The number of smartphone owners keeps growing – a Pew Research Center study showed that 35 percent of Americans had them in 2011, but nearly doubled to 64 percent in 2014. In 2016, Statista predicts 196 million smartphone users in the U.S., and Ericsson estimates that by 2020, 90 percent of the world over age 6, roughly 6.1 billion people, will own a smartphone. Mind blowing, I know!
If you’re someone who relies on customer communications to stay in business, (hopefully that means everyone), you’ll need to connect with people via their mobile devices. Desktops lay in technology graveyards, laptops can be clunky, and while tablets remain popular for many, smartphones are a preferred way to interact, especially via texting.
Since most businesses are too busy or too big to individually text every customer, it’s vital to figure out ways to get your texts to as many people as possible, and to get results. Mass messaging has been around far longer than the humble SMS, but along with 20+ years of development and progress, comes new technology and the opportunity to use “older” text solutions in fresh and exciting ways. So why text?
More Responsive
We all know the one thing we crave is positive response rates from our target market. Bulk SMS text messaging is a channel at our finger tips, but even more importantly, according to the Mobile Marketing Association, this channel is 5 times more responsive than direct mail due to its exceptional targeting, immediacy and return on investment. The higher response rates are also due to the relatively unobtrusive way of communicating with your contact, as a text message does not cause any major distractions and can be read in a few seconds. Therefore, the recipients are far more likely to read and react to the text message.
Immediacy
That brings us nicely onto our second reason, time efficiency. Your target contacts receive an SMS in the fraction of the time it would take you to write and send a direct mail piece. More importantly, it takes less time for them to respond as there still is a that degree of curiosity that is attached to receiving a SMS text message. This quick method of communicating with your contacts means businesses can respond much quicker, and more notably, free up your employee’s time to spend on more productive activities!
Affordability, Cost Effective
Affordability is a clear reason SMS Text Messaging is getting used more and more. We all want to achieve great results, and use as little of our budget if possible, especially in the times businesses are in (or getting out of) at the moment. Sending an SMS text message will cost businesses little – a lot cheaper than the costs of direct mail or employees spending countless hours making phone calls, and with response rates far better than email, you’ll get a great return on your investment.
Vast Reach of a Text Message
A major benefit of a Text Messages is the vast reach. Text messages can reach the contact no matter where they are, latest stats show our mobile phones are with us over 80% of every day. Sending a text message direct to their phone means that they can receive your message where ever they are in the country!
Green Credentials that save you money!
SMS Text messaging is a green way of communicating with your contacts. For every 10,000 pieces of A4 (8×11) paper that your company uses, you consume 2.5 mature trees. We all know we cannot stop sending mail altogether, but using SMS in certain cases can save us large amounts of money.
Want to learn more about SMS/Text Messaging benefits for your business? Contact us today to get started.
