Messaging apps have become so popular that it’s not uncommon for people to have more than one of them on their phone. Given the ubiquity of these apps, you may think that SMS (short message service), more commonly known as text messages, is a thing of the past. But don’t jump to conclusions too soon.

The truth is, SMS is still very much alive. Unlike online messaging apps, there is no need to download anything to be able to send or receive text messages on the phone. Even without an internet connection, it’s possible to use regular text messaging service to reach out to people.

It’s no wonder that SMS has been gaining traction in the marketing world, with more and more companies using it to generate sales and grow their business. Just take a look at how the adoption rates of SMS marketing are growing:

• In 2018, the market size of SMS marketing in the United States was valued at $3.5 billion (the compound annual growth rate of SMS marketing is estimated at 20.3% from 2019 to 2025).
• Forecasts for 2023 estimate that there will be 3.5 trillion SMS business messages sent during this period, compared with 2.5 trillion business SMSs sent in 2019.

From these figures alone, it’s quite easy to see that people are recognizing the power of SMS marketing to rise alongside, or even outperform, other marketing channels. In line with this trend, here’s an infographic to help you realize the value of SMS marketing and learn how to effectively incorporate it into your growth strategies.

Getting to Know SMS Marketing 

How long ago did you last check your phone? Probably just a few minutes earlier, and chances are, as soon as you’re done reading this, the next thing you’ll do is to reach out for your phone and see if a new message has come in.

Similarly, your prospects and customers are in the habit of checking their phone often. In fact, a study that surveyed Americans found that, on average, 10% check their phones more than 20 times an hour.

With phones becoming more and more indispensable for a lot of people, text messaging can open a line of communication with customers. And when it comes to sending business messages to consumers, SMS marketing has the potential to be one of the most effective communication channels. 

What Makes SMS Marketing Good for Your Business?

1. SMS marketing yields positive results for your campaigns.

We cannot overemphasize how people are becoming more and more attached to their phone, which makes SMS marketing ideal not only for driving engagement, but also for increasing sales.

Text messages get opened and read almost immediately after they’re sent, which is incredible compared to their email counterparts. People read 98% of all SMS messages, but only 20% of emails. Likewise, people may choose not to answer your sales calls, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

On the contrary, mobile messaging lets you get instant feedback from customers as they reply to your message with a given keyword or click the link to a landing page on your website.

And if your offers are attractive enough for customers, they’re also highly likely to drive purchases. Altogether, these things make SMS marketing a profitable investment for your business.

2. SMS marketing answers consumers’ desire for personalization.

At some point, consumers may feel overwhelmed with all the information, content, or marketing messages that they receive, especially those that aren’t relevant to them.

Since SMS marketing enables you to reach customers directly on their mobile device, it feels like there’s a more personal touch to it. Of course, it’s also a must to customize your message based on what you know about them, including the links they’ve clicked, where they’re located, their past purchases, and any other preferences they’ve made clear.

3. SMS marketing ensures fast delivery of messages.

SMS marketing campaigns are pretty straightforward. After creating your message and choosing your contacts, your message gets pushed through an SMS gateway and delivered to customers straight on their mobile device. What this means is that in a matter of minutes, you’ll have spread the word about your brand, product, or service to your target audience.

You can send any of the following messages to people in your contact list:

• Campaign messages—These are text messages that you send in bulk to as many people as possible. They are promotional in nature, so anything under sales, events, or marketing news will fall under this category.
• Transactional messages—These are one-to-one messages that you send to subscribers when they complete a specific action. For example, when users place an order through your app, you can send them an order confirmation or status on their phone.
  

Tips for Effective SMS Marketing

Grow your database of contacts

There are multiple ways to do this: have your recipients text-in to a dedicated virtual number, sign up on your website or online store, or provide their contact number when they visit you in-store. Whichever strategy you use, make sure to always give customers a way to opt-in to or opt-out of your SMS campaigns.

Always include your company’s name in text messages

The messages you send out will typically show a number code or short code assigned to your business. Unless you specify your company name within your text, there could be no way for your recipients to know who the sender is. This may prevent your campaigns from getting the mileage you want.

Track your campaigns

The platform that SMS marketing service providers use allows you to track how many of your messages have been received, who’s clicking your links, what links they clicked, response rates, and so on. You can use these insights to determine if your messages are effective or if your campaigns are performing up to par, so you can plan for further improvements.

Take Advantage of SMS Marketing Today!

SMS marketing may be an underrated strategy, but it works great for many businesses that want to communicate with customers in a fast, easy, convenient, and personal manner. If you haven’t done so, don’t you think it’s time that you take advantage of SMS marketing?

 

Learn more about SMS marketing from Semaphore. We offer the most effective solutions in SMS marketing to help your overall business goals!

Performance measurement and analysis are important in any business strategy. The same goes with SMS marketing campaigns. Metrics allow you to determine whether your campaign reached its goals and targets.

By analyzing the key metrics relevant to your SMS gateway and knowing the industry standards for every metric, you can determine which areas of your campaign need improvement. Furthermore, you can adjust your targets to be more realistic and attainable for your campaign.

Check out our infographic to learn the 5 key metrics you need to measure when launching an SMS blast. Included are tips and fast facts that can help you boost your SMS performance.

</p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p><strong>Please include attribution to https://semaphore.co/ with this graphic.</strong></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p><a href=’https://blog.semaphore.co/2017/08/31/sms-metrics-you-need-to-measure-infographic/’><img src=’https://blog.semaphore.co/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/SMS-Metrics-You-Need-to-Measure-768×2009.png’ alt=’SMS Metrics You Need to Measure [Infographic]’ width=’800′ border=’0′ /></a></p><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> <p>

1. Delivery Rate

Your delivery rate pertains to the total number of messages successfully delivered out of the total number of recipients included in your SMS blast. It tells you how reliable your SMS marketing provider is. Cheaper SMS marketing platforms sometimes fail to send SMS messages successfully due to weaker infrastructure.

(Number of Successful Delivers / Total Number of Recipients)*100

It’s important to note that several factors are involved in the delivery of your SMS including the size and health of your contacts list, message frequency, and prepaid phone number composition. Cellular signal in specific areas of the country can also affect your delivery rate.

It’s easy for users to discard prepaid phone numbers and switch to a new one. This is especially common in the Philippines, where prepaid SIM cards are either given for free or sold for ₱10 to ₱50. Check your list health regularly to determine the active numbers from the inactive ones. Delete the inactive numbers from your contacts list to improve your delivery rate.

2. Opt-Out Rate

The opt-out rate shows the percentage of users who unsubscribed to your SMS marketing list after reading your text message. The average industry opt-out rate is usually below 5%. You don’t want to lose subscribers! A high opt-out rate tells you that you might need to take a second look at your campaign offering to improve retention rates.

(Number of Unsubscribes / Total Number of Recipients)*100

Some users don’t want to be bombarded with frequent messages, especially if they receive these messages during inopportune times. A high opt-out rate could also mean that you’re targeting the wrong audience, or your messages don’t provide value to your subscribers. Find a way to engage your users with compelling text messages.

Split testing your SMS campaign can help you isolate the areas for improvement, and decrease opt-out rate.

3. Response Rate

SMS has a 45% response rate while email only has a 6% response rate. This means that users respond to almost half of all text messages they receive on their mobile phones. Placing clear calls-to-action in your SMS message encourages subscribers to take the next step.

(Number of Users Who Responded / Number of Successful Deliveries)*100

If you’re reaping low response rates, the simplicity of your call-to-action may have something to do with it. Make sure to refrain from complicated requests. Provide clear instructions to avoid confusing your audience. Keep things easy and simple. You can even ask your subscribers to text back with a single word or code.

4. Click-Through Rate

The use of smartphones and mobile internet increases every year, enabling marketers to adopt multichannel marketing campaigns. If you include a website link in your SMS blast, you need to measure your click-through rate. According to recent surveys, the average click-through rate of URLs included in an SMS blast is at 36%.

(Number of Users Who Clicked / Number of Successful Deliveries)*100

If your campaign generates a low click-through rate, then take a second look at your target demographic. Do they use a cell phone or a smartphone? You may want to include this in your next SMS blast. Ask your subscribers if they own a cell phone or a smartphone. You can also try to determine whether your smartphone users have access to mobile internet, as this can greatly affect your click-through rate when using CTA links.

5. Conversion Rate

Conversion rate refers to the percentage of users who completed your goal by taking your desired action. This can pertain to when users sign up for a service, purchased a product, visited your store, clicked through to your website, or called your company.

(Number of Users Who Took Action / Number of Successful Deliveries)*100

Overall, the conversion rate tells you whether your SMS campaign is on the right track to generating leads and increasing your revenue. Industry standards show a 328% conversion rate for leads who are sent three or more text messages after their initial contact.

6. Unsubscribe Rate

SMS unsubscribe rate is the percentage of subscribers who opt-out of receiving SMS messages from your business. This is important because it indicates the level of engagement and satisfaction of your SMS subscribers. A high unsubscribe rate may indicate that your messaging is not resonating with your audience or that you are sending too many messages.

(Number of Subscribers who Opted-out / Total Subscribers)*100

To reduce SMS unsubscribe rates, businesses can take several steps such as ensuring that their messages are personalized, relevant, and valuable to the recipient, limiting the frequency of messages, and providing an easy opt-out option for subscribers.

Measuring the Right SMS Metrics

SMS is the fastest way to reach your target consumers or audience, as it is still the most popular messaging tool used by cellphone and smartphone users. Make sure that you’re tracking your progress by measuring the relevant SMS metrics.

Reach your bottom line faster with an SMS platform that delivers results. At Semaphore, we help businesses grow by providing an SMS service at low costs. Make sure that you partner up with a reliable SMS blasting service so that your SMS messages are sent to the right recipients instantly.

Contact the SMS experts at Semaphore to learn more about our Smart SMS Solutions for Businesses!

There’s no doubt that SMS can reach audiences other business strategies such as email can’t. While email is easier to measure in terms of open and subscription rates, SMS has an advantage for a variety of reasons—there are more phones than people and 60% of the world remains offline. This means that most people don’t have 24/7 access to the Internet and mobile data, which are essential in receiving and responding to emails.

Businesses also enjoy an  industry average response rate of 45% with SMS, while emails can only reach up to 6%. It’s no wonder 36% of businesses use bulk SMS for their campaigns.

The question now becomes: How exactly do you reach that 45% response rate benchmark or even exceed it? We’ve listed down the best SMS practices you can use for your next campaign.

 

Tips to Improve SMS Response Rates

1. Write simply, but do not abbreviate.

It only takes under 5 seconds for your message to be read. Keep your message short and sweet, but don’t abbreviate. Abbreviations and “text–speak” are hard to decipher and can come across as unprofessional.

If your message is longer than 160 characters, send it in parts. Avoid shortening words just to cram everything in one message. Nothing will tank your SMS response rates faster than cluttered, incomprehensible text.

 

2. Use a branded ID.

Customers don’t think twice about deleting text messages from unknown numbers. Identify your company using a branded Sender Name, so recipients recognize you as a legitimate organization and avoid being mistaken as spam. Be sure to follow the guidelines of setting a Sender ID. Do this right if you want customers to respond to your SMS!

 

3. Be personal.

Establish a personal connection with your customers by calling them by their first name or offering a personalized discount code. You can use the customer information in your database to your advantage. For instance, you can send personal messages or special offers on their birthdays. This way, your customers will feel valued and appreciated, drastically increasing the odds that they’ll be responsive.

 

4. Use a compelling call-to-action.

Adding a call-to-action (CTA) at the end of your message provides direction to your customers. Just be clear with what action you want them to perform.

Do you want them to click on a link, visit your website, or drop by your physical store? A compelling CTA can encourage interaction and increase SMS response rates, so write it well.

 

5. Know the right time.

Since SMS is received immediately, it’s essential to determine the perfect time to send your SMS blast. After all, you want your customer to reply at first glance. Busier times of the day could mean your message gets ignored. Instead, mid to late afternoon is the best time to send an SMS blast.

Sync your SMS blast based on your niche and promotion. For example, an SMS that is promoting a weekend sale at your store should be sent on Saturday morning or Friday night the earliest. This will help your customers make the necessary plans for their weekend and make them more likely to visit your store and shop.

Boost Your SMS Response Rates

Understanding your target customers is important in determining how to send SMS for business with the right message and at the right time. Don’t be afraid to experiment, but be sure to maintain professionalism at all times. Analyze your results and evaluate how you can improve your campaign to surpass the industry benchmark of a 45% response rate.

Need help achieving your SMS marketing goals? Don’t hesitate to contact the SMS experts at Semaphore for help.