How to Conduct Market Research Using SMS Polls? Full Guide

Leverage SMS-based market research to run efficient marketing campaigns.

Marketing competition is so fierce today that you can’t rely on traditional approaches alone. You need a deep understanding of your target audience’s behavior and interests to deliver exactly what they want.

This way, you can optimize your offerings and reduce the risk of producing products or services with low demand.

That’s why you need to conduct market research and understand your audience’s preferences. The question is: how?

SMS is one of the most effective and fastest methods for conducting market research with a large audience.

In this blog post, we’ll show you how to use WP SMS for SMS-based market research to refine your strategies and increase your revenue.

Benefits of SMS-Based Market Research

SMS-based market research offers several advantages over other channels:

• High Response Rates: SMS messages have an open rate of around 98%, which is significantly higher than emails. You’ll also receive more responses via SMS than through email or other channels.

• Instant Feedback: Many people open their messages within 3 minutes. So SMS is great for getting real-time insights to help your business make fast decisions.

• Cost-Effective: SMS-based market research doesn’t require costly software or large survey teams.

• Wider Reach: SMS reaches more people than internet-based channels like email or social media. Almost everyone uses SMS, but many people don’t check their emails or social media platforms.

• Simple & Convenient: Customers can respond instantly without logging into a platform.

• Anonymity & Privacy: Respondents often feel more comfortable with SMS, which encourages more honest feedback.

So don’t ignore SMS marketing in your market research strategy. 

Types of Market Research via SMS

Now, let’s look at how you can conduct market research using SMS. Here are a few types of common SMS-based market research approaches businesses use:

1. Customer Satisfaction Surveys

Measuring customer satisfaction is one of the most common goals for businesses. Fortunately, SMS polls can be very useful in customer satisfaction surveys.

You can prepare surveys asking customers to rate their experience when interacting with your brand. 

You can automatically send the SMS poll after a transaction or service interaction to understand your customers’ opinions.

Here is a good SMS sample to do that:

Be sure to analyze the results to identify areas for improvement and enhance your products, services, or offers.

2. Product Feedback

Gathering feedback on specific products or services is also essential for continuous improvement. This is different from the overall satisfaction of your customers with your brand.

Using SMS polls, you can easily gather product-specific reviews to understand more details about your customers’ interests and preferences.

Whether you’re launching a new product or gathering insights on existing ones, SMS is one of the fastest ways to understand the market.

A simple, targeted SMS poll is one of the best market research methods to improve the quality of your products and services.

Look at the following product feedback SMS sample to see how it works:

3. Brand Awareness and Perception

Sometimes you want to know how well your brand is known and understood by your target audience.

It means that you don’t have to only focus on your previous customers, but on the audience who might potentially become your customers.

SMS polls are the best tools to conduct such type of market research and see how familiar your target audiences are with your products or services.

This type of SMS-based market research can be particularly useful for new businesses or startups.

Here is a sample SMS:

4. Market Segmentation

SMS segmentation is one of the most useful marketing strategies. It helps you send targeted ads to your audience and reach higher engagement rates.

SMS polls are a great method to ask specific demographic questions such as age, location, income, interests, and preferences.

Collecting this information (with audience consent) helps you send more relevant offers to your customers. When your audience receives a relevant offer, they’re much more likely to engage with it.

Look at the following SMS sample to see how to do that:

This is just one type of segmentation. You can also consider other factors based on your business needs.

5. Competitor Analysis

Conducting SMS-based market research is a great way to analyze your competition. You can ask your customers about their opinions on competing products or services.

Take a look at the following example SMS:

By understanding how your offerings compare to competitors in the eyes of your customers, you can refine your strategies.

6. Event or Campaign Effectiveness

Another valuable use of SMS polls is measuring the effectiveness of a marketing campaign or event promotion.

You can ask participants about their experience, level of awareness, and suggestions for future improvements.

For example, after a sale or webinar, you could send an SMS like:

7. Purchase Intent and Trends

Last but not least, you can use SMS polls to assess customer intentions or emerging trends in the market.

You can ask questions like:

Best Practices for SMS Market Research Using Polls

When using the mentioned strategies, you must consider some important factors and avoid common mistakes.

Here are some tips to improve the results of your SMS-based market research:

1. Keep It Short and Simple

People don’t like lengthy texts, that’s why SMS works so well! So try to focus on a single goal in each SMS poll and write short and simple content.

As you know, SMS has a character limit, and if you write more than 160 characters, you must pay for two SMSs. So keep your messages concise and to the point.

2. Use a Clear Call to Action

Provide recipients with a simple method to respond. You have to use clear CTAs like numbered or lettered response options to encourage people to participate in your surveys.

3. Personalize Your Messages

Avoid generic SMS polls. Try to personalize your text messages so that recipients feel you’ve written the poll specifically for them.

For example, address customers by their first names and mention previous purchases or interactions. 

4. Send Your Text Messages at the Right Time

If you send SMS polls late at night or too early in the morning, recipients might block your number. So pay special attention to the scheduling of your SMS polls. 

There is no specific criterion for determining the right time to send SMS polls. You have to consider many factors, including the industry, location, audience preferences, etc.

You can start your scheduling by the following hours and then optimize your schedule by analyzing your results:

• Thursday at 2 p.m.
• Friday at noon
• Saturday at 7 p.m.

5. Ensure Compliance with Regulations

SMS marketing is subject to restricted communication and data protection regulations. You must comply with local and international regulations like GDPR and TCPA to avoid legal fines or customer dissatisfaction.

For example, you must run SMS opt-in campaigns before sending promotional messages and also provide easy ways to unsubscribe.

6. Offer Incentives (When Appropriate)

Always ask yourself why your recipients should take part in your surveys. You must offer some incentives, like discount codes or early access, to encourage them to participate.

7. Follow Up and Show Appreciation

You must keep in touch with your audience even after your SMS poll. The easiest method to do that is to send a thank-you message to respondents to show appreciation for their time. 

8. Analyze the Data

You need to analyze responses to extract meaningful insights. Use AI-based tools to analyze large datasets and visualize the results so you can refine your strategies.

The Best Tool for Running SMS Polls

To conduct effective SMS market research, you must use a versatile SMS marketing tool. If you have a WordPress website, we have the perfect solution for you. WP SMS is one of the best tools available for automating bulk SMS polls.

Here is why you must choose WP SMS:

• Easy to Use: WP SMS has a user-friendly interface, and you don’t need any programming knowledge.

• Automated Campaigns: WP SMS includes powerful automation features that let you define triggers and send SMS polls without manual intervention.

• Scheduling: It lets you set a time to send your SMS messages later.

• Wide Integration Options: You can connect WP SMS with other platforms like WooCommerce, CRM, Booking, etc.

• Diverse Pricing Package: WP SMS offers a free plan with basic features, along with premium packages tailored for larger campaigns.

• Dynamic Content: You can include variables in the text message to customize each SMS according to the recipient’s details, like name.

So WP SMS offers everything you need from an SMS tool to conduct any type of SMS-based market research. Besides, it allows you to run automated promotional and transactional campaigns.

Conclusion

Deep market research before running marketing campaigns has a great impact on the success of your strategies.

You need to recognize your target audience, their preferences, and also the opinions of your customers about your products/services. SMS-based market research is one of the most effective ways to gain insights into your industry.

Try to build a strong SMS poll strategy and use an advanced SMS platform to run efficient market research campaigns using SMS.

Here at WP SMS, we’re ready to help you with your SMS marketing campaigns and polls. So why wait? Start your SMS journey today!

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