The Marchex Blog

Boost Lead Qualification and Engagement Rates with Text

Identifying, nurturing, and qualifying leads that come through the sales and marketing funnel can be a lofty task for marketers, who often interact with 10-100x the number of prospects that sales teams do. Automated texts can unburden marketing teams considerably by streamlining initial contact with a high volume of potential customers. SMS intelligent automation is a great tool for marketers because it not only makes the job easier but is also a convenient channel for prospective customers. Utilizing a handy and personal channel like texting can help build brand trust with customers in a way that is more difficult to achieve with other outlets such as email.  

 

Text Strategies for Marketing 

Marketers often use text in drip campaigns where incoming leads trigger an automated text response for prospects to engage with in real-time. Customizable triggers take the load off marketing teams who must reach out to a high volume of incoming leads at once. Beyond the top of the funnel, automated triggers can also be set up to re-engage and activate cold leads who have opted in for text communication, but not yet taken the next step toward purchase. Automated drip campaigns can be further customized with A/B testing. Once an A/B text campaign is launched, marketers can deduce which messaging performs better and adjust the campaign. A/B testing can be even more fine‑tuned through customer segmentation features on certain texting platforms, allowing marketing teams to see what messaging works on which audience. 

Online retail platforms can utilize mobile messaging and text bots to accelerate conversion rates of prospects who provide their information. Companies can deploy text bots to target prospects who have opted in for promotions and enjoy an exponential increase in their response rates. Many retailers and businesses can qualify most of their leads by bots alone. Bots enable conversion rate optimization at each funnel stage. Once qualified, leads can be handed off to Sales teams to continue the conversation. 

 

Getting Started 

There are many reasons for a business to choose text messaging as a primary form of communication. Automated text messaging takes a heavy load off your marketing team’s shoulders by engaging with the countless leads that arrive at the top of the funnel and qualifying them. It is a win for customers as well, as they find the channel highly intuitive and prefer it to other forms of communication. If you are interested in discussing the benefits of text messaging in your business, contact us or download our guide: How Text Messaging Boosts Marketing Engagement Rates to learn more.