Are you guilty of immediately checking your phone when you wake up? It’s OK to admit it because at Lynton, we’re definitely guilty of it too. But instead of feeling bad about it, think about how you can leverage the average person’s reliance on their phones to your advantage. In this case, we’re talking about SMS marketing.
SMS marketing is growing in popularity for the reason mentioned above. And with its growing demand is its positive impact on businesses. Here are seven ways SMS marketing can help your company meet its goals.
1. Improve Customer Support
Twenty years ago, texting a brand to troubleshoot an issue with a product or service would have seemed impossible. Flash forward to today, and it’s not only possible but preferred by consumers. In fact, 70% of respondents to a recent study said they’d rather use SMS messaging to contact a company for support. Not only that, but people flat out prefer texting over calling in almost every scenario.
The convenience, quick response times, and ease of SMS are the primary reasons consumers want to text brands. So, with all that in mind, it only makes sense that if you offer your prospects and customers the opportunity to text you, you’ll improve your customer support. To implement it, add an SMS phone number to your “Contact Us” or “Support” page on your website. You should also alert your sales and customer success teams to your strategy.
Read more: Choosing the Right KPIs for Your Marketing Strategy
2. Increase Engagement
Every marketer wants their users to open, click on, and engage with their campaigns. While email open and click rates can vary, almost 98% of all texts are opened and read within three minutes. Additionally, while a lot of email is marked as spam, only 1% of SMS messages are. If you need yet another reason to consider SMS’s power to engage, consider this fact: Most users are willing to respond to your texts. With the right message, you can quickly grab their attention and keep it.
3. Save Money
SMS marketing is one of the most cost-effective forms of marketing. Many providers offer easy upfront payments or simple pay-as-you-go plans that can start at as little as $5 per month. Once you’re up and running, you can start sending campaigns that are also geared at saving you money.
For example, you can easily set up automated bill payment reminders for customers via SMS. You can also send out promotional coupons that encourage people to spend money with your brand. A pro tip for these types of campaigns? Be friendly in your tone and personalize your message with their name if you can.
4. Reduce Missed Appointments
Have you ever received an appointment reminder from your dentist or doctor via text? Because you were probably already within arm’s reach of your phone, you got the message and showed up on time the next day. A win-win for both you and your doctor!
After allowing customers to opt-in, many brands choose to send texts like this to let their users know about their upcoming appointments with them. Doing this reduces missed appointments, which in turn can save your business money.
5. Reach More People
You can send SMS messages to anyone with a mobile device — whether it’s a smartphone or not. And with over 5.13 billion people owning a mobile device versus 2.71 billion owning a smartphone, it’s pretty clear that with SMS marketing and its international capabilities, you can cast a wider net. That, coupled with SMS’s high deliverability rate, you’re likely going to reach the people you want to connect with via SMS.
6. Strengthen Your Lists
When it comes to email marketing, sometimes you may email people who you either didn’t get explicit permission from or who may have forgotten about you. People also set up various spam filters that could send your message to their “Junk” folder without them realizing it.
With SMS, your first message to any users will reach them 99% of the time. Any time you send an initial campaign to a prospect or customer, you must legally add an OPT-IN or OPT-OUT option. This gives them an instant opportunity to let you know if they want to be a part of your campaign. Because of that, you can quickly begin weeding people who aren’t engaged out of your SMS marketing lists, strengthening them over time. And a stronger list like that means an engaged audience who’s more likely to respond to whatever campaign you’re sending.
7. Communicate with Your Team Internally
SMS doesn’t only have to be a way to communicate with your leads and prospects. You can also use it to communicate with your own company to keep them aware of what’s going on in the business. Think of it as a small, faster internal newsletter sent directly to their phone. And, depending on your company policy for cellphone usage, they’ll read within three minutes — just like your other users.
Getting Started with SMS via the Twilio HubSpot Extension
There are many advantages to SMS marketing — almost too many to consider! However, we believe these seven ways will have the most impact on your business and its goals. From saving money to engaging better with your audiences, SMS marketing will propel your company forward. If you'd like to capitalize on some of the benefits outlined here, the consider looking at the Twilio HubSpot extension from SyncSmart.
With the Twilio HubSpot extension, you can easily send personalized SMS messages to your contacts in HubSpot, track message performance, and automate follow-up messages based on user behavior. This integration can help you save time, increase engagement, and ultimately drive more revenue for your business — and everything else we mentioned in our blog!
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