Expert Tips on How to Use SMS Marketing Effectively

SMS marketing can be a vital part of any marketing strategy, and it is therefore very useful to know the fundamentals of how it works and how it is best applied. When used effectively, SMS marketing is the single most direct channel to established and potential new customers, providing customer engagement rates completely unmatched by other forms of direct marketing. Despite this, however, some businesses are still wary of utilizing SMS as they are unfamiliar with how to best implement it into their overall strategy.

Here are some expert tips on how to use SMS marketing effectively.

1. Understand how SMS marketing works

If you are to use SMS marketing effectively, you have to understand when it started and why it is potentially a winning strategy. When text messaging has first appeared on a grand scale around the turn of the Millennium, SMS marketing emerged as a very common marketing tool to connect with potential customers. In theory, SMS marketing is highly attractive to marketers as it provides the most direct channel to the people. It is estimated that 5 billion people, almost two thirds of the world's population, have a cell phone, and SMS capability comes as standard in every model. SMS marketing is a very simple concept and requires the customer to have no additional apps or expertise. SMS messages are simply sent out offering special promotions or hot new products and services.

2. Understand the benefits

There are a great many benefits to using SMS marketing and by understanding them, you will be well set to effectively start using text-based marketing. When used well, SMS marketing has been shown to increase overall ROI by up to 45%. As SMS inboxes have no spam filter and cannot automatically send new messages to Junk, recipients are almost 100% guaranteed to receive any SMS that they are sent. SMS is by far the most utilized form of digital communication and read and response rates are hugely superior to email marketing rates. As much as 98% of SMS text messages are opened by the recipient and over 90% are read. Additionally, marketers are able to collate this information themselves immediately through SMS receipts. The SMS marketing experts at https://messente.com/blog/most-recent/sent-delivered-failed-undelivered-what-s-the-difference mentioned that the ‘read', ‘delivered' ‘sent' receipts provide invaluable data about the effectiveness of a company's SMS marketing strategy, and help them to make prompt changes where necessary. The high customer engagement rates also open new avenues for the use of SMS marketing as a supplementary tool for email and social media marketing. A more detailed email could have sat in an inbox for hours, or a social media post could have been uploaded yesterday, without customers even being aware. A simple text message that reads “Check your emails for our newest offer!” or “New post!” will immediately alert customers to previously unknown promotions. Advocates of SMS marketing state that using it in this way increases 25% in customer engagement.

3. Embrace the regulations

For many years SMS marketing was completely unregulated and companies were free to bombard the general public with as many offers as they wanted, a freedom which they certainly took advantage of. These days, however, there are strict regulations which mean that a customer must have opted-in to receive SMS promotions. Whether this is a problem or a benefit depends on your point of view, but if you are going to use SMS marketing effectively, you are going to have to give these regulations careful consideration. Advocates of SMS marketing believe that by embracing these regulations, they can actually be an advantage. They argue that so much promotional material is sent by email, a marketing channel that has no real effective regulation, recipients are very suspicious of anything they receive unsolicited into their email inbox. Promotional material received by SMS however, will immediately be considered more legitimate by recipients as they receive far less of it and have consciously chosen to opt-in.

As we can see here, SMS marketing has almost unlimited potential in its ability to reach customers and encourage their engagement with your product or service. SMS marketing provides unique direct access to your customer base and can be used as an effective marketing tool both in its own right and as a vital supplement to support email or social media marketing strategies. The use of SMS marketing is increasing all the time and no well-rounded multi-avenue marketing plan is complete without careful consideration and utilization of SMS. Use these expert tips and start reaping the benefits of SMS marketing today.