Mobile messaging is fast becoming a marketing strategy of choice for today’s savvy business leaders interested in leveraging impressive eCommerce consumer trends to maximize sales. The COVID-19 pandemic continues to have a far-reaching impact on the lives of the global business community, serving to further elevate pre-pandemic online buying patterns that were already trending up. MarTech Series reports that 56% of buyers are using mobile devices more since the arrival of COVID-19.
As mobile engagement becomes more important for corporate marketers, IPX providers will become a key player instrumental in the success of SMS efforts and worthy of careful analysis. Security concerns, roaming control, costs, and service quality are important criteria to be evaluated. As always, a positive customer experience is critical for continued success for companies interested in increasing their mobile messaging platform.
SMS marketing delivers better results than other marketing options.
Renowned digital marketing expert Neil Patel reports that digital marketing currently delivers the best engagement rate when compared to all other marketing mediums. Email marketing and PPC ads largely go unnoticed relative to the 97% text message read rate cited by Smart Insights that are opened within 15 minutes of delivery.
The key to launching a serious text messaging platform is to set up a method for obtaining a written opt-in from prospective customers since it’s considered illegal and unethical to send unsolicited text messages. This glitch most likely explains why companies have been slow to fully commit to text message marketing. As the data continues to support the value of mobile engagement, corporations are likely to move forward to tackle the opt-in barrier so they can capitalize on this SMS marketing. And if you’re looking for where to start getting numbers to help with this, BuyPhoneLists.com sells the highest quality data in every area code, state, and city in the United States.
SMS is a trackable platform.
Marketing metrics and response data are crucial for managing ROI. The good news is that SMS data is easy to track. Rebuking previous misconceptions about SMS as a platform that was difficult to track, marketers finally realize that SMS results can be tracked as effectively as email data. Some platforms even allow managers to oversee SMS campaigns from their desktop.
Reviewing data findings of who ignored a particular text message and who opened it provides the type of information necessary to adjust messaging and improve results. Testing text message responses so that managers can make adjustments to achieve better results is important. The ability to quantify and test SMS data legitimizes text message marketing as a viable approach to the new consumer landscape where cell phones dominate.
Timely supply chain messaging reaches consumers hungry for limited supplies.
Similar to other major economic shifts, COVID-19 presents new challenges and opportunities. Toilet paper and hand sanitizer shortages were common during the first two months of the pandemic. Many consumers paid top dollar for these items as supplies disappeared from store shelves.
MarTech Series views this crisis as the perfect marketing landscape to capture the attention of needy consumers anxious to respond to SMS marketing efforts. By simply advertising your company’s ability to ship out what consumers want quickly, it is easy to establish new customers and to stand out as a trusted supplier who delivers when other companies fail.
SMS offers a direct, instant marketing channel.
Unique to SMS marketing, marketers can literally deliver a text message instantly and get immediate results in the form of clicks within minutes. Compared to other advertising channels such as email campaigns and SEO marketing efforts, there is no comparison. Smart Insights reports that 45% of text messaging campaigns successfully generate profits.
Text messages offer unique opportunities to personalize messaging.
Text messaging is a personal way to reach out to prospects using familiar words that drive engagement. When a marketer sends out messages with the words “friend”, “I”, and “you”, customers respond favorably.
Another way to cozy up to prospects is to tap into local news events that are likely to resonate with a potential customer. Already a proven strategy, this psychological ploy has been used successfully by The Banana Republic.
SMS marketing complements email marketing efforts.
Text messages can be used as a complementary promotion tool to remind customers to read a more detailed email or as quick reminders to alert prospects about price drops. Think of a text message as a gentle tap on the shoulder by a friend. Smart Insights reports that text messages can be used to increase the open rates for email campaigns by as much as 30%.
Text messaging and the use of shortcodes facilitate the building of a database.
A primary goal of most marketers is to build a database of prospects for ongoing marketing efforts. SMS campaigns that encourage the use of shortcodes by customers necessary to print advertisements or other information help familiarize customers with your brand’s code. This strategy increases customer engagement.
SMS offers an excellent channel for obtaining customer feedback
SMS has proven to provide an excellent way to survey customers. Smart Insights reports that about 31% of consumers responded to surveys via an SMS outreach within a short five-minute timeframe. Since customer feedback is critical for corporate marketing success, the promising response data provided by text messaging is instrumental for improving products and services.
The Takeaway
A strong case has been made for the importance of text message marketing. Establishing a seamless way to obtain opt-ins for text messaging purposes and ensuring that the IPX provider offers excellent customer service with roaming control and top-notch security equates to a higher probability of success in the all-important SMS marketing arena.