If you are running a business, you just cannot afford to ignore text messaging. SMS that was believed to have gone out of trend has come back with a bang. Even though we are in an online world, text messaging is still popular in the world of business.
Text messaging helps to make marketing communication simple and effective. This is why you need text messaging. It is the best way to reach out to your customers and engage with them. It is also the most cost-effective way of doing marketing.
The popularity of text messaging
Why is text messaging still popular?
The answer is related to the popularity of mobile phones. Today virtually everyone owns a mobile phone. Across the world, the number of mobile phone users exceeds 7 billion. This shows how popular mobile phones are. When 95.5% of the population of the world has mobile phones, it is natural that a large majority of them use text messaging.
Text messaging for most people is available for free. Incoming text messages are mostly free. This ensures that when you send a message, the chance of the recipient reading it is very high. Text messaging does not even need internet connectivity. Even users who don’t have a smartphone can use text messaging.
Look at these facts related to text messaging. They clearly explain why text messaging is so popular.
292 million people use text messaging in North America, which represents 80% of the population.
It is believed that by 2025, 5.9 billion people will be using text messaging.
The recipient would read 98% of all text messages sent. The open rate is very high compared to emails that have an open rate of only 20%.
On average, a person responds to a text message within 90 seconds.
95% of text messages are replied to within 3 minutes of receipt.
As compared to telephone calls, emails, and Facebook the response rate of text messages is 209% higher.
75% of consumers said that they prefer to receive marketing messages from businesses.
89% of consumers say that they are not happy with how customer service is being done. 71% of millenials say that they would like to use text messaging for customer service.
75% customers say that they would like to get text messages that have offers from businesses.
In a study, 77% consumers said they would have a positive perception of a company that uses sms for communication.
The reason why customers prefer SMS is that only 10% of text messages are likely to be spam. This is significantly lower compared to emails, where 49.7% of emails are spam.
When a text message has a link provided by a company, 19% of users are likely to click on the link. This is again higher compared to emails where only 2% users are likely to click the link.
The click-through rate of text messages is 36% whereas it is merely 3.4% for emails.
55% of customers prefer to get appointment reminder through SMS while only 35% prefer to receive emails.
The above statistics very clearly reveal that text messaging is not just popular but is preferred by customers. When you are operating a business, you can start using SMS to get the best results from your marketing campaign.
How you can use text messaging effectively?
If you are having a business, you can use text messaging for a variety of business needs. Whatever may be the type of business you are running, you can use text messaging for marketing communication. You can use text messaging for customer engagement, promotion, customer service, and managing appointments.
The following explains how you can text messaging in your business effectively.
1. Generating leads
The key to the success of a business is increasing sales. You need to generate leads so that they can be converted to sales. Lead generation can be done effectively when you use text messaging. You can send text messages to potential leads and introduce your business and your offerings to them. This will help you in finding out if they are interested in availing of your services. This is a good way to generate new leads, who can bring in revenue.
2. Offer customer service
Customer service is critical to your business’ success. You can now offer customer service through SMS. You can allow your customers to send their queries, raise service requests, and report complaints through SMS. You can use text messaging to update customers on the status of their service requests. This is convenient for both you and your customer.
3. Notifications for accounts and billing
Your accounts department will find SMS helpful since you can send reminders on payments due. You can send notifications when subscription fee is due. Notifications on payment receipt and invoice generated can also be sent through text messages.
4. Promotional campaigns and coupons
The best way to generate business is by running promotional campaigns. You can do this easily through text messaging. You can send a text message to customers with details of the promotions being offers. Mobile Coupons or discount codes can be sent through text messages. The customer can visit the store and show the message to avail of the promotion. You can also send a link to allow the customer to avail of the discount while shopping online. This is a great way to boost sales.
5. Appointment reminders and notifications
If you offer appointment-based services, then you need customers to book a appointment This can be done easily through text messaging. You can also confirm appointments booked by sending a message. Notifications about pending appointments as well as change in appointment schedules can be sent through SMS
It is very clear that text messaging is a powerful tool that can help you engage with your customers in a better way. It is a great way to boost your business and is very cost-effective. You can subscribe to a text messaging service and using SMS to boost your business.
