A marketer’s toolkit is filled with various mediums of communication and while SMS is one of them, it doesn’t get used to its fullest potential as it’s often sidetracked by online advertising. SMS marketing is fast, works without the Internet, and offers incredible reach. From creating awareness about your product to thanking customers for making a purchase, SMS lets you do it all. Let’s understand why and how you should leverage SMS marketing to maximize your reach and boost your business growth.
Benefits of Using SMS Marketing
Offers Better Open Rates and Reach
SMS offers an open rate of 98%. There are many reasons for this astounding number. SMS offers unparalleled reach even without an internet connection. It’s fast and works in cities and villages. You don’t need to install a specific app either. Even when compared with emails, which are also praised for their reachability, SMSes are quicker and effortless.
Provides Better Reply Rates at a Lower Cost
Social media platforms and emails are filled with digital noise. There’s a lot going on in the background and around your screen, and it’s easy for a customer to get distracted. However, you get their undivided attention in an SMS and it’s one of the reasons why its reply rates are higher.
Is SMS marketing expensive? No, it’s one of the cheaper forms of marketing. Its cost depends on multiple factors such as location, the amount of texts, the service being used, etc. The low cost makes it easily scalable – a benefit that’s appreciated by both small and large businesses.
Boosts Effectiveness of Marketing Strategies
SMS can be a great addition to your marketing efforts. For example, text and ask your customers to participate in a lucky draw. Then reward the winners by texting them discount codes for your products. You can text customers asking if they want to sign up for your newsletters. Maybe you have a big sale coming up – email your customers an attractive brochure, but keep telling them something about the sale regularly via SMS.
How to Utilize SMS Marketing
Create Awareness About Discounts and Promotions
Summer sales, Christmas discounts, BOGO, Black Friday sales, contests, and promotional campaigns – there are many opportunities for you to leverage throughout the year. Be it a simple announcement or a quiz contest, get higher engagement by communicating via SMS.
Collect Feedback
People see providing feedback as a task. But with SMS, it can be done quickly. SMS also offers access to a large sample size that could give you an immense amount of data to utilize.
Provide Updates
Got a new product? Providing a new service? Use SMS to keep customers updated about all the important brand-related news. You can also send delivery details, inform them that the product they wanted is back in stock, and more. This helps you stay in touch with the customers while offering them a better overall experience.
Sending Referral Codes
Rewarding your clients for bringing in referrals is a great way to maximize word-of-mouth advertising. This way you get new customers and strengthen your relationship with the existing ones.
Following Up With Leads
Did a customer leave your website without checking out? Have they asked you about a product but never answered your call? Don’t let a potential sale go away, stay in touch with them with SMS. Remind them about the product or ask when they are available for a call. Utilize the non-intrusive nature of SMS to text your customers and nudge them toward making a purchase.
Things to Keep in Mind While Using SMS Marketing
Get Consent
Check if your local rules allow communicating brand messages via SMS. In the USA, brands provide customers with details of what kind of SMS they will send. The customer needs to give their consent before brands can send them the messages.
Personalize Text Messages
Send your customers personalized offers on the product they want to buy. Such messages make them feel special. You can create these using customer data to garner better engagement and improve conversion rates.
Keep Messages Short and Sweet
People check SMSes only on their phones where reading walls of text becomes harder and tiresome. The average human attention span is just 8.25 seconds, so ensure your messages are short and simple with crucial details and minimum fluff.
Schedule Smartly
Most people use their phones soon after waking up. In the USA, 9 am to 5 pm are the general work hours. Seven7 am to 9 am is perfect for sending messages like delivery updates, details of important events, follow-up texts, etc. You won’t get their undivided attention in the morning though, so don’t send messages where they have to open a website or make a buying decision. Save those for the evening.
In Summary
SMS is an older technology, but out of style? Not at all. It’s effortless, provides attractive ROI, and has an amazing reach. Ninety-seven percent of Americans have a mobile phone, so you theoretically have access to the entire country. Leverage the power of SMS and enhance the performance of your marketing strategy.
FAQs
What are some of the uses of SMS?
You can use SMS marketing to announce discounts, offers, new products and services, contests, and provide details of important events, delivery-related updates, etc.
Is SMS offline marketing?
Yes, text messages can work offline as they are sent and received using the cellular network. It doesn’t matter whether the phone is connected to the Internet or not.
Why is SMS still a popular way of marketing?
Marketers can send SMS at lower rates than many other mediums. SMS doesn’t require people to be connected to the Internet and works on all mobile phones. They can be sent and received quickly and they work in areas of poor cellular networks. These are all reasons why SMS is a popular marketing tool.
Which is better – SMS marketing or email marketing?
Even though they are both mediums of communication and great marketing tools, there’s a stark difference in their functionality. SMS and emails have their own sets of advantages and disadvantages and can’t be pitted against each other.
External Links and References
Visit these links if you want to know even more about the power of SMS Marketing
6 Benefits of SMS Marketing | Smart Insights
7 Tips to Leverage the Power of SMS Marketing | Convince & Convert
What Is SMS Marketing and Why Does Your Business Need It? | TextMagic
