The Myriad Benefits of SMS Marketing
Over the past few years SMS marketing has proven itself to be one of the most cost-effective marketing channels available. While email marketing is still a viable strategy – text messages are read more often, more quickly, and generate a faster response from your customers.
This article will examine the many benefits of text message marketing and offer some insights into how to best use this powerful tool.
The Highest Open Rates
First and foremost – text messages are unbeaten when it comes to their open rates. Emails frequently get routed to spam folders and even if your emails make it to your customer’s inbox, they often languish there unopened.
Text messages can approach an open rate of 98% – an astronomical figure when compared to emails paltry 11 to 50% open rate.
Instant Delivery (and Receipt!) Makes For Timely Messaging
Another benefit of text messages is that they are a way of instantaneously reaching your customers. While emails may hit your customer’s inbox in the same amount of time as an SMS message – the simple reality is that people check their text messages all day, every day! The average person opens an SMS within 90 seconds, compared to 90 minutes for an email!
The immediacy of SMS based marketing allows businesses to send time-sensitive messages such as abandoned cart reminders, flash sales, or even to use SMS as a way of responding to customer web inquiries. Trying to implement these strategies with emails is going to result in more missed opportunities as emails lack the real time notifications that accompany texts.
Makes It Easy For Subscribers to Opt In/Opt Out
One major advantage of SMS marketing campaigns is that you are unlikely to lose customer goodwill due to their non-intrusive nature and easy unsubscribe options. As text messages are limited to 160 characters per message, your communication with your customers will be inherently brief – allowing you to promote your product or service without becoming an irritant.
[block quote or image “Reply STOP to this message to stop receiving text messages.” ]
To opt in or out of the messages, customers need only send a short code that says “Stop.” Your customers will appreciate that simplicity, particularly when compared to tiny, obfuscated unsubscribe buttons at the bottom of emails which take them to a webpage where they are asked yet again if they would like to unsubscribe.
Increase Customer Engagement With Open Lines of Communication
While SMS enjoys extremely high open rates, when looking for marketing tools we must consider additional metrics as well. SMS continues to fare particularly well, offering stellar engagement rates.
The reason for this is simple – text messages are uniquely situated to offer bidirectional communication. Unlike an email newsletter which requires customers to go to your website, your customers are able to reply to your mobile marketing efforts directly, immediately entering your sales pipeline.
High Impact…and Yet Surprisingly Affordable
With high open rates, high click through rates, and strong engagement potential you might be forgiven for assuming that a text messaging marketing campaign would be expensive to run. However, at just $0.01 to $0.05 per text message, this is one of the most cost effective forms of marketing available to small businesses.
It’s hard to make a compelling argument against a low cost, high impact digital marketing campaign – SMS messaging is low hanging fruit that most small businesses are simply not taking advantage of!
A Formula For High Conversion Rates
At the end of the day, conversion rates and ROI are the two metrics that drive marketing decisions, and on this front SMS marketing truly shines. With high open and response rates, low cost, and the ability to deliver targeted messaging on a moment’s notice, SMS marketing routinely surpasses all other marketing channels in terms of conversion rate.
Seamlessly Integrates Multiple Applications
One of the best things about SMS marketing is that the marketing software that allows you to use it is able to integrate across multiple applications. You’ll be able to send messages to customers who reach out to you on your website’s chat box, send service visit follow-ups, offer personalized promotions, and more.
Beyond traditional text messaging, most SMS marketing services also allow you to reach out to customers on alternative messaging services like Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Reach a Wider Audience
With SMS marketing small businesses find it easier to reach a wider audience than ever before. Most businesses are already well provisioned with the numbers of existing customers, making it a breeze to get started with a viable prospecting list. Phone numbers are a normal part of customer data acquisition and few new customers will be reluctant to provide you with their cell phone number.
Regardless of the demographic of your target audience, SMS messages are more likely to be read and responded to when compared to physical mailers or emails. More and more, physical mailboxes are of low importance to younger customers, and older customers are less likely to routinely check their email.
Mobile phone ownership is at an all time high, with 97% of Americans owning a mobile phone and 85% owning a smartphone. No matter who your ideal customer is, the odds are good that they have the ability to receive your texts!
Communication That Builds Connections
SMS marketing is a powerful tool for boosting customer loyalty as it can convey a degree of familiarity that other marketing strategies cannot. Most of us associate text messages with friends and family – and as marketers we can use this sense of goodwill to help us make more meaningful connections with our customers.
Additionally, an overwhelming amount of customers wish to be able to communicate with businesses via text instead of over the phone. A recent survey found that 93% of American consumers want to be able to text small businesses, while less than a third of businesses offered some sort of text-based communication. Adopting SMS marketing will make it easier for these customers to communicate with you on their terms.
It’s Easy To See SMS Marketing Campaigns Succeed
While not unique to SMS marketing, text message based marketing allows businesses to easily track campaign performance. With traditional marketing channels such as print, radio, and television, it is a perpetual challenge to see if your marketing dollars are delivering the expected return on investment.
SMS marketing can implement tracking links, or your SMS marketing software can connect with tracking APIs to help you generate relevant and granular reports.
Why Isn’t Your Business Using SMS Marketing?
If your business isn’t already taking advantage of SMS-based marketing then you are missing out on one of the most effective marketing platforms currently available. From better engaging with current customers to providing timely targeted marketing to prospects, the benefits of SMS marketing are easy to see.
When it comes time to implement your SMS marketing, look for tools which incorporate automation. With Poe’s marketing automation features, your business will be able to use SMS messaging to engage with your customers without taking up more of your precious time.