Text To Win

What is Text To Win?

Businesses are always looking for the next big thing when it comes to reaching new customers. That’s why more and more are turning to SMS in order to grow their audience. Text sweepstakes messaging (also known as text to win campaigns) allows businesses to run contests where contacts text in keywords in order to enter to win a prize. It’s truly a win-win situation as customers love opting in to receive prizes and it allows businesses to engage with their customers, building stronger relationships and letting you build a more effective messaging campaign.

Why SMS Sweepstakes Make Sense For Businesses

SMS allow businesses to sign customers up for their extended messaging campaigns in order to promote products or provide customer service. Over a third of consumers have opted themselves in to receive text messages from SMS enabled businesses, including text to win campaigns. And that number is only growing.

It has been proven that over 60 percent of those that sign up have redeemed an offer they have received from a mobile marketing service. Since your customers will appreciate getting free things from your text sweepstakes messaging, your new customer base will be better positioned to be loyal customers.

Here are some statistics showing why text sweepstakes messaging can be so effective for engaging your audience:

  • Pie graph icon

    98% of text messages are read, compared to just 22% of emails

  • text messasage bubbles with three dots icon

    90% of texts are read within 3 minutes.

  • SMS survey icon

    Text messages get responded to 7.5 times more often and 60 times faster than emails.

  • Icon of a satisfied customer

    89% of consumers say they want to text message to communicate with a business, but less than half of businesses are equipped to leverage group texts.

  • Subscriber holds phone and reads SMS message icon

    Over 60% of consumers would rather text than call when given the option for customer service.

How It Works

Restrictions

Because of the nature of running text to win campaigns, there are some restrictions. There are two types of numbers you can run these campaigns on:

  • Dedicated short code iconDedicated Short Code

    These short codes are only used by a single organization. This opens them up to a wider variety of campaigns including text to win marketing, SMS sweepstakes, and text-to-donate programs. You also get to choose any keyword, rather than worrying about whether or not someone else has already claimed it.

    Toll Free

    Toll-free numbers are a great number option because they give you the power and flexibility of dedicated short codes, but at a fraction of the cost. For most customers running campaigns we advise them to do it on a toll free number.

Sample Text to Win Use Cases

In this section we want to cover how different types of businesses and organizations can use SMS to engage with their customers. This will help businesses and organizations understand how campaigns can help them reach their objectives faster and more effectively.

  • Church iconChurch

    Keep your congregation engaged by running SMS to encourage member signups.

    • Run a text to win campaign to engage your congregants. It doesn’t have to be for much, a few extra tickets for your raffle events can be enough!
    • Encourage new members to sign up to your subscriber list and then engage them by learning more about them with follow up questions.

    Notification iconHotels

    Run text to win campaigns and offer free hotel stays or other perks in order to generate repeat customers.

    • Run SMS sweepstakes with prizes like spa treatments or restaurant reservations.
    • Texting allows you to sign up current guests and give them a reason to book a return trip if you offer a free night or discounted rate.
  • SMS for restaurants iconRestaurants

    Texting allows you to generate interest from customers and lets you send them a mobile offer instantly after signup.

    • Send promotions to customers and allow them to redeem their offers in store or online.
    • Based on what SMS subscriber list the customer signs up for, you can target your messages so they are more likely to redeem them.

    Retail shopping cart iconRetail

    SMS messages get read, text to win campaigns are the best way to get an audience so you can announce upcoming deals.

    • Use SMS to gather more leads and send them offers personalized to their interests.
    • Create an auto response to be sent when a contact opts in to your campaign to give them a coupon to entice them to your stores.