SMS marketing for political campaigns is one of the most popular and widely used communication for political figures. It has the capacity to send far more direct and personalized messages than email since the latter has a very low open rate @25%. While the perks of political text messages are endless, it can do more harm than good if you fail to follow the best practices. Here are the top 5 text message marketing mistakes you must avoid to get optimum results.

1.       Sending Long and Unclear Political Text Messages

Text message marketing is a direct channel and your SMS must reflect that. Messages are supposed to be simple, short and sweet and that’s certainly one of the biggest reasons why there’s a certain character limit for text messages. Many organizations make the blunder of sending long and vague messages, which at times get disordered in delivery. Generally, political text blasts are informal and conversational in nature and they’re supposed to be quickly read and interpreted without needing any formal elements like subject lines, intro or authorized signatures, etc. So, it’s important that your political text message contains a clear message and slight details about your political organization to increase your political SMS marketing campaign’s efficiency.

2.       Sending Too Many Irrelevant Political Text Messages

Unlike email, the open rate of SMS is more than 95%. Some organizations just can’t abstain from sending a series of messages with the hopes that each message will receive the same great response. However, the fact is that if you bombard your voters with irrelevant political text blasts, you would more likely upset your subscribers and force them to stop receiving political text messages.

Remember – SMS is very different from an email. Ideally, you shouldn’t send more than 2-4 messages to your subscriber’s list every month. Never send a political text message just because you want to keep your organization connected with the supporters. There must be a clear objective and an obvious reason for you to execute your political SMS marketing campaign.

3.       Using Similar Political Text Messages for Email and SMS

Another common mistake a lot of SMS marketing companies make is using the same message for email and SMS just to save time and effort. The issue is, each channel is designed particularly to support different types of texts. For instance, SMS is an ideal channel if you want to send short and to-the-point information or messages to your subscribers. Email, on the other hand, is more suitable for detailed messages that can also include images and other attachments. You should opt for email if your message contains data or information that may be required by the user some other time. However, if you expect immediate action and response, SMS is definitely the safest bid.

4.       Lacking Personalization in Political Text Messages

What sets political campaign text messaging apart from other channels is that you can actually have a conversation with the subscriber through a text message. That basically provides you an opportunity to maintain real engagement with your supporters by requesting specific information, getting them notified about current or upcoming political events or asking them different questions.

It’s important that you create your message smartly and don’t just send political text blasts about an event with a link only. Make sure you ask if they can attend by replying ‘YES’. You can further establish conversation by sending event details to those who answered YES. This way, you would be able to have a targeted list of individuals who’re interested in attending your political events.

Fortunately, there are many reliable text blast services like SaturnText that offer bulk text messaging service that helps you generate planned responses for your team and volunteers. All in all, make sure to invest in building real interactions that will further help you build a community.

5.       Sending Political Text Messages to Unknown/Invalid Numbers

Sending political text messages to unknown/invalid numbers is one of the most common reasons for SMS delivery issues. If you send messages to fake/changed contact numbers, obviously they won’t reach their intended destinations and will negatively impact your message deliverability score.

It may be intriguing to buy contact lists, but all of your efforts will go down the drain if those lists contain fake or invalid information. That is why it’s crucial that you always grow your political messaging list organically by using your existing email subscriber’s list.

Final Words

While there is no instant recipe for success when it comes to political text messaging, it is important to keep these mistakes in mind and plan your political text message marketing campaigns with care and perfection.

Last but not the least, don’t forget to include a persuasive Call to Action (CTA) in the end that will help your subscribers understand what your political text message is all about.