SMS messaging has played a role in marketing for well over a decade. As technology has improved, the SMS has increased in its effectiveness and power. In some ways, it is more effective than email marketing, social media, and other digital marketing media. Despite its effectiveness, there are some myths surrounding the SMS that have unfortunately prevented businesses from embracing SMS as an effective tool.
Myth 1: SMS Marketing is only used for Bulk Messages
SMS messages are certainly an efficient medium for getting a message in front of a lot of people. Recipients are more likely than email recipients to open your message, and they do within minutes of receiving the message. But bulk messages are only one part of an effective SMS tool set.
Savvy marketers have discovered the ability to send targeted, personalized messages to individuals, as well as to small and medium sized groups. Individuals who left a full online shopping cart on their favorite site can get a gentle SMS nudge with a link to complete their purchase, while groups of all sizes can receive relevant messages based on demographic commonalities, similar preferences, or past history.
Myth 2: Text Message Marketing: too Expensive for Small Businesses
Text message marketing is more expensive than email marketing, which can frighten small business owners away. However, implementing a text message marketing software strategy offers a far more effective approach than email marketing. For one, text messages have a 95% open rate, while emails are opened only 20% of the time. Second, emails frequently end up in spam or promotion folders, while SMS messages always appear in your recipient’s phone
It’s true that most service providers do charge per sent SMS. However, business SMS marketing services deliver a higher return on investment (ROI) than other customer communications channels and more than pays for itself. In addition, MessageWhiz offers a multi-tiered pricing model so you can manage costs. We even have a risk-free option, where users pay only when their campaign has reached predefined targets.
Myth 3: SMS is Obsolete
It certainly isn’t. The volume of text messages sent by companies to their customers is growing by an average of 10% over each of the last 5 years. SMS functionality is built into every phone, and works regardless of internet connectivity, so companies can be certain that their text messages arrive at their intended destination, unlike popular free chat apps like Facebook Messenger, Whatsapp and Viber. As long as your customers or prospects are connected to their mobile provider, they can receive SMS messages.
As mentioned above, 95% of SMS messages are opened, and 91% of them are read within 90 seconds of being received. As SMS messages require the recipient to opt in, the messages reach an already engaged consumer. Couple that with research indicating consumers prefer to receive promotional messages from companies they trust via SMS over any other channel, and you have a perfect marketing storm, where engaged consumers receive messages straight to their fingertips.
Alive and Kicking
As we move deeper in 2019, strategic use of mobile text marketing is an important marketing activity that can be used for everything from building one-on-one relationships to broadcasting messages to large groups of people.
