SMS Marketing: Effective And Successful Customer Engagement

In today’s highly competitive era, customer engagement is a high priority. Effective customer engagement involves making your existing as well as prospective customers an integral part of your brand, and not just a means of revenue generation. This is where text message marketing services come in and help businesses to smartly engage with their customers with a personalized approach. SMS marketing services can make your brand a more personable and convenient choice over your competitors in the industry.

In this digital era, just about everyone has a mobile phone and loves to text. Texting has and will continue to be, a vital part of the modern world. It is an efficient, quick and fast communication tool that offers instant connectivity to the contact list, no matter what time of the day it is, or where they are. Would you be surprised to know that SMS has eight times the response rate of email, well it’s true! Even more surprising is that 98% of all text messages are opened and read within 2 to 3 minutes of being delivered.

So, if you are thinking about how to improve customer engagement,  incorporate SMS marketing into your marketing mix to connect, engage and communicate with your customers. Here are the top reasons why SMS marketing platforms are the best way to build up a strong relationship and dialogue with your customers:

SMS is A Part Of Everyday Life

Let’s face it; everyone owns a mobile device nowadays and checks their smartphones for more than 100 times each day. People have a very close relationship with their mobile devices. In fact, it’s the first thing most people look for when they wake up in the morning. So, by sending text messages to your customers, you can rest assured that the message will be delivered to your customer.

SMS is Simple

Text messages marketing provides business owners and marketers with the simplest way to connect with customers. There is nothing much simpler and easier than sending a text. Due to its simplicity and global reach, SMS has become one of the most preferred communication tools for businesses, regardless of size or sector. Also, with the  limitation in length (only 160 characters), text messages are direct, short and go straight to the point.

SMS Offers High Delivery Rates

Another major reason for using SMS marketing services as customer engagement solutions is that SMS is quite quick and efficient. It’s delivered within a few seconds, so your marketing messages will reach your target customers immediately after being sent.

SMS is Reliable

Text messages are incredibly reliable. Unlike email, constantly fighting against spam and other filters, SMS is safe. When sending SMS to your customers, you can rest assured that your marketing message will arrive safely. Even if the mobile device is switched off or not in the network area, SMS will be delivered within 48 hours of being sent.

SMS is Time-efficient

SMS marketing can save you a lot of time since text messages can be easily scheduled and a single message can be forwarded to a large group of people at once without crafting each text message individually. With this advantage, you can concentrate on other areas of your business. Moreover, as previously mentioned with over 90% of text messages read within 3 minutes of being received, you can rest assured to see results immediately.

SMS is Affordable

Text messages are relatively affordable especially if you are using bulk SMS service. Believe it or not, no other marketing tool offers such affordable results, especially when compared to other marketing methods such as email marketing, radio, TV or print media.

All in all, text message marketing is usually the fastest, direct, inexpensive and most effective way to reach your customers. When executed correctly, text message marketing is more powerful than any other marketing activity.

However, like any other method of marketing, SMS marketing has its own rules and practices.

Here are some common Do’s and Don’ts of effective SMS marketing :

Do’s

• Include a clear Call-To-Action
• Keep it brief
• Allow two-way communication
• Identify your brand
• Select the right time

Don’ts

• Don’t skip introducing yourself
• Don’t bombard customers with text messages
• Don’t send text messages without segmentation
• Don’t use abbreviations
• Don’t try to promote your services – ALWAYS!
  

The above mentioned are a few rules and practices that will definitely help you comply with SMS marketing regulations before you decide to put SMS into your marketing mix.

So, did you find this blog post helpful? Share your thoughts with us in the comment box!