The Benefits of Text Message Marketing

Marketers continually look for ways to improve mobile engagement with customers. Several studies prove mobile as an effective platform for driving purchases. Keeping customers satisfied and happily engaged is something every brand and business wants to champion.

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A growing number of mobile consumers prefer and appreciate the ease of access from a simple link in a text message. The simplicity and ubiquity of text messaging have enabled it to emerge as a differentiated business-to-consumer engagement channel. It offers several benefits to marketers looking to engage target shoppers on their mobile devices, ensuring their preference and convenience are respected.

While many marketers are still playing catch-up with mobile engagement, several recent trends suggest convenience holds the key in deepening mobile engagement and responding to consumer expectations. Text messaging is one such proven approach and it&#;s a highly effective engagement strategy for mobile marketers.

What are benefits of text message marketing?

Text message marketing software is now used widely as a strategic component by retailers and brands for a wide range of mobile marketing use cases. Here are some of the key benefits text message marketing offers businesses.

Text messages have high open and response rates.

Consumers are constantly on their mobile devices, making it an easy platform to reach them on. Marketing-related text messages have an incredibly high open rate of about 99 percent, compared to the average open rate, which is slightly over 30 percent, according to the Data & Marketing Association. Also, as mobile consumers place a considerable premium on convenience and simplicity, text messages are likely to command much higher &#; and faster &#; response rates than other approaches, such as or app notifications.

&#;Consider that more than 90 percent of text messages are opened within three minutes of receipt,&#; said Sidharth Ramsinghaney, director of corporate strategy and operations at Twilio.

You can take advantage of mobile coupons.

The mobile channel has become the first point of interaction between consumers and brands. No wonder marketers saw a tremendous opportunity in leveraging this trend to send tailored promotions and loyalty rewards, such as mobile coupons. Interestingly, with the mobile customer&#;s journey becoming mature, more consumers have come to prefer receiving mobile coupons over paper coupons.

According to Statista, almost 60 percent of United States consumers preferred digital coupons in . Millennials chose this version the most, with 7 in 10 opting for them over paper ones. Gen Z also liked such digital savings, with 62 percent using them. Capital One Shopping found that the mobile coupon market is expected to hit $1.6 trillion by .

It increases loyalty program engagement.

Making loyalty programs accessible via mobile devices is the most effective way to drive member engagement. Adding strong evidence to this is recent research from Insider Intelligence that shows 75 percent of consumers prefer loyalty programs accessible on their mobile as they shop online. Such data provides key insights about appealing to consumers who want to engage with loyalty programs from their smartphones via text messages.

A growing number of consumers prefer accessing rewards information from a link in a text message rather than through an app. Evidence consistently suggests that many companies use apps for mobile loyalty but more members prefer text engagement over apps.

It is a cost-effective form of marketing.

Text message marketing can be a highly cost-effective marketing method. This is because the only costs associated with this method of marketing involve using a text message service, which you most likely already have for your company anyhow. When compared to other types of marketing, this makes text message marketing an inexpensive alternative that yields great results.

&#;It&#;s a personalized and simple strategy for communicating with audiences and has been proven effective and affordable,&#; said Jamal Miller, senior director of product marketing at Mailchimp. &#;SMS marketing is also versatile across different industries and can be automated with triggered messaging for better results.&#;

FYI

Did you know

Text message marketing is highly cost-efficient and known to be much more effective than many other forms of marketing.

Consumers can opt in and out easily.

Another benefit of text message marketing is that it is easy to opt in as well as opt out. Many businesses get the word out when customers visit websites as well as physical locations. By asking if the customer would like to receive special offers, coupons and more via text message, you can convince many customers to subscribe to your text message marketing service. Alternatively, if they no longer wish to be sent text messages from your company, opting out is as easy as either clicking a link or texting a few words to the sending

Delivery is direct and immediate.

One of the greatest benefits is that text message marketing is direct and immediate. In particular, short message service comparison found that text message marketing offers a read rate of 95 percent within three minutes of delivery, making it one of the best methods of marketing with minimal costs. Not only will most customers read your messages almost immediately but mobile marketing campaigns generate a return on investment as high as 45 percent.

It can integrate with other channels. 

Text message marketing can be integrated easily with other channels. Although it can work as a stand-alone marketing method, it can also serve to enhance and support other marketing methods. For instance, you can use text message marketing to alert your customers to sales that may be advertised on social media platforms, to remind them to check and respond to emails and more.

In addition, many popular text message marketing and services can connect with each other. Some vendors even offer both solutions in one platform, like Mailchimp does.

&#;SMS marketing is a powerful tool that can drive higher sales and build customer loyalty when used ethically &#; especially in combination with marketing,&#; said Miller.

Did You Know?

Did you know

In a recent Statista survey, nearly half of respondents admitted to spending an average of five to six hours a day on their phones, excluding work-related smartphone use.

Are you ready to start text marketing?

As businesses, brands and consumers move further toward a mobile-first world, there is a growing preference among consumers to connect with businesses in the same way they do with their social contacts, including family and friends. Text messaging is not only growing more powerful but is also more relevant for marketers and retailers.

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With brands vying to deliver greater digital experiences with mobile devices, texting certainly emerges as an easier, faster and far more productive engagement vehicle than other methods. Marketers can use text messaging and pack them with surprises, delights and rewards and serve them to the mobile consumer, ensuring elements of choice and convenience are given due respect to earn customer equity and loyalty, thereby resulting in continued engagement and revenue.

Texting began as a simple tactic, largely applied for nonstrategic and small-scale communication activities. Fast forward to today, text messaging has become the most preferred method for brand communications and a must-have ingredient in the marketing toolkit for retailers.

Jennifer Dublino contributed to this article.

Do you want to use SMS marketing to get more traffic, win more sales, and encourage customer loyalty?

A strong SMS marketing strategy lets you send your best offers right to customers&#; cell screens, where they&#;re likely to click, engage, and buy.

However, if you handle your text messages poorly, you risk annoying your subscribers. And you may lose them as customers forever.

How can you thread that needle? In this ultimate guide to SMS marketing, you&#;ll learn everything you need to know to start an effective text message marketing campaign. Along the way, we&#;ll share tips and examples to help you optimize your texts to get great conversion rates and more sales.

What is SMS Marketing?

Short message service (SMS) marketing is a direct marketing channel that uses text messages to reach customers with promotional offers, updates, and time-sensitive information. As a form of direct marketing, an SMS strategy fits in seamlessly with a business&#;s marketing and direct mail efforts.

SMS refers to the text messages we send and receive on our mobile devices. Text message marketing is a powerful tool for notifying customers of special offers and announcements.

The Top 3 Benefits of SMS Marketing

So, is SMS marketing effective? Let&#;s take a closer look at some of the benefits:

1. Lightning Fast Delivery

SMS marketing is lightning fast. When you send out a text message, it gets delivered immediately. This allows you to send real-time notifications.

Because of this, you can send time-sensitive messages like flash sales and event-related promotions. For instance, eCommerce businesses could send users a message on Cyber Monday to maximize sales for that single day.

So, once you press that &#;send&#; button, hundreds or thousands of users will instantly get your message.

Plus, most people always have their phones with them, increasing the chances that your message will get seen as soon as it&#;s delivered.

In fact, 90% of SMS messages are read in the first 3 minutes.

2. Much Higher Open Rates

When you send out an marketing campaign, subscribers have to check their before they even see your subject line. Users have to see a notification, open up their app or log in on desktop, and scan through the messages in their inbox. Only then do you have a chance of them opening your .

With so many and social media notifications on a daily basis, users are more likely to ignore them.

But, with SMS marketing, users will be instantly made aware of a new message with a text notification. Since people usually get texts from their friends and family, those notifications are less likely to be ignored.

Plus, most phones display a snippet of text messages right on the lock screen. SMS marketing is more personal and stands out from other notifications, causing SMS message marketing to have high open rates.

What are SMS open rates?

Sources around the web cite the average SMS marketing open rate as 98%.

Just like with open rates, which can range from 20.77% to 45.49%, there are likely to be a lot of variables depending on industry and other factors.

A survey by Shift, a communications agency, sought to determine SMS open rates by asking users a simple question: &#;Do you read every SMS text message sent to you?&#;

Out of responses, 82% said that they read every single text message they receive.

The takeaway here? SMS marketing has a lower barrier to being seen than other direct marketing messages.

After all, people throw away junk mail and ignore promotional emails every day. But they usually read all of their texts.

3. More Engagement, Clicks, and Sales

Of course, open rates aren&#;t the final goal of SMS marketing. You need those text messages to convert into website traffic, in-store visits, and sales.

Insider Intelligence and eMarketer conducted a series of surveys in related to SMS marketing.

Here are the key points from these surveys:

• 60.5% of US marketers cited higher customer engagement as their leading reason to use text message marketing.
• 53.5% of US marketers cited higher open and clickthrough rates (CTR) as a leading reason
• 37.5% of US adults prefer native SMS/text for their mobile messages from businesses. They&#;re more likely to prefer text over messages through social media apps or a brand&#;s own app.

Essentially, customers prefer to get mobile marketing via SMS, so they engage more with those messages. That means they&#;re more likely to click your links, view your coupons and discounts, browse your website, and buy.

The result? 75% of consumers make purchases as a result of SMS marketing.

SMS Marketing Best Practices

Now you have an idea of how SMS marketing can help your business. Next, let&#;s explore some best practices that will help you succeed in your text messaging strategy.

1. Get Permission

Just because you have a contact&#;s number doesn&#;t mean you can go ahead and use it. Texting people without permission isn&#;t just rude. It&#;s actually illegal.

Companies must get explicit permission from users before texting them. You can do this in 2 ways:

Create an optin campaign. OptinMonster is the world&#;s best lead-generation software. We help you use your own website to grow your list and your SMS marketing list.

How? With optin campaigns like lightbox popups, floating bars, and inline forms.

You can use OptinMonster to create a killer SMS campaign just like this!

With our pre-made templates, it only takes a few minutes to have a campaign like this up and running on your site.

Require customers to check an optin box, similar to how users sign up to your list.

When a user makes a purchase on your website, your checkout page can include a checkbox to sign up for text messages.

It&#;s also important to tell users what type of text messages they can expect to receive from your business and how often. For instance, signing up for SMS order confirmations and shipping updates is different than agreeing to receive marketing texts.

Be clear about what messages you&#;ll be sending, and keep your promise to users.

2. Use SMS Marketing Tools

Don&#;t bust out your personal cell and start texting customers. Instead, use SMS marketing tools.

SMS marketing software handles the task of processing texts to large subscriber lists. It also lets you automate your SMS marketing. For instance, you can set up automated texts to go out when a user signs up for your SMS list, makes a purchase, or shows interest in certain products.

Learn more about marketing automation workflows.

SMS marketing software also makes it easy for you to track your results. You can see how many people opened your message, how many times the link was clicked, and so on.

We&#;ll cover the best SMS marketing tools a little later in this article.

Want more information on bulk sms marketing service? Feel free to contact us.

3. Make it Valuable

When users optin to receive text messages from you, they expect those messages to be worth their while. So, don&#;t send text messages just because. Instead, you&#;ve got to make them valuable.

One of the easiest ways to make your text messages valuable is by offering up something amazing, like a special deal or a coupon that&#;s exclusive to your SMS marketing list.

Exclusive offers will make your customers feel like VIPs.

Take a look at this example from Avenue. They include the phrase &#;Just for you&#; to create a feeling of exclusivity.

Even if your deals aren&#;t as exclusive as they may seem, if the user feels special, they&#;ll be more likely to appreciate the offer and take action.

4. Always  Include a Call-to-Action

A strong call-to-action (CTA) is important in any type of marketing campaign. A CTA encourages users to take the next step, moving them along in the buyer&#;s journey.

Your customers aren&#;t mind readers, so if you want them to do something, you have to ask them.

Including a call-to-action in your SMS marketing campaigns is as simple as adding phrases like:

• Sign up for free!
• Click the link to see what&#;s on sale!
• Use this code at checkout for 20% off!
• Complete this survey for a chance to win!

In this SMS marketing example from BoxLunch, they let users know that they have a sale on bags. Before the link, the CTA text reads &#;Shop Now!&#; This CTA lets subscribers know that the link will take them to a webpage to shop their bag sale.

5. Include Personalization

When customers get messages that are tailored specifically to them, they&#;re more likely to pay attention and take action. In fact, personalized CTAs convert 202% better than basic CTAs.

So, be sure to include personalization tags in your SMS marketing. Some eCommerce personalization examples include

• Addressing each recipient by name
• Sending offers/information based on the user&#;s geolocation
• Mentioning recent activity with your company, such as recent purchases, cart abandonment reminders, shipping updates, and more.

For instance, I received this personalized text from Instacart, asking me to rate and review a recent order:

6. Keep it Short

A text message is not the appropriate format to send users an entire novel. In fact, you only have about 160 characters to work with. So, keep your text messages short and simple.

Start off with something attention-grabbing, like the amazing offer you have to share. Adding a phrase like &#;SPECIAL OFFER&#; near the beginning of your message will pique the interest of users, encourage them to keep reading, and drive them to take action.

7. Consider Timing

Imagine this: it&#;s the middle of the night, you&#;re sound asleep in your cozy bed, and you&#;re suddenly awoken by a text message from a business. Can you think of anything more annoying?

It&#;s also not fun to get texts from businesses early in the morning, on a holiday, or during dinner with your family.

To avoid this type of situation, which could cause you to lose even your most loyal customers, you need to consider timing with your SMS marketing.

Pay attention to the time zones your customers are located in and send messages during appropriate times.

According to SMSGlobal, the best time of the day to send general marketing messages is between 10:31 am&#;11:29 am or 2:34 pm&#;3:27 pm.

8. Identify Yourself Right Away

Have you ever gotten an anonymous mystery text message? Did you answer it? Probably not.

Remember that when sending text messages to customers.

If a customer receives a text message without knowing who it&#;s from, they&#;ll likely consider it spam or suspect it&#;s been sent to the wrong number.

Just as you would when you meet someone in person, introduce yourself. When customers know that it&#;s your business that&#;s communicating with them, they&#;ll be more likely to respond. Plus, repeating your company name helps improve brand recognition.

For example, look at the text below from Starbucks. They introduce themselves right away.

9. Don&#;t  Send Too Many Texts

People get bombarded with an overwhelming number of marketing messages day in and day out, whether by text, , direct mail, social media ads, and so on.

It&#;s important that your business doesn&#;t add to that stress by sending too many texts. If you don&#;t have anything important to say or offer, it&#;s best not to send a text at all.

In fact, 71% of US consumers say that too many texts will make them no longer want to hear from a brand.

By sending out only your most exciting texts, you&#;ll avoid annoying customers. Plus, when they do see that they&#;ve gotten a text from you, they&#;ll know it&#;s something good.

10. Give Instructions for Opting Out

As we mentioned earlier, it&#;s illegal to text your customers without their permission. It&#;s also illegal to not give users a way to opt out of receiving your messages.

You should always give users a way to unsubscribe. At the very least, your first text message must include your opt-out instructions. Some brands even include it at the end of each message. This gives any user the chance to opt out easily if they subscribed accidentally or no longer want texts.

For example, Dominos instructs customers to text &#;STOP&#; to unsubscribe, and they also include the standard &#;text messaging rates may apply&#; disclaimer.

Reminding users that they can unsubscribe at any time will help you avoid annoying them. It will also ensure that your SMS marketing list is filled with people who are actually interested in getting your messages.

SMS Marketing Examples for Inspiration

Let&#;s look at a few examples of SMS marketing messages from different brands. We&#;ll discuss what you can learn from each of these text campaigns.

1. Offer a Coupon or Reward Like Buff City Soap

Buff City Soap sends texts as part of their marketing efforts to drive traffic into their physical stores. Here, they offer a $10 rewards bonus with any $50 purchase made in-store.

Notice that Buff City Soap includes a graphic with this text message. This is a strategy you shouldn&#;t overuse due to factors like data usage. However, an occasional photo, graphic, or GIF can catch subscribers&#; attention. Note that these inclusions can cost more than text-only messages.

2. Promote a Sale (With a Deadline) like Abercrombie & Fitch

Text messages are a great way to notify your SMS list subscribers about a sale event. Abercrombie & Fitch also creates a sense of urgency by saying the sale is &#;Tonight only.&#; Other phrases to use include &#;Last Chance,&#; &#;Limited-Time,&#; and &#;Ends Soon.&#;

Subscribers can click the links to visit the Men&#;s or Women&#;s clearance pages, as seen on the right.

3. Announce a New Product like Local Eclectic

Local Eclectic, an online jewelry store, sends regular promotional texts about sales and special offers. In this SMS marketing example, they notify subscribers about a new line of jewelry boxes.

What better way to announce a new product than to send an announcement directly to your customers&#; mobile phones?

4. Feature Enticing Content like Food52

Is content creation a big part of your business? If so, you can include that content in your text message marketing.

I received the above text from Food52 after I signed up for their SMS list. Most of their marketing texts promote the products they sell, but this one focuses instead on their huge library of recipes.

5. Offer Free Shipping like Alex and Ani

Shipping costs can often be a barrier to making a purchase. And so can shipping times, especially before a holiday. This text message from Alex and Ani tackles both of these objections. It offers free shipping and tells subscribers the last day they can order to receive Valentine&#;s Day gifts in time.

SMS Marketing Software & Tools

In order to send promotional SMS messages like the ones above, you&#;ll need the right tools.  Let&#;s take a look at a few different options for SMS marketing software.

1. OptinMonster: Build Your SMS List

OptinMonster is one of the best lead-generation tools available. It allows you to create eye-catching website popups using stunning, ready-to-use templates and our visual drag-and-drop builder.

What&#;s more, OptinMonster offers seamless integration with SMS marketing platforms.

Plus, you&#;ll get to choose from multiple campaign types, like popup, fullscreen mat, and floating bar.

Our customers use these campaigns to grow their and SMS subscriber lists. Then, they can boost sales with exclusive deals for SMS subscribers.

Here&#;s an example of an SMS marketing optin built with OptinMonster:

For more, check out this article: How to Collect Numbers on Your Website Using Popups

Pricing: $9-$49 per month

2. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue): & SMS Marketing in One

Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) is one of the best and SMS marketing service providers. Brevo lets you segment your target audience and send personalized texts in bulk.

With Brevo&#;s SMS marketing features, you can easily promote time-sensitive discounts and special events. It comes with built-in analytics, so you can see which messages perform the best.

Pricing: Brevo&#;s free plan offers limited SMS marketing. Paid plans range from $25-$65 per month. However, you have to buy SMS credits separately for all plans.

3. ActiveCampaign: An Omnichannel Marketing Platform

ActiveCampaign is an omnichannel marketing platform. That means it seeks to offer a single platform for all marketing channels, including , social media, and SMS marketing.

Like Brevo (formerly Sendinblue), ActiveCampaign lets you automate your SMS marketing campaigns.

ActiveCampaign&#;s SMS marketing features let you automatically send flash sale notifications or appointment reminders. It comes with form-building tools so you can collect numbers on your website.  Plus, if anyone wants to leave your list, they simply need to reply with &#;STOP&#; or &#;UNSUBSCRIBE.&#; This helps you keep your list filled only with your most engaged subscribers.

Pricing: The SMS add-on is available in the Plus plan and above, with plans ranging from $49-$259 per month. Like Brevo, SMS credits cost extra. Monthly SMS plans range from $21 for 1,000 credits to $1,221 for 101,000 credits.

4. EZ Texting: SMS Marketing for Beginners

EZ Texting is a simple, standalone SMS marketing tool that lets you send bulk texts.

Within EZ Texting, you can organize your contact list and track your SMS marketing analytics. You can use this service to send SMS updates about contests, coupons, and online promo codes. It also comes with marketing attribution tools to see your conversion sources.

This platform takes the &#;EZ&#; label seriously. It has thorough onboarding and easy-to-understand documentation.

Pricing: $20-$3,000 per month.

FAQs

1. Is SMS marketing illegal?

No, SMS marketing is not illegal as long as you follow the laws of your country and/or state. There are 2 main rules for legal compliance:

1. Subscribers must have explicitly signed up to receive text messages from you. Just because you have someone&#;s mobile number doesn&#;t mean that you can send them promotional texts.
2. You must always offer an easy way to unsubscribe. Usually, the subscriber can just reply &#;stop&#; or &#;unsubscribe&#; to be removed from your SMS list. You have to include opt-out instructions in your first text.

Most SMS marketing platforms will help you maintain legal compliance by offering 2-step optins and easy opt-outs.

2. Is SMS marketing effective?

Yes. If done well, text messages can be a vital part of your digital marketing strategy. According to data from Klaviyo, their clients&#; SMS campaigns saw a click rate of 10.14% across all industries. Compare that to their marketing data, which shows a click rate of 1.44% for campaigns.

And those clicks translate to sales. The mattress company GhostBed generated over $77,000 in revenue from an SMS welcome series for new subscribers.

3. How much does SMS marketing cost?

You&#;ll need to purchase 2 types of tools to get started with SMS marketing:

• An optin tool to build an SMS subscriber list
• A platform to send and manage your marketing texts

To build your list, OptinMonster starts at just $9 a month. If you already have an marketing service, check to see if your plan already includes SMS or if it&#;s available as an add-on. If not, a small business can start with a service like EZ Texting for as little as $20 a month to send 500 monthly texts.

As you build your SMS marketing list, you can expect each text to cost between 1 and 5.5 cents. With most platforms, your per-text cost will go down as your volume increases.

4. How can I collect numbers for SMS marketing?

To build your SMS list, you can use several strategies:

1. Include a number field and an optin checkbox on the checkout page of your eCommerce site. It should be very clear that by clicking the checkbox, customers are signing up to receive marketing texts.
2. If you have physical stores, allow customers to sign up for texts at your point of sale (POS).
3. Use popups, floating bars, and other on-site campaigns to encourage website visitors to sign up for your SMS list. OptinMonster makes it easy to offer visitors irresistible offers in exchange for an SMS signup.

Get Started With SMS Popups Today!

More SMS Marketing Resources

If you want to learn even more about SMS message marketing, check out these articles:

For more information, please visit Two-Way Communication Service.