5 FAQ’s About Text Message Marketing

June 5, 2018 Posted by Pocketstop in Text Message Marketing - M360 Social Share

By the year 2020, 48.7 million consumers will opt in to receive business sms!

The sheer power of SMS marketing is increasing on a daily basis as we see more and more consumers opting in to receive communication from business via this channel. With the number of consumers that trust SMS marketing rapidly expanding, SMS is one of the fastest growing marketing channels in today’s world.

What does this mean for businesses? Well, firstly these statistics cannot be ignored! As more and more people expect to hear from businesses via text messages, more and more businesses should be incorporating text message marketing into their marketing strategies.

Every 24 hours, 6.4 billion text messages are sent. As businesses start to see the value and significance of SMS marketing in today’s marketplace, there are some questions that pop up again and again.

We’ve looked at the 5 top frequently asked questions around SMS marketing to give our readers a heads up on the latest SMS marketing knowledge and information.

How Successful is SMS Marketing?

With 5.1 billion of the 6.8 billion people on this planet owning a cell phone, the sheer numbers speak for themselves when it comes to the scale of accessibility that SMS marketing is giving brands and businesses. A scary fact is that owning a cell phone is actually trumping oral hygiene in some countries, with only 4.2 billion of us owning a toothbrush.

Do you know anybody that doesn’t own a cell phone, albeit for emergency purposes?

Next let’s look at open rates! Roughly 98% of text messages are opened! This compares brilliantly if we take a look at email open rates, which fall at around 20%.

Finally, in order to receive a text message from your business, consumers have undoubtedly already subscribed or opted into this field of communication and trust the source from which they are receiving it.

64% of recipients that receive a highly relevant sms marketing message are compelled to take action or make a purchase.

With these statistics in place, it’s safe to say that SMS marketing is increasingly accepted, trusted, and successful.

Is SMS Marketing right for your business?

For most businesses, the answer is yes. Text message marketing is an affordable, effective marketing tool that’s become mainstream and is a desire of their consumers.

Although businesses with an older demographic may be reluctant to try it, studies have shown that 60% of 45 year olds say that they are just as likely to be found sending a text message as they would be making a cell phone call.

If at any point you are unsure, invest in some market research and use your current communication channels to ask your customers if they would like to be contacted via SMS. You may well find yourself surprised.

Are Text Messages Regulated?

Yes, there are laws in place globally that regulate the sending of text messages to consumers.

There has been a lot of confusion about the regulation of text messages, but in 2012 the Federal Communications Commissions removed all doubt by declaring text messages the same as an “automated call,” which are regulated under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.

The Act requires businesses to receive “prior express written consent” before dialing or texting consumers. Basically, that means consumers have to ask to be a part of your program, or “opt-in” as it’s called.

What Type of SMS Messages are Businesses Sending?

Although this varies from business to business, SMS marketing messages often fall into one of five categories:

Special promotions: Do you a have a website sale approaching? If so, invite customers to stop by via text.

Segmented deals: After compiling your contact list, you can choose to send a message to a specific group. Send special customers a special coupon or deal.

Flash deals: Considering consumers read text messages so quickly, it’s the perfect way to tell consumers about a flash sale, or a deal that’s only around for a limited time.

Event reminders: Remind customers about upcoming events at your business, such as happy hour, live music, a special trunk sale, etc.

Behavior triggers: Send messages based on a customer’s behavior. If they haven’t been around in a while, send a “We miss you” message.

These type of emotive messages can really add personality to your brand and help to interact with customers on a personal level. If customers feel trusted and valued, they are more than likely to read your messages, and support the exclusive offers that you are giving them

How Often Should we be Messaging Customers?

This is really up to you and should work in line with the frequency that you send out your other marketing messages to customers, and the response that you recieve. It’s a bit of a Catch-22, as you want to remind your customers that you’re thinking about them and that they are valued, without scaring them away

According to a recent report states that 89.3% of consumers say 1-2 text messages a week is the right amount to stay informed.

Test the frequency out on your audience and see what works best.

There are various mass communications providers available that offer different scales of text message marketing packages.

When shopping around for the best mass communication provider you really need to think about the goals of your business, coupled with the needs of your customers.

It’s also worth shopping around for different pricing models to see which SMS marketing provider is best for you, your budget, and the behavioural patterns of your current customers.

Practice makes perfect, so be sure to send out a few messages across your initial marketing campaigns highlighting different offers. Use the analytics provided by open rates and sales responses to shape future SMS marketing campaigns.

---

  Social Share