Hello, everyone. Derek Johnson with tatango.com. If you watch this video to the end, you're going
to find out one of the easiest ways to increase the ROI of any text message marketing campaign,
and it's so easy. Literally, it takes two clicks, okay? What am I talking about?
I'm talking about the simple paragraph break. When you hit on your keyboard, return, the return key
twice, that creates a paragraph break. Once is a line break, so it goes text, text.
A paragraph break is text, blank space, text. Why is this so important in text message marketing?
Because text messages only get looked at between one, two seconds. You quickly look at the message
and then you glance away. If the message is a jumble of characters, and links, and
"Text STOP to stop" at the bottom, it all just jumbles together and you have one second to look
at it and go, "I don't know," and then you move on, okay? Use paragraph breaks and line breaks,
but paragraph breaks most of the time in all of your messages. I'm going to run through some
examples here to show you how much better it looks for the consumer, and then when it looks better,
it reads better, and then people click on the links more often then you get more ROI
from your messaging. So, without further ado, let's jump right in the first one right here.
And this is from the Humane Society of America. And as you can see here, this is a big message.
I looked at it originally and I just...I looked at the first part and I was like, "I don't have
time to read this," and I moved on. Okay. This is without paragraph breaks. This is what they send
to their customers or their consumers, volunteers, whatever they are. Let's bring up the next one.
Okay. That's what it looks like with paragraph breaks. Look how much easier that is to read.
This one, I do want to read because...or I can skip down. I can go, "Oh, okay, 'To help,
the Lewyt Trust is matching donations...'" I don't need to read the top. That's the
best part about paragraph breaks. It allows the consumer to consume what they want when they want
without reading the whole thing. So, if I'm just the biggest supporter of the Humane Society of
America, maybe I just want the gist of the message, which really is "The Lewyt Trust
is matching donations," and I go, "Yeah. I'm in." Click the link, done. Good to go. Maybe I want to
read the whole thing. But with the first version, you're not giving the consumer that choice.
You're making them read the whole thing, and my eyes glaze over it. So, that's the first one.
All right. Second one is Sonic. Okay. Sonic. I'm looking at the message and I'm like, "All right,
'Tonight and every...'" Like, I moved over and then I see "HELP/STOP," and I'm like,
"Too much." It's too... You would never see this in an email marketing message. You would
never see this even a personal email message. So, I don't know why brands keep doing this
in their SMS messages. Okay. So, now you see what it looks like without paragraph breaks.
Let's go and see what it looks like with paragraph breaks. Okay. Much better, much easier to read,
and then also they've used a double paragraph break, which is awesome at the bottom. Actually,
it's not them. I've recreated these messages, I just want to be clear, to show you how much
better it looks when you use paragraph breaks. So, I use the double paragraph break with the HELP and
STOP because that is the least important thing in that message. I want to push it all the way
to the bottom. So, "Tonight & every Tuesday... Get 1/2 Price Cheeseburgers," and then I'm like,
"Okay, I'm in. Let's do it." The other one, it's a jumble of a mess to read. So, again, another
good example of a brand that could be using paragraph breaks. All right. Two more left here.
The next one is Bloomingdale's. Again, right here, "Bloomingdale's: "Private Sale: Take 25%
off," and then they got all these slashes, and numbers, and "STOP=STOP," and I'm like, "Ugh,
so confusing," okay? Let's bring up the one with paragraph breaks. Look at it. It looks so
much better. People are going to click on this message. People are going to read this message.
It just looks way easier to read, therefore people are going to read it. So, again, use paragraph
breaks or even double paragraph breaks or line breaks. Mix it up. But I like the paragraph break
because it puts a little space in between, but if you're listing out things, put line breaks,
that's okay. But for different concepts in the message or different areas in the message,
definitely use a paragraph break, which again, just hit return twice on your keyboard. It's like
the easiest thing you can do in SMS marketing. You don't need to create an image, or a GIF,
or find an emoji, or get approval really. Just hit the return button twice. It's not that hard. Okay.
Last one here is from Papa Murphy's. So, as you can see in this message,
they're kinda doing it. They're doing line breaks here. So, you can see "Tuesday We are open!
Any lg..." So, that's good, but it still looks jumbled. I would never send an email like this.
If I send an email like this, my employees would never read it. I send emails to my employees that
have paragraph breaks so they can quickly look and scan the email. Okay. So, let's show what it looks
like with the paragraph breaks. Much better. It's the same message. We didn't change anything except
put paragraph breaks where there were line breaks before. Again, much easier to read. The call to
action is easy. I know where to click. It's just an easier message to read. If it's easier to read,
easier to comprehend, easier to get people excited, then easier to get more ROI from
your messaging because you get people to click on the message or take action in the message. So,
2020 is almost over, thankfully, and this is the month, November 2020, to start putting paragraph
breaks in every single one of your messages. It is the time, then in 2021, it will become just
normal for you to do it. Every time you create a message you'll hit that return key twice to
create that paragraph break and your messages will get much higher readability scores that
will translate into clicks, that will translate into higher ROI for your SMS marketing campaign.
Again, my name is Derek Johnson with tatango.com. And hopefully, I've given you one of the easiest
ways to increase the ROI of your own text message marketing campaign. Thanks, everyone.