SMS Campaigns are a great way to gain and engage loyal customers. They’re fast, effective, and have incredibly high open rates. But, like all things marketing, we need to measure just how effective they are. So, what are the SMS campaign KPIs we should be tracking? Let’s break it down.

Before setting SMS Campaign KPIs

Before we even jump into KPI planning, it’s important to have a specific and measurable goal for the campaign. What exactly do we want people to do after receiving our SMS? This will help us prioritize each KPI.

For example, let’s say we want to send a group of people a promo code to be used in-store. In this case, we’ll be less concerned about the click-through rate, and more concerned about open rates. Our primary goal here getting people in the store to take advantage of our promotion, so we don’t have a need for them to click-through to more content.

The SMS Campaign KPIs to track

Open rate

Open rate is simply the number of people that open your message. Many marketers choose to include SMS in their marketing mix because of high open rates. Globally, the average open rate for SMS is 94%. In a world when businesses are struggling to break through the clutter, statistics like that make SMS a powerful tool. So, if you send an SMS to 100 people and 98 of them open it, your open rate is 98%.

Click-through rate

The click-through rate helps measure the number of people who performed a second action after opening the SMS message. By using links and URLs, you can track the number of people who clicked through to read more, learn more, or take another action. The click-through rate is a good indicator of how engaged your audience is. Again, you’ll want to have a specific goal and reason why your customers should click your link.

Opt-out rate

It’s generally a best practice to make it easy for people to opt-out of SMS campaigns. In the US, the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) requires that people be able to opt-out of your campaign at any time. Your opt-out rate is the percentage of people who no longer wish to receive your messages.

While opt-outs are unfortunate, they’re important to track. This data will help you answer important questions about what is causing users to opt-out. Is your frequency too high? Are there trends in timing? When are your opt-outs occurring? Is there a particular type of content where you’re seeing the highest opt-outs? This data will help us understand the preferences (and dislikes) of our audience.

Conversion Rate

Conversion rate is one of the most sought after SMS campaign KPIs. It is the percentage of people who took the desired action. If you can, try to track the behavior of people from the time they receive the message until the time they convert. Again, just like with our opt-out rates we can try to find spikes in data, trends, or patterns. Maybe it’s the copy, style, offer, or another element of your campaign that’s driving success. Regardless, we’ll want to continue with what has been working.

Delivered percentage

Your delivered percentage is how many messages reached your contact list. If you have a high number of undelivered messages, there might be something wrong. Partnering with a provider like Routee is important in making sure you don’t pay for undelivered messages.

Firstly, Routee is powered by AMD Telecom, which is a powerhouse in the telecommunications industry. Our proven deliverability is part of what has made us a trusted partner for some of the most well-known companies in the world. Secondly, if any messages in your campaign aren’t delivered, we don’t charge for them. With Routee, you only pay for what’s actually delivered.

Opt-in source

Tracking how people join your SMS campaign in the first place is important, too. This is key to understanding how to attract new subscribers. To do this, make sure you use different opt-in phrases across your different marketing channels. For example, you can let customers text SAVE to 40225 during checkout to join your list. Then, use JOIN if you’re trying to get subscribers in a radio campaign. In short, using specific keywords is important to understand attribution.

Now you’re ready to set SMS Campaign KPIs

Now that you’re ready to plan and optimize your SMS campaign, choose Routee to help you make it happen. We have the tools to make SMS campaigns a breeze. Our easy-to-use API will help you understand costs, segment your audience, and analyze results. And, we can even integrate with CRM systems. It’s never been easier to reach your customers with SMS.

Get started by contacting our experts, today!

The Text-to-Speech (TTS) is a good way for you to enhance your customer experience. It allows you to expand your services to support customers’ needs. Recent advancements in technology have made it easier than ever for businesses to use TTS. So, Let’s take a look at some TTS Use Cases.

Text-to-Speech makes your content more accessible

Let’s recap the importance of Text to Speech. First of all, it helps make your content available to people with certain challenges. These challenges could include learning disabilities, visual impairments, or literacy challenges.

Also, multitasking can also be a challenge. That’s why TTS is helpful for people on the go. In short, TTS turns text-based content into audio. Thus, it opens up more options for people with disabilities, and for people who simply face the challenge of multitasking.

Now, the most common example of TTS is making a website speech-enabled to reach more people. But, there are many other ways to use Text-To-Speech across different sectors. Let’s dive in.

TTS use cases for banking and finance

Text-to-Speech can improve the banking experience by providing services for customers who have difficulty reading screens. One of the most apparent examples is how it can help customers at ATMs. For example, step-by-step audio helps users withdraw cash, make deposits and check account balances.

Text to speech can also help your customers have a better mobile experience. Speech-enabled services like checking balances or stock prices are really helpful for people on the go. And, you can even enable things like voice-based stock market notifications.

TTS use cases for the health care sector

Support elderly or vulnerable patients should be a focus for many businesses. This is especially true for those in the health care sector. Enabling voice messages can make it easier for elderly people to understand your message. Text-to-Speech can provide peace of mind by empowering you to give better services. For example, you can use appointment reminders to remind patients of upcoming appointments. Or, you could even send voice messages that read prescription labels.

For the visually impaired and elderly, reading labels can be a real challenge. Sending voice messages to patients will help them understand dosage amounts and times. Also, consider options like voice feedback from health monitors, medical devices, and more.

Text-to-speech in transportation and travel

Again, TTS is great for people on the go. It can help provide passengers with the information they need to safely reach their destination. Passengers on the move need real-time information, and voice announcements can help. Voice notifications about fight changes or delays help you deliver an experience that makes you stand out.

TTS in advertising

Finally, let’s talk about TTS in marketing. Apps can actually make calls to everyone who needs to know about a promotion or event. And, personal voice can be sent to many people at the same time.

So, how does it work? The customers’ app plays a recorded or text-to-speech message to convey the alert. This personal touch could help you break through the clutter of text messages and emails. When it comes to advertising, reaching customers on their preferred channels and via their preferred method is key. Testing out TTS is a great idea for companies looking to stay ahead.

Getting started with text-to-speech

Are you ready to scale your global voice? TTS is thriving worldwide, and is expect to witness significant growth in 2022. Don’t get left behind.

Routee has the solutions you need to promote offers and discounts with personalized voice messages. With Routee’s extensive language coverage you can speak to customers all over the world. What’s more, you can connect to them in their native language.

Form conversions are the holy grail of online marketing. Chances are you’re spending time and money driving traffic to your website. And, what good is traffic if it doesn’t convert? In this post, we’ll give you a few tips for user-friendly forms that convert. We’ll discuss how to make your form attract customers, not deter them.

Limit the number of form fields

Firstly, make sure you don’t overwhelm your customers. Too many form fields can easily deter potential sign-ups. Not only is filling out form fields time-consuming, but it can feel invasive. In a world where privacy is a growing concern, people are protective of their information.

According to a study referenced by Forbes, nearly 20% of users made it to checkout when a form had fewer than five fields. Conversions steadily decrease as you add more fields, with only 9% of users making payments when forms are longer than 50 fields.

So, if you have signup forms with seven or eight fields, it’s likely that you can increase conversions just by eliminating a few. The key is to only ask for information that you absolutely need. Nowadays, you might not even need too much information to begin prospecting potential leads. For example, your customers might wonder why you need their postal code if they just want to sign up for an email newsletter.

Forms that convert often include an incentive

Why should someone complete your signup form? It’s important to be practical. Your customers will only enter their details if they think they’ll get something in return. Research shows that offering an incentive, such as a chance of winning something, increases your chances of getting a conversion by 15 times.

But, always make sure your incentive is relevant to your business. Entering for a chance to win a $100 Gift Card is definitely attractive. But, this will lead to an influx of unqualified leads. Instead, offer things like discounts on your products or services, a free consultation, or a promotion that you can tie to a sale.

Enable autocomplete to increase form conversions

Autocomplete options make the signup process easy. Depending on your customer’s browser settings, this information can be stored for later use. Once they start typing, the browser will identify the needed fields and automatically fill them out for the user.

Many people abandon forms while they’re in the middle of filling them out. Autocomplete is a good way to make sure that doesn’t happen. Keep in mind that this will need to be done during the programming phase of your website. It’s not a feature that can always be easily added.

Make sure your CAPTCHAs is simple and easy

In short, a CAPTCHA is a type of test used in computing to determine whether or not the user is human. A CAPTCHA is a good way to prevent spam. It’s also a good way to indirectly tell your customers that you care about their security. But, it’s yet another step that your customers need to take before they can submit a form.

Many marketers are moving towards getting rid of CAPTCHAs all together. If you can manage to keep the spam at bay without a CAPTCHA, then that’s not a bad idea. Like we mentioned before, decreasing the steps your users need to take is crucial. But, if you’re like most, you value how a CAPTCHA significantly decreases spam.

If you’re going to use a CAPTCHA, make sure it’s easy for your customers to complete. Some reCAPTCHAs have become too difficult to solve. They require users to read illegible stop signs or identify patterns in blurry images. A commonly used (simple) CAPTCHA is requiring users to complete a simple math equation. Like, 1+2 = __.

Forms that convert allow social signups

Again, our main goal is to make it simple and easy for people to fill out your form. Social signups allow users to sign up with just one click. These days, people are familiar with shopping on Amazon, where they can buy anything with just one click. They’re also getting used to signup forms that integrate with social media or Google accounts.

Make sure your form is visible

Okay, this one seems like a no-brainer. But, it’s surprising how many people hide their signup forms or don’t include them in the right places. Contact forms should always be visible on landing pages. Running paid media to a page without a form is definitely against best practices.

A/B test your CTA, form fields, and buttons

Forms that convert are a work in progress. It’s important to run tests to see what’s working and what’s not. A/B testing your CTA is a common best practice. And, the tests don’t always have to be ground-breaking. For example, many businesses have found that changing the verbiage on their button has led to more conversions.

Research has shown that users don’t like the word “submit”. Your form button should describe exactly what the user is doing when they fill out your form. If they’re signing up for a newsletter, a button that says “Sign Up” tells users that clicking the action button signs them up. It’s clear and specific to their task.

The next step in creating user-friendly forms that convert

Create forms for your business with Routee. We have over 18 years of experience. And, our forms services make creating the perfect form fast and efficient. What’s more, responses are automatically gathered and become segmented data, ready for your personalized communication actions. Learn more about how we can help you build forms for your business in Routee.

Data privacy and security is a growing concern of the businesses and their customers. People have concerns about giving personal information away, and their phone numbers are at the top of the list. A mobile phone number could easily help hackers break into a bank account, email, social profile and more. That’s why many companies have turned to call masking to give their customers peace of mind. Call masking helps protect both the customer and the business from fraudulent and dangerous threats.

What is call masking?

Call masking helps ecommerce businesses protect customer and business phone numbers. It uses a temporary phone number for each party, allowing them to communicate privately during a given time.

Number Masking helps buyers, sellers, delivery staff, and drivers communicate with customers. Most importantly, it does so without exposing their phone numbers. Rather than of connecting two people directly, a bridge connects them and protects their information.

Why is call masking important?

If you’re thinking call masking might not be necessary, think again. Number masking is actually helping companies build customer trust and confidence. And, as a result, helping them increase brand loyalty and customer choice. Let’s let the statistics speak for themselves:

● 79% of people don’t feel comfortable sharing their numbers with business service providers.

● 65% of people are more confident in a company if the business adopts phone number masking solutions.

● 100% of customers will only contact a company if their number is safe and secure.

How does number masking work?

We want to connect two parties, but we don’t want them to have each other’s phone numbers. Somehow we need to mask, or hide, the phone number on both ends. So, we can do this by routing the numbers through a call masking software.

For example, the sender calls a number, 777-777-7777. Then, the call then routes through the masking software. This forwards the call to the recipient at 666-666-6666. But, the recipient doesn’t see the sender’s number (777-777-7777), they see another masked number. Let’s call it 555-555-5555.

What’s more, if they get disconnected, they can even call this number back and get the original sender.

How is call masking different than a virtual number?

Well, there are a few main differences. First, a virtual phone number is a permanent number connected to a person or business. They’re usually used for businesses to build a local presence or cut costs on long distance calls. Also, virtual phone numbers are not generally used to protect the privacy of the users.

On the other hand, masked numbers are only good for a limited time. Usually, this is only while the two parties are connecting. You can use the masked number over and over again by the masking party as they’re needed. Again, they’re used to protect the identity and information of both parties that use it.

Now, you know how masking generally works. Next, let’s take a look at some use cases for call masking.

Use cases for call masking

Number masking helps you provide great customer experiences. It is ideal for businesses that share customer information with 3rd parties. So, businesses can provide direct communication without the need for an outside operator. And, it eliminates the need to share personal contact details. Now, here are a few use cases for call masking:

Call masking for delivery services

Couriers and people often need to contact each other during a delivery. But, it’s best if they can do so without providing their own phone numbers. Call masking helps the person delivering the product send updates. Or, it can help them get in touch with the customer when it matters most.

Number masking for transportation or ride share apps

Number masking helps drivers and passengers call each other to arrange rides without sharing a personal number. This is crucial for helping to protect the safety of both the driver and the rider. For example, if the rider leaves an item in the driver’s car. They can contact them without giving away their phone number.

Masked calling for marketplaces

Masked calling helps buyers and sellers connect and trade. It helps companies provide users with peace of mind, knowing they can contact each other without giving away their numbers.

Masked numbers for healthcare

For some professionals in the healthcare field, it’s important to be available to patients. Doctors and physicians often make it possible for their patients to contact them directly. But, even though it’s important for them to be available, they don’t always want to give away their numbers. Call masking helps protect the physician without compromising his or her security.

Getting started with call masking

Application programmer interfaces (APIs) are playing an important role in helping businesses. They offer benefits like increased flexibility for customers and better control for businesses. Telecom companies like Routee are changing the way businesses and customers communicate. Routee helps you extend your services and capabilities across a range of offerings.

Routee’s easy to use API powered by one of the world leaders in connected technology. Routee uses AMD Telecom to make sure you have reliable and scalable services that you can count on. Learn more about our services.

Ready to start? Get in touch with our experts, today. We’ll help you protect your business and your customers.

Viber has over 1.5 billion unique users worldwide. Because of its reach, it is a powerful solution for companies to connect with customers. Viber makes it easy to communicate with photos, stickers, and other media-rich features. Its popularity and business applications have caused many companies to recognize their potential. Let’s review what you need to know about Viber, how it ιs different from other apps, and if Viber for Βusiness is the right tool for you.

What is Viber?

Let’s recap. In 2014, Rakuten, one of Japan’s largest Internet companies, announced that it would acquire Viber for $900 million. Previously, the Cyprus-based messaging platform had 300 million subscribers. Since the aggressive acquisition, that number has since grown to over 1 billion. Viber is particularly popular in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.
Viber has many features that make it attractive. Like WhatsApp, texts have encryption and you can talk to anyone who also has the app for free. This is, of course, free as long as you’re connected to the internet. Again, like WhatsApp and other apps, Viber is free to download and offers voice and video calls. You can send photos, audio, and video clips and, of most importantly, instant messages.

What makes Viber different from other chat apps?

In 2017, the app introduced a new feature “secret chats” wherein, the users have an option to start conversations that self-destruct after a certain time limit. This was a major driver of app downloads.
Also, through Viber, you can call people who do not have Viber. This is a major point of differentiation from other popular apps. Calling people who do not also have the app costs money, but at a low cost. Viber calls this service Viber Out. Viber Out costs a few cents per minute and is a convenient way to reach people who don’t also have the app.
Viber also has a robust desktop app, which gives the user freedoms that other messaging platforms cannot easily match. In addition to instant messages, Viber lets you make voice and video calls. That is also a feature that helps Viber stand out.

Why should you use Viber for Business?

In 2016, Viber announced a new suite of tools designed to connect businesses and marketers. Now, Viber users regularly interact with products and brands on the network. Viber has helped brands like Coca Cola, FC Barcelona, Uber, Starbucks, and other international brands engage with their audiences.
Viber makes it easy for you to send messages that motivate customers. For example, you can send product photos, videos, and stickers through Public Accounts. Public Accounts make it easy for customers to find your business and engage with your brand.

How to get started with Viber for Business

Routee is proud to be one of the few official partners of Viber. We use omnichannel digital communication channels like OTT, SMS, Voice, Push Notification, and Email using automation workflows with adjustable fallback channels, making us distinctly qualified as one of Viber’s trusted partners.

Routee and Viber: a winning combination

At Routee, our segmentation and personalization features are part of what makes us market leaders. We make it easy to build and customize lists. So, you can be sure to deliver the right messages to the right audience.
We can send over 2,000 push messages per second. Our Viber Voice Messaging is available on a global scale. We make sure your messages get through and that your business can connect with your customers when and how it matters most.

Communication drives sales. Routee is leading the way. Are you ready to join the movement?