When building relationships with customers in marketing, you need to be proactive. It is more difficult to build that relationship by waiting for the customer to approach you. Therefore, you could choose to knock on each of their doors, but that might be difficult. So, how do you get your customers to notice you?

SMS Marketing, also known as short message service marketing. Read below to learn more about how SMS marketing works, the advantages and disadvantages of it, and the best tips for top results.

How SMS Marketing Works

Through marketing purposes, SMS Marketing is sending advertisements and promotional campaigns using text messages to customers from businesses. This marketing strategy is mainly used for offers, updates, and alerts. These can consist of short-term promotions, event updates, appointment reminders, or internal alerts. Due to the higher attraction of mobile usage, text messages have become the most direct line of contact. However, it is only an effective form of communication when done correctly.

When picturing how SMS Marketing works, the messages are typically sent through “short codes” rather than in full telephone numbers. It is shown with five to six digits and will either be connected with one sender or multiple senders. The company’s name will frequently be included in the message as well.

What are the two message types that are sent with SMS Marketing?

Campaign Messages: these are “one-to-many” bulk text messages that are used for promotional campaigns and general information.
Transactional Messages: these are “one-to-one” messages that are used for specific events such as order confirmations or shipping information.

The Advantages

SMS Marketing is effective for a few reasons. Firstly, mobile usage is in demand right now and will continue to be used. Majority of the United States owns a smartphone, and it has been found that 81% of adults own one in 2019 (Statista). Therefore, making smartphones an excellent source of connection with customers. Secondly, SMS Marketing has high engagement rates due to the demand of mobile usage. Also, it has been found that 90% of the SMS messages are read within three minutes of receiving them (Statista). Lastly, this marketing strategy is a better for communicating information in countries where there is more expensive data and the WIFI is less common. It will reach out to customers better than other sources used that need WIFI or strong data connections.

The Disadvantages

SMS Marketing can also have a few drawbacks. Firstly, the text message sent has a length requirement. Since there is not much space, it must be short. Therefore, it can get difficult when trying to get a lot of information across to customers. Secondly, customers may not respond well to text messages that are unknown. For protection, you need to check for permission when using SMS Marketing. Also, it is important to follow the guidelines of privacy and data protection. Lastly, other customers may not respond at all to the text messages due to the increase fear of fraudulent messages. Which is why it is also important to be clear of who the message is from when using SMS Marketing. You may not get many results if customers are not responding.

Who Does it Benefit?

Since SMS Marketing has the function of communicating information urgently, it can be applied for all types of businesses. Here are a few that this marketing strategy benefits…

E-Commerce Stores: for stores that sell products online, SMS Marketing majorly benefits them. Online stores have plenty of advertisements and promotional campaigns to be sending out. Also, they need to quickly reassure customers of their order and shipping confirmations as well.
Travel Companies: this is needed for the updates, changes, and alerts that need to be urgently sent to their customers. This can include flight updates, gate cancellations, or weather alerts.
Service Businesses: this marketing strategy is important for the service businesses that require appointments such as hair or nail businesses. It is important to remind customers of their appointments as soon as possible so no inconveniences will occur.

Tips for Top Results

When it comes to SMS Marketing, there are a few rules and practices that are needed for it to be a safe and effective marketing strategy. Here are a few tips for top results when using it…

Receive Permission: it is important to receive permission from your contacts before sending out the SMS messages. With it being a direct line of communication, you may have the urge to send out your text message as soon as possible to get noticed, but it will not be effective if your customer does not care to receive the message.
Timing is Key: due to the high engagement rate, customers will likely open your SMS messages quickly. This is beneficial for urgent messaging, but do not abuse this. Customers will likely not respond well to the text messages sent in the middle of the night, but during hours of the day when they are most active.
Include Names: this has been said previously, but it is important to always include the business’s name in the SMS messages. Due to the short codes, the customers are unaware of who the text messages are coming from. Therefore, the name is important so they will not ignore your messages.

References

“Webs of Influence: The Psychology of Online Persuasion” by Nathalie Nahai
https://www.sendinblue.com/blog/what-is-sms-marketing/
https://www.statista.com/
https://www.nibusinessinfo.co.uk/content/advantages-and-disadvantages-sms-marketing
https://www.zoho.com/blog/marketplace/clicksends-tips-to-improve-sms-marketing-campaigns.html
https://twistarticle.com/5-amazing-benefits-of-using-sms-marketing/
https://clevertap.com/blog/how-to-do-sms-marketing/

A Discussion on SMS Marketing