5 Ways To Use AI For Bulk SMS Marketing In Kenya

SMS has become an everyday lifestyle application; from the look of it, it's not going anywhere anytime soon. With SMS being a daily application tool in Kenya, businesses have found their way through it by introducing an even more advanced system known as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to go hand in hand with their bulk SMS services. The AI function has led to fewer errors and more accurate results, increasing lead generation and driving sales.

Let's find out more about bulk SMS marketing and how you can use AI for SMS and more from our article below:

What is bulk SMS, and how does it work?

Bulk SMS is a delivery service that allows sending large amounts of messages to many people through mobile networks such as Safaricom. In Kenya, businesses use bulk SMS messaging services for marketing purposes by sending many messages to their prospective customers.

The bulk SMS services in Kenya serve businesses in many ways and have proved to be a better tool for reaching out to customers in and outside their areas. Companies have been able to send their customers promotional and special offers messages, and even better, with the help of AI functioning; they can personalize the messages and send them to their targeted prospective customers.

What is AI bulk SMS marketing?

AI bulk SMS marketing uses artificial intelligence technologies to streamline business processes, such as sending large amounts of messages to large groups of people.

AI bulk SMS technology can help companies send promotional and campaign messages, reminders, appointments, and more that businesses in Kenya want to send to customers. 

The AI bulk SMS function can also track the effectiveness of SMS campaigns for businesses, segment contacts to send highly targeted SMSs to customers, and more. 

 How effective is bulk SMS marketing in Kenya?

Bulk SMS is a powerful marketing tool businesses in Kenya can use to send messages through campaigns or advertise their products and services. Its reliability is on another level since it has proved that most of the messages being sent have an open rate of 98%, which is good. 

Not to forget its excellent click-through rate, which is high, making it the best marketing tool for businesses in Kenya. This means all the customers receiving these messages can click on links and take action on them as required.

How to use AI in your bulk SMS marketing strategy 

If you are looking for the most convenient way to use AI to improve your bulk SMS marketing strategy, you have come to the right place. Knowing how to use AI marketing for your bulk SMS service in Kenya is what will drive you to achieve a win in the end. Let's look at some of the ways you can use AI in your SMS marketing strategy to improve your ROI and engagement rates below;

1. Leverage AI-enabled Targeting

Through an AI targeting system, businesses are able to know and identify customers through bulk SMS campaigns. This is made possible through the data collected from their purchasing history, interests, and more received from them.

2. Send relevant messages

With the stored data collected from customers' interactions with a business, AI can analyze and use their responses to tailor future messages to each of them. Through the information, a company can give customers more relevant and personalized messages increasing the chances of their bulk SMS campaign being successful.

3. Leverage scheduling tools

AI-driven scheduling tools can help businesses send and automate time to send customers messages. By scheduling, teams can continue delivering other tasks knowing messages are scheduled to be sent at a given time with zero errors since AI can eliminate potential human errors through workflow automation.

4. Automate A/B Testing

For a bulk SMS campaign to be successful, businesses need to have A/B testing in action, as it is important. Through A/B testing, companies will be able to know which messages are the most effective they can send customers. AI-driven A/B testing can be used to automate processes that will help businesses identify messages to optimize for their campaigns.

5. Automate response management

AI can automate SMS responses to customers whenever they reach out for inquiries. This will help businesses give their customers a better experience and reduce their waiting time for their queries to be answered.

How to send bulk SMS to customers

Businesses in Kenya can use many ways and methods to send bulk SMS to their customers. But before that, you need to have a plan that will be suitable for your business, and here as some you can consider as follows;

1. Choose a bulk SMS provider

If you want to use bulk SMS in your business system, the easiest way to do that is by searching for companies that offer the services. Many companies provide these services, such as HelloDuty, which supports sending bulk SMS services to many African countries, and Kenya is one of them.

2. Set up an account provider.

Get a payment plan and agree with your chosen bulk SMS provider. This will help you understand how much you will be charged per the SMS services you send to your customers.

3. Compile your customer's information.

Create a list of customers' contacts and data that you want to send the bulk SMS. This will help simplify your work since you won't have to search for contacts you want to message daily.

4. Create and send messages.

With the help of your bulk SMS provider's platform, create and send messages to your customers' lists. Ensure your provider's platform is easy to use, and if you need help understanding, you can always ask for clarification for easy message crafting.

5. Track results

After sending your messages, it will only be sensible to track how many have been sent and how many have been opened and taken action. This will give you an idea of the number of customers and how long they take to open and respond to your messages.

How to build a bulk SMS service for your business

Knowing the importance of bulk SMS services to your business is very important. This is because your business needs a bulk SMS application that is unique and effective. Here is a step-by-step guide on how you can build it;

1. Set a bulk SMS service provider

First, you need a bulk SMS service provider to set up your service before everything else. You can decide on the features based on the functionality you want your SMS services to serve.

2. Establish a service plan.

Decide on your bulk SMS service plan with your service provider to discuss and come to terms with them. Whether you will want a pay-as-you-go or monthly subscription, ensure to discuss that and the price for each plan for clarity and agreement purposes.

3. Design user interface

Consider creating web and mobile-based user interface designs that permit your users to manage their accounts, send messages, and do more they would wish to do.

4. Integrate with your system.

You will be required to integrate the bulk SMS provider into your business system. This process will involve you migrating data such as customers in the application, and you can also run a test to see how they are functioning.

5. Set up security

Security is an important thing not to leave out. Ensure your bulk SMS services are well protected with a secure security system that will protect your customer's data and that unauthorized users do not intercept the messages.

How to use bulk SMS to reach your target audience 

The best way to get your products and services to reach your target audience is by sending them messages through bulk SMS. It has been, so far, the best marketing channel due to its high delivery, cheap, and high open rate level. Let's see how you can use the bulk SMS to reach your target audience below;

1. Develop effective message

Before sending many messages to your targeted audience, you need at least the bulk SMS services with relevant messages to send. Ensure your messages are helpful and directed to the right audience.

2. Choose your target audience.

Ensure that your bulk SMS reaches the right audience by creating a list of users to whom you want to send messages. You can achieve that by reaching your current and potential customers and listing their details to send them messages.

3. Utilize segmentation

Ensure you have segmented your target audience for bulk SMS marketing and campaign services. You can segment them according to their ages, demographics, location, gender, etc. Through this, you can send each group personalized and relevant messages that suit their needs.

4. Automated campaigns

You can send and schedule your messages at predefined intervals by automating your bulk SMS campaigns. This will allow your messages to reach the targeted audience at a specific time and help you save time.

5. Integrate with other marketing channels.

Use your bulk SMS application by integrating it with other marketing applications to reach a wider targeted audience. This will help you advertise your business on other social media platforms and email marketing channels.

Conclusion

AI has proved to be a more advanced and powerful tool business can use to deliver their bulk SMS marketing campaigns in Kenya. Through AI, different companies can automate, segment, personalize and send targeted messages to their customers and achieve more with it.

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