One of the most powerful tools in your campaign, advocacy, nonprofit, or union software toolbox is broadcast texting. Broadcast texting is the method of mass messaging supporters — in simple terms, it’s a text blast.
But as powerful as it is, you may not be using broadcast texting to the best of your ability if you don’t have a well-formed strategy. Here are a few tips to ensure your broadcast texting campaigns are as successful and engaging as possible:
1. Clean Up Your Contact Lists
Many believe that the success of broadcast text campaigns hinges on text copy, but even a perfectly-written text message won’t perform if your contact lists aren’t filtered well. If your contact lists include invalid phone numbers or aren’t up-to-date, you risk spending money on texts sent to bad numbers.
Additionally, you should ensure you’re not sending broadcast text messages to people who aren’t opted-in to receive messages. Opt-ins are required because texting platforms like Twilio follow strict messaging policies to protect people from unwanted mass messages; failure to comply with these policies may result in paused or suspended text campaigns.
2. Craft Engaging, Creative Copy
You’ve filtered your contacts lists to ensure your messages will be sent to the right people. Now what?
The second key to successful broadcast texting campaigns is concise, creative text copy. Catch your supporters’ attention with short yet compelling messages with a clear call to action.
Above all, your text should sound like a text. As easy as it may seem to condense your email copy in your text, consider that the tone of an email will differ from that of a text. Use pop culture references, attach memes to your messages, and find other creative ways to infuse your campaign’s voice into your texts.
3. Use Branched Response Flows to Personalize Replies
There’s no better way to engage your audience than message personalization. Branched response flows allow you to prompt supporters to reply to your broadcast text with specific keyword options that trigger tailored responses.
For example, use an initial broadcast text message to ask your supporters which of two issues they care more about (“Reply A for immigration, B for the environment”). After they respond, they’ll get a follow-up message tailored to their specific preference.
This means you can start personalized conversations with supporters from a single mass message; your supporters will stay engaged and well-informed from messages most relevant to them.
4. Tag Contacts Based on Their Responses
Every interaction with supporters is a way for your campaign to gather insight into their interests, allowing you to deepen your relationship with them.
When you launch your broadcast texting campaigns, make sure to tag contacts based on their responses. For instance, you can send a poll to supporters asking them about their issues of interest via a broadcast message. As supporters respond, you can record this information by attaching tags to their contact profiles.
As you collect data over time, you’ll be able to use this information to segment your contact lists and further personalize your messaging campaigns.
5. Optimize Engagement by A/B Testing Broadcast Texting Copy
A/B testing text copy is the method of testing two versions of a message and measuring which performs better - in terms of response rate, link click rate, or other metrics that matter most to your campaign. Components to test in your broadcast texting campaign include:
- Message tone or length
- Use of emojis
- Calls to action
- Attaching images
As you continue A/B testing your message copy, you’ll eventually find patterns that you can use to optimize engagement across your texting campaigns.
In the end, how supporters engage with your text campaign comes down to your texting strategy. Broadcast texting is one of the most effective and efficient ways to reach supporters (with open rates of over 90%), but frequent messaging doesn’t necessarily mean quality interactions with supporters. Follow these five tips to create campaigns to establish a strong broadcast texting strategy, and watch results roll in!
