The Benefits of Using a WordPress SMS Plugin

Sending Text Messages With WordPress SMS Plugins

Although SMS isn’t discussed as frequently as email or social media as a way to get in touch with users, it has a variety of use cases for many different types of WordPress sites. For example:

• Online retailers can send order confirmations and updates, as well as coupons and other special offers, straight to their customers’ phones.
• Various service providers such as medical professionals, short-term rental managers, and home maintenance specialists can send notices about upcoming appointments.
• Content creators including bloggers and news sites can send notifications regarding their latest posts.
• Non-profits can create text message reminders regarding upcoming events or opportunities to donate.
• Notifications about upcoming membership site or other subscription renewals can be via text message with a direct link to the renewal page.
• Businesses can run contests or giveaways to generate interest in their brands.
• Interactive elements such as polls, quizzes, or surveys can gather information about users while also increasing engagement.

You’ll first need to collect users’ phone numbers. You could add a phone number field to your contact form, or require users to include their phone number when creating an account.

Another way to collect numbers is through combinations of ‘keywords’ and ‘shortcodes’. In this context, a keyword is a term users can send via SMS to opt into your campaign (e.g., FREE, or SANDWICH). The shortcode is a five-to-six digit number that acts as the recipient of the keyword.

Once you start collecting numbers you can send links, coupon codes, promotional images or videos, and standard text messages containing reminders or other information. However, you’ll need a WordPress SMS plugin or other mass text messaging platform to do so.

The Benefits of Using a WordPress SMS Plugin

Although we’ve covered the many uses of text messages for marketing and notifications, its true benefits become clearer when you look at the relevant statistics. For starters, 90 percent of SMS messages are read within three minutes of being sent.

Compare this with email’s 20 percent open rate and you can see why implementing an SMS marketing plan could be beneficial. While it’s easy for emails to end up in spam folders or for users to delete them unopened, text messages create a sense of urgency and familiarity that leads to higher open rates.

Additionally, SMS messages have resulted in impressive Returns on Investments (ROIs) as high as 680 percent. Brands using this marketing technique also found that text messages have higher-than-average conversion rates, and have reported retention rates of 99 percent.

However, it will involve a small investment upfront. As we said earlier, you’ll need a WordPress SMS plugin or comparable platform to start sending mass texts to subscribers.

There are several tools unrelated to WordPress you can use, and we’ll discuss some of them later in this post. Even so, WordPress SMS plugins have their upsides, including:

• Easy integration with plugins such as Gravity Forms, WooCommerce, and more
• Streamlined text message creation using the familiar WordPress interface
• The ability to quickly send links to your latest post using tags
• Tracking and analytics visible right in your WordPress dashboard

Managing your SMS marketing and notifications through WordPress keeps all your key information integrated and in one place. You won’t have to bounce back and forth between platforms, making your workflow more efficient.