Everything You Need to Know About SMS Marketing

SMS Marketing is one of the most common and widely used forms of marketing. SMS Marketing allows businesses to communicate with their customers in a more personal and interactive way. These messages are generally used to communicate time-sensitive offers, updates, or alerts with your customers.

What is SMS Marketing?

SMS means Short Message Service by definition. When businesses use SMS as a form of marketing like communicating with their customers through SMS, it’s called SMS Marketing. Over the years, SMS Marketing has helped countless businesses to grow. 

In today’s connected world, SMS marketing is one of the most effective ways to reach your customers when they are on the go. As people become increasingly attached to their phones and can’t get enough screens in front of them at once there will always be a need for quick communication. When done correctly, SMS marketing is a great way to communicate with customers because the most direct line of contact often makes it an effective form to reach the customers.

The possibilities are endless with SMS marketing. You can use it for personalized promotions, offers, or discounts, remarketing your customer’s favorite items to them through surveys-the list goes on! 

What are the benefits of SMS Marketing?

With a read rate of 98%, SMS Marketing has the following benefits:

• SMS Marketing reaches the customers in real time: There are many reasons to use SMS marketing, but one of the best is that it’s fast. You can also reach your customers with a text message much easier than an Instagram post or through email marketing would be because they’ll receive instant notifications on their phones when you send them one!
• SMS Marketing has high response rates: This is a huge wake-up call for businesses! 75% of customers are willing to receive SMS messages from brands, and 89% of customers would prefer interacting with the company via text message rather than making phone calls or email marketing. Thus, leading to high open and response rate. Customers are more likely to click through your links when you send them via text message. SMS messages have an average open rate of 98% and a response rate of 45%, while email can only manage 7%.
• SMS Marketing is cost effective: SMS marketing is incredibly affordable, and there’s no limit to how many messages you want or who they’re sent to. SMS marketing is an attractive option for new startups that might not have the biggest advertising budget out there – especially considering how inexpensive international phone numbers can be (especially if your company operates globally!).

Why is SMS Marketing effective?

There’s no question that SMS marketing is super effective but have you wondered why is it so effective? Mentioned below are some of the reasons why:

• Flexible: In today’s world of technology, there are many ways to reach your customers. It can be difficult for businesses and brands looking for new strategies that will work well with their target market – but SMS marketing is one solution! One of the best features of SMS marketing is that it’s suited for both B2C and B2B companies. SMS marketing can be used by businesses in order to communicate internally, as well as publicly-facing brands who want their message out there but don’t have time on hand with all those social media platforms!
• Efficient: SMS marketing is undoubtedly one of the best practices for businesses that want to reach their target audience quickly and efficiently because almost everyone has a mobile device today. You don’t have to spend time designing SMS marketing campaigns once you know what message you’re looking to send out, as it only takes about as much effort typing on our mobile devices and crafting sms text messages. If you are looking for effective SMS marketing campaigns that will have the best ROI, look no further than SMS marketing. With its quick and easy nature in creating SMS campaign, it is not only cost efficient but also saves hours of time which can be used elsewhere. Also, SMS marketing campaign allows multimedia messaging service offeringswhich makes it more fun for the customers.
• Direct: By sending an SMS, you can reach your audience directly and quickly. It will remain on their mobile phones until they open it which means that there is no need for them to log in or open any other apps in order read the sms text message. Through SMS marketing, businesses can reach their customers directly in their personal inboxes after they opt in.
• Measurable: You can also track the campaign by using analytics software, which will allow you to measure the delivery and click rates for each SMS message. This allows us quickly review the ROI of our campaigns or SMS marketing program without sending any more texts until we know how effective they are!

Who can benefit from SMS Marketing?

SMS Marketing benefits almost every industry with the right SMS marketing strategy. However, mentioned below industries are the most benefitted by SMS marketing:

• E-commerce Stores: You can use SMS to communicate with your customers or SMS subscribers in real-time. Whether you’re sending out promotional campaigns or order/shipping confirmations, text message marketing is one way that will keep them up-to-date throughout the process.
• Travel Companies: SMS Marketing has become an essential part of any company that offers travel services. Customers need real-time information, which includes flight time updates and cancellations as well as weather alerts. With text message marketing, you can tell SMS subscribers exactly what they want to know through text messages without having to worry if it will get seen in time.
• Service Companies: With innovative SMS  marketing tips like the SMS reminder system, you can spend less time on scheduling and more energy with your clients. Send out quick text messages to make sure your loyal customers never miss an appointment again.
• Large Organizations: The best way to ensure that every employee gets the information you want them is by using SMS for internal communication. For important messages or urgent information, emails are too slow and sometimes never get read. Using text message marketing for your internal text messages is an efficient way to ensure that everyone gets what they need when it matters most.

Important things to keep in mind when using SMS Marketing

In order to ensure the safety of your customers and employees, it is important that you meet legal and regulatory compliance standards before sending any text messages. You must always make sure that you make proper use of the tools and services compliantly. Some other important points to keep in mind are:

• Make sure you have permission: Text message marketing is one of the best practices to engage with your customers through text messages and get their attention. But before you send them any messages, make sure that they’ve opted in and submitted their phone numbers. You can ask for their permission on either the website or through other online channels like social media platforms. Don’t text people who haven’t given you explicit permission to do so. 
• Give instructions to opt out: This is mandatory for all marketing communications to give proper instructions to subscribers about the process of opting out of sms campaigns. We must respect people’s choices of opting out. Try to be considerate of your customers and include unsubscribe information even for sms campaigns like shipping updates or appointment reminders. 
• Send the right message at the right time: The text message is the perfect way to get in touch with someone on your daily schedule. It’s quick, easy, and efficient – just what you need when it comes time for important communication. But it’s very important to send messages at the right time. Nobody wants to disturb the customers or ruin their mood with just a text message. Sending out a blast marketing message is not the most effective way to get your point across. Stage it by time zone and you’ll find that people are much more receptive.

How does SMS Marketing work?

SMS marketing messages are sent from either “short codes” or toll-free numbers. These shortcodes can be associated with one sender, but it is important to include your company name in the message so people know who they’re texting for business purposes. SMS marketing examples are:

• Campaign messages: Campaigns are a great way to communicate with your customers. They can be used for everything from announcing new promotions or sales, offering exclusive deals, giving updates on events happening soon, telling people about local happenings in their area, etc.
• Transactional messages: Transactional messages give you the ability to reach out and communicate with your customers in a personal way. They’re great for confirming orders, shipping information, or any other timely updates that might be necessary during an individual’s purchase process.

Conclusion

There are countless benefits of using SMS marketing messages to grow your business. It’s fast and personal, efficient and reliable. Just make sure that text message marketing is used precisely and to its potential by your business.