Craig Parks 
In any marketing campaign that you pour your resources into, you always want to know how they are performing and whether they bring value to your business. Key performance indicators, or KPIs, therefore, come into play.
KPIs refer to the numerical data that determines the success of your marketing strategies. They are the benchmarks that you should establish first before beginning any kind of campaign.
Beginning everycampaign with benchmarks that help you determine how closely you are inching to your goals will ensure that you remain focused and committed.
The good thing is that you can always adjust the KPIs to match the preferences of your business. To help you get started, here are the top 5 bulk SMS marketing KPIs to measure.
Bulk SMS Marketing KPIs
1. Number of Contacts
The number of contacts you have, that is, the number of people who receive your messagesis the first KPI to consider.
Texts may make the heartbeat of your business, but if nobody is reading them, then your campaign is worth nothing.
You should always ensure that your list is continually growing and reaching more customers with the Bulk SMS marketing campaigns. While at it, track the monthly growth or loss to determine whether your bulk SMS campaign is effective and if you are targeting the right audience.
2. Conversion Rates
Determining your conversion rates helps you reach various goals such as growing your email list or driving leads.
Conversion rates are calculated by dividing the number of contacts that took an action by the total number of contacts that the campaign was forwarded to.
To make this more effective, you should utilize UTM codes or tracking codes, to measure your conversion rate. When someone takes an action, you will know if they came from the UTM link in your campaign.
3. Number of Opt-Outs
You can’t keep your contacts from opting out of the subscription, nor can you deny them either. It is good practice to have them provide you with consent. If you have a large number of people unsubscribing from your campaign, it is an indication that the content doesn’t match their preferences.
So, it is equally important to monitor opt-outs for unusually high dropouts.
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4. Specific Keyword Measures
Call to action or CTA is another important KPI to measure as it helps you understand better why people are subscribing, buying, or responding to your offering. It is, however, important to hone in exactly on motivatingpeople to join your bulk SMS list by using keywords to test your CTAs.
A text like “Text BUY to sign-up for exclusive offers delivered to you directly via text.” This is a good example of what motivates a customer to sign-up for your list.
5. Average Response Time
The average response time can be used to audit your team’s efficiency. The messages your business sends out may not receive a response just as quickly as you expect. To achieve optimal results, you must respond to customers’ queries as fast as you can.
Aim for within the hour, and at the very least, don’t leave a text unanswered or worse still, unread for over 24 hours. Establishing the average monthly response time is important in helping you determine whether you are providing excellent customer service.
The most important thing to remember is to consider your first couple of messages your benchmark and aim to improve from there. That’s why Celcom Africa has designed an intuitive bulk SMS platform with an easy-to-use interface that makes it easy for you to track all your KPIs and more.
Stay on top of your SMS marketing campaign with Celcom Africa’s bulk SMS services and you will hit your goals faster than you thought!
