Automated text message marketing is the in-thing in today’s world. Here’s the ultimate guide to automated text message marketing for fitness professionals.
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| Text Message Marketing |
The Ultimate Guide to Automated Text Message Marketing for Fitness Professionals
The success of a fitness business lies in how many active customers visit the gym and continue to engage with the business. Text message marketing is a popular strategy used by fitness centers to retain customers and attract new ones. Text messaging or SMS marketing is a cost-effective method to promote the business and stay in touch with the target audience.
Text message marketing has become popular in recent times as it allows the establishments to directly interact with customers and vice versa. Many third-party service providers offer software applications that combine text messaging, marketing tools, and analytics to effectively manage customer relationships and build the business for the long term. Let’s read more about text messaging, specifically about automated text message marketing and how it helps fitness professionals.
What Is Automated Text Messaging?
Automated text messaging is the process of scheduling text messages in advance so that the messages will be sent to the selected customers at the given date and time or for a trigger. A software application is used to automate text messages in bulk.
For example, you can set automated replies to SMS from customers. Each time there’s an incoming message, the software will respond to it with a pre-defined reply. Based on the software you're using, you can set different responses for different incoming texts. Such software runs on artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms.
Another way to automate text messages is by scheduling bulk promotional messages for another day. Instead of sending the message at that moment, you can schedule them whenever free and let the software do the rest.
Reasons to Use Automated Text Messaging
Automated text message marketing is the in-thing in today’s world. It had great advantages for fitness professionals and gym businesses. Owners can spend more time on building the business and let technology handle promotions and marketing.
- Save Time and Effort
Automated text messaging saves time and energy by simplifying things. You don’t have to wait for the exact moment to start the campaign. You can set it up weeks earlier and let it run whether you are around or not. Moreover, you don’t have to immediately respond to every message from the customer by stopping your current work.
- Convenient
Small, medium and large gym centers find it convenient to use automated messaging. Small businesses have limited staff and cannot afford to spend all their time glued to their phones/ computers. Similarly, large fitness centers have too many customers, making it almost impossible to respond to everyone soon after receiving their message.
- Control over Customer Journey
You can control the customer’s journey with the fitness center by sending them appropriate text messages at the right time. As the process is automated, you don’t have to fret about forgetting to send a vital message with instructions or reminders.
- Cost-Effective
Instead of hiring extra staff just to manage marketing and customer service, you can handle it on your own by investing in a decent software application. It’ll give you more returns in the long term.
- User Engagement
User engagement is the key to retaining gym customers and getting renewals. Automated text messaging takes care of maintaining communication with customers and keeping them up to date. Customers won’t feel ignored or left out when they get regular messages from the fitness center reminding them about their appointments, workout sessions, and more.
How to Use Automated Text Message Marketing
- Signup Campaigns
Getting people to sign up and join the gym is the first hurdle. Fitness centers offer initial discounts and free workout sessions to bring more customers and get them to sign up for the updates. You can send bulk automated messages to existing customers offering free trials for a limited period for them and others they refer to the business.
- Welcome Texts
It can be a simple welcome text with the customer’s membership ID and details or a series of automated messages to help them understand the rules of the gym. Create a strong impression on the customer by welcoming them to the gym and making them feel valuable to the business.
- Reminders
You can send any kind of reminder through text messages by using the best appointment reminder software. The most common is to remind the customer about their gym appointment. This nudged them to add it to their schedule and turn up for the session. Send text messages to inform them about the changes in timings or rescheduling appointments. Customers should be able to respond to the message to confirm or change their appointment time if necessary.
- Renewals
It’s easier to send membership renewal links through text messages. A majority of mobile phone users have smartphones with an internet connection. They can use the link to make payments and confirm their renewal. Even otherwise, the message will serve as a reminder to pay the fee the next time they visit the gym.
- Feedback and Surveys
Asking customer opinion is necessary for every business and a must for fitness centers. You can send bulk messages asking for customer feedback. Conduct SMS polls and surveys to understand what they like and dislike about your business. Use this information to make changes to your fitness center and thank customers for their input.
- Limited Period Promotions
Want to run short-term campaigns for quick subscriptions? Text message marketing works the best. More than 90% of the users read a text message within three minutes of receiving it. They are more likely to respond faster to limited period deals when they get a text message about it.
Conclusion
There are a lot of text message marketing and customer engagement service providers in the fitness and wellness industry. They offer different solutions to help gym owners streamline their businesses through text message marketing and analytical tools. Conquer the fitness world using the right tools.