The Benefits of SMS Marketing in 2024 - NICE

The benefits of SMS marketing for businesses are many: high deliverability, increased customer engagement and more revenue, just to name a few. SMS is one of the most convenient channels for communicating with your customers, and one of the most preferred mediums by customers themselves.

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SMS marketing works seamlessly with other channels you&#;re likely already using to talk to customers, like and social media platforms. Plus, it&#;s a great tool for marketing automation. If you&#;re not already using text messaging to reach your audience, launching this channel should be a key priority.

We&#;ll go into more detail about the benefits of SMS marketing and share some tips to incorporate it into your marketing strategy.

What is SMS marketing?

If you&#;ve watched those three gray dots as you eagerly awaited a response in the messaging app window, then you&#;re already familiar with SMS.

SMS stands for short message service. Technically, it&#;s a text-only message of up to 160 characters (rather than longer or media-rich messages), but today most people use the term &#;SMS&#; to describe any type of text message.

In business, SMS marketing is a strategy for engaging customers and generating sales via text messaging. Companies can use SMS marketing to share promotions, communicate time-sensitive information, send reminders, promote new products, ask for feedback and more.

As a marketing channel, SMS is easy to deploy and offers the potential for high ROI. What&#;s more important, though, is that customers love it. Eighty-three percent of consumers say they&#;d like to receive text message appointment reminders, for example, while 66% want to receive service notifications via text (but less than a quarter of businesses send notifications this way).

With its convenient nature and simple setup, SMS messaging is hard to beat as a low-cost, low-risk marketing channel.

 

The benefits of SMS marketing

Versatile

As the old saying goes, big things come in small packages. SMS marketing offers infinite possibilities in a compact, 160-character container. Here are just a few of the ways businesses can use it:

• Welcome new customers
• Remind customers of upcoming bills and offer an easy way to pay
• Confirm, cancel and reschedule appointments
• Run flash sales
• Offer exclusive discounts to VIP customers
• Send order confirmations and shipping updates
• Provide tech support
• Distribute customer feedback surveys

Once you start brainstorming ideas, the opportunities to engage customers through text message app marketing are endless.

With 91% of consumers interested in signing up for texts and open rates as high as 98%, you should take advantage of SMS marketing for your business. Moreover, 80.5% of consumers check their text notifications within five minutes of receiving a text, highlighting the importance and versatility of SMS messages.

Customizable

SMS marketing allows you to engage with customers based on their known data points and preferences, like how they prefer to be contacted, what types of communications they want to receive, and even how often you contact them. The more you tailor your communications to customers&#; wishes, the more positive their experience with your brand will be.

Zero-Party Data

Privacy is a top concern for consumers, and brands have struggled to adapt to new limitations on data sharing between applications. SMS marketing offers a valuable opportunity to gather zero-party data&#;that&#;s data that the customer has directly and intentionally shared with a brand&#;which you can then use to further personalize their experience.

Low Competition

Despite the near-universal usage of text messaging, the majority of brands still don&#;t take advantage of SMS as a marketing medium. The space is much less crowded than platforms like , which makes it easier for you to stand out and means you face less competition for customers&#; attention than you do in a place like their inbox.

Cost-Effective

SMS campaigns are more inexpensive than traditional forms of marketing and advertising. Yet because they&#;re so versatile and customizable, they have the potential to produce much higher ROI. And because of the data, you can draw from SMS marketing, you&#;ll have a much more nuanced understanding of each campaign&#;s performance than something like a TV or streaming ad where there&#;s no way to know exactly what actions customers took after viewing the ad.

Data Friendly

In addition to customer data like communication preferences, SMS marketing allows you to gather a wealth of behavioral data like what types of messages subscribers read and click on. This helps you refine future messaging and continually optimize your performance.

Appealing

Customers find marketing messages delivered through SMS appealing, especially when those messages are customized to the recipient. It&#;s a big display of trust when a customer gives you their cell number, so using SMS marketing appropriately is a major opportunity to strengthen customer satisfaction and cement their brand loyalty.

SMS marketing tips

Integrate With Other Channels

Use SMS marketing as part of a unified communications strategy by considering how it fits in with your other channels. For example, a transaction that happens on your website might then trigger text message shipping alerts, or a support request that begins on text might move to a call with a live agent. The beauty of SMS is that it accommodates these seamless transitions with ease.

Segment Your Audience

It&#;s important to customize your SMS messages to best fit the person or people receiving them. For this example we&#;re going to look at search engine optimization. Let&#;s imagine that you are a New York SEO company, you would want to send your marketing messages to customers in the New York region only. Segmentation allows you to split your total contact database into smaller groups based on targetable attributes such as location, age, job position, or even the type of car they drive.

Be Compliant

Ensure you&#;re staying on the right side of the law with your SMS marketing by following all consent and compliance best practices. A few big ones: get customers&#; explicit permission before texting them, clearly communicate your terms and conditions, and make it quick and easy to opt-out at any time.

Be Mindful Of Branding

In addition to the promotional message or piece of information you&#;re delivering via text, don&#;t neglect the opportunity to use SMS for brand building. Include your company name in your text to keep your brand top of mind and avoid pushy, sales-heavy messaging.

Offer Two-Way Communication

Customers don&#;t just want to receive texts from brands; they want to be able to text back, too. Yet many brands don&#;t monitor or respond to incoming text messages. This is a major missed opportunity. Use SMS messaging as a two-way communication platform rather than just acting as the sender.

Advantages of SMS marketing over calling

When it comes to marketing, there are many different strategies that businesses can use to reach their target audience. One popular method is using short message service, or SMS, to send marketing messages directly to consumers&#; phones. But why SMS marketing? It has a number of advantages over other methods of marketing, specifically calls or emails.

Are typically less expensive to send than making calls.

On average, SMS marketing is cheaper to utilize than making calls. On top of this, nearly all marketers using text messages for business said it helped them drive revenue, with almost 60% reporting overwhelmingly increased revenue generation.

Can be sent quickly and easily to a large number of people at once.

One of the biggest benefits of SMS marketing is the ability to reach a large audience. And your customers are actually interested in receiving SMS messages. A survey found that 91% of consumers are interested in signing up for texts from a business.

Are more likely to be read and responded to than messages.

Given that 1 in 3 consumers check their text notifications within one minute of receiving a text, it&#;s no wonder that SMS has a higher read and response rate than . Even further, 61% of consumers say they want the ability to text a business back.

Allows businesses to track responses and measure results in real time.

When it comes to marketing, being able to track your results is essential. SMS marketing allows businesses to do just that. With SMS tracking, businesses can see how many people received the message, how many people opened it, and how many people responded.

Overall, SMS marketing has a lot of advantages over other marketing strategies, like calls or emails. There are seemingly endless benefits of texting in business: It&#;s cheaper, easier to reach a larger audience, and more likely to get a response. Plus, businesses can track responses in real-time to see what&#;s working and what&#;s not. If you&#;re looking for a new marketing strategy, SMS marketing is a great option to consider.

What businesses do SMS for marketing make sense for?

SMS marketing has shown to be an effective tool for a wide variety of businesses, appealing to diverse customer bases, and catering to numerous industry sectors. It&#;s particularly beneficial for businesses relying on time-sensitive messaging and personalization, such as those in retail, food service, and travel sectors. For instance, retail companies can send promotional offers, product alerts, or store-specific details straight to customers&#; mobile devices, ensuring that the information is delivered promptly and catches the consumer&#;s attention at the right moment. Additionally, restaurants and food service establishments can benefit significantly from SMS marketing as individualized promotions based on customer&#;s preferences and dietary restrictions can foster loyalty and drive traffic. SMS marketing also helps keep customers informed of upcoming reservations or changes to travel plans for companies operating in the transportation or tourism industries, ensuring an improved customer experience.

Moreover, using SMS marketing can be a game-changer for businesses in appointment-based and service-oriented sectors, such as healthcare, finance, and beauty. Healthcare providers can leverage SMS to send appointment reminders and prescription refill notices, reducing the number of missed appointments and enhancing patient engagement. Financial institutions can utilize the platform for timely notifications regarding account activity, payment due dates, and fraud alerts, ensuring customers stay both informed and secure. Salons, spas, and other beauty service providers can improve customer retention and booking rates with personalized text reminders and last-minute openings. SMS for marketing is also an effective asset for businesses that rely on local community support or e-commerce, as they can distribute promotional messages, event invitations, or flash sale info, driving interest, and sales. Additionally, competitive advantage can be gained by companies that incorporate SMS marketing into their omnichannel strategy, creating a seamless customer experience that fosters long-term relationships and satisfaction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is SMS in marketing?

SMS is marketing that takes place over text message. It can be used to spread the word about promotions, inform customers of company news, share important or time-sensitive information, provide support and more.

Is SMS marketing illegal?

SMS marketing is not illegal when conducted properly. This means getting express written consent to contact customers via text message for marketing purposes. Your initial message should include clear and simple instructions to opt-out.

Is SMS marketing effective?

Because of its convenient and highly personal nature, SMS marketing is incredibly effective at engaging customers. Most customers respond positively to text message communications from brands once they&#;ve opted in to receive them.

What are the types of SMS marketing?

 

There are many types of SMS that brands can use for marketing purposes, including:

• Promotions
• Coupon codes
• Contests
• Transactional messages
• Status updates
• Service alerts
• Geo-triggered messages

There are many types of SMS that brands can use for marketing purposes, including:

Sick of Googling, &#;Is text message marketing effective?&#; Google no more, I&#;m here to break it down.

Because honestly, it&#;s impossible to be everywhere at once.

Resources are limited, whether you&#;re confined by hours in the day or by the almighty dollar. Marketing is about deciding the most effective way to use those resources. 

The stakes are high, too. Even if your product is brilliant, if you&#;re not getting it out there, you won&#;t get far. 

After all, a marketing strategy that sends resources to the wrong channels is a drag on your company&#;s bottom line.

So, that&#;s why it&#;s worthwhile to vet every marketing channel or tactic carefully. 

If you&#;re trying to figure out whether you should use SMS marketing, you&#;re in the right place. 

I&#;ll share the top five points in favor of SMS marketing&#;s effectiveness and how it stacks up to other marketing channels.

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Why you should consider using SMS marketing

Although I&#;ll get into all the ways that SMS is effective shortly, here are a few chief reasons to adopt it right off the bat.

Above all, SMS is:

• Quick
• Cost-effective
• In demand

Trying a new marketing channel comes with some amount of risk, but texting is a safe bet. It&#;s relatively inexpensive and doesn&#;t take a lot of time to pick up.

The worst thing your marketing can be is outdated (looking at you, cold calling and non-targeted emails). Bring your business into the modern day with text message marketing.

Related Reading: What Are the Pros and Cons of SMS Marketing?

Still not convinced? Here are some of our favorite things about SMS marketing.

1. SMS messages are popular

You and I have never met, but we have one thing in common. We both own a cellphone.

Chances are also good that almost every one of your potential and existing customers do, too. The vast majority of Americans&#;96% to be exact&#;own a cellphone of some kind.

Not only that, but they spend a lot of time with it. Nearly seven hours daily, in fact.

A recent study by SimpleTexting (that&#;s us!) found that 80% of respondents said checking, answering, and sending texts is the activity they do most on their phones.

TL;DR: Your customers are texting, so why aren&#;t you?

2. Texts are intimate

People enjoy texting. It&#;s the way they engage with their nearest and dearest. 

In the hierarchy of marketing channels, texting is by far the most personal. Where brings to mind more formal business communications, SMS feels friendly and casual.

Unlike social media, which sends one message to many, anyone receiving texts can feel personally recognized.

The caveat here is that texting requires an invite. If you decide to crash someone&#;s inbox uninvited, you&#;ll annoy them and break TCPA laws on text marketing.

This may sound like an intimidating hurdle to overcome, but all you need is express written consent&#;a fancy term for permission. 

P.S. This makes your texts even more effective (more on that below).

Start your free trial today

We&#;re confident you&#;ll love how easy it is to send texts with SimpleTexting. That&#;s why we let you try it free for two weeks. No credit card required.

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3. People don&#;t ignore texts

Consumers see a multitude of marketing messages every day, everywhere.

As people grow numb to the constant stream of social media and online ads, it can be challenging to get your message across. Text message marketing is the answer.

Want proof? Check out these stats:

• The average SMS marketing campaign conversion rate is 45%.
• SMS open rates are 98%.
• The click-through rates for SMS hover between 20 and 35%.

Plus, as of , 80% of businesses use text message marketing with their customers.

4. Texts are immediate

Texts take seconds to send and seconds to read, which is why business owners love using them and consumers love getting them. 

38% of business owners leverage the sense of urgency texting provides to boost engagement on things like special offers and time-sensitive promotions.

Just ask Whisker Seeker, that saw a 25% conversion rate on its time-sensitive MegaDeals promotions.

Whisker Seeker gathers SMS subscribers through its time-sensitive MegaDeals promos

People read new text messages almost immediately. More than half of consumers read text messages within two minutes of receiving them. It&#;s challenging to get that kind of instant exposure from .

5. People want to receive your texts

For the majority of people&#;nearly 38%, in fact&#;receiving texts is their preferred way of communicating. 

Most people ignore ads because they aren&#;t interested in the business&#;s message.

Consider how many times you scroll through Instagram and see a brand asking you to &#;Buy Now.&#; Chances are you usually keep scrolling.

This kind of marketing typically has a low success rate for one simple reason&#;it&#;s uninvited. 

Since people subscribe to receive your texts, your message is guaranteed to reach an audience that&#;s genuinely interested in what you have to offer. 

It goes a long way to explain the high level of engagement and conversion rates businesses see when they send texts.

How does SMS marketing&#;s effectiveness compare to other marketing channels?

To illustrate the unique benefits of SMS marketing, let&#;s quickly compare a few other common communication channels.

• Direct mail won&#;t do for alerting someone to your e-commerce store&#;s flash sale or your restaurant&#;s ribs deal. It&#;s slow, expensive, and can end up in the garbage.
• calls are extreme if you&#;re just letting someone know you offer free teeth cleaning with a checkup. They can also be untimely and intrusive, and only about half of business calls get answered in the first place.
• We here at SimpleTexting love marketing, but marketing emails can get lost in overflowing inboxes or junk folders. It explains why response rates to SMS marketing are 7.5x higher than .

Recommended Reading: Marketing vs. Text Message Marketing: Which One Is Right for You?

Verdict: Is SMS marketing effective?

In a word, yes. SMS marketing is effective.

Regardless of your industry&#;or whether you&#;re sending a national marketing campaign to hundreds of thousands or engaging a few customers around the corner&#;SMS marketing is a highly effective and friction-free way to market.

If you&#;re feeling ready to take the plunge, try out SimpleTexting for 14 days, totally free. 

Are you interested in learning more about Two-Way Communication Service? Contact us today to secure an expert consultation!