Don’t paint it black just because Black Friday is just around the corner. You‘ve still got time to plan and attack! Go for the communication channel with the highest open rate (an impressive 98%) and concentrate on sending personalized bulk SMS campaigns. Most importantly, remember that when you plan your SMS campaigns, plan smart.

Put in action the principle of S.M.A.R.T. goal-setting that emphasizes intentionality to efficiently achieve your Black Friday objectives. Set goals that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Here is how you can be smart with your Black Friday bulk SMS campaigns.

Be Specific

Focus on what it is that you want to accomplish with your Black Friday SMS campaign. Concentrate on the specific goals that you wish to achieve. Be as precise as possible and try to answer the five W’s of specificity: Who is your audience (demographics, behavior, preferences), When will you reach your audience (set a distinct start and end margin for your campaign, define when is the best time to contact your target groups), What is the core of your goal (set your conversion goals, is it to increase the revenue of a specific product line? To grow your leads? To gain more subscriptions?), Where will you approach your audience (will you send them only bulk SMS messages or are you going to combine communication channels?) and, last but not least, Why are you using this channel to spread the word about your campaign (is it because this is the most efficient communication channel? Or is it that you want to give it a try and compare it to other channels previously used?). Being as specific about your purpose as possible helps you maintain focus during your goal chasing.

Be Measurable

Setting a goal for your Black Friday bulk SMS campaign is powerless unless you also set a standard to measure and define the performance of the campaign. You have to decide on the specific KPIs that you will use to measure and quantify your campaign’s progress. For example, you can concentrate on the number of replies that you will receive per message sent, or the number of people that open or read your message, or the number of clicks you have on the landing page where you may direct your audiences, and so on. In any case, you have to decide on the specific metrics that you will monitor. Select a tool that can track these metrics in real-time to have a more distinct idea of how your campaign is performing and how close you are to reaching your goal. Besides, a scale of measurement to get real-time data of the set KPIs will help you decide on optimizing or not your Black Friday bulk SMS campaign.

Be Achievable

Most of the S.M.A.R.T. elements are interdependent, so you have to take all of them into consideration when defining them. It is not very realistic to set a specific goal that can be measured, but that is not attainable. For example, if you are a medium-sized e-shop you cannot logically go from 500 customers to 100.000 overnight, but you could perhaps aim to gain a 15% increase in customers during the Black Friday period. Setting smaller milestones will enable you to follow through and achieve your goals. Being realistic in your goal-setting will save you time, money, and morale in the end. Of course, you can dream big, however, remember to stay smart in the process. SMS is a communication channel that allows you to reach large audiences worldwide with bulk messages, but do make sure that you will set a goal that will genuinely reflect the effectiveness of your campaign.

Be Relevant

Although you are going to reach out to a large audience in terms of volume, that does not mean that you should spam them with whatever product or service your business provides. During the Black Friday period, the audience expects to receive the best deals and offers about products and services they relate to. So, make sure you have your segmentation in place and properly set. For example, if you run an eCommerce business with shoes and one of your target groups mainly consists of women who like to casually exercise and enjoy running, send them relevant deals and offers for women running shoes, not for evening high heels or men casual shoes.

Be Time-bound

Stating that you will send a campaign on a specific date is not what we mean by being time-bound. Set the reasonable, realistic period at the end of which or during which you will be able to reach your goal. How long will it take to achieve your bulk SMS Black Friday campaign goals? This period also acts as a deadline motivator to remain focused and help you develop an efficient plan that you can actually reach and -why not- even surpass. When launching an SMS campaign, you can plan to break a certain margin by the first few days, or you can set daily goals for you and your team. The essence of “time-bound" is to help you remain aligned with your team and set goals that are continually updating so that you stay achieving.

Ultimately, setting SMART goals for your bulk SMS Black Friday campaigns enables you to be efficient and successful in your eCommerce endeavors.

Read on for more ideas for your Black Friday and Cyber Monday eCommerce campaigns.