Over yesteryear two decades, SMS marketing is now so ingrained in our lives that we don’t even pause to consider what life was like without it. Despite that, marketers still don’t regard the platform as highly as email or social media marketing. What a mistake. Here is what the […]
What is The Future of SMS Marketing?
Over yesteryear two decades, SMS marketing is now so ingrained in our lives that we don’t even pause to consider what life was like without it. Despite that, marketers still don’t regard the platform as highly as email or social media marketing. What a mistake. Here is what the future of SMS marketing is about.
Fundamental channels for digital marketing.
While email is definitely a fundamental channel for digital marketing campaigns. The hype around social media is deserved and needed, if only for the powerful targeting and personalization capabilities.
SMS marketing, on the other hand, offers equally valuable yet unsung benefits for marketing communications. If you’ve hesitated to adopt texting as a marketing channel, perhaps it’s the best time to reconsider.
Why It’s the Best Time to Adopt SMS Marketing
Although SMS is now regarded as a powerful addition to an omnichannel strategy, it wasn’t always a stylish digital marketing platform. It was very costly for marketers to go seriously. Plus, it lacked any semblance of a playbook, which email already had.
Today’s digital landscape, however, has paved the way for text messaging to be always a marketing platform that’s not only viable but actually worthwhile. In particular, these changes have driven its success as a medium for marketing:
Peak Mobile Penetration
The first SMS-ready mobile phone was introduced to the market in 1993. But, the rapid adoption of cellphones came towards the late 90s as cellular networks became more stable and even allowed cross-network messaging.
By 2000, 12% of the world’s population had mobile phones, and that number has consistently increased since then.
Today, there are over five billion unique mobile subscribers global. The stat means over 65% of people all over the globe have a mobile device of some sort.
Although the number of smartphone users is increasing steadily, approximately 30% of mobile subscribers don’t have a smartphone with access to the internet. But, each one of these is capable of receiving text messages.SMS examples with different country codes.
Development of Regulations
In the first days of SMS marketing, there were scarcely any regulations to guide marketers in utilizing it appropriately. It was essentially a free-for-all platform for almost any business that may afford to utilize it. Spam was predominant and branded text messages were considered a nuisance.
Data Privacy Regulations
Several regulations have been developed and widely accepted across the world to encourage not merely respectful methods but also data privacy protection.
These regulations have made people more available to receiving promotional text messages. In fact, in these days, 75% of consumers say they don’t mind getting texts from brands provided they opt in.
Lower Costs
In the first 2000s, just one SMS might cost anywhere from ten to twenty cents, with respect to the operator. For businesses engaged in mass texting, the expense quickly accumulated. But, as time passes, costs were driven down by a few factors. Not the least of which was the popularity of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook, and instant messaging computer software like Viber and Messenger.
Nowadays, there are innumerable marketing packages that make SMS a cost-effective platform. Some of them could even bring costs right down to one cent per text. Keywords and shortcodes involve additional costs.
Keywords are unique phrases your customers may use to connect to your company while shortcodes would be the numbers to which those keywords are sent. In the text “Send HELP to 66586,” HELP is the keyword and 66586 is the shortcode.
In yesteryear, a business seeking to seriously participate in SMS marketing would need to take advantage of dedicated shortcodes, which allow for unlimited use of keywords. Those could cost from fifteen to thirty thousand dollars each year. Nowadays, you can find mobile marketing firms that share shortcodes across multiple businesses by way of a keyword rental model. Each keyword rental could cost from five to twenty-five dollars per month.
Software Advancements
Earlier, the SMS gateways that enabled computers to send, receive, and manage text messages were physical appliances that merely allowed marketers to crank up their texting efficiency. Nowadays, SMS gate way applications enable you to do all that with no cost of procuring specialized hardware.
Advancements in marketing applications have also resulted in the wide acceptance of SMS as a marketing medium. While there are SMS-specific apps for businesses with limited needs, there is also powerful software which allows you to manage entire marketing campaigns across multiple channels, all employing a single platform. Using such applications, you should use SMS as an ingredient of an omnichannel strategy alongside email, social media, and search advertising.
Omnichannel Adoption
In recent years, consumers have shown a definite preference for omnichannel brand communications. Not only are purchase rates higher for companies that use three or more channels, but retention rates will also be much higher. While businesses on only a single channel keep approximately 33% of their customers, retention rates are as high as 89% for organizations with omnichannel engagement.
There’s no denying that the large part of the success of omnichannel campaigns is the appropriate use of SMS marketing. Not only are consumers more prepared to receive texts from companies, but those that opt in to SMS as well as other channels are much more likely to convert. This rapid adoption and undeniably positive acceptance of omnichannel marketing make the future of SMS much more exciting.
The Benefits of SMS Marketing
Advancements in the digital marketing landscape have definitely paved the way for SMS to be always a valuable marketing platform. To brands and marketers, they are the most significant benefits that are unique to the medium:
It Doesn’t Require an Internet Connection
Unlike email, it doesn’t take an internet connection or possibly a smartphone to get text messages. That means your visitors will receive your message no matter where they’re and the type of phone they’re using. In the usa, that gives you access to 96% of the full total adult citizenry.
It is a Widely Accepted Medium
A vast majority of digital individuals are eighteen to forty-nine yrs . old. Of them, 99% gain access to SMS-enabled mobile phones. But, the success of SMS marketing is not merely because of cellphone penetration but also the acceptance of texting as a natural means of communication. In fact, among Americans younger than fifty, texting is typically the most popular form of communication.
It is Always Within Reach
According to research by Morgan Stanley, 91% of adults keep their mobile phones within reach all the time. In fact, Americans check always their phones every 12 minutes while they’re awake. That means the average American engages making use of their cellphone about 80 times a day.
It is Easy to Consume
Since phones are always at your fingertips and texts are typically around 160 characters long, marketing messages on SMS can be consumed. That is possibly the reason why it enjoys open rates of over 98%. In contrast, email open rates average 14% across all industries. Additionally, about 90% of texts are read within the first three minutes of receipt.
SMS Messaging Encourages Quick Responses
Because text messages are an easy task to consume, recipients are also prone to respond. In fact, the typical response rate for SMS is 45% while email response is only 6%.
SMS is also the preferred means of receiving coupons meant for both on line and in-store redemption because of its convenience. In fact, redemption rates for SMS-based coupons are ten times greater than printed versions.
The Benefits of Combining SMS With Other Channels
Email has been the long-established medium for digital marketing. It isn’t going anywhere, no matter how prevalent SMS marketing becomes. But, texts differ vastly from emails not only in format but additionally in how they are consumed. For that reason, SMS undoubtedly has its own role to play in a really omnichannel advertising campaign.
While email excels because of its capability to communicate extensive and dynamic content, it can’t beat the timeliness of SMS. That makes text messaging the right complement to email. Time-sensitive offers, for example, perform most readily useful on SMS. Text messaging is also an effective way to operate a vehicle your audiences to your email content.
SMS and email make up the critical platforms of an omnichannel campaign. But, it doesn’t really end there. Depending on the nature of your business and the needs of your audience, using both of these platforms along with others like push notifications, social media, search advertising enables you to be undoubtedly omnipresent without having to be invasive.
By combining available platforms and allowing each one to play their particular roles, you’re able to provide seamless customer experiences that enhance both sales and brand affinity.
SMS Marketing is Bound to Become More Valuable
Though SMS has undoubtedly proven its worth as a marketing channel, changes and improvements that may inevitably come will make it an even more effective channel. Some of them might include:
Improvements in Personalization
As it integrates more seamlessly with other channels and becomes ingrained in more business processes, SMS marketing will love a broader scope of data. Add to that the inevitable advancements in artificial intelligence and marketers will clamor over SMS for the extent to that they can personalize messages.
More data and targeting options also mean better automation capabilities. Marketers can set more specific triggers, and machine learning capabilities can lead to much more personalized campaigns. With SMS’ current performance as a marketing medium, these advancements in personalization and automation will undoubtedly cause even more improved engagement rates and, eventually, better sales.
Developments as a Primary Support Channel
Through AI-driven enhancements, SMS could become the primary means where customers can access support. Today, chatbots can already accurately answer frequently asked questions. As they be informed and much more intuitive, they are often integrated into more business processes that will inevitably enhance customer experiences.
Imagine entering a busy boutique and finding a top you like however, not in the size you wear. Instead of looking forward to your turn to ask the sales associate to check on for your size, you could simply send a text message and receive a response in an instant. As SMS bots become much more integrated into business processes, they are able to even instruct sales associates to take out the item you asked for, track you down within the store, and help you through the remainder of the buying process.
Usefulness in Various Industries
SMS marketing is currently most appropriate to e-commerce businesses. But, innovative marketers are quickly finding new applications because of it and start possibilities to harness its power in non-traditional ways.
Pretty soon, its benefits as a medium will encourage more and more industries to adopt it. That, subsequently, will further contribute to its wide acceptance and performance as a marketing platform.
Integration With More Channels
The most common method to use SMS is to fit email campaigns. With thoughtful planning and preparation, some of the heightened marketers also successfully utilize it alongside other channels like push notifications, instant messaging, social media, and search.
However, through data-driven insights and advancements in computer software, SMS should soon integrate more seamlessly with a wider variety of channels so that you can provide an undoubtedly personal and cohesive experience that’s consistent across all platforms.
Today, some of probably the most powerful marketing software happen to be making some of these situations possible. Nevertheless, apps will continue improving and further increase SMS’ value.
Best Use of SMS Marketing
Businesses have adopted SMS for an amazing array of applications. Here are some of the best approaches to use texting effectively:
- Post-Purchase Notifications: The period after a shopper completes a purchase is crucial to customer retention. Apart from a comprehensive confirmation email, send them SMS alerts as you process their order, ship their item, and concur that they have received their package. Doing so will make an additional purchase greatly predisposed.
- Time-Sensitive Alerts: The short format of text messages and the proximity of cellphones to its users ensure it is the perfect medium for time-sensitive information you want your audiences to act on right away. These include product launches, sales promotions, along with other limited-time offers or events.
- Gift Distribution: Impressive redemption rates make SMS a great platform for distributing digital coupons and virtual gift ideas. With marketing automation platforms, you can even send gifts automatically through relevant triggers like birthday and get milestones.
- Customer Support: The quick and direct nature of SMS makes it a fantastic option for providing fantastic customer service. SMS bots can receive and answer basic questions after which escalate more technical or painful and sensitive concerns to a highly trained support team. That allows support teams to focus only on critical issues while giving all clients access to timely assistance.
- Accessing Information: Apart from providing assistance, you should use SMS to supply quick and easy usage of information. Practical applications include confirming availability, providing store locations, and offering product recommendations.
- Drive to Site: Through SMS, you can drive your customers to your internet site to boost traffic, promote new content, or get them to re-engage. This is especially helpful for users that haven’t visited in quite a while and have stopped opening emails.
- Order Placements: If you have limited SKUs, SMS could be a great way to accept orders. When fully automated, this may provide an effortless ordering experience to your visitors, which could cause better retention and more sales.
- Appointment Setting & Reminders: Businesses enables their clients to book appointments via SMS. You can use exactly the same platform to automatically send appointment reminders.
- Identity Verification Processes: Two-factor authorization via SMS is not a new concept. But, as data privacy and security becomes more vital to the success of companies, more industries will surely adopt text messaging for identity verification.
- Feedback Gathering: Remarkable SMS response rates also ensure it is an excellent platform for feedback gathering. Through text messages, it is possible to ask your visitors to answer simple surveys. You may even use SMS bots to ask questions as a human market researcher would.
Conclusion
The current success of SMS marketing demonstrates it is here to remain. As brands’ innovative use of the channel drives its growth and wide acceptance, it will become much more valuable. Ultimately, it will take its rightful place alongside email as an indispensable medium for marketing communications.
