It is no secret that the ROI on SMS marketing campaigns can be huge. Many of today’s major marketers use text messaging to collect leads from their audiences deliver coupons that drive sales, and engage their prospects to become customers.
In this guide we will outline step by step the way to “rock it” on your first SMS contest. Soon you will be able to build a mobile list faster than a speeding freight train. First let’s outline the steps and then do a deeper dive into each, one by one.
A Text-to-Win contest is an effective and easy way for businesses to engage their customers. In this type of contest, customers enter by sending a specific keyword via a text message to an sms short code or a toll-free number. A short-codes is a special phone number used for SMS campaigns. Once they send the keyword, they are automatically entered for a chance to win a prize. These contests are a great marketing strategy because they can help increase sales, grow your contact list, and boost brand awareness.
First you need to choose a platform capable of running an SMS contest. In all honestly there are plenty of them out there. But needless to say, when it comes to SMS platforms, we are a bit biased here at Call Loop and recommend using ours.
Regardless of whom you choose, the service should be affordable, intuitive, and feature packed. It should be simple to set up your campaign with little technical know-how and be easy to measure your results. To see how easy setting up an SMS contest is within Call Loop, just go here. Now, enough about us.
Let’s get to it.
Text to win SMS contests are a fun and entertaining way to engage prospects. They work well for a variety of situations, especially for generating leads using free giveaways, like a product, vacation trip, or event tickets. Often people cannot pass up an opportunity to win something, especially if you make it easy for them to enter using text to win.
Businesses that offer a consumer product will often have better results, because their products tend to solve personal problems or meet internal desires. Often times their current marketing is better suited to engaging your target audience.
If your business is B2B, making your SMS contest a success can be more of a challenge due to the nature of your product or service. Don’t worry, if you think outside the box, anything can be accomplished.
Think of Coca Cola vs. commercial tax software. Which one is better suited to pulling off a contest?
Coca Cola will have a much easier time promoting a contest because of the mass appeal of their product and the strength of their brand. The commercial tax software company is a niche and has limited appeal.
A strong incentive is one of the most crucial elements of the planning process.
One thing to think about is that picking an extremely low-value prize will stymie your results and can cause a campaign to fail. The incentive you choose should resonate with your target audience. It should get people excited about joining your contest.
The incentive does not have to be some expensive grand prize; it could be a discount. Furthermore, if a customer opts in to your SMS contest, you could reward that action with a voucher, special promo, or even exclusive content.
An SMS contest that is not properly marketed will fall on its face. You can’t set it up and expect it to achieve great results by itself. If you want a stellar campaign, it will require you to put in your full effort. Plan properly and, more importantly, execute all aspects of the campaign.
Nothing is worse than putting in time and effort to build a campaign that fails because you didn’t go the extra mile. Next we will talk about how to find your targets.
Who is your target? Maybe its location based or gender based. If you have been marketing your business for any time at all, then this step is probably a no-brainer. You likely already have your target audience dialed in.
For instance, if you sell golf products, then it’s clear your target is going to be people interested in golf.
Here is a list to think about when you are finding your audience:
First you must sort out the primary goals of the campaign. What do you want to get out of it? Doing so will help you build a strategy, craft your messages, and determine your follow-up sequence. Outlining your objectives and setting achievable goals is your first step.
Here are some goals to think about during your planning:
To begin planning your SMS contest, it’s best for you to create a set of predetermined goals. Setting goals gives you a way to determine whether your campaign is successful once it’s over. Often businesses running a SMS contest set no objectives and then watch as it fails. Then they say “that doesn’t work.” This is because they had no way to measure its success.
Regardless of your goal, keep in mind that building your SMS marketing list is important for staying connected to your prospects. With an open rate as high as 98%, it’s the best channel for getting your message out to a large group of people quickly.
Set specific, measurable goals and you will quickly be able to see whether your SMS contest was successful. This can be done by answering yes or no questions, like these:
Will the contest be text to join or webform? Well, it depends. If you are promoting your contest online, then a webform probably makes the most sense. If you are promoting your contest where you are in front of a crowd or engaging mobile foot traffic like at a trade show, then text to join may be your best option. Or it may be both. Just remember that you want to use the easiest method given the channels you are using.
Don’t overthink this step. The KISS method is the best rule here. Use something short and sweet, like a brand or product name. Avoid a generic term like “save” or personal names like “James”
We have instructions on setting this up in Call Loop. Learn how to choose a keyword.
From Call Loop, just search for the keyword you want and secure it with a click.
This keyword will be the word people will text into.
Keep wording of the text as brief as possible. Many text platforms have character restrictions, which limits the amount you can say. Detailed explanations will either get cut off or sent in multiple obnoxious messages, causing them to be ignored altogether.
That is why it is important to craft your message to be short and simple, outlining what the participant has to do and what the incentive is.
Want to capture an email address or name for your contest?
This option will allow you to capture the person’s email address for later marketing follow-up. You can also connect one of your email autoresponders to Call Loop and we’ll send these new leads to your 3rd party email marketing provider.
It’s no mistake that most contest promotion ads are eye-catching. If you are planning to promote your contest on social media posts, then you need awesome images. Using an awesome-looking prize image means that more people will want to share it. If it sucks, then it’s not going to prompt shares, tweets, and likes. So be sure to use graphics that grab the attention of your target audience and make them say, “I want to win that.” Don’t ignore this. It’s too simple to not do it.
You can use a free service like Canva to create beautiful text to join images in just a few minutes.
From here, you can promote your text to join sms contest across all of your channels like Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, and more.
Picking random winners is super simple. You can just use a free tool like Miniwebtool. With it, you can copy and paste a list of names exported from your group of subscribers and generate random winners. It’s not the only method out there, but whatever you use, be sure to state what method you are using to pick the winners in your official rules.
Now that winners have been chosen, it’s best that you notify the winners in a timely manner after the campaign ends. You also want to be sure that you use the notification method stated in your official rules. In our experience, following up with both a text message and an email is optimal. If you still don’t get a response, then you can call and leave a message.
While a phone call to notify the winners may be more personal, it’s not recommended. People tend to screen their phone calls, and calls are not as trackable. Texts and emails can be easily tracked if ever a dispute should arise. You can also notify the winner using ringless voicemail to deliver your message without actually calling.
Ok, so you notified the winners. What’s next?
Thank all the people who participated by giving them a special offer, driving some sales in the process. It’s best if you use some scarcity such as a time limit to respond to the offer.
Create an SMS coupon and send out a broadcast message to them all with a link to your site or an expiring coupon to drive you more sales.
When running an SMS to win contest, avoiding common mistakes is key to ensuring its success. One of the biggest mistakes is choosing a prize that doesn't excite your customers. If the prize isn't appealing, fewer people will enter the contest. Another mistake is not making your text message clear enough. If the contest instructions are confusing, participants might not know how to enter. Additionally, failing to promote your contest widely can result in fewer entries, so be sure to spread the word through multiple channels. Finally, don’t forget to track your results. Analyzing the data through analytics and reporting will help you understand what worked well and what could be improved for future contests.
When running an SMS to win contest, it's crucial to follow legal guidelines to protect your business. First, you must obtain opt-in consent from participants before sending them any SMS messages. This ensures that your text messages are not unsolicited. It's also important to clearly explain the contest rules, including how the winner will be randomly selected. Providing these details helps build trust with your customers and ensures the contest is fair. Be transparent about how the prize will be awarded and what participants need to do to claim it.
After your contest ends, it's essential to measure its success by analyzing participation and engagement rates. Look at how many people entered by texting the keyword to your short code and how many of them engaged with your SMS messages. This will give you insight into how well your contest performed and where there might be room for improvement.
Calculating the return on investment (ROI) is a crucial step in determining the effectiveness of your SMS contest. To measure ROI, compare the costs of running the contest with the revenue generated, including increased brand awareness and new sales. A successful SMS to win contest should result in more customers and increased sales, making it a valuable marketing strategy for your business.
Once your SMS to win contest ends, it’s important to keep engaging with your new subscribers to maintain their interest in your brand. Continue sending valuable text messages, such as special offers, event invitations, and product updates. This ongoing communication will help keep your customers interested in your business and encourage them to stay engaged with your marketing efforts.
I hope this special report gave you a full understanding on how to create, run, and successfully manage your SMS contest. Now it’s up to you to get started by following the steps outlined in this report to start seeing the results you want.
To get your free Call Loop account to setup your SMS contest, just click the link below and we’ll give you 25 free messages and a demo keyword to give us a try.
Get Your Free Call Loop Account
To set up a text-to-win contest, start by choosing an exciting prize that will attract participants, such as a free pair of shoes. Next, create a memorable keyword that customers will text to your designated short code. Once entries are in, you can randomly select one lucky winner. Be sure to provide details about the contest, including how and when the prize will be awarded. Finally, promote your contest through various channels to maximize participation.
An SMS competition is a marketing strategy where participants enter a contest by sending a keyword via text message to a short code. The contest often offers a prize, such as a free pair of tickets or a special discount, to encourage entries. After the contest period ends, the business will randomly select one lucky winner from the entries. These competitions are popular because they are simple to set up and effectively engage customers.
SMS marketing is legal in the USA, but it is regulated by strict laws. Businesses must obtain explicit opt-in consent from customers before sending them any text messages. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) governs these practices to protect consumers from unsolicited texts. Companies must clearly provide details about the campaign, including how to stop receiving messages, ensuring that SMS marketing remains a trusted and legal method of communication.
Chris Brisson
Chris is the co-founder and CEO at Call Loop. He is focused on marketing automation, growth hacker strategies, and creating duplicatable systems for growing a remote and bootstrapped company. Chat with him on X at @chrisbrisson
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