How to Use AI to Create Effective SMS Marketing Campaigns

AI is on the rise, and 2023 is predicted to be the year it makes its big breakthrough. In late 2022, we already got a taste of it with OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT. In addition, last year many also had the pleasure of using OpenAI’s image generation tool, Dall-E.

Below, we’ll go over how you can put ChatGPT to work to optimize your SMS marketing campaigns targeted to your customer club via copywriting and idea generation. We’re not quite there yet where it’s possible to uncritically copy/paste the content ChatGPT generates, but we’re not far from it. We therefore recommend that you always review the texts and revise them so that they are both quality-checked and fit your organization’s style and tone.

How does ChatGPT work?

ChatGPT is a language model developed by OpenAI for the purpose of generating human-like texts. It was introduced in 2018 under the name GPT-1 (Generative Pre-trained Transformer). It was then followed by GPT-2 in 2019, GPT-3 in 2020 and GPT-4 in 2023. 

When ChatGPT, which is a chat version of GPT-3, was launched in November 2022 it drew headlines worldwide as it has proven to be one of the most advanced and sophisticated language models today.

ChatGPT is built to process sequences of words and understand their interrelationships. By using machine learning, ChatGPT has learned to predict the next words in a sentence and, on that basis, generate texts that appear incredibly convincing. 

ChatGPT has been trained on huge amounts of data and can understand the context and meaning of text it reads. This allows ChatGPT to generate text, within a defined framework, making it particularly useful for copywriting, as we will show below.

Using ChatGPT to compose SMS marketing messages

The examples are based on the fictional artisan coffee shop, The Coffee Connection, with a physical shop, event premises and webshop. In the examples we will work ourselves around all kinds of marketing copy about sales, special offers, events, customer feedback, abandoned cart and idea generation.

Sale

In this example, we have asked ChatGPT to prepare five drafts that can be used to advertise special coffee offers. ChatGPT has managed to hit the right style and tone, which is cheerful and informal without coming across as over the top and frivolous.

In the examples, ChatGPT has been good at staying within the character limit of 160 characters without us having to ask it to. Be aware, however, that when emojis are used in a text message, it switches to USC-2 encoding, which causes the maximum length of a message to change from 160 to 70 characters. It’s up to you whether it’s worth the extra money to include emojis, or whether you think the text has enough punch without them.

Abandoned cart

In the example above, we asked ChatGPT to generate messages to send to customers who have abandoned their cart, where we also asked ChatGPT to come up with ideas for the discount codes.

Customer feedback

Here we have asked ChatGPT to come up with suggestions for SMS messages to send to customers and with a call for feedback. By using virtual numbers and keywords, you can enable two-way communication where the customer just needs to reply back with a number between 1 and 5. This makes it much more likely that the requested action will be carried out.

Extraordinary offers

Here’s an example of messages you can send if you have something special you want to make sure your customers see. This also strengthens the bond between the webshop owner and the customers, as it allows customers to get access to an exclusive limited edition product before other customers also discover that it is in stock.

Events

In this example, we are promoting an event where ChatGPT has managed to include all the details of our command within the 160 characters. It’s absolutely amazing to see the creativity and variety in the five examples, including its ability to select appropriate emojis. Definitely an upvote on that response.

Idea generation

You can also take a step back in the process and simply ask ChatGPT to come up with ideas for events to be held in the store. Again, hats off to ChatGPT’s creativity and ability to come up with workable suggestions.

Tips and tricks for using ChatGPT

Read best practices on how to use ChatGPT optimally and learn more about the tools and advanced features that can also be used. 

Best practices

• Be clear and specific in your questions and commands. The more specific you are, the more likely you are to get a useful answer.
• Use correct grammar and spelling, as ChatGPT is better able to understand and respond to well-formed questions and commands.
• To ensure ChatGPT generates appropriate responses, provide sufficient context and information. This includes information about the topic, relevant background knowledge, and relevant details or preferences.
• To avoid ChatGPT becoming confused, avoid using too many questions or commands in a single message. Optimally, limit the number of queries or instructions per message and consider splitting them into separate messages.
• Use ChatGPT as a tool, not as a substitute. ChatGPT can be incredibly useful, but it is important to remember that it is not a substitute for human expertise or judgment. Use ChatGPT as an assistant to supplement your own knowledge and research, rather than relying on it uncritically.

AIRPRM browser plugin

It is also possible to use the AIPRM browser plugin, which offers a range of templates that can be used in SEO, marketing and copywriting. The templates contain a number of pre-configured commands where you often only need to insert a little bit of information. It is mainly used by SEO experts, but also has many templates available that can be used for writing SMS marketing texts or provide inspiration for them, especially those related to email marketing, where the results can be adapted to SMS.

Advanced use

In the examples above, we have chosen to focus on relatively simple commands, where everything is included in one instruction for ChatGPT. However, you can also choose a more advanced use of ChatGPT, also referred to as “Prompt engineering” by some. Since the field is very new, there is not complete consensus on many of the terms related to AI tools. 

Instead of one instruction, you can start out by sending instructions to ChatGPT over several messages, ending with a request that ChatGPT confirms that it understands the instructions. This may be useful if there are many instructions and a large context that ChatGPT needs to take into account. 

You can also choose to give ChatGPT an identity. This can particularly be relevant if you are producing descriptive texts where you want to appear as an authority in your field. Here, you can start out by telling ChatGPT that it has X number of years of experience in the field you are writing about, or hold a particular position, which can make ChatGPT’s answers more complex and comprehensive.

If you want to take it a step further, it is also possible to ask ChatGPT/GPT-4 to create scripts that can be set up to handle specific tasks based on information in, say, a Google Sheets document. This may be relevant if you have tasks with a lot of repetition or you have a task that you would like to automate. For example, it would be possible to have ChatGPT prepare a script that can customize and personalize the SMS messages you send out based on the data you already have on each customer. However, That’s a topic for a whole other blog post.

Global SMS Gateway

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