Why SMS should be a key part of your marketing strategy

Business messages need to be seen and read which is why the channel you choose is so important.

When you consider the average Brit spends 4 hours and 14 minutes a day on their smartphones and checks them every 12 minutes, using SMS to communicate with customers seems like an obvious choice.

SMS is the only marketing channel with up to a 98% open rate, and with an average response time of just 90 seconds, it’s the most effective way to send time critical messages, promotions and alerts.

It also enables your communication with your customers in the place where they are already gathering information and interacting; in-fact recent research highlights 33% of SMS recipients react to CTAs in SMS marketing messages, and 47% of them end up making a purchase.

SMS complements existing marketing communications, such as social media, email, WhatsApp Business Platform, direct mail and search advertising to support a unified message and voice for your brand.

SMS can help businesses in a wide variety of ways, from sending notifications, or alerts about sales/discounts, sending order/ shipping updates, to sending appointment reminders, conducting polls/surveys, or even sending thank you messages to customers.

So here’s how to maximise the use of SMS to get the best results, according to Esendex:

Timing is everything

You don’t want to miss the mark when it comes to the timing of your message. Don’t like Mondays? Neither do your customers, or the weekend for that matter. SMS campaigns statistically perform best mid-week. Aim for between 9am and 12pm during business hours or between 5pm and 8pm for online browsing and shopping.

Place your call to action at the start

It’s a good idea to put your most important details at the start of the message so that they can be seen in the preview text on your customer’s phone. Customers are far less likely to hit delete if they read something they can relate to.

Don’t over communicate

Sending too many messages will make your audience tune out, and not sending enough will mean messages lose impact - finding the sweet spot will help with higher engagement rates.

Get the message structure right

Stand out from the crowd by structuring your message and adding elements of humour, empathy and personality. Doing so can go a long way to engaging your audience. Make sure you have a clear sender ID so there’s no confusion who the message is from and always check grammar and spelling.

Get personal

Recent research highlights that a personalised advert converts 10 times better than a non-personalised one.

Personalisation goes beyond adding a customer’s name to the top of an advert. By using relevant and up to date data, businesses can make product recommendations, add context, cross sell, and tailor promotions to customers’ needs. Anything from ‘Thank you’ or ‘We miss you’ messages, to birthday or purchase anniversary promotions to VIP offers and back in stock alerts – will let your customers know that you value them and are thinking of them.

https://www.esendex.co.uk/

RCS – the texting we know and love only even better

In a sea of sameness, sales and marketing campaigns must stand out to win over a mobile savvy generation of decision-makers.

We’ve all been there.

Your phone pings on a Sunday afternoon. It’s a text message from an unknown number telling you about a sale from one of your favourite brands, with a link that you need to click on that you may, or may not trust.

Now imagine that text with clear branding and colourful product images that lets you browse within the same message.

It’s easy to see which message would grab the most attention.

Enter RCS or Rich Communication Services messaging - a messaging format that’s been gaining more ground since Google completed its rollout across carriers and networks back in 2020.

And the statistics bear this out, with nearly 80% of consumers finding RCS appealing, and 74% of us saying RCS would make us more likely to want to communicate with a brand.

According to Chris Gorman, Head of Professional Services at Esendex “RCS is a win for businesses and consumers. For consumers it’s a familiar and secure environment to be in – and there’s no App to download. For businesses it can lead to better engagement and conversions thanks to interactive branding, action buttons, photos, videos, location-sharing and more.

“Android has more than 70% of global market share, so engaging those users with RCS is a really smart move.

“When customers feel that they are being listened to and can contact you quickly and easily on a channel of their choice, they are far more likely to do business with you and recommend you to others.”

https://www.esendex.co.uk