Capture the Millennial Market with Tantalizing Text Message Promotions

Dan Slavin, CEO and Co-Founder of CodeBroker

Text message marketing is a great way to capture and keep market share these days. According to CodeBroker consumer mobile engagement research, 60% of respondents have opted into a retailer or brand text message marketing list. That number rises to 100% for millennial respondents.

Mobile marketing is a great way to capture the millennial market. It’s also a great way to keep them. Although only 11% of millennials actively engage with loyalty programs of their choice, 97% say they would engage more often if they could access these rewards via their smartphones. 

How Text Promotions Capture Millennial Attention and Action  

To get your offers noticed by millennials, you need to use text message marketing. Text rules in the millennial world, but not just any promotional text message will do. Your text promotions need to be integrated as part of a well-designed campaign and need to incorporate certain elements shown to drive engagement and adoption. 

Here we look at those critical elements. 

• Give them easy access to rewards. A CodeBroker mobile loyalty survey shows that millennials’ top frustrations with accessing rewards, point balances and other program information are that they can’t do it easily from their mobile device (56%) or they have to log in to a website (44%).  
• Use coupons! Consumers place the highest value on coupons delivered by text message, with coupons and sales/discounts combining for 88% of what consumers want from promotional text messages. Mobile coupons lead the way significantly, preferred more than receiving messages about sales or discounts by nearly a 60% margin, according to mobile engagement research. More than 75% of survey respondents are more than willing to fill out a form when they are offered something of value in return—such as for mobile coupons.
• Make your offers mobile-friendly. According to the loyalty survey, 75% of consumers said they would be more likely to participate in a loyalty program if they could access their program information from mobile—37% prefer that access come in the form of a text message. 

Millennials prefer to receive offers and coupons by text message. Not all text messages are created equal, of course. Here are some best practices for ensuring that your text messages break through the clutter.

Surveyed consumers were asked, “Which type of text message do you find most valuable to receive from a retailer?”

Best Practices for Text Messages That Resonate

• Keep it short. Nobody reads long text messages, especially millennials. Be concise. As copywriting guru Robert Bly tells us: “Concise means telling the complete story in the fewest possible words—no rambling, no redundancy, no using three words when one will do.”
• Get to the point. Millennials want easy access—they want to get to the prize without a lot of hoopla, hemming and hawing. Tell them what you have to offer and how they can easily access the offer.
• Watch your timing. Consumer surveys show that 98% of text messages are opened within just a few minutes. Coordinate the timing of your text offer to days/times when your audience is most likely to act.
• Make it personal. Strategic targeting means that you know your audience, what they value, what they’ve purchased in the past and what they’re likely to purchase in the future. The more you show that you know them and their needs, the better your response will be.
• Offer something of value. It’s all about the offer—an offer that conveys value to the target audience. 
• Have a clear CTA. Again, make it easy for your audience to act. Tell them clearly what they should do to access and use your offer.

While millennials may have the highest adoption rate for text messaging, other generations aren’t far behind. Text promotions are is an efficient and effective way to reach, engage and keep your audience, no matter who they are.

If you liked this, see related CommPRO articles:

• Millennials Wants More Texts And Why You Should Care
• 10 Ways To Evaluate Text Message Marketing Tools
• The Undisputed and Still Reigning Champion is Text

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About the Author: Dan Slavin is CEO and co-founder of CodeBroker, a provider of mobile marketing solutions. He was CEO of Framework Technologies, VP of Open Market, and CEO of International Testing Services. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering from Yale and an MBA from Harvard.