Why Aren’t You Using SMS to Promote Your Business Now?
In today’s competitive and oversaturated social media world, SMS marketing does extremely well. This is especially true for local businesses since there’s little personalization required and it’s relatively easy to execute.
While the hype surrounding social media marketing is justified, SMS marketing has some surprising statistics that just can’t be ignored. Let’s take a look at the benefits of SMS marketing, particularly for small to medium-sized local businesses.
Why Is It Such a Big Deal?
SMS marketing takes you right where your customers are the majority of their time. They are on their phones—everybody is. It’s not only the most logical way to reach them, but it’s also the fastest way too. Read what the experts at Forbes Magazine wrote in their article, Why SMS Is The Marketing Tool Of The Future. Forbes considers it to be the ‘tool of the future’ and I can’t agree with them more completely.
The reason why: Fast Engagement
People take 90 seconds on average to respond to a text. PC and Mac users take about 90 minutes to reply to an email. This alone is enough to tell us how effective SMS marketing is at getting instant engagement, but the other critical factor is open rates.
I am thrilled when an email broadcast to a list of people that knows me gets an open rate past 20%. That’s considered phenomenal. SMS messages get a 98% open rate. (Read up on this article published on the Adobe blog. That means everyone getting your text message sees it making the letter a quick way to reach your customers.
So let’s take an example. Say you’re a local bakery offering cakes that are perfect for the holidays If you use SMS marketing, you can get that offer to potential customers immediately. Your other option, email marketing is much slower. It could be the majority of your customer hear about your holiday offer in the New Year.
SMS marketing can be used to boost your email marketing campaigns too. Check out what Smart Insights report has to say about sending a follow-up SMS like ‘Did you read our email?’’ I can up your email open rate by up to 30%.
High ROI
SMS marketing yields a 45% return on investment when used solely and up to 50% when applied in combination with other marketing channels like email or social media marketing.
It’s also a great way to get customers through a multi-channel sales funnel.
Supposed you’re a local spa that sends an SMS message to everyone that’s opted-in to receive notifications about upcoming specials. The receiver of your text can read your SMS and click to get over to your website with information about your offer.
Because they are there on their phone, they’re also likely to visit your social media pages to check out your reviews and see other content related to what it is you’re offering them. So you can use SMS marketing to steer people to your social media channels.
They might also do the obvious. They visit your business and signup for a massage. The trend is only growing and will continue to do so. 63% of all consumers today use their phone’s default texting app and the number of people using SMS to stay in touch is only going up and it’s going up fast.
Cost-effective
If you’re a small start-up or a home-run business, you may not have the budget for email or social media marketing.
Fortunately, SMS marketing is an affordable alternative that gets an incredible response from the customers without breaking the bank.
Many SMS marketing companies offer subscription packages costing $50 to $500, depending on the number of messages you want to send every month.
You don’t need to hire anyone to create graphic illustrations, shoot videos, take pictures, etc. That doesn’t work on SMS.
You just write simple, short copy yourself or hire a copywriter based on your needs.
High Responsiveness
Most businesses prefer using SMS marketing since they get a quick response. It’s smart to send a text message to tell customers about coupons and discounts.
Why not use text messages to get customers to set up appointments? People find it so convenient and are more than happy to use it versus making a phone call and talking to someone.
53.75% of the marketers and business owners see its fast delivery to be the most significant benefit. You get responses so quickly. So the sooner you jump on board, the better it will be for ROI and customer engagement.
Future Trends in SMS Marketing
Businesses are already interacting with their customers through SMS. You’ll hear the term conversational commerce being used. It refers to having one-on-one conversations with your customers.
You can have customers ask you for sizing, product recommendations, or compare product options through SMS. They’re more than open to do that.
This isn’t a promotional use of SMS but helps generate revenue and bring more customers into the loop.
Links in SMS
Another trend we’re seeing more and more is sending links through SMS. That’s the call to action or CTA. If you’re a local hair salon, you can send an appointment link or online form customers can use to grab a time.
They can simply fill in the form to book an appointment for any service. Similarly, businesses will be sending links for promotional offers, their social media pages, contests, and websites.
In Conclusion
SMS marketing is growing and it’s a super way to reach your customers. You cannot beat the return on investment and open rate.
If you want to generate a high ROI and ensure a significant open rate, you should be writing the copy for your SMS marketing campaign right now.
