What is SMS Marketing?
With everyone receiving updates on their phones and relying on mobile devices, businesses have started approaching prospects through SMS service. Furthermore, phones have become an integral part of everyone’s life and therefore, SMS marketing tools have seen an unprecedented upsurge in their use. Sales and marketing have also started to look up to SMS marketing as an efficient way of reaching out to the new prospects, for lead generation, along with carrying out a wide range of sales processes.
In this article, we shall look through the depth of the topic of SMS Marketing and what are the various advantages of it. Along with examples, we shall learn about the following aspects related to SMS Marketing.
- What is SMS Marketing?
- Advantages of SMS Marketing
- How does SMS Marketing work?
- Best Practices for SMS Marketing
- Why is SMS Marketing Effective?
- What is SMS Marketing Used for?
- Who Benefits from SMS Marketing?
- Will SMS Marketing work for your Business?
- Examples of SMS Marketing
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS Marketing refers to the process of communicating the latest updates, offers, and important reminders to your customers. This kind of communication can be of various types: you could be communicating with the customers directly over SMSes or they could be receiving automated text messages. Alternatively, they could be receiving messages as they were part of a group that chose to subscribe to receive texts.
Businesses have been relying heavily on this type of marketing and have been devising out-of-the-box SMS Marketing strategies to get the best out of the process. With a success rate of about 98% which is when the SMSes are read, it becomes all the more essential to understand what are the advantages of SMS marketing and why businesses are investing in it.
Advantages of SMS Marketing
Let’s look at some of the advantages that SMS Marketing offers:
Excellent Read Rate
Studies have shown 98% of read rate for SMSes. Most people will read your messages in the first few minutes of receiving them. That makes them a very convenient and safe technique for businesses to reach out to their prospects or customers. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that companies look up to SMS Marketing for creating brand awareness.
Costumers Prefer It
People of all ages and across all age groups use phones throughout the day and also depend on them to receive updates from any brands that they have subscribed to. Moreover, the process of sending SMSes is an exceptionally easy one; even if they are sending it to numerous customers.
Also, some customers tend to get irritated or disturbed when contacted by calling, and cold calling anyway has its own set of best practices. So, SMS is a rather preferred method to receive any updates that businesses want to share with their customers. So, SMSes are non-intrusive and therefore, tend to work well as compared to calling.
Cost-efficient
Some businesses may fall prey to the misconception that driving more sales would require loads of cash to dispose of into marketing processes; especially mailers that would not even be seen by the target audience. To avoid getting in this kind of situation, SMS marketing can do wonders, take your brand to thousands of people at one go, and still save you those valuable dollars.
For all those special offers, flash deals, all sorts of important updates can be shared with the customers through SMSes which have promised a 98% of reading rate; which may not be the case with email marketing.
How does SMS Marketing work?
Instead of using full phone numbers, SMS marketing messages come from short codes. One short code can be assigned to one sender or shared among many senders.
Sender information cannot be altered in many countries, including the U.S. Consequently, the message is delivered as a text message from the shortcode your provider used. Since your company's name will not be used while sending the message, you will need to include it as a part of the text message. Otherwise, the coded name of the sender will not let the customers know which company sent them the message.
SMS marketing allows you to send two types of messages:
- Campaigns: This refers to the bulk messages that you can send to all the people enrolled in your brand. A lot of them are used to communicate promotional information which includes coupons, deals, and so on. It also includes general information related to organized events and other alerts.
- Transactional: Transactional messages refer to the one-to-one kind of communication. These are generally the result of an action the customer had taken. For example, sending the shipping details to the customers against the order placed by them. Such messages allow keeping the customer in the loop about the progress of the transaction.
Best Practices for SMS Marketing
Now that we have learned about the basics of SMS Marketing, let us also get a grip over the best practices to be followed.
Ensure that Contacts Signup for Receiving SMSes
SMS facilitates easy and direct communication with customers. When developing an SMS marketing strategy, you need to consider many factors without which moving ahead in your campaign may be difficult. One of those is getting permission to send SMS messages to your contacts is the first step.
You must remember that all your efforts to arrange for sending SMSes will go in vain if your customers have not subscribed to your SMS service. It becomes even more important in cases where the law of the land requires you to ask for permission from the customer before sending SMSes.
Timing is Important
When you send SMSes, you need to be extra careful about the time you send them out. This is in contrast to the Email campaign in which the emails can be sent at any time of the day; as it does not tend to be intrusive. Customers will see and read it when they go online.
However, this is not the case with SMS marketing. You need to take care that you do not disturb the clients and do not send them SMSes at odd hours. This could repel them from registering to your SMS service in the future; ultimately leading to losses.
Utilizing SMS marketing to Complement Your Marketing Campaign
Digital marketing offers you some unique and unparalleled features. Irrespective of the mode of communication you choose to connect with your customers, they will eventually lead to scale customer relationships. When you use SMS, you can use it in line with the other channels you use for communication. This is especially true for the combination of SMS and Email marketing as the two go hand in hand. Work out your strategy in such a way that you can use the two modes to boost your sales and conversions.
Bulk SMSes must have Your Company’s Name
Bulk SMSes are mostly sent through short codes. This implies that when the customers receive the messages, they will not be able to understand the name of the sender. They will receive a short code in place of the name of the sender. Therefore, it becomes essential to add your company’s name in the text of the SMS. This will help the customer understand which company has sent them the updates.
Why is SMS Marketing Effective?
Several reasons make SMS one of the most effective marketing tools you can use:
Offers a staggering engagement rate
SMS engagement rates exceed those of email. Emails, in general, consist of longer pieces of information that may act as a deterrent for the reader to engage with. This is in contrast with the quick and short texts included in SMSes. As a result, SMS is an effective method of delivering vital information.
Smartphone Usage
SMS is excellent for reaching customers directly since over 80% of adults in the US own a smartphone. Your business will become more engaging online if you include a link in your text.
SMS is perfect for emerging markets
Emerging and developing businesses need to be persistent with communicating with their prospects and leads. SMS marketing can pave the way for improvement and help them make inroads to forming a strong and loyal customer base. Therefore, in such a scenario SMS is deemed as a much better channel of communication.
Completes the Email Marketing Cycle
While both email marketing and SMS marketing utilize similar strategies, they are most effective when combined to enhance your sales cycle. SMS offers immediate notifications, while email provides more detailed information. This way, you can get the best of both worlds and use the combination to derive better sales and revenue for your brand.
What is SMS Marketing Used for?
SMS can be used in a number of ways. This section talks about some of the most common applications of SMS marketing.
Messages with urgent information
An event involves many stages of planning. Communication becomes increasingly challenging as you have more people attending the event. You need to ensure that all of them have received all the information that you must share with them, and in a timely manner.
In case of events, there are bound to be cancellations, changes of time, general information. All of these require a real-time update that must be carried to the customers within the stipulated timeframe. SMS is the most plausible method that will assure you of the facts being delivered to all the due recipients in time.
Retail or e-commerce short-term promotions
Your store or website can benefit greatly from coupons and promotions. Your goal is to make sure as many people know about the limited-time promotion or sale.
All your latest developments can be communicated to customers via SMS, which is especially convenient for people on the go. So they will not miss out on the opportunity because they did not receive the message in time.
Alerts internal to the organization
It can be difficult to convey urgent messages all at the same time to a large number of employees. This could include office closure, change in time, emergency updates, and so on. E-mails may not be the best option here as they may not see it eventually. Having your message sent via SMS ensures that everyone receives it on time.
Notifications of appointments
If yours is a business that sees lots of appointments and meetings with clients and customers, then you must have messages that notify your clients of the upcoming meeting. Missing out on this could result in the delayed arrival of the clients or worse when they don't arrive at all.
It's a good idea to send reminder text messages so that people won't forget their appointments and show up on time. You can save your schedule from going haywire and also save some precious hours.
Who Benefits from SMS Marketing?
Your digital marketing strategy can be greatly enhanced by sending text messages, regardless of the type of business you have. As a means of conveying very urgent information, they are very dependable.
SMS marketing is incredibly important for certain businesses, like the ones listed below.
E-commerce stores
E-commerce stores need SMS service all the time. Be it an update about the flash deals, sales, or shipping information, order-related information, or any of their marketing campaigns; E-commerce is one business that cannot thrive without SMS service.
Appointment-based service businesses
Send SMS reminders so your clients won't miss their appointments. By doing so, you will save yourself a great deal of time and money by eliminating absenteeism, late arrivals, along with delayed or canceled meetings.
Travel companies
Customers need real-time information from travel companies through SMS. Among the updates are gate changes, reschedules, delays, weather warnings, and many more. Customers can receive SMS messages quickly and easily, so you don't have to worry about them receiving it on time.
Large companies with more than 100 employees
There is a need for internal communication, but it is difficult to reach everyone in a large firm. Email is inefficient for urgent communications. When communicating internally, SMS is the best method to ensure staff members receive information at the right time.
Will SMS Marketing work for your Business?
If your business, too, requires you to update your customers and inform them consistently about the various products, sales, or any other info, then SMS marketing is something that will work well. All you need to do is sit down with your team and chalk out SMS marketing strategies to draw new customers to your store.
Here are some elements that SMS marketing will take care of for your business:
- Dependable delivery
- Ensures customer engagement and boosts customer retention
- Guarantees direct communication with the customers
- Gels well with your email marketing campaigns
Examples of SMS Marketing
Let's explore the specifics of SMS marketing through some examples and how it can benefit us. Text message marketing can look like the following:
SMS about Promotions
Example: 30% off on sunglasses this weekend only!
Example: Special financing schemes available on all bookings only for this month.
SMS about Payment Reminders
Example: Thanks for visiting us today! Please find the payment link below.
Example: A balance of $133.00 is overdue. Click the link below to make a payment.
SMS about Notices
Example: Your order #1345 has been recalled, click the link for more information.
SMS for Reminders
Example: Your $500 bill is due on January 20.
Example: You have a scheduled appointment with Harry on 04/07/20 at 3:00 pm
SMS for Confirmations
Example: Thank you for your purchase, please click the link below to track your order.
SMS for Service Updates
Example: We have replaced the damaged part, and it is now ready to be picked up.
SMS Requesting Online Review
Example: Thank you for using our services, we'd appreciate any feedback you could leave about our service on this link.
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Key Takeaways
Before we wrap up the article, let us walk around the important points discussed:
- SMS Marketing refers to the process of communicating the latest updates, offers, and important reminders to your customers.
- Excellent Read Rate, preference of the customers, and cost-effectiveness are the best advantages of the SMS marketing.
- Instead of using full phone numbers, SMS marketing messages come from shortcodes.
- SMS marketing can be done in two ways, namely the campaigns and Transactional SMSes.
- Best practices for SMS marketing involve ensuring that your customers signup for the SMSes from you. It also requires the businesses to be mindful of the time at which the SMSes are being sent out. Marketers must also utilize SMS marketing to complement the marketing campaign. Finally, marketers must remember to add their company’s name in the text of the SMS.
- SMS Marketing is an effective way of marketing because it has a staggering engagement rate and is perfect for the emerging markets. It has also become relevant due to much usage of mobile phones by people in general.
- SMS Marketing is used for sending urgent information, short-term promotions, alerts within the organization, Notifications.
- E-commerce stores, Appointment-based service businesses, Travel companies, Large companies with more than 100 employees are some of the types of businesses that greatly benefit from SMS Marketing.