How SaaS Businesses Can Boost Engagement Using SMS

Take advantage of SMS for SaaS user engagement. 

Software as a Service is one of the newest types of business that offers advanced products based on software technology.

SaaS businesses can greatly benefit from SMS for both promotional and transactional purposes. 

In this blog post, we’ll explain how to use SMS for your SaaS company and strategies to reach maximum engagement rates.

Also, we’ll introduce the capabilities of WP SMS that can be useful for SaaS companies in automating their communications with their customers.

Why Use SMS for SaaS User Engagement?

You might wonder why you need to use SMS when there are diverse marketing channels like social media platforms and websites.

First, look at the following table to be able to compare SMS with these channels and figure out its capabilities.

As you see, SMS is the best channel for immediate and last-minute promotional messages and also important updates and notifications.

Using SMS, you can create a sense of urgency and make your audience take immediate action. Also, SMS is the best way to build a personalized partnership with your audience and gain the trust of customers.

Last but not least, SMS can be easily integrated into the current platforms you use for your SaaS tool. For example, you can integrate it with your WordPress website and manage your SMS campaigns without switching the platform.

So, even if you have a massive social media following and high website traffic, you can’t ignore SMS.

Strategies to Leverage SMS for SaaS Engagement

Now that you know the importance of using SMS for SaaS businesses, let’s see how to use it to increase your user engagement.

Here are several successful SMS strategies for your SaaS business to reach out to your audience and encourage them to engage:

1. User Onboarding

A great use of SMS marketing for SaaS businesses is user onboarding. Remember that many people don’t have much technical knowledge, and if you don’t have a personalized onboarding process, they might stop using your SaaS product.

SMS is perfect for onboarding because it helps you guide new users through setup. You can provide tips using short text messages and redirect them into details using short links. This way, you can encourage feature exploration and make the learning curve smoother. 

For example, sending a welcome message with links to tutorials or support resources can help users become familiar with your platform. 

Look at the sample SMS to see how to guide your new users in the onboarding process:

Apart from such text messages, you can use SMS reminders to prompt users to complete their profiles or utilize key features. This way, you can make sure that they use the service to their full potential.

2. Customer Support 

Offering immediate assistance has a strong impact on customer satisfaction. This is especially important for SaaS businesses because many people might have problems with software tools.

SMS can revolutionize customer support as it has an immediate nature and can keep customers satisfied.

You can send an instant SMS after you receive an inquiry from your customers. Prompt responses will reduce frustration and make customers believe that you’re working on their problems.

Then, you can use SMS to send updates on support ticket statuses and keep customers informed about the status of their tickets.

Look at the following SMS sample to see how you can use SMS for customer support:

This real-time communication fosters trust and demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction.

3. Product Updates

SaaS products always need updates and new features. SMS is the best tool to keep users informed about new features, updates, or maintenance schedules.

For example, you can notify users about upcoming downtime. This way, you can reduce customer dissatisfaction and keep them loyal to your business.

Also, by using SMS, you can encourage them to use your new features. You just have to create a sense of FOMO to make them believe they might lose an important feature.

The following example SMS shows how to do that:

4. SMS for Payments

A big concern of SaaS companies is subscription renewal and payment delays. If you want to have a constant stream of revenue and also provide a great customer experience, you need to think of a smart way to encourage them to process the payment.

SMS is a great tool to send:

• Payment reminders
• Confirmations
• Renewals
• Alerts about failed transactions

This way, you can reduce billing issues for your SaaS company and enhance customer trust.

Look at the SMS sample to see how it works:

5. Account Activity Notifications

Another method to use SMS for SaaS customer engagement is to send activity notifications. You can send instant messages to users when important activities or changes happen to their accounts.

For example, you can send:

• Login alert
• Password change confirmation
• Failed login attempt notification
• New device login alert
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) code
• Account suspension or restriction notice
• Email or phone number change confirmation
• Subscription renewal confirmation
• Billing address update notification
• Unusual account activity warning

If you automate these messages, you can increase the security of your users and also increase their satisfaction by providing instant updates.

Here is an example SMS of this kind:

6. Promotional SMS Campaigns

Last but not least, SMS is a powerful tool for marketing your SaaS products. SMS has an immediate nature, so it’s great for last-minute offers for flash sales and reminding them of your seasonal and limited-time discounts.

Sending personalized promotions, discounts, or exclusive offers via text will increase the engagement of your SaaS business. SMS allows you to send targeted ads to users and get a high ROI. 

The following SMS sample shows how to do that:

Best Practices for SaaS SMS Campaigns

Using the mentioned strategies is good but not enough! You have to consider several other factors to make sure your SMS campaigns work well.

Here are some tips to increase the engagement rate of your SaaS SMS marketing:

• Obtain Consent: Run opt-in campaigns to make sure users like to receive your promotional messages. Otherwise, you might face legal fines due to violating communication regulations like GDPR and TCPA. Also, sending SMS without consent might bother your audience and make them block your number.

• Personalize Messages: Collect user data (with consent) and use them to send customized text messages to each recipient. For example, use the first name of your recipient, their previous interaction, and interests in your text messages.

• Timing Matters: Send your messages at peak hours to reach maximum engagement. Also, avoid sending text messages at untimely hours like late night or early morning.

• Clear Call-to-Action: Clearly say what you want from the customer. Don’t include several purposes in a single message because it might confuse them and lead to lower engagement rates.

• Opt-Out Option: Make sure that your audiences know how to unsubscribe.

• Cross-Promotion: SMS is great, but for a high marketing ROI, you need to use it in an omnichannel strategy. Try to use cross-promotion techniques between various channels like SMS, email, and social media.

The Best SMS Platform for SaaS SMS Marketing

SaaS is all about tools, and SaaS SMS marketing is no exception. Even if you have a great strategy, if you don’t use a versatile tool, you’ll definitely waste your time and money.

Choosing the right SMS tool for SaaS engagement might be tricky. You must select a tool that is compatible with your current platforms to optimize your workflow and reduce switching between platforms.

For instance, WP SMS is a great SMS plugin for WordPress websites. As many SaaS businesses have WordPress websites, it can be a great choice for them.

Take a look at the features of WP SMS to see why you have to choose this plugin:

• Automation
• Segmentation
• Scheduling
• Integration with platforms like WooCommerce
• Dynamic content
• Link shortener

Using WP SMS, you can easily automate your promotional and transactional SMS campaigns at scale. It supports more than 300 SMS gateways and can run international SMS campaigns without any problem.

It allows you to define various triggers based on different actions taken by your users and send messages automatically. Also, WP SMS gives you the ability to define various variables in SMS templates to customize text messages according to the details of your recipients.

The good news is that WP SMS has a free plan with basic features, which is great for small businesses and startups. Also, you can go for premium packages for larger campaigns.

Conclusion

SMS marketing is one of the most effective means of reaching out to new customers and keeping existing ones engaged. 

You can use it for both transactional and promotional purposes and send personalized ads at scale. 

SaaS businesses need to include SMS marketing in their omnichannel marketing strategy to make the most of their marketing budget. 

As a SaaS business owner, you can use SMS in user onboarding, sending instant notifications, and also last-minute promotions. 

Of course, you need an advanced SMS tool with automation, segmentation, and bulk messaging capabilities to reach a high ROI. 

Here at WP SMS, we’re ready to help you with your SaaS SMS marketing campaigns. So why wait? Try the demo version of WP SMS and then contact us to get advice on choosing the right premium package for your SaaS business.

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