Should I be using SMS Marketing in 2024?

By Katie Hilton, Marketing Manager

61% of marketers aren’t using SMS marketing. Here’s why they’re missing out…

With an average open rate of 98% (Crazy Egg), think of the potential that SMS offers. The average person spends three-hours a day texting (Gitnux). That’s three entire episodes of Love Island! Incorporating SMS marketing into your strategy is another valuable tool to help you meet your audience where they’re at. The 39% of marketers utilising SMS are onto something.

Over 20% of email subscribers choose to unsubscribe annually, while less than 5% of SMS subscribers opt-out (Text Request). The receptivity to SMS marketing has grown and can even enhance email engagement. According to Adobe, sending a follow-up SMS after an email can amplify email open rates by 20-30%.

So why is it that only 35% of brands have a formal SMS strategy in place (SlickText)? Whatever the reason, one thing’s for sure: SMS marketing deserves a prominent place in your strategy. We’ve rounded up 6 examples of how SMS can fit into your marketing strategy so you can start capitalising on this engagement goldmine.

 

1. Encourage event attendance by automating an event reminder.

Automating text messages in the lead up to your event helps to increase attendance rates by ensuring the delivery of personalised reminders. Syncing up your marketing automation platform with SMS and WhatsApp can also help to streamline event management processes, as well as follow-up campaigns to capitalise on event momentum.

 

2. Promote an exclusive offer via SMS that encourages immediate action.

Sending an exclusive offer via SMS helps to instil a sense of urgency, prompting immediate action from recipients and fostering a higher conversion rate. Optimising promotional campaigns for mobile also makes the user experience as seamless and pain-free as possible.

 

3. Gather valuable insights by requesting feedback around your product or service.

Integrating SMS feedback requests into your strategy helps you to systematically gather customer insights, enabling data-driven decision-making that will aid the continuous improvement of your product or service. Connecting your marketing automation platform with survey tools like Survey Monkey can help to take this approach a stage further, gathering feedback via SMS that can instantly influence the direction of your future messaging, marketing strategy and internal focuses.

 

4. Retarget engaged contacts with SMS to drive your desired action.

If you’re struggling to get a response via email, it might be time to incorporate SMS retargeting into your campaigns. This ensures tailored follow-ups across devices, nudging your contacts towards the desired action; whether that’s completing a purchase, booking a meeting, attending an event or simply getting a response. In fact, people respond to text messages 7.5 x quicker than email (Gitnux).

 

5. Leave a lasting first impression by sending a welcome message.

Sending a warm welcome via SMS helps to establish a personal connection with your customers, reaching them on the device that they use the most. This helps to establish a regular cadence of close communication, nurturing your customers throughout their time with you.

 

6. Increase client retention with contract renewal reminders.

Sending contract renewal reminders ensures timely communication during crucial milestones in the customer journey. This encourages engagement, reduces churn risk and increases the likelihood of future conversions.

When attention is scarce, like it is now, embracing SMS marketing should be a strategic non-negotiable. And these 6 SMS marketing opportunities are just the tip of the iceberg. Integrating SMS into your marketing automation strategy gives you better reach, increased engagement rates and the potential to drive revenue. From the very first welcome message to timely contract renewal reminders, SMS enables you to engage with your audience precisely where they are, cultivating loyalty, reducing churn, and ultimately maximising the lifetime value of your customer base.

If you’d like to discover how you can use SMS in your marketing strategy, book a call with us today and a member of our team will be in touch. Or if you’re a Force24 user, why not explore The App Marketplace to discover our growing list of app connections? With WhatsApp, Eventbrite, Survey Monkey and many more to choose from, you can start connecting the dots between SMS, email and beyond.

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