SMS Marketing – Still Thriving In Modern Times
With the rise of the Smartphone, people have gained access to communicating to those on their contact list at the swipe of their screen. Whatsapp, WeChat and Skype have made communication easier than ever before. Whether you would like to just type out a quick message to a friend in a 140 characters, see a loved one’s face while travelling abroad using a video call or a quick Whatsapp call to a colleague without using any of your airtime or free minutes, are literally at the touch of your fingertips.
Our way of communication has changed drastically since the birth of the modest SMS back in 1992 where Neil Papworth, sent off the first Short Messaging Service saying “Merry Christmas” from a PC to a friend across town. Nokia then revolutionised the world of Short Messaging when they became the first phone-maker to debut the first mobile phone that was able to send SMS’s. The SMS did, however, begin to show a huge decline in 2012, with many people starting to use cheaper alternatives such as BBM, iMessage, WhatsApp and more.
So you may now ask how SMS marketing can help your business despite the apparent downfall of the SMS? Well here’s an interesting fact, 96% of Smartphone users still use the modest SMS!The biggest selling point when using WinSMS would naturally be that it is quick and cost-effective, sending out SMS’s to your database is one of the cheapest forms of communication at our disposal currently and takes seconds for your message to be sent out. SMS marketing also has absolutely no spam filters to worry about. Email open rates are around about 25% while SMS open rates are as high as 90% due to the fact that an SMS grabs people’s attention more readily than an email which can very easily be marked as spam. This coupled with the lack of need for cellular data (3G/4G/LTE) means a much greater potential reach to your target audience.
SMS campaigns also have a very high ROI. This is due to those on your SMS database wanting to hear from you. Opt-In makes SMS marketing and bulk SMS campaigns that much more effective. Those on your database have agreed to want to hear from you, therefore making them future service ambassadors and easier to engage with. There also is the possibility that those who receive your SMS will share it with friends if they seem worthwhile, which of course leads to free advertising.
Probably the most important reason to use SMS marketing would definitely be that SMS is engaging and opens up a two-way communication channel between your business and your customer or potential customer.
Many said that Television would kill Radio, the internet would kill print and lately that Instant Messaging would kill the modest SMS…as we can see the SMS is not dead.