SMS marketing isn’t complicated. It’s using text message communication for marketing, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you should know. We’ve compiled together the most important facts and statistics to help you understand how SMS marketing can raise your revenue.
We’ve even broken it down by category:
What do consumers think of SMS marketing and how is it effective?
SMS marketing has a large audience from the billions of phone users, but also because 75% of consumers are comfortable receiving text messages.
Remember, texts are direct messages to a person’s pocket, it’s personal, and because of that it has more trust. For this reason, those 75% of consumers want to receive texts with special offers rather than from other mediums they don’t trust, like email.
In fact, 64% of consumers think businesses should contact them via text messages more often. It’s this easy way to keep track of promotions, sales, and coupons.
People never go anywhere with their phones, so they never go anywhere and miss a text message. This has all led to SMS marketing’s 98% open-rate, where your marketing texts never go unread.
How does SMS compare to other channels?
SMS does require that a subscriber opt-in where email marketing does not, but this has in turn led to far less of SMS being marked as spam. In fact, only 10% of SMS marketing messages are marked as spam vs 49.7% of marketing emails, the next lowest.
We mentioned trust before, and subscribers opt-in because they trust you, which leads to more purchases than email-only subscribers. SMS has an easier time selling your product than email, because SMS as a platform is trusted above all other marketing channels.
This all leads to a higher ROI on average per SMS marketing message when compared to the next highest, email.
High level SMS marketing statistics & SMS sales statistics
- The average response time for a SMS marketing message is 90 secs, versus 90 minutes for email.
- Consumers are more likely to open text messages before any other form of mobile communication.
- SMS response rates by industry:
- Retail: 32%
- Betting & Trading: 33%
- Entertainment: 37%
- Travel & Transportation: 54%
- Finance & Banking: 57%
- Average: 42.6%
- SMS’s 98% open-rate is considered so high because the next highest is emails at 20%.
- SMS messages have an average click-through rate of 36%, while email click-through-rates are a dismal 3.4%.
- When it comes to sales, 90% of leads prefer to be texted, compared to being called on the phone.
- SMS produces engagement rates six to eight times higher than retailers normally achieve via email marketing when used for redemption, data collection, and brand awareness.
- Mobile Coupons delivered via SMS have redemption rates 10 times higher than those of printed coupons.
When is the best days and times to send a marketing message?
Avoid irritating your subscribers, and message them when they’re most likely to make a purchase.
- Most popular days to send texts are Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.
- Least popular day to send texts is Sunday.
- Lowest response rate is on Monday.
- Never on major holidays or sports events.
The best time of day to message someone would be 12:00 PM. Noon is the best time of day to send messages that will be read, responded, and/or opened, for each day of the week.
Use-Cases for SMS marketing messages
SALES PROMOTION
Advertising a sale or new promotion is the most common and simplest way one can use SMS marketing.
You have this store wide promotion that you want to build excitement about, for low prices or new items. A SMS marketing text will push subscribers to your store by telling subscribers about the time and place of the sale/promotion, with an example of new low prices or items.
This is when SMS produces its high engagement rate. You’ll see your subscribers coming to your shop because they’ve been thinking about the text you sent them.
Text messages are not annoying to subscribers, so they drive sales and get subscribers thinking about how much they need that new thing, or how they’ll never get a better price.
ABANDONED CART MESSAGE
Studies place cart abandonment as high as 80% and as low as 55% as of 2020, but you can capture them back.
In the first abandoned cart message, it only needs to point out that they didn’t finish their purchase, and give a link to their cart. The message itself is simple and to the point, serving first as a reminder of the item they want, because a push can be the only motivation they need.
In the first abandoned cart message, it only needs to point out that they didn’t finish their purchase, and give a link to their cart. The message itself is simple and to the point, serving first as a reminder of the item they want, because a push can be the only motivation they need.
Should that not work, the next step is to send another message that incentivizes them to complete the purchase by offering a discount or a deal.
This targets subscribers who abandoned their cart over the price. Make the discount temporary and you’ve added urgency to their decision to take the best deal they can get.
Best Practices for a SMS marketing message
There are basic parts to a marketing message. You start with the company name, like this “Sally’s Shirts:”, at the beginning of every message. Mobiniti can set this up automatically for you. This wa
The next part is the intro, where you introduce the topic in three words or less. If you have a sale on a day, or a regular promotion, open with it, like “Summer sale” or “Sale on 10/2.”
Then comes the harder part, which is building excitement towards the offer. If your offer is only for a limited time, you should say “for only a limited time” before the offer to build excitement, or if it’s exclusive say “in certain location(s) only” to make it feel that way.
To finish your message, you state the offer, whether it be a discount, a prize, or a new announcement. Say it in as little words and characters as possible, leave none of it to question. “10% off all summer items,” “get a free voucher,” and “brand new [item],” are examples of getting to the offer well and concisely.
There are more ways to get your message across.
If you need to send an information message, a reminder, or something similar, you need to use more characters, which necessitates Long SMS or MMS. With either, you can increase your character usage to 1280 or 1500, respectively.
If you need more characters to include a coupon incentive or add interactivity with an emoji, use Long SMS which allows you to send two SMS messages as if they were one. This lets you send out the information you need without having to use the more expensive SMS.
If you think you need to add images or videos to get your message across, you can switch MMS. With MMS you have all the characters you need, and the ability to attach nearly anything that you think can represent your product/service better than words.
Getting started with SMS marketing
To get started, all you need to do is go sign-up with Mobiniti, and find the package for you.
We offer packages based on the amount of messages you need, how many different marketing groups you want, and the social profiles you’re gonna make.
If the packages don’t match what you need, then you contact us and we’ll make a custom package and quote just for you.
Industry Stats for SMS Marketing Messages
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