Mass Text Messaging

What is Mass Text Messaging?

Text messaging, also known as short message service (SMS), is a powerful channel for communicating valuable information to customers and other audiences on their mobile devices. Mass text messaging solutions make it possible to quickly send SMS or MMS (multimedia message service) messages to large audiences and audience segments.

Mass text messaging is used for a variety of purposes to broadcast important alerts and communicate with employees. With unparalleled engagement and open rates, it’s a trusted marketing channel to engage with and keep customers informed.

Why is SMS so effective? Simply put, consumers don’t let text messages go unread. Texts don’t get buried in an inbox or blocked by spam filters, and they reach people quickly and conveniently on their mobile phones—the devices at the center of their digital lives. Just about every phone in the world can receive text messages, so the addressable audience is vast.

Defining Mass Text Messaging

Mass text messaging empowers businesses to send a single message to large groups of people at once, making communication fast and efficient. For enterprise use, you can use bulk SMS, personalization and automation to share updates, promotions or content with hundreds or thousands of customers in one go, rather than sending individual messages. By using mass text marketing, businesses can keep a strong connection with their audiences while saving time and resources.

Mass Text Meaning: How It Differs from Other Messaging

SMS vs. Email: SMS messages are delivered directly to phones, while emails can get lost in cluttered inboxes.
Mass Texting vs. Individual SMS Marketing: SMS mass messaging targets large segments simultaneously, while individual SMS marketing focuses on one-to-one communication.
SMS vs. Push Notifications: SMS doesn’t require app downloads and can reach anyone with a phone, while push notifications are limited to users on specific platforms.

Enterprise SMS Text Marketing Services with Airship

Enterprise SMS text marketing is a strategic tactic for large organizations with high-volume communication needs. With Airship, you can power enterprise SMS text marketing services with:

Cross-Channel Orchestration: Coordinate SMS to deliver with email, push notifications and in-app messaging to orchestrate a personalized customer journey.
Two-Way Messaging Functionality: Allow customers to respond directly to messages and gather information in real-time.
Advanced Segmentation: Group customers by their behaviors, preferences and demographics to send relevant content to each audience.
Seamless Integration: Sync your SMS campaigns with your marketing automation, analytics or CRM platforms to track performance.

The Benefits of Mass Text Messaging for Businesses

As consumers continue to rely on mobile devices, adopting mass texting strategies is a game-changer. Below are some advantages of mass text message marketing and why your company should consider integrating it into your customer experience strategy.

Massive Engagement

SMS is considered one of the most effective channels for engaging with customers. Roughly 98% of SMS messages are opened, and 90% are read within three minutes. Additionally, 68% of consumers say they check their messages regularly throughout the day.

For example, Anytime Fitness, a global fitness brand, uses SMS for limited-time offers to sign up for a fitness challenge, group class, or work with a personal trainer. Creating a sense of urgency influences the likelihood of engagement.

Immediacy

Mass texting solutions allow organizations to send time-sensitive notifications quickly and efficiently to customers’ mobile devices without relying on developers.

Reach

SMS makes it possible to contact customers who don’t have your mobile app, or to re-engage customers who are inactive on other channels or at risk of churn.

Personalization

Today’s mobile consumers expect personalization. Mass text messaging solutions allow organizations to send personalized and timely messages at scale.

Mobile Wallet Integration

Pairing SMS’s wide reach with the convenience of a mobile wallet creates seamless mobile-first customer experiences for using loyalty cards, tickets, boarding passes, coupons and more.

No App Required

SMS is one of only two mobile channels (the other one is a mobile wallet) that allows you to message customers directly without an app.

Cost-Effective with High ROI

With bulk SMS, businesses can reach thousands of customers at a lower cost than print advertising. High engagement rates lead to strong ROI, making it a practical choice for maximizing marketing budgets.

Enterprise-Grade Security & Compliance

Enterprise-grade security and compliance allow businesses to safeguard customer data when communicating with large groups. Security certificates and data protection measures, such as encryption, keep customer information safe. Compliance with laws like the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) ensures that messages are sent responsibly.

Mass Text Marketing Strategies & Use Cases

From delivering critical transactional details to launching effective promotions, SMS can connect brands with audiences in meaningful ways. Here are some examples of how businesses can use mass text messaging effectively.

Transactional Messages

Delivering transactional details via SMS helps brands make those messages more valuable and visible to customers. Examples include order confirmations or alerts about account activities, appointments, flight changes, reservations, shipping and payments due.

SMS Text Marketing Service Campaigns

SMS marketing helps spark action with personalized promotional messages such as sale alerts, upsell opportunities, partner promotions or product restocks. Text campaigns create a quick and easy way to connect with customers wherever they are.

News and Weather Alerts

The immediacy and reach of SMS make it an ideal channel for sending breaking news and weather alerts to opted-in audiences.

Multi-Channel Engagement Strategies

Coordinating SMS with email, push notifications and mobile wallet passes can increase the reach and effectiveness of any campaign or promotion. For example, leading brands like Bol have achieved exceptional outcomes by pairing SMS with app-based push notifications. During its 10 Days campaign, Bol used cross-channel messaging to boost engagement and conversions — delivering 3X higher open rates and 3X higher opt-in rates than the retail category average.

Our industry-leading solution, Airship Journeys AI, makes it easier than ever to orchestrate seamless customer journeys that drive deeper engagement, repeat conversions and exponential growth.

Transforming Brick-and-Mortar Visitors into Digital Customers

Leverage in-store experiences to motivate customers to opt-in to SMS so you can create more opportunities to get to know them, spark loyalty and encourage additional sales—digitally and in-person.

Mass SMS Texting: Success Strategies

You need careful planning to implement a successful mass text messaging strategy. From building the right audience to writing the perfect message, each step can impact your campaign’s success. Below are some tips to ensure your business’s mass messaging efforts drive results.

Building Your Mass Text Message Subscriber List

Create a list by encouraging opt-ins through website forms, in-store sign-ups or social media. It’s crucial to get permission and make sure subscribers know exactly what they’re signing up for.

Segment Your Audience for Maximum Impact

Divide your text list based on preferences, location or past behaviors. Segmenting helps you deliver the most relevant content to your customers, enhancing engagement.

Craft Compelling and Clear Messages

Keep texts concise, engaging and direct. Include clear calls-to-action (CTAs) that encourage action. Use personalized messaging to increase connection and response rates.

Get Timing and Frequency Right

Timing is key in mass text message marketing. Send messages at times when your audience is most likely to engage, but don’t bombard them with excessive communications. Striking the right balance can impact your campaign’s success.

Monitor and Optimize Campaigns

Track open rates, click-throughs and conversions through analytics tools to gauge the success of your mass texting strategies. Regularly review this data, and use A/B testing to refine your approach and improve future campaigns.

Mass Messaging Compliance and Best Practices

When it comes to business mass messaging, following compliance guidelines is crucial to maintaining customer trust and avoiding legal issues. It’s important to follow best practices and regulatory standards while respecting customer preferences. Here’s what you need to know:

Adhering to Regulations

Stay compliant with regulations like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Obtaining proper consent is vital. Your mass messaging strategy must include a transparent opt-in process to protect your customers and your company.

Respecting Customer Preferences and Opt-Outs

Offer easy opt-out options and honor unsubscribe requests immediately. Respecting customer preferences will keep your relationship positive and help you maintain a strong reputation.

Transparency and Consistency

Be upfront about the frequency and type of messages subscribers can expect. Transparency builds trust, while consistent messaging fosters loyalty. Some best practices for scaling transparency and consistency are:

Maintaining explicit opt-in across all channels
Automating reminders to go out at predictable intervals, not regular intervals
Regularly reviewing engagement metrics to adjust frequency and keep communication relevant

Mass Text Messaging System: Tools and Platforms

Using the right tools can make or break your mass texting strategies. Below are essential features to consider when selecting a platform.

Choosing the Right Text Marketing Platform

Pick a platform that’s easy to use, offers automation features and seamlessly integrates with your other systems. Look for mass texting platforms that also provide experimentation, reporting and segmentation tools to make your strategies more effective.

SMS Mass Messaging: Automation Features

Automation enables you to deliver messages at optimal times without much effort. Scheduling tools help you plan campaigns in advance, boosting both efficiency and effectiveness. Dynamic content automation automatically updates the content to be relevant to the user’s location and behavior. Trigger-based messaging is also available to deliver messages after an action.

Bulk Texting Services: Analytics and Reporting

Powerful analytics give you real-time tracking of key metrics for insight needed to improve future mass text message marketing campaigns. Measure subscriber behavior, engagement and overall campaign performance with data visualization tools and custom report generation.

Mass Text and Email Service Integration Guide

Combining mass text messaging with other marketing channels expands your reach and enhances the overall customer experience. Here’s how bulk SMS benefits other strategies.

SMS and Email Marketing: While email helps with longer content, SMS drives immediate action, especially for time-sensitive offers and updates.
Social Media and SMS Integration: Boost your social media efforts by encouraging followers to sign up for text alerts. SMS can also drive traffic to social media pages to boost campaigns.
Omnichannel Customer Experience: Incorporating mass text messaging into an omnichannel strategy creates a unified and consistent customer experience across all platforms.
Mobile App Synchronization: Align in-app messaging with SMS to deliver consistent communication.
Web Push Notification Alignment: Coordinating push notifications and SMS for timely, unified messaging.

Integrating SMS into a cross-channel campaign strategy allows you to track customer engagement across all channels and create a unified customer profile.

Getting Started with SMS Mass Text Marketing

Launching your first mass text messaging campaign might feel overwhelming, but with the right approach, it’s manageable and highly effective. Here’s a simple guide to help you get started.

How to Plan Your First Mass Text Campaign

Define clear objectives (e.g., sales, engagement or event promotion)
Write concise, compelling messages with a strong CTA
Schedule delivery based on your audience’s behavior for maximum engagement

Sending Mass SMS

Once your campaign is planned, send out a mass SMS by using personalization to make the content relevant to each audience. Always test your content with small segments and schedule your messages to go out to customers at optimal times.

Optimizing for Mobile Engagement [Existing]

Since most customers will see your messages on mobile devices, it’s critical to create mobile-friendly CTAs. Include short, clear links, buttons or landing pages that are easy to navigate to improve click-through rates. This makes the entire experience smoother, so your customers are more likely to convert, driving the benefits of mass texting.

Tracking Your SMS Mass Text Marketing Results

To measure success, track key metrics such as delivery, open and click-through rates. Set up conversion tracking to see which texts drive actions, and use A/B testing to find what works best. Reporting dashboards help you see how well your mass text message marketing is performing and calculate ROI so you can tweak your strategy for even better results in future campaigns.

Mass Text Messaging Service for Business by Airship

SMS campaigns offer incredible potential to drive action, adoption and loyalty. Given its massive engagement and reach, it’s no wonder so many leading brands leverage SMS to create deeper connections with customers.

Airship’s Customer Experience Platform (CXP) provides everything you need to connect with your audience via SMS. Orchestrate your text campaigns as part of an omnichannel engagement strategy, segment your audiences, manage opt-ins/outs, schedule personalized messages, monitor performance and more — all in one convenient package.

Take a look at what’s available with Airship:

Enterprise Features and Capabilities

Airship’s CXPs offer multiple enterprise features and capabilities to scale and monitor your SMS campaigns with access to expert guidance whenever you need. These include:

AI-Powered Message Optimization: Use machine learning to improve open rates, click-through rates and overall engagement to send out your SMS messages at the right time.
Advanced Segmentation Tools: Separate your audience into different segments to deliver highly relevant messages based on behavior, location or preferences.
Custom Integration: Connect SMS campaigns into your existing CRM or customer experience platform to keep track of data in one place.
Real-Time Analytics: Track engagement and conversions as they happen to make adjustments to your campaign.
Global Messaging Reach: Send messages anywhere in the world while following compliance.

Integration Options

Airship’s SMS platform makes integration simple. Access clear API documentation, pre-built integrations and developer resources to connect quickly. Follow outlined technical requirements and implementation timelines, with custom integration support available for tailored solutions.

Ready to Start Mass Text Marketing?

Request a demo to see Airship’s SMS messaging in action, explore flexible pricing options and understand a typical implementation timeline so you can get campaigns running quickly.

You can also check out other brands’ successes with customer testimonials to see how businesses like yours are achieving higher engagement, conversions and loyalty with mass text messaging.

To learn more about how Airship can help power your SMS strategy, get in touch! And be sure to check out some of our other SMS resources:

Mass Text Messaging Frequently Asked Questions

How can I send mass text messages?

With Airship, sending mass text messages is simple. Start by setting up your account and importing your contacts either from your CRM or a CSV file. Once your contacts are imported, you can set messaging guidelines and schedule times for when you want texts to be sent out.

Can I send mass texts without creating a group text?

Yes. Airship sends each SMS individually, keeping phone numbers private while reaching larger audiences. This works perfectly for promotions, alerts or reminders. For example, you can notify your customer about a special offer without creating a shared group thread.

Is mass texting legal?

Yes, mass texting is legal when handled responsibly. Always follow compliance with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) by asking customers to opt-in to receive SMS. Proper opt-ins protect both you and your customers. Be sure to also account for international regulations and any industry-specific regulations.

How do I send large volumes of text messages?

With Airship, you can send large volumes of SMS by importing your contact lists into the platform, creating your message and using the scheduling or trigger-based delivery tools. Our enterprise infrastructure handles high throughput, ensuring messages are delivered quickly and reliably, while built-in delivery optimization maximizes engagement for every recipient.