Lately, cold texting has been showing up in discussions in how to promote a network marketing business. Some videos and blog posts are touting the benefits of cold texting and the effectiveness of SMS marketing. While it is true that reaching people quickly via text is a great way to spread the word about your products or business opportunity, sending a cold text message can get you in a lot of trouble.
Is cold texting legal?
Cold texting refers to sending unsolicited messages to individuals who have not given their permission or consent to receive such texts. It involves the use of automated technology to send out bulk messages to large numbers of people. In most cases, cold texting is considered illegal, as it violates the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and other applicable laws and regulations. The fines for cold texting your leads without permission can be up to $1,500 per complaint.
In addition to being a nuisance, cold texting can also expose recipients to potential scams and frauds. Individuals who engage in cold texting leads can face serious legal penalties, including fines and lawsuits, and can damage their reputation and brand image in the process. As such, it is important to obtain the necessary permissions and consents before engaging in any kind of texting or marketing activity. By following the law and respecting people’s privacy and preferences, businesses and individuals can build trustworthy and long-lasting relationships with their customers and audiences.
Does cold messaging work?
Cold messaging does work at generating buzz about your product or service. However, it also works to annoy prospects and customers. While it is true that people would rather text a business for information, they do not like it the other way around. In other words, they can reach out via SMS first, but your business should not.
Just like cold emailing, a sales team can use mass texting to send thousands of messages in just a few clicks. The results can be similar to cold calling, a lot of people will ignore the message, but the ones that do respond positively are ripe to making a purchase. The sales process quickens by skipping the whole slowly warming up a prospect to your message.
How can I turn cold texting into warm texting?
Instead of risking legal issues, avoid cold SMS marketing by growing a list of active prospects that want to hear from you. Just like email marketing, you can build a list of subscribers by offering an incentive in exchange for a phone number. Offering a discount, free report, or exclusive inside information can motivate a person to give up their precious information.
The easiest way for a prospect to give their phone number or opt-in to your list is by using a keyword. In a print ad, website form, or social media post, you can write something like “text the word ‘info’ to 800-222-3333 to get this secret formula.” A person texts the keyword, in this case “info,” to the number. They get the promised information and the system automatically captures their phone number. Legally, this counts as consent and you are able to send friendly, engaging texts to prospects without fear of repercussion.
Text message marketing good practices
Once you have a prospect’s permission to text them, there are still a few things you want to remain mindful of. You don’t want to accidently use texting to turn an excited prospect into an angry person who feels like they received spam from you.
When you reach out to prospects, don’t send any SMS messages outside of business hours. If your business sells to people in different time zones, pay attention to what time your leads and customers will receive messages. You don’t want to text someone at 3 a.m. even though it 3 p.m. where you are.
Another good practice is to make it easy for prospective customers to opt out of receiving messages. This is easy to do as most SMS marketing and sales platforms usually include a mandatory opt-out link in messages.
When you compose ads enticing prospects to give up a phone number, you should give them an idea of approximately how many texts they will likely receive weekly or monthly. You can include language like “you may receive up to 6 marketing messages per month” or something similar.
Text message marketing and MLM
Text message marketing is an excellent tool for businesses of all kinds, but it can be particularly useful for multi-level marketing (MLM) businesses. However, it can be challenging to connect with potential customers and build relationships. That’s where text message marketing comes in.
An automated text messaging robot, also known as an SMS chatbot, can help your MLM business warm up leads and get them excited to talk to you. These chatbots can work 24/7, engaging potential recruits with personalized messages that feel like a conversation. The beauty of a text message marketing chatbot is that it works on complete autopilot. This means that MLM business owners can focus on other aspects of their business while the chatbot does the heavy lifting.
Use SMS to build a contact list the right way
While tempting, sending unsolicited text messages jeopardizes your network marketing business. Messages to customers who have already done business with you are okay as long as you have received consent. Otherwise, you’ll want to grow your list and build relationships just like you would through any other marketing campaigns.
