What's Old Is New Again: SMS Marketing

Yootelco Tech

27 Jun 2022 — 5 min read

Have you ever gotten a text message from a number you didn’t recognize? How many times did you respond to the message?

I know some of those texts might have been spam, but I bet there were some legitimate messages in there as well. Most likely, it was your bank, PayPal, or even your cell phone company sending you a text message. And you didn't feel triggered, did you?

That is the main benefit of SMS Marketing - it is hard to ignore a text message when you have your phone in your hand.

SMS marketing may sound like a step backward in time, but don't let that fool you. This form of marketing is still effective in getting your business to your customers.

In this article, we’re going to look at what SMS marketing is, how it works, when and where it was first accepted and then we will look towards the future. We’ll also look at what advantages SMS marketing has to offer that make it an effective platform for businesses to gain customers.

What is SMS Message Marketing?

Text message marketing—or SMS marketing—is a simple, effective way to reach your customers, with 70% of users agreeing that it’s a great way for businesses to get their attention.

SMS message marketing is a powerful tool that allows you to engage with your customers directly through their mobile phones. You can send them a text message, which they can reply to or ignore. Like the old times, now SMS has become an effective way for businesses to reach out to potential clients and customers.

Businesses use SMS marketing for various purposes, but mostly, SMS is sent out to customers to

Remind them of their abandoned cart at the check-out
Inform them about new arrivals or special offers
Send a happy birthday congratulation with a discount offer
Invite them to an event
Request a feedback
Remind them about their appointments
And much more!

SMS marketing allows marketers to target people based on their location, interests, and demographics, resulting in a more effective communication channel.

When you use SMS marketing, you can reach out to your customers when they're in their natural habitats—their homes or offices—and send them messages based on where they are, what kind of mood they're in (if it's a happy hour), or if they have any questions about products or services that might be relevant at that time.

How Long Has SMS Marketing Been Around?

If you have a smartphone, then you have a built-in SMS messaging app. And if you're old enough to remember the days of flip phones, then you might also recall that texting was not always as easy or as popular as it is now. In fact, text messaging has been around for nearly 30 years.

In 1992, a 22-year-old engineer named Neil Papworth sent the first text message. He typed out "Merry Christmas" and sent it to Richard Jarvis, an engineer at Vodafone's rival company Racal. The message took nearly half an hour to reach Jarvis' phone because of network limitations.

In 2003, shortcodes with 5 and 6 digits were introduced to use in SMS marketing. This allowed major brands like Pontiac and Nike to launch huge SMS marketing campaigns, such as the G6 giveaway and Times Square design campaign.

In 2007, Apple launched the iPhone - a revolutionary mobile phone that included a virtual keyboard. At the same time, text messaging experienced an explosion in popularity, with active text message users reaching 2.4 billion messages worldwide.

Today, brands regularly reach out to customers via text messages. With SMS marketing campaigns, brands grow their marketing lists and generate more revenue.

Is SMS Marketing Still Effective?

While SMS marketing has been around for years, in recent years it has acquired some negative connotations. In particular, because SMS messages are often very short and contain only one or two words, users tend to view them as spammy or annoying. This has led many marketers to abandon the channel entirely or use it only sparingly with their customers

Despite these issues, SMS marketing remains effective when used properly. SMS is still one of the most effective channels for reaching customers with personalized content when they're on the go.

However, the effectiveness of SMS marketing depends on strategy and the direct messaging platform you are using.

The Advantages of SMS Marketing

The rising popularity of SMS marketing is connected with numerous advantages that it has to offer. It's one of the most effective ways to reach your customers, and it's also one of the cheapest and most direct forms of advertising available.

Here are just a few benefits of SMS marketing:

SMS messages are more likely to be read and engaged with than emails or social media posts because they're sent directly to your customer's phone and are received as a text message in real-time. This makes them more personal than other forms of digital communication, so it's easier for your customers to feel like they're being spoken directly to by you.
The cost of sending an SMS message is much less than other forms of communication (like email or social media). It's also cheaper than other advertising methods like television or billboards.
SMS messages are sent instantly, so they reach your customers quickly and efficiently. You don't have to wait days for responses or approvals before moving forward with your campaign; you can start right away!
SMS marketing has a striking edge over email marketing in terms of open rate. The average open rate for an SMS campaign is as high as 98% while email rings in at just 20%.
It has a high ROI (Return on Investment). You can easily track how many people open your message and respond to it. You can also see which campaigns are working best for you by looking at your analytics dashboard. This means that people read and respond to them!

What’s The Future of SMS Marketing?

The good news is that SMS marketing is proving to still be effective. It has been around for a considerable amount of time, and it has stood the test of time because it can still effectively connect businesses with their customers in a way that customers find engaging and helpful. While there are many other forms of digital marketing, sometimes nothing beats a quick text or phone call to get your message across.

Regarding the future of SMS marketing, it looks bright. With mobile devices becoming more and more powerful, we can only expect SMS to play a bigger role in our lives and expand its uses in a marketing strategy.

Get Started with SMS Marketing

Your customers are always online, and they spend a lot of time on their mobile devices. You can reach them with SMS marketing by sending them short, sweet offers.

Looking to start sending SMS marketing campaigns?

Yootelco is a messaging platform provider with worldwide coverage. It offers the highest delivery rate and the lowest message transfer rate (MTR). Yootelco enables sending messages using the most advanced channels for marketers, and it provides a detailed post-analysis of a marketing campaign in a minute. Yootelco allows you to reach out to your customers with personalized texts.

Get in touch with us to learn more about integrating Yootelco into your existing workflow.