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Truth be said, it takes work to develop relationships with your customers – you must reach out to them proactively rather than waiting for them to come to you. As people are becoming more attached to their phones, using text messages to reach them is the best and most reliable direct line of contact.
This guide will delve into the direction of SMS marketing in 2022 and the possible trends to look out for.
What Is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing entails sending transactional messages or promotional campaigns for marketing reasons using text messages. In most cases, the text messages are meant to alert people or communicate updates and time-sensitive offers to subscribers (people who have accepted to receive the text messages).
Marketing text messages are sent from shortcodes rather than full telephone numbers. In most cases, these shortcodes are five to six digits shared across multiple senders or associated with one sender.
There are two types of SMS marketing:
- Campaign SMS marketing – These are one-to-many bulk text messages meant to communicate promotions or general information to customers.
- Transactional SMS marketing – These are one-to-one text messages triggered by specific behaviors or events such as shipping or order confirmation.
SMS marketing trends to look out for in 2022
Below are the key trends informing SMS marketing in 2022 and beyond:
Growth Across Sales, Offers, And Promotions
SMS marketing boasts around a 14% conversion rate, and many organizations are using it as their main marketing channel through promotions and sales. Typically, about 49 million customers consent to receive SMS from different businesses.
Businesses can also leverage SMS marketing by using anniversary and birthday specials, VIP programs, and cart abandonment offers to boost brand loyalty. SMS marketing also generates a higher response rate than Facebook, phone calls, and email, making it the best promotional channel.
Increase In Referral-Based Site Traffic
SMS marketing can help capture people who visit websites without the intention of purchasing. With the increase in online business competition, this increase in traffic is valuable to your website.
For instance, smartphones contribute to around 70% of all website visits. Thus, SMS marketing can give a substantial opportunity for website traffic. Considering that the number of potential customers you will have will depend on the traffic on your website, SMS marketing is the way to go.
Growth Of Text Messages As A Customer Service Channel
Your brand can only deliver its promise by offering quality customer service. Considering that many customers will share negative experiences on websites and social media platforms if they don’t get accurate and fast responses to their inquiries, you should prioritize offering quality customer service.
Typically, around 50% of customers use text messages to ask for support. In turn, you can use text messages to improve some of the customer service functions such as:
- Providing information on tracking and delivery of goods
- Responding to customer inquiries
- Sending payment receipts and order confirmations
- Rescheduling appointments and sending appointment reminders
- Asking for feedback concerning a service or a product
Using SMS in customer service helps to shorten the resolution time and improve consumer trust.
10-Digit Long Codes
The 10-digit long codes are local phone numbers used by businesses and organizations to send high-volume SMS for communications and marketing campaigns. The use of 10DLC is a recent shift from the use of shared shortcodes for text message promotions.
The idea behind the use of 10DLC is that service providers will recognize organizations and businesses and filter out spam. 10DLC is also cheaper to use and faster than shared shortcodes.
Increased Text Message Marketing Among B2B Organizations
Although many B2B marketers have been slower to adopt text messages in marketing promotions than B2C companies, there has been a rise in the popularity of SMS marketing among B2B companies.
B2B marketers are mainly using SMS to schedule webinars and product demos, answer frequently asked questions, and alert consumers about time-sensitive offers.
Growth in Personalized Text Message Marketing
Around 72% of customers will only engage with text messages that have been personalized to tailor their interests. Typically, customers will want to engage with a company that seems to understand their needs. Adding a personalized touch to marketing messages makes the customers feel connected with your brand.
Enhanced Targeting Using Trigger-Based SMS
The use of trigger-based SMS or auto-reply texts can help get benefits similar to email automation. For instance, you can use the auto-reply text to alert customers or request feedback. Thanks to the personal touch associated with SMS, customers are more likely to take action.
Increasing Prevalence of Artificial Intelligence Chatbots
Text message chatbots are becoming popular due to their ability to save time and effort by providing instance replies to frequently asked questions. In addition, SMS chatbots also enhance the personalization of text messages, which, in turn,improvess customer interactions.
What Makes SMS Marketing So Effective?
SMS marketing is one of the most effective methods of marketing you can use in 2022. Here are some reasons why SMS marketing is so effective:
Text Messages are Instant
The target customers can receive the text messages instantly or seconds after sending. With this speed and reliability, you can control the date and exact time your target recipients are going to receive the promotional messages.
SMS’s Are Easy To Track
Unlike other marketing methods, SMS marketing allows you to track which promotional messages are working and which ones are not. With this data, you can easily improve your marketing campaigns even on the other promotion outlets by making calculated moves.
SMS Works Well In Emerging Markets
If you’re operating a business in a country or region where Wi-Fi is less common or data is expensive, SMS will be an effective communication method.
Text Messages Have High Engagement Rates
SMSs have astronomical engagement rates compared to emails. Typically, around 90% of people read text messages within 3 minutes after receiving them. This high engagement rate allows SMSs to deliver vital information with a much higher success rate than emails.
Smartphones are Prevalent
Considering that around 81% of adults in the United States have smartphones, you can use SMS marketing to reach them directly. You can then improve your online business engagement by including a link in the text messages you’ll be sending to the customers.
SMS Marketing Strengthens Personal Customer Relationships
Considering that many people use text messages to communicate with their loved ones and friends, you can develop personal relationships with your customers by using SMSs to communicate with them.
Who Can Benefit From SMS Marketing?
Regardless of your business type, our SMS marketing services can help you engage with your customers more effectively. Here are some business types that can benefit from SMS digital marketing:
- Travel companies – You can use SMSs to communicate vital information to customers in the travel industry. For example, you can alert customers of weather changes, flight cancellations, gate changes, and flight time updates.
- E-commerce stores – Text messages are great e-commerce store tools that can help in sending promotional and transactional messages. For instance, you can use our SMS services to send shipping and order confirmation messages or promotional campaigns.
- Service businesses – If you’re running a service business that needs appointments, you can use text messages to remind clients of appointments. This way, you’ll save money and time wasted on late appointments and no-shows.
- Large organizations – If the organization is large, it can be challenging to communicate with every employee, especially when you want to share urgent information. You should consider using text messages for internal communication if you want the employee to get the information promptly.
Switch to SMS for Effective Marketing
SMS marketing is an excellent way of deepening your relationship with customers. For your information, you can track the performance of SMS marketing and use the data collected to optimize all your digital marketing strategies. Better yet, SMS marketing is instant and reliable, making it an effective channel for communicating urgent information to your customers. Absolutely, using SMS marketing will help you to build customer relationships in 2022.
Wondering how to get started with SMS marketing? Don’t fret.
Contact us today to help drive sales and customer loyalty without purging your purse.