The buzz of using text messaging or SMS marketing (short message service) as a marketing channel for magazine audience efforts is back.

A sample message for renewals is sending a text that reads something like: You can quickly renew your [insert title] now by clicking here, with a link to a pre-populated subscription form. 

Even quicker is a text that allows the subscriber to reply “Y” if they want to renew.

Sounds easy, but before you test this marketing channel, you need to get written permission to text your customers. SMS messaging in the US is governed by the same laws that oversee telemarketing and email marketing, the CCPA and CAN-SPAM.    These laws mean that you must:

• get permission before using SMS/email
• give people an easy way to opt out of messages
• maintain the data

Start planning now, and you might be able to test some SMS marketing efforts within several months.    Some ways to start collecting this data:

• Add question to online sub form
• Send out email to specifically collect data
• Ask on telemarketing script

Once you have data, test this marketing channel.  Things to think about when you set up this marketing channel:

• Single response (y/n) vs. link to sub form
• Test wording of the SMS message
• What if the subscriber need to update records? 
• Confirm how opt outs processed 

Some industries might be more likely to respond to text messages, especially people who don’t work at a desk daily.  If your readers want to communicate with you this way, it might be worth testing this as a marketing channel.

The journey continues. Cindy