Have you started to tap the benefits of SMS marketing for your business? We know that sending an SMS is a personal way to connect with friends and family. But do you know it can also be an effective business tool to connect with your customers and increase your ROI?
As a business owner, you might be skeptical about investing in SMS marketing as one of your business marketing strategies. Or perhaps you feel that sending an SMS to your customers might appear intrusive. This is quite the opposite.
With SMS marketing, you can reach your customers in the fastest possible way. You can send promotional offers and transactional messages to your customers and keep your business top of mind.
Several studies show that marketing via SMS can reduce the rate of abandoned carts and increase sales.
Read on to find out what SMS marketing is all about and discover 5 benefits of using this form of marketing.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is a form of marketing that involves sending text messages. Such messages could be promotional or transactional offers and you send them to existing or potential customers. For example, this targeted message could inform your customers of the latest offers in your business. It could be a sales discount or a coupon.
SMS marketing is a great way to build a trust relationship with your customers. You can also use it to direct traffic to other marketing channels like your website, email, or social media page.
Is marketing via SMS effective? Today, there are billions of smartphone users and more than 50% of online traffic from mobile phones. This makes it clear that people spend most of their time using their mobile phones. You can stay top-of-mind through text messages that effectively capture your business message. The best part is you don’t have to worry about your message going into spam folders. You can be sure that your customers will receive your message right in their text message inbox.
To be more effective, your message should be short, catchy, and straight to the point. Now, let’s look at the 5 major benefits of choosing to use SMS marketing for your business.
Benefits of using SMS marketing for your business
Here are 5 benefits of implementing this style of marketing into your business:
Increased open rate
We know that emails and social media are flooding with ads, promotions, and an overload of information. Some of which are irrelevant.
Marketing via SMS is a fast and convenient way to market your product or service to customers directly. It is also affordable.
With SMS marketing, open rates go as high as 98%. Customers are more likely to open a text message than perhaps an email. So when you send promotional messages to your customers, you can be sure that they are likely to read them almost instantly. This is because people consider text messages more personal and urgent.
Increases customer engagement
Your customers will most likely be expecting a text message from you especially if they opted in by choice. Within a few minutes, customers can go through your text message and are likely to engage with you. Unlike emails that could end up in spam folders, an SMS goes right into your customer’s text message inbox.
For example, if you own a restaurant, you could send a promotional message offering a 20% discount for lunch every Friday. This puts your business top of mind and increases your chances of conversion. You want to make sure you add a link or a phone number where customers can easily reach out to you for your services.
Can integrate with other marketing platforms
SMS marketing supports various messaging software. You can easily integrate other marketing channels into an SMS. This will help drive traffic to channels like your social media page or your website.
By including a link or a social media handle, you can direct customers to other marketing platforms to further engage with you. This will increase traffic and possible conversion rates.
This form of marketing is also effective in reminding customers that they have items in their online shopping carts.
Builds customer loyalty
As explained earlier, text messages have a higher open rate than emails and other channels. SMS marketing is a great way to keep your business at the top of your customer’s minds. When you send something valuable to your customers by text, you easily win your customers’ trust and loyalty. They know that your text messages can solve their problems and will be more willing to interact. You could also consolidate your relationship with your customers. For example, you could send customers a birthday text
Reach a wider audience
Text messages are a common activity for every age range and type of phone. With SMS marketing, you can target a wide range of demographics whether young or old. This is particularly helpful if you offer a generic product that cuts across a wider range of demographics. This is opposed to using certain platforms that perhaps target only a younger generation. E.g Snapchat and TikTok.
SMS marketing is here to stay and you can use it to build customer relationships, brand awareness, and increase ROI. Remember to keep it short, relevant, and professional. Monitor your progress and implement the best SMS marketing practices.
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