SMS Lead Generation: The Power of Texting Your Leads

Outbound sales and lead generation teams have long relied on phone calls and emails to reach leads. These channels still play an important role, but text messaging is a growing channel worth considering for today’s lead generators and sales teams.

Effective SMS lead generation strategies can help your company stay competitive, increase connections, and drive more revenue. Use this primer on the power of text messaging in lead generation as a guide.

SMS lead generation involves using text messages to attract, engage, and convert potential customers. Although outbound dialing and email are still essential for today’s lead generation and sales teams, consumer habits and preferences are changing. Text messaging for lead gen offers another powerful tool to connect with leads, nurture relationships, provide personalized experiences, and ultimately drive increased conversions.

Much of the effectiveness of SMS lead generation lies in its personal and immediate nature. People carry their phones everywhere, check texts constantly, and are more likely to respond to a quick message than a formal email.

Plus, texts can be read and responded to with greater convenience than an incoming phone call. With two-way texting, the line is always open, giving businesses a direct engagement channel through which they can build rapport, answer questions, and move prospects down the sales funnel.

The landscape of digital marketing is constantly evolving, and consumers are bombarded with information from all sides. In this competitive environment, standing out requires innovative strategies and maximum personalization. That's where SMS lead generation shines. This rapidly growing marketing channel offers several advantages over traditional tactics:

• Unmatched Engagement: With open rates (up to 98%!) and response rates (45% on average) that frequently dwarf those of email and voice, SMS can help lead generators make contact with more of their potential customers.

• Personalized Communication: Send targeted messages based on individual needs and preferences, fostering genuine connections with prospects and generating more business. According to McKinsey data, 71% of today’s consumers expect personalization in the sales process, and 76% express frustration when they don’t find it.

• Real-time Interaction: Engage in two-way conversations, answer questions instantly, and address concerns as they arise, leading to faster conversions.

• Automation Efficiency: Between triggered drip campaigns, bulk texting, and conversational AI-powered virtual agents, there are a variety of ways to automate lead nurturing, appointment scheduling, and reminders, freeing up agents’ time for high-value interactions.

While the immediacy and personal touch of SMS might seem like a magic bullet for lead generation, simply firing off text messages isn't the recipe for success. Just like any powerful tool, harnessing the full potential of SMS requires careful planning, strategic implementation, and ongoing optimization. Leverage these SMS lead generation best practices to help step up your outbound strategy and convert more leads.

We’ve referenced this already, but it bears repeating: gone are the days where robotic, one-size-fits-all messages—however well-intended—can be at the core of any outreach strategy. The data, as we shared, is clear: in the world of outbound lead generation, personalization reigns supreme.

So how do you personalize your SMS lead generation approach? Start simple, by addressing prospects by name whenever possible. It's a straightforward gesture, but it goes a long way in creating a more human connection and fostering trust.

Take it a step further by tailoring your messages to their individual interests. Leverage data you've gathered from past interactions, website behavior, or demographics to craft specific offers and content that resonate deeply with each recipient.

Segmentation is your friend here. Divide your audience into groups based on shared interests, purchase history, or engagement level. This allows you to send targeted messages that speak directly to their needs and preferences, resulting in a more impactful experience.

Break down the communication barrier and encourage genuine conversations with your prospects. Don't just send; enable replies by asking questions, inviting feedback, or offering personalized assistance. Remember, people don't like waiting. Dedicate resources to responding promptly, demonstrating that you value their communication and their time.

Segmentation, of course, is key to crafting not just texts that are tailored to individual needs but also to developing coherent overall campaigns that effectively get leads closer to a sale.

Successful SMS lead generation isn’t grounded in sporadic texts. Nor can it be entirely centered around the back-and-forth of two-way texting. To accelerate movement through the funnel—and take some of the work out of sending texts—plan automated SMS drip campaigns that balance out the attention to 1:1 contact.

These series of engaging messages should educate, nurture, and gently nudge prospects toward conversion. Based on how leads are segmented, campaigns can share valuable content like industry insights, product demonstrations, or real-life case studies that help establish your business as a thought leader and build trust.

Become your leads’ go-to resource: offer helpful tips, answer common questions proactively, and address potential concerns, pain points, and sales objections before they arise. And meanwhile, don't forget the power of a compelling call to action. Prompt prospects to visit your website, download valuable resources, or schedule a call to take the next step in their journey.

Another point that’s worth further emphasis: SMS lead generation is most powerful when it incorporates automated campaigns alongside two-way conversations.

Don't just send; enable replies by asking questions, inviting feedback, or offering personalized assistance. Remember, people don't like waiting. Dedicate resources to responding promptly, demonstrating that you value their communication and their time.

If that sounds like a lot of work, it doesn’t have to be. Harnessing the power of two-way texting doesn’t have to mean adding too much work to your already busy agents’ plates—that is, if you have the right technology.

The latest conversational AI technology is now fully capable of conversing fluently with leads over text. With an intelligent virtual agent (IVA) solution like Voso.ai, lead generation teams can automate high-quality conversations and engage with leads over text at scale.

Rather than asking more of your live agents, you can free them to focus on the complex tasks—like closing a sale—that require human attention. In the meantime, your IVA can:

• Gather basic customer information and pre-qualify potential customers

• Make scheduling a breeze by allowing prospects to book consultations, demos, or discovery calls directly through text, eliminating friction and simplifying the process.

• Turn after-hours calls and texts into sales opportunities with 24/7 availability.

SMS can be an incredibly effective channel for lead generation and sales teams. But at the end of the day, it’s just that: One channel.

That means you can’t settle for simply adding texting to your outreach mix. You need to integrate your text-based approach alongside other important channels like email and outbound dialing to create a seamless, consistent brand experience across all touchpoints.

With all your tools working in tandem, an omnichannel strategy simply gives your business the most opportunities to drive engagement and increase sales. Trigger automated text messages based on specific actions taken in other channels, like email opens or missed phone calls, to ensure timely and relevant outreach. Meanwhile, track and analyze the performance of each channel using robust analytics tools. This vital data allows you to measure the impact of your omnichannel strategy and optimize it for maximum effectiveness, ensuring you get the most out of every interaction.

By implementing these strategies thoughtfully, you can transform SMS from a simple communication option into a powerful lead generation engine.

However, even with the best approach, you still need the right tools.

Elevate your outbound texting strategy and your overall lead generation operation with the power of Convoso’s cloud-based, omnichannel contact center software.

Designed with the needs of today’s lead generation and outbound sales teams in mind, the Convoso dialer offers unmatched dialing power and speed to lead, alongside two-way SMS, triggered email capabilities, and a comprehensive suite of advanced features to ensure your team has everything it needs to have more conversations—and make the most of every single one of them.

See for yourself what putting the industry’s most powerful solution at the center of your sales stack can do for your team and sign up for a free demo today.