7 Secret Call to Action Tricks That Will Skyrocket Your SMS Marketing Conversions

Amongst all the things that make up a good SMS campaign, a call to action is perhaps the most important. A call to action is like the old saying ‘save the best for last’, it’s your last word to your audience and the section of your message that tells them exactly what they need to do.

The benefits of a good call to action are extraordinary. Not only does a call to action point your customers to the desired action, but it can actually increase the click through rate by around 90% – a staggering increase in conversions!

You can pack a lot of marketing power into a call to action, but it’s only going to benefit your campaign if it’s designed to do what you want it to do. There are a lot of tricks to nailing your call to action, and we’re going to be walking you through seven of the best, so when it comes to the last word, you’re always departing as much value and meaning as possible.

Trick One: Ask Your Audience a Question

A call to action shouldn’t beat around the bush, it’s important to get your meaning across and do so clearly, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t include some theatrics. Starting your call to action with a question is a great way to get your customers to relate to the action you want them to perform, and mentally say ‘yes!’.

Starting with a powerful verb like ‘want’, ‘start’, and ‘look’, will instantly give your call to action a purpose.

Example:

‘Want to get your hands on our exclusive giveaway? Enter the contest today!’

Trick Two: Provide a Reason to Act Now

Good call to actions provide a reason to act and do so quickly. Not providing a reason to act is a sure-fire way to land a bad conversion rate. To skyrocket your conversion rate, you need to offer up some form of value, it could be an offer, a free product, more information, or a solution to a problem. If there is value, there is a reason to act.

Example:

‘Fill in our poll today and get 25% off your next purchase!’

Trick Three: Give Your Call to Action a Time Limit

Urgency is everything when you’re trying to land a great conversion rate and attract new leads now rather than later. Providing an offer without an end doesn’t give your audience any reason to act straight away, and once something is out of sight, it quickly goes out of mind.

Limiting the time that your audience have to act or creating an exclusive offer with only so many deals to give away creates the sense of urgency that you need to ensure your audience are converting.

Example:

‘Get 50% off! Sale ends on Tuesday!’

Trick Four: Simplify Things with Numbers

Did you know that 90% of consumers prefer receiving a text over a phone call?

A single number can portray a lot more meaning than an entire sentence in some instances. Adding numbers to your call to action simplifies it down to solid facts that stand out much more prominently than block text. With the restricted character limit of an SMS, using short calls to action bolstered by a statistic or price, can save you characters for other information.

Example:

Instead of:

‘Book your low-cost hotel room today’

Try:

‘Book a hotel room today for only $50!’

Trick Five: Don’t Use the Same Call to Action Every Time

Call to actions have become a staple of a lot of marketing content, which means that the same old phrases have been used, re-used, and used again. ‘Buy now and save!’, is always going to be an attractive call to action but mixing it up and getting creative can certainly pay off as it’ll keep things fresh.

Personalizing your calls to action will also help you to boost your conversion rates, by around 202%! Personalization is a tool that you can use throughout your SMS to connect with consumers on a personal level and give the individual a reason to act, not just the group as a whole.

Turn:

‘Shop today for exclusive offers’

Into:

‘Visit our store for the best new offers!’

and turn:

‘Get more information by calling us today’

Into:

‘Just a two-minute call to us today could change your life!’

Trick Six: Use Powerful Words and Phrases

Power words are those words that don’t get lost in the text, they appeal to the customer because they target key needs, like the desire to save money, get free things, and get value with minimum effort.

Phrases and words related to savings and solutions will instantly stand out where other words will simply go ignored. Power words relating to speed like ‘now’ and ‘quickly’, will help your business to land quick conversions, and also develop that ever-important sense of urgency.

Examples:

‘Send me more information now’

‘Give me access to exclusive deals today’

‘Show me how to get free coupons’

Trick Seven: Add an Interactive Call to Action

Our final trick is all about ease… making the call to action interactive. Adding a contact link in the call to action or turning the entire call to action into a button streamlines the whole process. Interactive action buttons save your customers time, clearly indicate how to perform the action, and can make the text stand out.

Adding graphics to the button, changing the color, or putting a boarder around it will all help to differentiate it from the SMS text and make it stand out as one of the most important elements of the content.

Can’t seem to get the right combination to make your call to action lead to conversions? Just implement our top tricks and remember to test, analyse, and test again. Once you figure out what works for your audience, you’ll have the tool you need to see your conversion rate explode.