We’ve all seen it: the myriad of ads, notifications, and promotional campaigns floating around us digitally. Everywhere you go, digital marketing is omnipresent and quickly becoming the new gold standard of how businesses advertise to customers. But what about those who haven’t been able to keep up with this trend? What about those who haven’t been able to unlock the potential of digital marketing?
That’s where SMS Marketing comes in! SMS Marketing or text message marketing enables businesses to reach customers instantly on their most commonly used communication device ever: their phone.
With SMS Marketing, businesses are afforded the unique opportunity to cut through the clutter of digital marketing and target potential customers in a more personal and immediate way. Unlock the benefits of SMS Marketing and reach your customers with the most direct communication ever developed.
In this post, we’re going to discuss how to take advantage of the power of SMS Marketing and explore why now is the perfect time to jump into this innovative form of advertising.
Quick Breakdown
SMS marketing is an effective way to reach customers quickly and directly. It allows businesses to send targeted, time-sensitive messages that can result in increased conversions and customer engagement.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS Marketing is a marketing tactic that utilises Short Message Service (SMS) technology to send out automated messages directly to customers’ mobile devices. This method of communication has become increasingly popular due to its convenience, reach, and timely delivery. While SMS Marketers are basically sending out personalised messages to their targeted audience, it should also be noted that there is a potential for abuse of this technology. The undeniable fact is that the overwhelming majority of spam text messages are sent via SMS and can result in customer alienation and annoyance rather than interest.
On the other hand, SMS Marketing can be used ethically and responsibly with great results. When done correctly, this mobile marketing channel can provide brands with significant and tangible advantages over more traditional marketing strategies. Take for example the ability for businesses to deliver mobile coupons, promotions and discounts right into their customers’ pockets – something which would be virtually impossible with print or TV advertising.
In short, when used properly, SMS Marketing can truly help businesses reach their goals by expanding their customer base while tapping into the untapped potential of device-based communications. So, without further ado, let’s delve into what the benefits of device-based communication are in order to unlock all its advantages for your business.
The Benefits of Device-Based Communications
Device-based communication is becoming increasingly popular in digital marketing, especially with SMS (Short Message Service). When messages are sent to the device, customers can read through their messages quickly and easily. This is because they can access it from any location with a phone or tablet, as long as they have access to the Internet. Furthermore, if customers opt in to receive text messages, they’re likely to already be familiar with them and know how to respond.
One of the benefits of using device-based communications is that people will be more likely to take action or make a purchase when they interact through their own device. This is due to something called ‘endowment effect’ – a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people feel more attached to something once they have possession of it. This means that when your message reaches the customer’s personal device, they will become more inclined and more likely to act upon the prompts you provide them.
There are a few drawbacks to consider for device-based communication as well – since you’re only able to hold your customer’s attention for a short period of time, you may need to be extra creative with your messaging and ensure that your call-to-actions are clear. Additionally, when interacting with customers on their own devices, it’s important to be conscious about how often you chat with them. You don’t want customers to feel like you’re constantly contacting them over every small issue. To prevent this from happening, it helps to create targeted campaigns which are focused on specific offers, rather than sending generic updates or messages every now and then.
Overall, device-based communications offer many benefits that traditional methods of communication cannot match – it gives marketers an opportunity to reach their audience virtually anywhere at any time and increase engagement levels through endowment effect techniques while still being respectful of their customer’s time and preferences. With the right execution, SMS marketing can be a great tool for businesses looking to increase customer engagement and loyalty, leading us into our next discussion on how exactly this strategy can benefit businesses in their efforts of growth and expansion.
How Does SMS Marketing Benefit Businesses?
SMS marketing provides numerous advantages for businesses looking to grow and reach a larger customer base. From increased engagement, higher open rates, and greater convenience, businesses benefit from the immediacy and convenience of text messaging. With SMS marketing, customers don’t need to download an additional app; instead, they can receive messages directly through their phone’s native messaging service. This gives text messages high read-rates, with 98% of texts opened within 3 minutes, meaning that businesses have access to a reliable communication channel that can be used to inform customers about new products or services as soon as they are available.
Furthermore, SMS marketing allows businesses to more easily track results and measure success. By tracking metrics such as click rate and conversion rate, companies are able to better understand what is working best for them in terms of outreach strategies. Additionally, SMS marketing helps businesses save time and money since most mobile plans come with unlimited texting capabilities. This means that by investing in an SMS solution for their marketing strategy, businesses can save resources that would otherwise have been spent on other costly promotion methods like mail or email campaigns.
By combining device-based communications with improved reach and engagement with customers, businesses are able to quickly and effectively generate greater online visibility. Through increased visibility comes more opportunities for growth and potential engagement with new customers meaning SMS marketing is invaluable for any business looking to take their customer engagement efforts to the next level.
- According to a survey conducted in 2019, 90% of people said they would like to receive discounts and offers via text.
- A research study published in 2018 found that clicking on mobile ads or offers increased by 230% when SMS was also included as part of the customer journey.
- Data from 2019 revealed that click-through rates for SMS marketing messages is around 36%, which is more than six times higher than email’s average CTR of 6%.
Improved Reach and Engagement with Customers
SMS marketing certainly can benefit businesses when it comes to reaching and engaging customers. Text messaging opens up a direct line of communication between brands and consumers who are increasingly opting for digital interactions. According to research conducted by Adobe, 89% of consumers prefer to be reached through SMS nearly as much as email, making it a key tool in the customer engagement toolbox.
The short and concise nature of text messages may even make them more attractive for customers when used in the right way, as it keeps communications succinct and avoids bombarding potential customers with long emails or promotional material that might not grab their attention until it’s too late. Further, many customers now tend to interact with their phone more than any other device, so having regular touchpoints with them specifically on their mobile phones or devices can drive engagement.
However, experts suggest that businesses refrain from sending an excessive amount of texts, such as offering promotions too frequently, as this could lead to inundating people with unwanted messages or worse, alienating them from the brand altogether. Keeping a balance between engaging your customers without overloading them is key for successful SMS marketing campaigns.
While properly executed SMS campaigns have the potential to provide businesses with huge advantages when it comes to customer reach and engagement, there are additional tools businesses can use for even better outcomes. Many automated services exist today that allow businesses to track performance across multiple campaigns effortlessly and make informed decisions about how best to engage their audiences. Let’s take a look at those next.
Automated Tools for SMS Marketing Campaigns
Automated tools have revolutionised the SMS marketing process, allowing businesses to cut down on time and effort spent launching campaigns. Automated tools enable timely sending of SMS messages at a predetermined frequency and can also be used to automate processes such as notifications, confirmations, check-ins, and more. These tools help marketers ensure that their SMS campaigns are distributed to the right target audience without any manual intervention. On top of that, automated tools offer analytical capabilities as well which help measure the success of campaigns by tracking response rates, increasing conversions, and ROI (Return on Investment).
For businesses that don’t have the resources to manually monitor every aspect of their campaigns, automated tools can be a great asset in helping optimise customer engagement strategies. At the same time, it is important for businesses to weigh out both the pros and cons of using automated tools for SMS campaigns as they can lead to negative user experiences if overused or used inappropriately.
The rise of automated tools has provided businesses with a powerful tool to reach more customers instantly and effectively engage with those customers. This in turn has opened up numerous opportunities for increased customer satisfaction and improved ROI yet maintaining control over budget and campaign performance is still essential. With this in mind, whether automated tools are an appropriate fit for a business’s particular SMS Marketing needs should be determined based on careful consideration and analysis.
Having leveraged improved reach and engagement with customers through automated tools, companies can now focus on taking the next step in personalising their messages to boost response rates. By utilising custom messaging tailored specifically towards each individual customer’s needs, companies can solidify relationships between existing customers while also finding new ones more quickly – all within the same platform.
Increased Response Rate with Personalised Messages
The power of personalised messages should not be underestimated. Done correctly, personalising a message allows for a more direct and immediate connection between potential customers and your business. Studies have shown that adding personalization to SMS messages can lead to a 28% increase in open rates when compared to non-personalised messaging. Furthermore, the use of personalised messages can result in an up to 800% higher response rate than generic messages (1).
Personalising messages helps build trust with potential customers as it illustrates that a company is willing to take the time to learn about its customers and tailor their messaging accordingly. It also makes communications more interesting, as customers appreciate finding themselves addressed directly within a marketing message rather than just hearing generic calls to action. While this process requires additional time from marketers, as some creative effort must be put into each message and some effectiveness testing must then be done for larger campaigns, the potential return it can provide makes this an invaluable tool for any SMS marketing strategy.
However, it’s worth noting that despite the advantages associated with personalising communications via SMS, sometimes generic messages can be beneficial in certain situations. For example, while personalising emails is recommended in most cases, a study by Experian found that short promotional messages are more effective when sent generically rather than personalised due to them being “more familiar” (2). As such, marketers should remember to weigh all options before applying too much personalization to their SMS campaigns.
No matter what approach is taken, one thing is true: tracking customer engagement with individual SMS campaigns is paramount if successful results are desired. By having the ability to evaluate which campaigns have been successful or unsuccessful and what keywords have been the most engaging, valuable lessons can be learned and applied towards future campaigns. The next section dives deeper into the importance of tracking engagement with SMS messages for maximum success.
(1): Business 2 Community. “A Few Reasons You Should Personalise Your Text Messages – Business 2 Community”. Accessed May 20th 2020
(2): Experian Marketing Services “Automated Email Campaigns: Generic Vs Personalised – Experian. Accessed May 20th 2020
Essential Points
Personalising messages via SMS can increase open rates, response rates, and build trust with potential customers. However, there are situations when generic messages are more beneficial. Tracking customer engagement is key to success in this area.
Benefits of Tracking Engagement with SMS Messages
When it comes to tracking engagement with SMS messages, marketers have two distinct advantages. On one hand, they can track responses from their target audience, and on the other hand, they can evaluate the overall success of their campaign to identify areas for improvement. Tracking engagement is a great way to measure the effectiveness of your campaigns, which allows you to tailor your texts for better returns.
For instance, let’s say you’re running a promotional SMS marketing campaign. By tracking customer engagement with response rates to specific offers or links, you’ll be able to immediately assess how successful they were at enticing customers. Additionally, metrics like the average open rate or click-through-rate will inform you on how effective they were at engaging that audience as well.
On the other hand, there are some downsides associated with tracking customer engagement with SMS messages. For example, arguably the most effective metric — time spent viewing content— is difficult to capture accurately using SMS marketing because there’s no guarantee that customers will actually view the message. Also, tracking user engagement takes up a lot of time and resources that not all companies are willing or able to commit to.
Still, when leveraged properly tracking engagement with SMS messages can offer valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviours that can power more strategic campaigns for higher conversions in the future. That’s why it’s important for businesses to understand how they can use data gathered through SMS metrics and analytics effectively.
Regardless of any potential drawbacks associated with tracking customer engagement through SMS messages, marketers should keep in mind that understanding who their target customers are and what their preferences are is essential in creating more engaging content that resonates with them. To do this successfully businesses need visibility into customer behaviours so they can continually evaluate and optimise their strategies as needed. This means using segmented strategies for text message marketing tailored around key demographics such as age, location, gender etc. With this knowledge in hand marketers will gain greater leverage when it comes to marketing successes.
Segmented Strategies for Text Message Marketing
When it comes to text message marketing, segmented strategies are key for reaching more customers instantly. Specifically, SMS segmentation allows a brand to develop targeted messages based on factors such as customer demographics and past purchase history. This type of curation helps brands deliver more personalised messages that appeal to each consumer’s individual needs and interests. One study found that businesses which use customer segmentation in their SMS campaigns have seen open rates up to 70 percent higher than non-segmented sends.
A segmented approach also allows brands to leverage refined tracking metrics for SMS campaigns. For example, when sending out a message campaign, brands can gain insights into who is actively engaging with their messages and learn which age group or geographical area is responding better than others. The data gathered from segmentation can also help brands decide which topics or product categories will pique their target audience’s interest the most, allowing them to send out content that resonates with them more effectively.
However, there are some drawbacks associated with a segmentation strategy for text message marketing. For instance, structuring messages around specific topics can lead to an oversaturation in certain areas if campaigns focus too heavily on one topic. Furthermore, segmenting campaigns can be a time consuming process due to the fact that brands need to have precise customer data at hand in order for it to be effective.
In conclusion, utilising segmented strategies for text message marketing has a variety of advantages which can result in substantially higher engagement levels compared to non-segmented campaigns. By using this approach, brands are able to gain valuable insights from their customers while sending out more personalised messages instead of generic ones which tends to increase engagement even further. On the other hand, a proper balance should exist between segmented and non-segmented communications due to the potential pitfalls associated with focusing too much on one topic or area exclusively.
Frequently Asked Questions Answered
What advantages does SMS marketing have over other forms of digital marketing?
SMS marketing is a powerful digital tool that allows businesses to reach their customers, promote their products and services, and build relationships with customers, instantly. The biggest advantage of SMS marketing over other forms of digital marketing is its immediacy. SMS messages are received by the recipient almost immediately after it is sent, ensuring that the response and uptake is swift.
Additionally, SMS has staggeringly high open rates at 98%, which is significantly higher than email’s 20% open rate. As a result, businesses can expect a more successful campaign when using SMS compared to other forms of digital marketing. Moreover, SMS can be used as an effective way to reach customers outside of their internet-connected devices; thus broadening the scope of the digital message.
Finally, SMS is incredibly cost-effective for businesses and easy to use. It requires minimal setup or technical expertise and can be incorporated into any promotional strategy instantly. By choosing SMS as a tool for your marketing strategy you can reap all the benefits that come with this unique form of digital communication.
How can businesses measure the success of their SMS marketing campaigns?
Businesses can measure the success of their SMS marketing campaigns by looking at a number of key metrics, including open rates, opt-in rates, click-through rates, and most importantly, conversion rates. Open rates show how many people are opening an SMS message; opt-in rates indicate how many people have signed up to receive messages from your business; click-through rates measure how many people are actually clicking on links contained in the SMS message; and conversion rates give businesses an idea of how many customers are taking action after receiving the message. By monitoring these metrics, businesses can get a better sense of what’s working and what isn’t when it comes to their SMS marketing campaigns. Additionally, they can use this information to make changes or alterations in order to improve their campaigns and get more out of them.
What are the costs associated with using SMS marketing?
The cost associated with SMS marketing can vary, depending on the volume of messages you intend to send. However, in general, the costs are relatively low compared to other marketing channels. Typically, businesses pay a flat fee per message sent, plus any applicable taxes or fees. Additionally, some services may require a subscription fee to access certain features such as longer text messages, tracking analytics, and high-level customer service support.
Overall, when compared to traditional print or television advertising campaigns, SMS marketing provides far more bang for your buck. The reach of an SMS message is incredibly fast and highly targeted. Research shows that most people open their text messages within 3 minutes of receiving them – dramatically faster than email or social media campaigns can deliver. And because the message only goes to those who have opted-in (most likely by texting a keyword to a short code), you can ensure higher conversion rates as those receiving your message are already interested in your product.
In conclusion, SMS marketing offers an incredibly cost-effective way to reach more customers quickly. With its lightning-fast delivery time and highly focused nature, you can get the most out of your messaging campaigns while still keeping your costs low.
