At first SMS may seem slightly dated compared to other, newer communication tools, and that is one of the main reasons why it’s potential for marketing is often overlooked. Contrary to popular belief, however, SMS marketing can be an extremely powerful and efficient way to communicate with customers.
To understand the potential of SMS marketing, it is important that you are fully aware of the benefits that it brings to the table:
- High open rates
In contrast to most other forms of communication, SMS messages have extremely high open rates – with most messages being opened within seconds of being received. Most people tend to regard SMS messages as being more important, and so they are more likely to open them and see what they contain compared to emails that only have a fraction of the open rate.
- Reliable delivery
Another big advantage of SMS marketing is that you won’t have to worry about spam filters or other barriers that can often limit the effectiveness of your messages. Each SMS message is going to land directly in your customer’s incoming messages, alongside all their other messages. If for any reason an SMS message isn’t delivered, you will be notified that it has failed, and you can try later or simply stop after repeated failures.
- Direct and to the point
While some people see the 160-character limitation of SMS as a drawback, it is actually a benefit in disguise. Because of that limitation customers don’t expect anything other than a direct message that is straight to the point, which can be far more efficient for marketing. In short (no pun intended) SMS marketing will let you benefit from brief yet highly focused messages.
- Customers opt-in
With SMS marketing, customers need to opt-in so that you know their mobile phone numbers and can send SMS messages. Due to the fact that it is entirely permission based, it makes it much more targeted and ensures that you’re only going to be communicating with customers who are interested in what you have to offer. Ultimately this will lead to better conversion rates, and could improve your return on investment (ROI).
- Lower costs
Generally SMS marketing has much lower costs than many other types of marketing such as TV, radio, or physical ads. While the costs scale depending on the number of people being targeted, that just means that you can afford to start with SMS marketing even in a small business and expand it as your business grows.
By now you should be starting to see why SMS marketing can be an invaluable tool that you can use to communicate with your customers. With the right approach you will find that it is easier to reach and engage your customers using SMS messages – and convert them to perform various actions including making purchases. Simply put you don’t want to ignore SMS marketing despite the fact that SMS in itself may be ‘dated’ – as it is still as relevant today as it ever was.
