Why SMS Marketing is Important
There are many reasons why SMS marketing is important. In this article, we shall review the benefits of SMS marketing to your business. Before going to the importance, let us look at the meaning of SMS marketing.
What is SMS marketing?
Many benefits are attached to the use of SMS marketing, however, many businesses still underutilize and overlook it. It is a vital part of getting one’s business name in the mobile-focused world we are in. Most people make use of SMS as part of their daily lives. This in turn makes it easier to reach out to customers via SMS.
SMS is not just a convenient way of chatting with friends, it is also a powerful tool for marketing, especially for small businesses. It is fast, affordable, quick, and interactive.
Most users of cell phones allow their phones to alert them whenever a new text message arrives. most of these messages are read within a few minutes of delivery.
There are business owners that hesitate to adopt SMS marketing as a promotional tool as they believe that it is not effective. In reality, text message marketing services are affordable and easy to make use of as it provides a ton of value.
Why SMS marketing is important
- Fast delivery
- Near-perfect open rates
- Improve communication
- Customers can opt in
- Customers can opt out
- Cost-effective
- Reaches a wide demographic
- Works with other marketing forms
- Strengthens customer engagement and loyalty
- Flexible and customizable
Fast delivery
Text message marketing is fast not just in one sense. For social media or email marketing, a firm will need to design images that will go with the content. This is not the case with text message marketing as they have a low character limit. There is no need to write a ton either. They are very quick and easy to produce and send. Also, text messages get to recipients faster than Instagram posts or emails. This is because customers will receive instant notifications on their phones when they get a text. For email marketing, social media, and other forms of marketing, a firm must take additional steps for clients to see its other forms of marketing.
When it comes to sending an SMS, there is virtually a wait time. As you press the SEND button, you are very certain that your customers will receive your message straight away. It is here that the benefits of this form of marketing shine because it requires little preparation time. You do not have to gather materials or wait for printings for your message to be passed across. The only thing that is needed is to come up with your message and send it right away to your customers. Because it is already known that there is a greater likelihood for texts to be opened unlike emails, there is a certainty that your customers will see your important news as soon as possible.
This method of marketing is fast both for the advertiser and the consumer. Also, text messages are usually brief and sometimes include a link to a website with more details regarding the promotion. Consumers are likely to read entire messages because of their brevity. Consumers can read them at their own convenience and also, and text messages are not as intrusive as Web pop-ups or telephone calls.
SMS marketing allows a business owner to reach out to a large number of people at the same time. It is an instant tool that allows getting your message into the hands of the right market segment at the desired time.
Also, to a small business owner who is short of time, the brevity of text messages is beneficial. Therefore, planning and deploying a promotion via SMS is quick and easy as it requires less upfront planning than traditional advertising.
Near-perfect open rates
Sending messages by text is the most effective way to get to your recipients if you want them to open your messages. The number of people that open text messages are generally greater than the number of people that open social media and emails to view messages. We can say that 98 percent of the time, marketing texts are opened which is close to 100 percent. Mailchimp made a study and found out that the average open rate for a marketing email is 21.3 percent. In turn, this makes the response rate to be high. More customers are likely to click on a link that is being sent via text message.
It is easy for emails to get lost in a spam folder and also for a customer to throw a flier they pick up at the mall. But as mobile phones are prevalent and texting is popular, it is difficult for customers to ignore text marketing.
Improves communication
If you want to build a long-lasting relationship, do not neglect communication. SMS marketing is greatly beneficial while building these relationships. SMS is more personal from a company to its audience. This helps to let customers in on the secret sale, a simple message of thanks after purchase, a message informing customers of any sales and promotional offers, a notification sent when delivery is ready, etc. In these areas, SMS marketing plays an important role. As earlier pointed out, SMS marketing is fast. It is an easy and reliable way to communicate with customers.
When SMS marketing becomes interactive, it becomes fun and engaging. There are several ways to do it. Posing your message as part of a poll or survey is something that encourages your target audience to read more closely and participate actively. Users are encouraged to engage more with a brand when the SMS includes a link to entertaining videos or images containing more details about your promotion. Not every cell phone has the capacity to connect to the internet, so, it will be wise for business owners to consider including visual and interactive elements in their text messages.
Customers can opt-in
It is important to build your database correctly, not only for the purpose of data protection but also for having your customers sign up to hear from you. With this, the sales process has started already.
It is a very good idea to provide an option for your customers. After sending your text messages, and updating your customers on your business ventures, you should allow them to decide if they would like to opt-in. This will let them feel more comfortable with your entire business.
SMS marketing, therefore, relies on customers to opt-in. By implication, your target audience must sign up to receive messages with regard to deals and promotions before receiving them. Opt-in marketing has great benefits for businesses. One of the benefits is that customers who receive your messages are already invested in your product or brand. Another benefit is that you will not waste time or money bothering customers who are not interested.
Customers can opt-out
It is important for your business to always offer customers the opportunity to unsubscribe from further text messages. You will end up losing a customer if you keep sending out your messages with the intention of getting an uninterested customer interested. This is why it is better for you to give them an option to opt-out of these mobile messages rather than driving them away. There are other marketing strategies that you can adopt for those uninterested customers instead.
Cost-effective
SMS marketing is a method of communication that is not expensive compared to traditional marketing. It will help you to tighten your business budgeting belts. A lot of companies, both private and public cut costs daily by sending text messages in place of sending letters and brochures. In essence, it does not cost much at all to send a text to a customer. Even when it comes to sending messages to a lot of people, the cost is never a problem. This form of marketing is good, especially for new businesses that are looking for a way to start advertising without spending too much money. Small businesses, particularly, benefit from this because it is affordable.
Reaches a wide demographic
In our dispensation, many people have cell phones and other mobile devices. Because of this, it is easy for you to widen your customer demographic through SMS marketing. Rather than just focusing on a single marketing strategy that may only reach one section of your demographic, SMS marketing reaches everyone.
As long as your audience has a mobile device that can receive texts, they will get to receive and enjoy the messages you are sending to them. Additionally, with more exposure to your customers, you become a part of their world all the more. With this, there will be more purchases of your products and services.
Works with other marketing forms
It is not compulsory for SMS marketing to simply be a part of advertising all on its own. It can be used alongside every other way of marketing your business. It can serve as a quick and easy way for customers to get connected to your message. It can be used to get more customers interested in your social media. You can offer a discount for anyone willing to buy through your website. If you want to promote a new product, the easiest way is to send out an SMS for that.
Strengthens customer engagement and loyalty
Sending an SMS does not just give you the option to engage more with your customers, it also has the capacity to give your customers a way to engage with you. It makes them feel that your business is more accessible. It also makes your business become more a part of their lives instead of just going to the store. Instead, you are with them on their mobile phones which in turn prompts them to remember you.
Flexible and customizable
Certainly, most consumers promptly read text messages as soon as they are received. If you are like that, then you will be eager to read them when they arrive. Text messages are being read just a couple of minutes after receipt. Consumers have become familiar with email inboxes filled with spam and unwanted advertising. Because of this, many customers do not check their email inbox for new messages more than once o twice a day. In contrast, SMS inboxes are largely reserved for messages that demand to be read immediately.
How to use SMS marketing
- Get a list of customers you have permission to reach out to
- Make use of a tool to send your messages
- Creaft your message
- Track results
SMS marketing does not have to be something complicated. As earlier pointed out, it is even easier compared to email or social media marketing since there is no design component required.
Get a list of customers you have permission to reach out to
In the United States and Canada, it is against the law to text people that have not granted you permission to do so. Before sending an SMS marketing campaign, it is important to make sure that your list of recipients has given you the go-ahead to send messages. From your list, remove anyone with who you cannot confirm your permission status. Loyalty software can help you compile customer information and ensure that you remain compliant.
Make use of a tool to send your messages
You will need software that will help you automate your message sends. Some services solely provide text message marketing, but you can also make use of an integrated system like lightspeed loyalty.
A separate SMS marketing system will demand that you upload a list of customer contact info and then track your campaign data separately from all other marketing initiatives that you have. The benefit of making choices of loyalty program that integrates with your commerce system is that you can collect information, manage data, and send your campaigns from the same place you make or take sales.
Craft your message
There is no need for your text to be as long as an email newsletter. In fact, it is better when your message is shorter. Lightspeed loyalty message allows you to send messages that are up to three hundred long which is about two to five sentences. Do not forget to have a call to action and include a way for your customers to opt out if they are n o longer interested in receiving messages from you. Opt-outs are legal requirements.
Track results
After sending a message, the next thing is to track its performance. If you included a link in your message, look out for the number of people that clicked on it. If you made a special discount code that is exclusive to your SMS campaign, look out for the number of people that used it when they made a purchase as well as the number of sales generated. Finally, compare these figures to the number of messages you sent.
