SMS Marketing

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS Marketing is sending promotional campaigns or transaction messages for marketing purposes using text messages  These messages are mostly meant to communicate time-sensitive offers. As well as updates, and alerts to people who have consented to receive these messages from your business.

It’s no mystery that developing relationships with customers takes work. If you want to reach your customers, you can’t wait for them to come to you. You have to be proactive and go where they are.

As people become more attached to their phones, text messages become the most direct line of contact. This has made text message marketing one of the most effective forms of communicating.

Generally speaking, the goal of this marketing is to build a database of subscribers to increase customer loyalty. When implementing close range marketing tactics, text messages are an ideal way of notifying people within your vicinity of any immediate offers, without having to use push-notification applications. More than informing your customers of upcoming deals, it can also be a great way to send reminders for upcoming events. As well as engaging your customers by polling their opinions.

In fact, for at least 60% of consumers, SMS marketing is preferred to other email marketing and push-notification services (Forbes). Many delivery platforms allow for easy segmentation and management. So the most relevant text messages can be sent to those who are most likely to convert. It’s also preferable in that it tends to be less expensive when compared to other methods of distribution, making it a cost effective mobile solution.

Why you should use SMS marketing?

• Global reach. As five billion people have a mobile connection :SMS marketing offers vast opportunities for engaging with the audience, limited only by creativity and the size of the phone number list.
• High level of interaction. People check mobile phones 80 times a day. For that reason, SMS marketing campaigns show a significant open rate.
• Multiple opportunities for usage. Businesses use SMS marketing for advertising, alerts, notifications, reminders. Also for password confirmations, competitions, news, product information, etc.
• Fits business of all sizes. Huge companies like banks, travel agencies, airlines, healthcare providers, etc., take advantage of SMS marketing as a tool to reach masses. At the same time, a small business uses it for local audiences with more precise aims on a smaller scale.
• Instant contact with users. Typically, an SMS campaign takes 3-6 seconds for the delivery. Speed is an essential factor in SMS marketing efficiency.
• No bounces. Unlike email marketing, there are no bounces during SMS marketing campaigns. Even if a mobile device is out of range or turned off, the SMS will reach users after the phone is connected to a cellular network again.
• Works best in combination with other channels. SMS marketing goes along with email marketing and web push notifications. Savvy marketers create a mix of these channels to reach their goals, and sometimes they send SMS automatically to duplicate the message that email failed to deliver.
• No special skills required. Creating SMS campaigns is very easy. It takes about five minutes to build one.

SMS Marketing Statistics

Now  we have some background on why SMS marketing is so powerful. So now let’s take a look at just a few of the most important text messaging stats.

• 95% of text messages are read within the first 5 minutes
• 70% of Americans would like offers from their favorite businesses sent right to their cellphones
• The average American looks at their cellphone 150 times per day
• 22% of text messages with value are forwarded on to friends and family
• The average redemption rate for a mobile coupon is 20%