The benefits of using SMS as marketing channel

STOKE-ON-TRENT, U.K. - April 5, 2018 - PRLog -- It is predicted that by 2020, 90% of the world's population will own a mobile phone. When you also consider that the usage of mobile is now outranking desktop for the first time ever, it's no surprise that the use of SMS (or text messages, as they're more colloquially known) is a growing trend in marketing.

In fact, SMS is reportedly the fastest growing marketing channel in the UK, with an estimated 48.7 billion users choosing to opt-in to receive updates via text message by 2020.

Did you know that 90% of all text messages are read within the first three minutes of them being received? Clearly, SMS marketing offers an extremely efficient way of reaching your existing customers or connecting with potential new patrons. While there may be differences in the way you wish to communicate with both groups, not to mention a wide variety of SMS tools to utilise, there are some basic points you'll want to consider:

Offer Benefits

One of the most effective ways to reach customers, whether existing or new, is to ensure that any SMS gives them a reason to interact with, or even better, transact with your business. This could be as simple as a discount, alerting your customer base to an upcoming sale, or giving them the opportunity to enter a competition.

Open communication

If using SMS for communication with clients, putting in place a long SMS number with 2-way communication capability allows responses. This can be helpful in gathering feedback, particularly because many people find text messages less intrusive than phone calls.

Keep on target

For some SMS campaigns, being targeted in your approach may give you stronger results. This doesn't necessarily mean that you need to tailor every text message, but you should think about evolving promotions to be as attractive as possible to your core customer base (or, indeed, the new customer that you're hoping to attract).

Review your results

Keep an eye on the results of your SMS marketing campaigns – are you happy with your engagement levels? Adjust your campaigns where necessary, and be sure to pay attention to customer feedback.

Overall, there are so many facets to the exciting and innovative world of SMS marketing, with diverse options to suit a variety of businesses. Learn more about the services provided by MBL SMS (https://mblsms.com/).