You might think that mobile SMS marketing lost its power as mobile internet, social media and smartphone messaging applications became increasingly accessible to your customers. In fact, the opposite is true.
These technological advancements actually stimulate the usage and reach of SMS marketing with smartphone devices. So instead of ditching your SMS marketing efforts in favor of trendier mobile marketing methods, you might want to ramp them up.
In this article, we explain what mobile SMS marketing is and present five reasons why text message marketing is still worth it.
What is mobile SMS marketing?
Mobile SMS marketing is a marketing channel in which businesses reach customers (and potential customers) via text message. It’s also known as text message marketing (SMS stands for short message service).
Text messages are sent directly to customers’ mobile phones and are used for a variety of purposes including:
Promotional content (such as special offers or coupons)
Order confirmations/notifications
Appointment reminders (such as a doctor appointment or a webinar booking)
Customer feedback (such as polls or surveys)
Like email marketing, SMS marketing works on a permission-based model in which recipients must opt-in to receive marketing communication from you via text message (from which they can unsubscribe at any point). This opt-in might occur when a customer registers for an account on your website, providing you with their phone numbers and permission to be contacted as they become subscribers.
While the popularity of text messages between friends and relatives has waned in favor of messaging applications such as Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp and WeChat, SMS messages remain a powerful marketing platform for businesses to reach their customers.
Research shows that the average person spent 4.8 hours on their mobile device in 2021. The more time people spend on their mobile devices browsing the internet, social networking, reading emails and performing other activities, the more reachable by text message they become.
Here are five reasons why text message marketing remains a powerful communication channel and should still be a part of your overall digital marketing strategy.
1. Extremely high open rate
Text message marketing ensures a very high open rate. Research shows that SMS messages have an average open rate of 98%, compared to 20% for email marketing.
Mobile SMS marketing is therefore a perfect tool for marketers to not only inform their target audience but also be sure that they’ll receive the desired information.
2. Easy to engage with readers
With 6.3 billion smartphone users worldwide in 2021 (expected to rise to 7.5 billion by 2026, according to Statista), text messaging has become even more helpful and powerful for marketers.
Unlike regular cell phones, smartphones ensure people see the beginning of the message before they even open it. Take the time to craft engaging text messages with an intro that motivates recipients to open and a compelling call-to-action (CTA) to inspire click-throughs.
Text messages from businesses should be highly personalized using customer data in order to have the biggest impact. The more personalized an SMS message is, the more engaging it becomes to the recipient.
3. Message at the right time
Our mobile phones are always with us. That’s why it takes just 90 seconds on average for someone to respond to a text message, according to Forbes, compared with a 90-minute average for email response.
With mobile SMS marketing, you can precisely calculate the optimal time to send your messages, when information will most likely be read by your audience. This makes it the perfect channel to promote the end of a sale or a new promotional campaign.
4. Save time for everybody
People live busy lives and appreciate concise information. Text messaging not only saves time for your recipients, it will also save your marketing team valuable time and effort due to the SMS marketing model’s simplicity.
Using automation and short message services, your company can run text message marketing campaigns using data held in your customer relationship management (CRM) tool to send bulk SMS in real time.
You can even break down your contact lists by varying demographics to find optimal send times, text message content and customer engagement for your SMS marketing campaigns.
You could also use an SMS short code, which is a five- or six-digit number used to send your text messages. Short code numbers are highly beneficial to marketers as they can send out text messages in bulk much faster than a traditional 10- or 11-digit number. They’re also easy for consumers to remember and they instantly let the recipient know that the message is coming from a brand rather than someone they know.
5. Easy to integrate with other marketing methods
You can easily integrate SMS text messaging with other marketing methods, such as your email workflows and social media marketing, to create one common strategy.
For example, you can sync your email lists with SMS lists in order to promote campaigns, safe in the knowledge that SMS marketing has higher open rates and quicker response times.
Final thoughts
It’s clear that the popularity and effectiveness of mobile SMS marketing isn’t going to change anytime soon. Make sure you stay ahead of the curve.
