Text message marketing is a great way to reach new customers and make existing ones more loyal. As long as you follow the law governing telecommunications marketing, and follow text message marketing best practices, you’ll find that most recipients respond positively to marketing texts. It can easily become a powerful weapon in your marketing arsenal. If you’re not yet using text messages to market to your customers, here are five reasons why it’s time to embrace this modern marketing strategy.
1) It’s Easy to Monitor Campaigns and Measure Results
Most mobile marketing platforms will give you the option to measure delivery rates and collect response data that can help you measure how effective your campaigns really are. SMS marketing campaigns are far from untrackable, so you can easily gather just as much data about read and response rates as you can for email marketing campaigns.
You can also use marketing texts to solicit more information from your customer base. Customers will engage with text message surveys and most will respond within about five minutes, so you can conduct market research quickly.
2) Customers Trust Marketing Texts
Thanks to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM Act), companies can spam customers with unsolicited messages, or send messages in the middle of the night, or send them at an unreasonable frequency. You also have to get a customer’s express written permission in order to send them texts of a marketing nature.
These regulations create an environment in which customers feel like they can trust marketing text messages. Few people roll their eyes and ignore a marketing text message, but most people do it when they receive a spam email. Everyone has to opt in to receiving these texts, so you’ll only be sending them to customers that explicitly want them. That means recipients will be much more likely to engage.
3) You’ll Boost Customer Loyalty and Engagement
By creating value for customers with a mix of marketing and informational messages, you can encourage customers to engage with your brand more closely throughout the customer lifecycle. Texting more often will be less invasive for customers if you vary your content. Informational messages that aren’t intended to solicit business aren’t restricted in the same way as marketing messages, so you don’t need to worry as much about sending too many of them.
4) Crank Up Your Marketing ROI
What if you could get a higher return on your marketing investment without increasing the size of the investment? A mobile marketing platform is an extremely cost-effective way to reach a wider audience, and engage them on a level that leads to more sales conversions. Text message marketing lets you reach hungry customers right before the lunch rush, for example, luring them through the door with a discount or special. It’s immediate, direct, and perfect for urgent messages about doorbusters, weekend sales, lunch specials, happy hours, and more.
Because you need to get permission to send marketing texts to specific numbers, you’ll always know exactly who you’re contacting. You’ll have no end of opportunities to strengthen your relationships with customers and collect highly detailed and sensitive information that can help you better serve them, such as demographics, purchase history, brand preferences, interests, and more.
5) Integrate Text Marketing with Other Channels
Text message marketing isn’t an isolated channel — most companies integrate text message marketing into their other channels fairly seamlessly. You can grow your contact list, for example, by integrating keyword campaigns into your print and television messaging, and it’s also easy to promote your keyword campaigns on social media.
The integration goes both ways. You can use your marketing texts as an opportunity to boost traffic to social media or email channels. Text message marketing is a high performer, but it works best when used in conjunction with other channels.
Text message marketing lets you reach your customer base wherever they are — it’s direct, personal, and highly effective. Start your own text marketing campaign to boost engagement and brand loyalty, bring in new customers, generate more sales — and, ultimately, help you serve your customer base better than ever.
