SMS, it’s the world’s most used messaging channel, reaching over 5 billion people. It is also a great channel for companies looking to drive engagement. For many people, their email inbox will have hundreds, if not thousands of unread messages. Whereas, their SMS ‘inbox’ often has 0 unread messages. Because of this, it is no surprise that SMS has a 98% open rate and 90% of messages are opened within 3 minutes! This gives marketers the confidence that messages sent to customers are actually read.
When deployed effectively, SMS can be a powerful way to engage with customers, however, when used poorly, it can result in a negative customer experience.
Thinking of incorporating SMS into your marketing mix? Read on for our top, results proven use cases for SMS.
- Deliver timely, personalised messages
SMS is the most impactful when time-sensitive and important to the recipient. Sending personal messages in a timely manner makes the customer feel special, and can encourage further interaction with the brand.
One way NRL team, the Gold Coast Titans, has put this into practice is to communicate with fans and members on game day. SMS messages are triggered within 5 minutes of fans and members scanning their ticket at the stadium, offering them a personalised welcome, with a link to further game day information. The result? Click rates of over 30%, and amazing customer feedback.
E.g. GCT ‘welcome to Cbus’ campaign
- Share personalised reminder information
SMS is an urgent, attention-grabbing channel that allows you to effectively keep users up to date on key information relating to the customer.
This may take form as an event reminder, a confirmation for an upcoming appointment, traffic updates or flight delay information.
The outcome: an easy experience that encourages customers to continue their relationship with your brand.
- Capture customer interests, preferences, and behavior to enable smarter segmentation
Starting a 2-way conversation not only provides customers with a unique experience, but it also offers a new means to collect information.
E.g. UWA SMS convo
4. Generate new leads
Although not the most common use case for the channel, SMS offers a creative way for brands to collect new, opted in leads. Mobile Originated SMS, facilitated by the Marketing Decisions SMS Connector, provides brands with the means to leverage above the line channels and media to prompt users to start the conversation.
For a sports team, this could be a way to collect game day attendee details, or for a university, new leads on open day.
E.g. GCT mobile originated campaign
To learn more about deploying a mobile originated SMS campaign, speak to one of our SMS specialists.
Final thoughts
Whether you are a university, sports team or non-for-profit, SMS is a powerful tool for your marketing outreach. Just remember to be thoughtful when it comes to when and how you use SMS marketing.
So if you are already using email, take a holistic look at your strategy and consider how SMS could be used to supplement your existing communications.
The Marketing Decisions SMS connector allows brands to seamlessly integrate SMS into multichannel campaigns, ultimately providing a means to reach customers anywhere, anytime. Click here to learn more.
