enable tracking of your prospects from message reception to purchase action. It may therefore seem complicated to calculate the conversion rate of a SMS campaign.

However, there are a number of techniques you can use to find out whether your SMS campaign has been successful, and there's no need to track your customers' every move. Here are a few scenarios you can use to assess a campaign's conversion rate:

Evaluate the conversion rate of a SMS campaign for an e-commerce site

• Include a coupon code in your marketing message. If it's only available in your SMS, you'll get instant feedback on the overall conversion of a campaign: every purchase made with the code is a conversion brought about by your campaign.
• Integration of a link to a dedicated page or a tracking URL: the link can lead to a landing page created for this purpose or contain tracking options (source, support, etc.). From this entry point, you can track the behaviour of your customers in a classic way, up to a potential conversion.
• Use RCS, the new conversion gas pedal channel: this new type of message has a double advantage. First, the addition of carousels, buttons, and clickable images/links gives you the ability to track the customer journey like a tracking URL. Second, these new features make your offer more attractive, both aesthetically and in terms of the flow of the process. A real reinvention of the customer experience.

For a physical shop

The promo code: this method works for both e-commerce and offline retailers. The codes presented at the checkout by your customers are conversion targets achieved by your campaign.

Incentive text messages: using the same principle as the promotional code, encourage your customers to present a SMS at the checkout to benefit from a discount. You can then compare the number of SMS messages sent with the number of discounts granted for this reason.

E-booking and landing-page solutions: This solution proposed by smsmode^©️ allows you to benefit from the attributes of a website without having to create one. With the landing-page solution, you can integrate e-booking as well as maps, buttons and contact forms. Choose the objectives you want to achieve, and you'll be able to calculate your conversion rate at the end of the campaign.

What is a good conversion rate?

Of course, there are as many good conversion rates as there are types of objective to be achieved.

If your objective is to download a document, sign up for a newsletter or create an account, your conversion rate will necessarily be higher than that associated with a sales objective.

In the mailing world, 4% is considered a good average. For a white paper download, you can expect a double digit conversion rate. If your goal is to sell a product with a high price tag, a rate of around 1% may be quite satisfactory.

In general, the conversion rate of a SMS campaign is 2 to 3 times higher than that of an email campaign. As for the RCS rate (SMS 2.0), it breaks all records!

How to improve the conversion rate of your campaigns SMS

Personalise your message

You probably know that personalisation is important. A Marketing Charts study found that visitors who viewed three pages of personalised content had twice the conversion rate (3.4%) than those who viewed two pages (1.7%).

While personalizing web content and landing pages can be complicated, sending a personalized SMS is child's play. You can address your customers by their first name, or by their title if you operate in B2B. With smsmode^©️ and the mailing option, everything is customizable!

Include a clear call to action (CTA)

The classic SMS offers only 160 characters, so you need to communicate clearly with your prospects. The call to action must be immediately visible to your recipient. Remember that only the first few words of a text message are visible until SMS is opened. So it's essential to communicate the purpose of the text in the very first sentence. Otherwise, you run the risk of being deleted without even having been read.

Use A/B tests for SMS

This is a well-known technique for sales pages to determine which advertisement or text has generated the most responses.

You can do the same with your SMS campaigns: test different catchphrases, different products, different objectives...

You can then keep what works best, or even create marketing automation scenarios or a conversion tunnel, where achieving one goal leads to another goal, with the end result being a purchase.

Conclusion

The days when advertising was limited to billboards, newspaper ads or TV commercials are long gone. Marketing is a major budget item for most companies, and it's only natural to want to know exactly how much your marketing campaign has earned. Calculating the conversion rate of your SMS campaigns will not only give you an idea of your return on investment, but also help you realize that SMS is one of the best channels for converting.