Signing up for texts from a brand you love can be exciting. However, as you subscribe to more and more text lists, it can create nonstop notifications on your phone. This can cause frustration, and you might start searching for tips on unsubscribing from these texts.
If you’ve made it here, we have the answers you are seeking. We’ll give you information about how to unsubscribe from text messages so your phone can be a comfort instead of a source of stress. We’ll also provide insight into text message marketing and how to take advantage of it if you run your own business.
What Should I Know About Text Message Marketing?
Before we get into the steps involved in unsubscribing to text messages, let’s talk briefly about what text message marketing is.
The first step here is to understand the definition of the term. Text message marketing is a form of opt-in marketing where customers can sign up to get alerts, promotions, and offers from a brand. These come across on the person’s phone.
Once a consumer has opted into the messages, the brand can legally send them frequent text messages. What each company will send can vary. However, most brands send out alerts, coupons, promotions, and similar items.
While receiving special offers through text can be exciting, sometimes a consumer wants to stop receiving these SMS messages. When that happens, they must know how to unsubscribe from text messages.
Laws Related to Text Message Marketing
In April 2022, over 11 billion spam texts were sent to the United States. This is one of the biggest reasons regulations are in place for text message marketing. The laws are designed to protect consumers from getting unwanted automated texts and spam text messages.
However, the law around these texts varies by location. For instance, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) can govern the use of unsolicited text messages and mass phone calls within the United States. The telecom industry also has guidance around the limits on marketing through SMS.
One of the most critical requirements for businesses is that all text message marketing should have a method for consumers to reasonably unsubscribe at any point they wish. They need to be able to take away consent just as they gave it before. Thankfully, the process of offering an unsubscribe is simple for businesses.
How Do I Unsubscribe from Text Messages
So how do you unsubscribe from text messages? Assuming the software provider and brand handle text messaging correctly, unsubscribing is easy. In most cases, all you need to do as a customer is to reply to the text message with a specific SMS short code understood by the brand. The most common include “Unsubscribe” or “Stop.”
After you go through that process, the software used for SMS marketing will receive that request and automatically unsubscribe your specific phone number. The software will send a confirmation if everything is configured correctly. This results in the customer seeing evidence that they have been unsubscribed.
Why Consumers Unsubscribe from Text Messages
People sometimes want to unsubscribe even if you send messages following all the laws. This is common and should be expected. People will always wish to unsubscribe, no matter what marketing channel you use and your campaigns.
However, knowing why people unsubscribe can be used to your benefit. Make your marketing campaign better, and keep that unsubscribe rate down.
Below are the most common reasons a consumer might unsubscribe from your marketing texts:
- They feel that you are sending too many marketing texts (or they are simply getting too many texts in general).
- The kind of content provided in your texts is no longer relevant or valuable to them.
- They no longer want to get any updates from your brand.
- They only subscribed for a specific reason, like a text competition.
- To begin with, they need to remember why they opted in for your texts.
Another question you might have is about what a typical unsubscribe rate is. Having that answer might give insight into whether you should worry about your own. Different sectors have different unsubscribe rates, but overall most text campaigns will see less than one percent of people unsubscribing.
However, if you notice lots of people are suddenly unsubscribing, that’s the time to dig deep. Find out why people are leaving your list and what you can do to change that.
Tips to Avoid Unsubscribes with Your Text Message Marketing
We mentioned several reasons earlier that you can’t do much about. If someone doesn’t remember subscribing or only joined to potentially win something, you can’t stop them from leaving. However, there are other situations where you can do something about people unsubscribing from your promotional texts.
It would help if you first looked into the unsubscribe rate after each text marketing effort. This is an excellent way to find out what might be driving unsubscribes so you can make changes with future promotions.
If subscribers don’t appreciate the content you send out, there are two significant ways to improve this aspect of your text messaging. The first is to shoot out a text survey. Ask the subscribers what content they would like to receive from you – and then give them what they want.
You can use the survey results to segment your marketing lists. Put those who want a specific type of content in one list and those who want something else in a different one. Then you can ensure the content you send out to each group is relevant to their interests.
When you use SMS APIs like the ones from Esendex, you will see how simple it is to send out marketing materials. Make sure you are giving customers what you promised when they signed up. This might result in sending texts more frequently than you used to. Cutting the frequency may be needed in some cases.
On the other hand, some customers want to move on to another brand. Making memorable connections can reduce the chances of this happening. Personalize your texts and add one-on-one texts that feel more authentic when possible. A loyalty program can also keep consumers interested.
Let Esendex Help With Your Text Message Marketing Ideas
When you choose Esendex to help with your text message marketing, customers can easily subscribe or take themselves off your list. We follow all FCC/CTIA guidelines to ensure you only send messages to people who opt-in. This prevents unwanted messaging and spam.
Based on industry guidelines, all brands with text messaging campaigns need an easy way for consumers to leave. Our SMS Notify! API makes that a cinch. Recipients can send in a keyword, such as “STOP,” “CANCEL,” “QUIT,” “END,” or “UNSUBSCRIBE,” to stop receiving marketing messages from you.
With the help of our API, you can easily direct consumers on how to unsubscribe from texts. Sending the keyword “RESUME” to the number used to unsubscribe will ensure the texts return to this person. In addition, if a consumer changes their mind, we also consider that.
If you’re ready for a simple texting solution that automates your marketing, Esendex is here to help you. We can walk you through implementing the API, its usage, and how to take advantage of our other services. Reach out today to get started.
