SMS marketing is one of the earliest forms of digital marketing, and it used to be very effective. But is it still? How relevant can text marketing be in 2021, if at all?
According to statistics, SMS marketing has an open rate of around 98% compared to a meager 20% for email marketing. It’s also found that 75% of customers didn’t have a problem receiving text messages from brands if they opted-in for the service.
These figures are, for a marketer, encouraging, to say the least. While they don’t negate the use of other marketing platforms, such as social media marketing, they help you see just how much potential lies in SMS marketing, especially if it’s properly used.
So, while you’re considering the right direction for your text message marketing strategy, you might rightly start by taking into consideration the trends on the market. It's one of the easiest ways to identify what’ll possibly work for your business.
All you have to do, in addition to having just this information, is to find which type of businesses are using which methods the most. This way, you can determine what might be best suited for your particular business.
Here are six trends of SMS marketing platform:
- Use Of Text Messaging To Send Transactional Status Messages
Unlike most types of messages, transactional status messages are almost the only ones that customers demand. They tell customers when their orders have been completed, give shipping details, or confirm when an order has been initiated.
Since clients love the convenience offered by this service,if you apply it effectively, it can be a very efficient way of placing yourself above your competition, allowing you to gain more sales.
- Expected To Become The Lead Direct Marketing Platform
Attitudes towards SMS marketing among clients remain positive. Customers are usually unwilling to download applications for every little thing they need or every brand that piques their interest. Also, they actually tend to delete applications that take up too much space in their phones without being useful on a day-to-day basis.Your brand must not be found in these purges.
To do that, you should consider the benefits of shifting or prioritizing text message marketing in your marketing campaigns. While some consumers make efforts to minimize their use of social media and the internet in general, they typically don’t consider SMS marketing as a problem, and they tend to open SMSs even when they’re not opening anything else.
A platform that’s embraced by your customers is something you should consider embracing just as warmly! Thus, it might be time to start choosing which SMS marketing platform to use for your business based on your unique needs.
- Text Marketing Is Going To Offer More Conversions
SMS marketing has more than 209% more response rate than Facebook, phone calls, and emails. Businesses use SMS marketing to drive sales by strategically placing coupon codes, Call To Action (CTA), and links in the text messages.
When availing of a new deal or asking for feedback, your chances to succeed are much higher if you use text marketing.
- Industry Leaders Are Using SMS Marketing
Many e-commerce stores rely on SMS marketing to confirm orders, send reminders, and ask for feedback.Banks have also joined in on the wave. Now, they’re using text messages to give information on transactions performed and the balance remaining.
Many forms of industries are using SMS marketing, and your small business can start, too, especially if you’re looking at affordable ways to market with a high return on investment.
- Personalization In Text Message Marketing
Most businesses have information such as customer's birthdays or other personal favorites of their clients. This information usually gets gathered when they’re opting into communication with the brand.
The trend, so far, has been growing towards the use of this information to promote engagement since a client can become emotionally bonded to a brand. That’s why one of the best ways to do it is by‘remembering’ what’s important to the client and use it to start more personalized communications.
- Gaining Traction Over Email Marketing
The numbers have already said it–SMS has several advantages over email. It’s easy for your excellently written email to just end up in your client's spam folder. Additionally, email platforms are making an effort to reduce clutter in their user's inboxes, and whilst they’re cleaning inboxes, your email might go with it.
SMS doesn’t face this kind of challenge and is most likely to reach the client once you send it.
Conclusion
Trends are ever-shifting, but, sometimes, they stay for much longer than can be ignored. That has been the case with SMS marketing–it's been around for decades on end now, and it doesn't seem like it’s going anywhere anytime soon.If anything, it’s emerging stronger against other new platforms in marketing.
