Marketers know that every opportunity to interact with their audience is a chance to create value. Sometimes, it’s as simple as reaffirming your brand’s values and customer loyalty. In other cases, it’s about generating revenue at that moment. Some interactions even lay the groundwork for referrals and additional sales, creating new streams of revenue from a single interaction. No matter the result, the takeaway needs to be a net positive for the company.

One of the most valuable takeaways marketers need to glean from customer interactions is a way to continue those interactions. Growing your marketing list leads to everything from better segmentation, to audience growth, to a greater potential for revenue and beyond.

But what information, exactly should you focus on obtaining? Convention says email is the most valuable and social followers are the easiest to get. The truth of the matter, however, is that a mobile number is far and away the most pertinent piece of customer data you can have. Here’s why.

SMS marketing creates tremendous ROI potential

In text marketing, there is direct correlation between your audience size and the revenue you’re able to generate — along with the ROI.90% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes of being received, which means customers are more apt to act when they receive a message that’s relevant to their interests. It’s a direct line to more sales.

• Flash sales that drive impulse purchases and FOMO buyers
• Customized inventory updates about products they’ve shown interest in
• Personalized recommendations for similar brands, products and styles
• Timely promotional advertisements that equate to valuable savings

SMS marketing stimulates sales in ways email, social media and other traditional digital touchpoints can’t. Moreover, SMS offers recipients a simpler way to help brands increase their scope. No more email forwards or social shares — SMS messages can be easily shared with a friend or colleague, driving new customers directly to your brand. The cost of acquisition? Virtually nothing.

How to grow a phone list for SMS marketing

The struggle marketers face in collecting customer data is each person’s willingness to offer up that data. Some customers may be comfortable giving out contact information to any brand that asks; others will only divulge this information if they get something in return.

SMS marketing lists are something of an anomaly when it comes to collecting data. More than 90% of consumers are interested in signing up for text messages — yet not all businesses offer the service. It’s a hugely untapped wealth of marketing data that many companies are just now beginning to discover.

So, how does your business acquire those digits?

While asking for a phone number outright might yield some results, there are other ways to grow your list without spooking more timid members of your audience. Voxie can help you seriously grow your list through email, QR codes, website popups, social ads and more. Each touchpoint offers a key opportunity to add a phone number to your list and a new text recipient to your marketing outreach.

And, of course, let’s not overlook those current and past customers who’ve already trusted you with their email. Reaching out to have these customers update their preferences to include a mobile phone number is a great way to expand the targeting potential of an already tapped audience — one that might be fatigued by channel saturation (emails, social posts, PPC ads, etc.).

What to do with new list subscribers

As new phone numbers roll in and your contact marketing list grows, it’s important to handle this information accordingly. Blasting text messages to the broader list without a clear and specific value proposition is a good way to lose the trust of your new subscribers. Organize before you message!

• First, clean your data. Remove duplicate numbers or clear fakes from the list.
• Second, organize data to ensure it’s all in one place—a master record of data.
• Third, synergize marketing data with customer information to gain a deeper understanding of the data
• Fourth, segment data and organize it based on key habits, demographics, etc.

Once your marketing list is clean, organized and segmented, begin planning unique campaigns that are hyper-targeted toward subscribers. Look for ways to pair key interests and value propositions with your segmented lists, and recognize opportunities for variable data to customize messages to each recipient.

Here again, Voxie offers solutions that enable a greater level of effectiveness from SMS marketing campaigns. Automated engagement, variable data linked to CRM insights, scheduled deliveries and more all combine to create text messages that are timely, relevant and enticing for each individual who receives them.

Build a pipeline for list growth

Growing your SMS marketing list isn’t a scheduled or static activity — it’s an ongoing effort that requires a diligent pipeline (and automation, where possible). Here are a few tips that keep mobile phone numbers coming in:

• Add mobile phone number as a variable data box for account signup or checkout
• Tie SMS signups into relevant deals and programs, to encourage subscribers
• Link SMS marketing into omni-channel efforts, to create synergies customers want

Keep in mind that every touchpoint is a chance to come away with data that better-informs marketing interactions. From a willingness to give you their mobile number to the willingness to share an SMS marketing deal with a friend, marketers have plenty of opportunities to engage customers if they continually seek ways to prioritize SMS interaction.

Remember, SMS is a two-way mode of communication

Finally, one of the most overlooked elements of SMS marketing and subscriber list growth is the ability to have two-way conversations. When you send an email, you’re limited to making a statement. When you send a text, you can encourage the customer to reply, unlocking a whole new level of interaction that leads tozero-party data and the many advantages that come with it.

While the golden rule of marketing is always to get as much data as you can from your audience, there are varying degrees of value associated with that data. The value of a mobile phone number and a customer that’s opted in for SMS marketing messages is quickly climbing its way to the top of the list. Companies need to find ways to capture and use this data at every touchpoint.

Want to explore the powerful potential of automated conversational texting, to grow your business and strengthen your brand? Chat with a conversational texting expert at Voxie today.Schedule a demo.