With the increase in technological advances, our lives have become more and more intertwined with it. As users of mobile phones, laptops, and I-pads, most of us cannot imagine our lives without using them, even for a day.
Studies have shown that over 60% of smartphone users unlock their phones immediately after waking up, and nearly 80% within the first 15 minutes of their day. Moreover, Google’s announcement that more people use their mobile phones than they do desktop PCs to search the internet, has paved a way for businessmen and marketers to advertise and market their products through text messages and e-mails via mobile phones.
In recent times, going digital is the most sorted method to reach customers. In the USA, the digital ad spent has risen to over half of the total ad spend, amounting to $129.34 billion. Over two-thirds of that amount, a whopping 70 percent, is solely spent on mobile advertising, making mobile marketing a key focus for businesses in America.
What is SMS Marketing?
While SMS, which stands for “Short Message Service,” is most commonly used for text messaging between friends or co-workers, it has several other uses as well. For example, subscription phone number list services can transmit weather, news, sports updates, and stock quotes to users’ phones. SMS can also notify employees of sales inquiries, service stops, and other information pertinent to their business.
Fortunately, text messages sent via SMS do not require the recipient’s phone to be on in order for the message to be successfully transmitted. The SMS service will hold the message until the recipient turns on his or her phone, at which point the message will be sent to the recipient’s phone. Most cell phone companies allow you to send a certain number of text messages every month for no charge.
So, what exactly is SMS Marketing?
SMS Marketing is sending promotional campaigns or transactional messages for marketing purposes using text messages (SMS). These messages are mostly meant to communicate time-sensitive offers, updates, and alerts to people who have consented to receive these messages from your business.
Developing relationships with customers takes work and in order to reach your customers, you can’t wait for them to come to you. You have to be proactive and go where they are. As people become more attached to their phones, text messages become the most direct line of contact. On an average, SMS marketing ads have a 98 percent open rate, 45 percent conversion rate, and are read within three minutes of receipt, it’s no wonder SMS is a top choice for businesses looking to increase their return on investment with mobile marketing campaigns.
Why is SMS Marketing effective?
SMS is one of the most useful marketing channels at your disposal for several reasons:
- Smartphone Omnipresence- The current number of smartphone users in the world today is 6.378 billion, and this means 80.69% of the world’s population owns a smartphone. Hence, SMS is an excellent way to these reach customers directly. By including a link in this text, you can drive engagement with your business online.
- Saves time on the Email Marketing Loop – Although email and email marektinghave many similarities in their strategy implementation, you can use SMS to send instant notifications, while email contains more long-form content.
- Higher Engagement Rate- With 90% of SMS messages being read instantly, SMS engagement rates are astronomical compared to email.
- Cheaper and more effective – For businesses trying to operate in countries where data is expensive and wi-fi is less common, SMS is a much better channel to communicate information.
- Improved Marketing ROI (Return On Investment) – In a recent ROI marketing experiment in which the email addresses and mobile numbers of the company’s subscriber list were collected simultaneously for a campaign, it was seen that text messages had increased their traffic and sales far more than emails did.
What Does ROI mean in Marketing?
Marketing ROI is the practice of attributing profit and revenue growth to the impact of marketing initiatives. By calculating return on marketing investment, organizations can measure the degree to which marketing efforts either holistically, or on a campaign-basis, contribute to revenue growth. Typically, marketing ROI is used to justify marketing spend and budget allocation for ongoing and future campaigns and initiatives. At an organizational level, calculating return on marketing investment can help guide business decisions and optimize marketing efforts.
The formula to calculate ROI is;
(Sales Growth – Marketing Cost) / Marketing Cost = Marketing ROI
Finally, How Can SMS Marketing Increase My ROI?
Increases Sale– SMS marketing services enable you to easily reach your audience and provide them with valuable information. When you combine the popularity of mobile usage with the fact that 95% of texts are opened and read within three minutes of being delivered, it’s clear why SMS is an obvious choice for businesses looking to boost their return on investment.
Segmented Lists– The more information you have on hand and the more specific your customer segments are, the better. Similar to how Facebook ads target people within a certain area, by age, and by interests, the best text message marketing is highly customized and geared toward a specific target audience.
Saves Time– Beyond the financial cost, other marketing efforts can cost more time and resources. Depending on how often you are texting your customers, a business can run a successful SMS campaign by only investing an hour or less per week.
