What Is the Future of SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing has grown in popularity in the past years, however, brands still misuse it. Yet, it’s still a powerful marketing tool and with some polishing, there’s a bright future. Right now it stands in the shadow of email marketing and social media, but with the right decisions, it can stand shoulder to shoulder with them.

So let’s take a look at how bright the future of SMS messaging is!

Why SMS Marketing Is Important

SMS marketing is an important part of any marketing strategy because it is one of the easiest and most effective ways to reach consumers. It doesn’t require an internet connection, like social media, or for the customers to log in to see it, like with email.

More businesses are utilizing SMS messaging to connect with their customers, such as when sending a notification about curbside pickup, which has increased exponentially in recent years. They are realizing that they can leverage that first contact into more possible sales from that customer through targeted text advertising.

Foretelling SMS Marketing Statistics

If you’re still not convinced that SMS is more effective than email or social media marketing, here are a few statistics that will change your mind:

• The average opening rate for SMS marketing is 98% – For comparison, email has an average of 21.33%, making SMS one of the most powerful marketing tools.
• SMS response rates are up to 295% higher than phone call responses – People are more likely to ignore a call than a text message.
• 50% of US customers make a direct purchase after they’re sent an SMS text containing a coupon, or discount code – You can increase your sales just by sending the customer a targeted SMS text.
• 75% of customers don’t mind receiving texts from companies if they opt-in – Give the people what they want! If a customer has opted in to SMS texting, they want to hear what you have to offer.
• 83% of millennials say they open texts within 90 seconds of receiving them – Your message will be viewed less than 2 minutes after you send it.
• 77% of consumers say they’re likely to have a positive perception of a company offering SMS messaging as a communication option – People prefer texting, so using an SMS marketing platform will only increase the amount of customers.

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What is the Future of SMS Marketing

New technology and changing consumer behaviour is paving the way for the future of SMS messaging. More brands are expected to adopt SMS marketing and leverage it to form more personalized relationships with their audience.

RCS Messaging

RCS messaging, also known as Rich Communication Services, is a modernized version of SMS messaging that incorporates features from texting apps like iMessage and WhatsApp into regular texting. These features include read receipts, typing notifications, images, videos, live-notifications, GIFs and many others that make branding your messages so much easier.

RCS is important for the future of SMS marketing because it would allow companies to not only interact with their customers one-on-one, but send them accompanying rich media so that the customer can make an informed purchasing decision.

Conversational Marketing

Brands should abandon the outdated formal, sales-forward messaging style. Instead, they should take a more conversational approach and use SMS to establish two-way communication with their customers. 

Below are a few scenarios that would benefit from a more conversational SMS marketing.

• Welcome texts - Sending a genuine message of thanks to a customer for making a purchase or creating an account on the brand’s website is a good way to begin a conversation with a new customer and keep them returning.
• Abandoned carts - This occurs when online shoppers have items in their cart but never complete the purchase. Reaching out to the customer to remind them is a quick way to get them back to your site to finalize the purchase. Offering a small discount doesn’t hurt either!
• Event invites - If your company is hosting an event, you can send out a personalized text to your customers with an invitation that details why they would benefit from your event.
• Product releases - Get the word out about a new product launch that your customers would like based on their previous purchases.

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Personalized Marketing

Currently, the generic language and flat tone makes many SMS marketing texts look like scams. This puts off consumers from wanting to opt in to receive texts from companies. In the future, SMS marketing needs to be more clear about opt-ins, and put effort into personalizing the texts to the customers and their unique situation. 

Welcome to the Future of SMS Marketing

The future of SMS marketing is gearing up to be more personalized to the consumer, to offer more engagement between the brand and its consumers, and be a more seamless interaction in your everyday life. It offers a more individualized conversation that focuses less on pushing sales, and more on establishing a relationship with the customer to create loyalty, which will end up increasing sales in the long run. 

Textedly is looking to the future of SMS marketing and offers solutions for over 25 marketing needs, from loyalty marketing to event management to generating leads. SMS marketing has never been easier thanks to Textedly’s easy-to-use texting platform. Try us for free today!