E-commerce is growing day by day. It’s interesting to know that E-commerce is expected to generate sales of up to $5 trillion in 2021 alone. Email marketing is one of the favorite choices for most marketers to reach their target audience. However, SMS marketing is gaining more popularity as of late. The reason is that it penetrates through noise better as compared to any other channel.
Just imagine, your company’s marketing communications achieving a 98% read rate within five minutes, without any need for an online connection. That is what an SMS gateway will help you achieve. It is fascinating to know that SMS allows you a bit of leverage – something called micro-moments.
Moreover, people are conditioned to respond naturally to all dings and vibrations. SMS marketing provides a near-perfect engagement score just about anywhere. Along with this, SMS plays well with other channels such as email as it allows you to connect with people when they are primed to do so.
What Is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is the act of sending promotional materials with the help of text messages. For example, if you are sending a text message to your subscribers by saying, “BOGO only today in-store”, that is a form of SMS marketing. We can also say that SMS marketing is one of the best tools that you can use to communicate offers and information to existing customers.
Why Use SMS as a Marketing Tool?
One of the biggest marketing challenges is getting a product in front of your target audience. Marketing information has our email inboxes overflowing and ads are common on our social media accounts. This is where the benefits of SMS marketing comes in.
Get a higher open rate as compared to emails
Gartner’s data shows an average SMS open rate of 98%, which alone indicates the power of this marketing channel. More opens allow more potential for possible conversions. It significantly increases the ROI for all your efforts.
Achieve higher ROI
Keep in consideration, the overall cost of SMS marketing significantly depends on how many messages you send and what provider you are using. However, an average price tends to range between a few to a hundred dollars per month for thousands of text messages.
Target your audience
As of 2020, mobile devices are accounted for half or more of all internet users which makes it essential for businesses to invest in mobile-friendly marketing campaigns. For this purpose, SMS messages make the process easier, as they are designed to be read on mobile screens, to begin with.
Deliver the message fast
As stated above, text messages are opened less than two minutes after receipt. It makes SMS marketing the best channel for time-sensitive offers, such as end-of-day deals or flash sales.
Bear into consideration, however, that no specific marketing channel is best suited for every purpose. Fortunately, SMS works with a variety of channels. It is easy to incorporate and use to guide people through the entire buying process.
Strengthen customer engagement
People want to be in the know, and they will be happy to know that they matter to the brands that they are loyal to. When a business uses SMS messaging to keep consumers informed regarding the offers, events, or other news that matters to them, they feel being taken care of in the process. Moreover, it also boosts customer engagement and loyalty.