Why SMS Marketing Should Be Part Of Your Digital Strategy In 2023 & How To Make It Work

The use of short messaging service (SMS) is one of the mobile advertising strategies that is most effective despite being underutilized. According to research that was carried out by Statista in 2021, SMS and texting witnessed a year-over-year gain in popularity among customers that was 75 percent more than email and in-app messaging’s respective growth rates.

In a similar vein, as consumers grow increasingly accustomed to communicating with companies via their mobile devices, there has never been a better moment to take advantage of SMS marketing. As a result, this article sheds light on why SMS marketing should be part of your digital strategy in 2023 and the various ways you can make it work for your business.

Why you should include mobile text message marketing in your overall digital strategy

You cannot afford to neglect adding SMS marketing to your arsenal, regardless of how advanced the rest of your digital approach already is. This is why:

1. Very high percentages of books opened and read

Customers are likely to quickly swipe right past your sponsored social media ads without even batting an eye, and emails may go unopened for several days. Despite this, people tend to read their text messages practically as soon as they receive them.

This is due to the fact that individuals are more inclined to launch their default text messaging app as opposed to turning on their data connection in order to check emails and respond to advertisements on social media sites. According to the statistics, over ninety percent of text messages are opened within three minutes, however just 33 percent of emails are.

Because they are not affected by the algorithms used by third parties, texts are able to reach the intended audience far more quickly than emails or advertisements posted on social media platforms.

2. Great for mobile optimization

SMS offers a superior user experience than other communication methods since text messages are delivered directly to the mobile devices of end users. In order for customers to engage with your brand, they are not need to install any apps, put up with the noise on social media, or browse through a number of emails.

Because there is a character limit for SMS, your messages will be condensed and easy to read. Customers are able to understand the meaning of your communication in less than a minute and reply appropriately, if necessary.

In addition, a recent poll conducted by Statista found that fifty percent of respondents admitted to spending between five and six hours every day on their mobile phones. This is yet another justification for including SMS marketing as a component of your digital strategy.

3. Compatible and successful with email marketing.

When integrating SMS into your digital strategy, you don’t have to give up on email marketing altogether. In point of fact, SMS marketing and email marketing complement one another rather nicely.

Utilize the benefits of short message service (SMS) to provide time-sensitive information about events, service reminders, feedback requests, and other types of real-time notifications, and then follow up with email to provide additional information.

As a consequence of this, this goes a long way toward increasing the number of engagements you receive via email while preserving the open and read rates of your SMS messages. The creative characteristics of marketing via email can also be utilized in the marketing via text message. Think about adapting your designs to work on mobile devices and including new types of media (such as music and photos) into your communications.

4. Ideally suited for interactions going in both directions

Text messaging gives you the ability to have human conversations in real time with your consumers. Customers have the option of responding to communications via number codes or keywords when you send them. These things boost repeat purchases as well as relationships between customers and brands.

You can also send messages containing VIP offers or ask for feedback, and you can be confident that you will receive responses in a timely manner. Even if some of your clients are unable to respond right away, they can always contact you again at a later time.

The same cannot be said for advertisements made by phone calls, emails, or social media platforms. Customers might not pick up the phone to answer your call if they’re having a terrible day, they might not be willing to scroll through multiple emails to respond to your message, or the algorithm might decide not to bring the advertisement back.

Because of this, text message discussions are ideally suited for use with SMS.

Five of the Best Marketing Strategies for Text Messages to Use in 2023

Now that you have an understanding of why SMS marketing is necessary for your business, it is time to put it into action. The following list of marketing methods will assist you in getting the ball rolling.

Now that you have an understanding of why SMS marketing is necessary for your business, it is time to put it into action. The following list of marketing methods will assist you in getting the ball rolling.

1. Combine text messaging with the technologies you already use.

You can incorporate SMS into your preferred advertising tools, such as your CRM or support software, or utilize it in conjunction with those tools. Using the contact information and behavioral data of clients, this enables you to deliver SMS that are more tailored and targeted.

Integrating SMS with other solutions enables you to automate text campaign management and monitor real-time performance data for those campaigns. You have the ability to synchronize contact data with other tools, which will then make it possible for you to automatically update information within your ecosystem, subscribe and unsubscribe contacts automatically, trigger follow-ups depending on client behavior, and so on.

In addition, connecting SMS with your preferred marketing tools can be of use to you in the following ways:

• Be notified immediately whenever significant events take place (e.g., someone fills out a form, completes a survey, signs up for a trial, etc.).

• Organize your calendar better (great for people selling consulting services).

• Assigning new contacts to sales representatives in your CRM in an automated fashion.

• You should send reminders for open deals, cold leads, and other such things.

2. Distribute at scale marketing messages that are individually customized

Instead of sending out messages that are general to your target, customize your marketing so that it resonates with them. When you do so, sales, engagement, and customer experience all improve, which in turn helps people become more comfortable with your brand.

When conducting mass text campaigns, the goal is to get the reader’s attention as quickly as possible. The most effective method for accomplishing this is to show that you care about the recipient by being personable and ensuring that the information contained in your letter is beneficial to them.

The good news is that there are solutions available that allow you to send text messages to hundreds or even thousands of people all at once. Write your message, then select the contact list or segment that you want to use as the receiver (or use a template). You may improve your targeting and save marketing expenses by using segmented lists, which allow you to target individuals based on common interests or behaviors, respectively.

You can personalize each message by using custom fields, which are data fields that contain conventional information such as a person’s name and birthday, or you can construct custom fields that are important to your marketing campaigns. First and foremost, make it a priority to focus all of your marketing communications on the needs and interests of your target audience.

3. Retain and involve your current clientele

When compared to the expense of maintaining your existing client base, bringing on new customers can be up to five times more expensive. As a consequence of this, it is considerably simpler and less expensive to keep existing consumers than it is to acquire new ones. Why not communicate with the customers who are already invested in your brand and looking forward to hearing from you? They want to hear from you.

Therefore, you should place an emphasis on sending time-sensitive and customized messages to existing clients in order to re-engage with them. And while you’re about it, make an effort to provide your customers with value. In order to boost click-through rates, you can either provide existing consumers with information about new goods and services or integrate incentives into promotional communications.

4. Program automated messaging based on previous customer actions

Workflows can be streamlined, and better management of customers can be achieved thanks to automation. Automating text message sending depending on client behavior or use cases allows you to avoid the tedious task of sending individual messages one at a time manually.

You may improve your SMS marketing system while saving time by developing autoresponder for frequently asked questions, by scheduling messages, and by developing surveys.

5. Keep in mind that there are regulations around texting.

It is essential to obtain consent before sending any kind of communication, and you should be aware of this requirement before you begin using SMS marketing. Before sending a text message, your company needs to familiarize yourself with the applicable regulations and ensure that it is in compliance with all of them.

It is imperative that you familiarize yourself with the text message rules that govern your nation. If you want to avoid getting blasted with a lawsuit that could destroy the integrity of your brand, you should try to get the authorization of possible receivers and unsubscribe contacts in accordance with the best practices.

Integrating SMS into your digital marketing plan will help you improve it.

Advertisements on social networking platforms, email marketing, and even classic forms of advertising are all quite effective. However, companies today are striving to expand their goals beyond simply making a profit.

They seek to establish powerful brands, stoke up consumer interest, make sales via compelling narratives, and cultivate meaningful connections with their clientele. Incorporating short message service (SMS) into the framework of your digital marketing strategy can help with all of these things… and more.