What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is also known as short message service marketing or text message marketing (bitesms.com). It is a method and technique by which businesses and organizations send out coupons, promotions, specials, alerts, and more via highly targeted and permission-based, text messages. In order to receive these promotional messages, customers are required to opt-in to an automated system by either texting an initial shortcode or click on the short URL.
Texting has by far the best engagement rate of any marketing medium (Neil Patel).
This means is used by businesses through an SMS API or an online SMS Web Platform. Good news! Tracksend offers both services so no need to start searching for one to use, just sign up here.
SMS marketing is a perfect way to communicate because it’s instant, quick and convenient. Mobile phones have become ‘LOML’ to most people as it is used for so many purposes. It never leaves their sight because it captures our everyday life and also helps us through it.
Marketers talk about mobile as the future of marketing all the time. We fully acknowledge that customers carry their smartphones with them everywhere; that mobile devices drive more traffic to websites than desktops; and that mobile owns a greater portion of email open rates.
Heike Young
5 SMS Marketing Trends
With the rise of mobile usage, a new channel of communication has emerged from the ashes. Text messaging has grown to be a popular and effective marketing trend this year. SMS has a 70% more open rate than email and according to Textedly, 9 out of 10 consumers prefer to text with businesses, and text messages are more likely to be read than emails with a 98% read rate.
- Transactional Message
- Branded short links
- High Conversion
- Automated Marketing
- Chatbot
See more on SMS marketing trends
Why does SMS Marketing Campaign Fail?
So you have been told of the great opportunities SMS brings to your business, how easy it is to create and send campaigns and how much profit you could make sending these personalized messages to your customers. Now you may have tried and it didn’t work for you, perhaps you have been following the wrong approach. Here’s what you could be doing wrong:
- Not having a strategy or plan
- Spamming your customer
- Having a bad call-to-action
- Not having a mobile-friendly website
- Creating bad messages
- Not capitalizing on the immediacy of the campaign
How to Grow Customer Engagement with SMS
Customers have various touchpoints with businesses as they go through the customer journey. What smart businesses do is to make that journey worthwhile by creating a very positive experience for their customers. Finding ways to better engage with customers is one constant challenge businesses crack daily. The major route is to pay attention to your customers and communicate with them effectively, hook them and keep them coming back.
Jonathan Rueda
The best way to reach those customers and meet their real-time communication expectations on mobile is to utilize SMS with your other channels.
Here are 4 things you need to do to grow your customers:
- You should keep them up to date about your company
- Know your customers
- Run loyalty programs
- Share tips and advice
As you engage your customers using a channel that is direct to them, also view some of the important strategies shared in HOW TO REDUCE CHURN RATE WITH SMS.