SMS marketing has quickly become one of the most effective weapons available in the marketing arsenal. Many different organisations are now using text messages to communicate, from the NHS for check-up reminders and gym class cancelations to school closures during bad weather. Here are 6 reasons why these companies are using SMS messaging as marketing, and why you might want to think about it as well:
- Reach. Statistics show that 92% of adults own a mobile phone. Most of this 92% keep their phone within reach 24hours a day 7days a week, on average staring at their phone 150 times per day! That works out to be once every 6.5 minutes whilst they are awake.
- Direct contact. Text messaging could be the closest you come in the information-overloaded digital marketing world to a guaranteed read. SMS allows you to reach customer wherever they are at any time in the day. The average email is opened 48 hours after it is sent, but the average time it takes to open a text message is just 4 minutes after it being sent!
- Business tool. Text messages can be sent for a number of different reasons, for example reminding a customer when the class or appointment they have booked is. This is not only helpful for them in reminding them what time their class is, but also an opportunity to incorporate a link or send another text if the customer for some reason can no longer make the class. This could help reduce the number of missed classes as well as giving the customer a much more personalised service.
- Specific Target.When a customer chooses to opt into the service they could highlight what other areas they would be interested in receiving information on, allowing the business to target them with marketing relevant to them. This is known as narrowcasting; instead of making the message available to everyone it narrows down to be very customer specific and relevant.What are the benefits? You know exactly who you’re talking to, so it’s easier to engage them – you know what they’re interested in and can tailor the information to suit the individual.
- Low Cost. Sending bulk SMS messages is very low cost. Although it may seem more expensive than sending out emails, when you compare to the open rate of emails and text messages the price may seem more appealing – who doesn’t open texts?!
- Control. You can control when your messages are read. As most text messages are read within minutes of them being received, you can schedule the message at specific times in the day to create the best return on the message. For example, a restaurant could send a promotional message just before lunchtime when people are still hungry and are thinking about what to have for lunch or tea.
Now you have an idea of how SMS marketing can benefit your business or if you’re still not convinced get in contact with [email protected]. We can run through things in more detail and get your SMS campaign under way!