What Is Text Message Marketing & Why Is It So Important For Businesses?

When it comes to business marketing, keeping your customers happy, satisfied, and engaged with your brand is easier said than done, especially in today’s market where younger demographics have shorter attention spans and a major sensitivity to advertisement overload. One way marketers are getting around this is through text message marketing, where text messages are used to deliver advertisements, promotions, and discounts directly to customers. It is effective because consumers appreciate the ease of access that text messaging provides as it’s simple to open a link or click on a picture through a text and with billions of hours spent texting, it makes sense for businesses to tap into this marketing platform.

7 Reasons Why Text Message Marketing Is Crucial for Businesses

  • E-mail Is Not As Popular As Text Messaging. Although e-mail is excellent for selling products that are behind catchy headlines and beautiful images, the response rate is abysmal as spam filters, junk folders, and promotional e-mail tabs keep them out of sight. If an e-mail does get opened, if the intended target doesn’t respond right away, it’s unlikely that they will take a second look. Text messaging, on the other hand, lends itself to popularity with being built right into our smartphone devices and all. Customers would rather have appointment reminders, prescription refills, and promotions sent directly to their phones via text messages than any other mode of communication, because it’s easy and accessible. After all, barely anyone deletes a text message without reading it. Beyond this, the Pew Research center notes that out of the twenty-one countries they polled, 75% use texting. That’s a massive number when you look at the global scale of smartphone device users.
  • Text Messaging Provides One Of The Highest Reaches. Although text messaging is associated with younger generations, it’s not strictly for them. When you actually take a look at the percentages against the demographics, you see that 72% of adult use text messaging on a daily basis and 65% of those in their forties and 50% in their sixties are texting. With trillions of text messages being sent every year, the text message market has one of the highest mass media reaches possible.
  • Text Messages Have Extremely High Open Rates. When you compare the open rates between e-mail marketing and text message marketing, the difference between the two is massive. About one in every four e-mails are opened or about 20% while almost 90% of text messages are read within the first three minutes of being received and have an open rate of 98%.
  • You Can Create a Positive Brand By Sending Uplifting Messages. One of the ways that brands can utilize text messages to create a positive relationship with customers is by sending uplifting messages on a regular basis. Thanking a customer for their most recent order, sending a coupon just because they are awesome, or reminding them that life is good when they are having a bad day can go a long way to retaining customer engagement.
  • You Can Personalize SMS Content. Unlike advertising on billboards or the ads you see in digital website space, SMS campaigns are heavily targeted towards a specific type of demographic. You don’t have to blast your message to those who are not interested as SMS campaigns can be made to only go to those who have opted in to receiving messages from you. Like other forms of advertising, you can also segment text message marketing out into specific categories, allowing you to maximize your open rates, redemption rates, and click-through rates.
  • Text Messaging Is Preferred Over Other Communication Methods.  Although cellphones are popular, with billions being purchased worldwide, voice calling is actually trending downward. The culture around phone calls is changing, as they can now seem rude and intrusive in our very busy lives. They can become awkward when you have to hang up in the middle of one or let the call go to voice mail because you’re driving, in a meeting, or are too tired to answer. Text messages provide time to contemplate what is being said, they don’t require you to have your phone on, and they can be referenced back to at any time. As a business, you do not need your customer’s undivided attention when you send out a promotion or coupon because they can come back to it when the time suits them.
  • Text Messaging Has Higher Conversion Rates. It is incredibly easy for a customer to text a reply, text-to-win a discount or promotion, or click on a link to be taken to a website. Due to ease of access, text messaging has higher conversion rates both with coupons and promotions getting redeemed and links being clicked on. To put this in perspective, text message engagement is about 6-8% higher than e-mails.

Although text messaging started out as a simple mode of communication, it is now the preferred method for brand communications due to its relevance in our smartphone-dominated world. With the ability to earn customer loyalty, provide convenience, and pack text messages with goodies and surprises, it’s easy to see why text message marketing provides high engagement and business revenue.  

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