Expert Advice: Avoid These 8 SMS Marketing Mistakes at All Costs

Bulk SMS marketing is the best channel to improve customer experience and engagement. But some SMS marketing mistakes can affect your desired results.

You could spend thousands of dollars, and record a decline in patronage because of one tiny error.

well, what are these mistakes?

We spoke to three experts about the top SMS marketing mistakes often made by businesses.

These experts also shared solutions to the mistakes.

Let’s have a look.

Eight SMS marketing mistakes to steer clear of

We spoke with Sales experts from Telebu Communications;  Vasudev Jagarlamudi, Deeksha Upadhyay, and Hussain Ali. According to these three experts, businesses and marketers make these transactional text marketing mistakes:

1. Adding/omitting characters
2. Mismatching content in messages
3. Exceeding character length in variables
4. Ignoring the usage of variables
5. Registering under the wrong category 
6. Using the false sender ID 
7. Sending SMS with the incorrect route
8. Using a platform without a scrubber 

1. Adding/omitting characters

Deeksha says that some businesses add or omit characters in sending transactional SMS. This mistake leads to your SMS getting blocked and undelivered. 

For example: if you registered an SMS template with a full stop at the end but omitted it in your SMS, your SMS will not get delivered.

Ensure that all the characters in your SMS are the same as your registered content template to avoid SMS delivery failure. Do not add or omit any words, characters, or punctuation in the message before sending the SMS. 

2. Mismatching content in SMS 

Like the SMS mistake above-mentioned, some marketers also interchange words. See the example given by Vasudev below:

Registered template: Dear Customer, Your OTP for login is {#var#} – SMSCountry.

SMS sent: Dear Customer, Your OTP to login is {#var#} – SMSCountry

The sender used “for” in the registered template and used “to” in its place when sending the final SMS. This SMS will get rejected by the SMS service platform due to the mismatched template and the SMS. 

Ensure that the words used in the template are the same ones used in the SMS you send. No matter how similar the words are, do not substitute them.

3. Exceeding character length in variables

Some senders exceed the 30-character limit of the variables. This SMS marketing mistake can have two repercussions. The information in the variable will get cut and sent as incomplete. Your message can also not get delivered to your customers.

Let us look at another example given by Vasudev below:

Registered template: Dear customer, Your OTP for log in is {#var#} Visit {#var#} – SMSCountry.

SMS Sent: “Dear Customer, Your OTP to log in is 12565 Visit www.smscountry.com/login/OTP-popup – SMSCountry”

You can see that the URL (which is a variable) is over 30 characters long. You can shorten the link to less than 30 characters in such a situation.

Hussain Ali of Telebu Communications highlighted the following transactional SMS marketing mistakes:

Also Read: Top 10 Bulk SMS Service Providers in the Market

4. Ignoring variables

Transactional SMSes that do not contain variables can be confusing. 

According to Hussain, “Transactional SMSes must have variables. If you try to send one without including a variable, your message will not get delivered.” Your content template might also not get approved if it does not have variables.

5. Registering under the wrong category

Only banks and financial institutions can register content templates under the transactional category. Other businesses must register transactional SMS messages under the “service implicit” category.

Transactional SMSes registered under the wrong category may never get delivered. Hussain advises, “…you should always check to ensure that you are using the accurate SMS category.”

6. Using the false sender ID 

Transactional SMSes must have a 6-alphabet sender ID, for example, “TELEBU”. You will get blacklisted if you use the wrong sender ID. Your business could also get banned from using bulk SMS services.

Ensure you use the right sender ID when sending out bulk SMS.

Also: The best OTP SMS providers

7. Sending with the incorrect route

Some marketers send transactional text messages via the promotional route. “This is illegal and can get you penalised with a huge fine,” says Hussain. 

Don’t send transactional SMS on the promotional route and vice-versa. Always use the appropriate route.

8. Using a platform without a scrubber

Some bulk SMS platforms do not check SMS marketing messages for mistakes or errors. It makes you open to any of the mistakes mentioned above. 

Platforms such as SMSCountry check your messages for any errors before sending. That way, you do not waste your SMS credits and are not in danger of paying any fines.

Get your process flowing right with SMSCountry

You now know what not to do when sending bulk SMSs. But the one thing that you should do now is to get a service that makes your entire bulk SMS process seamless. 

We recommend SMSCountry.

SMSCountry has helped thousands of businesses with their communication processes for two decades. Request a demo and experience the speed and ease of our SMS platform. 

Signup for free and get free credits to test our platform or contact us and our fantastic team, will guide your every step.

Also, compare the best bulk SMS providers and the best OTP SMS providers.