If you are a business owner, then increasing profit, building a customer base, and improving customer engagement are all likely high priorities. Businesses from all industries and sectors can enjoy the use of text marketing. Text marketing, unlike other modern marketing methods, has high open and engagement rates. Additionally, it is affordable and easy to set up.
Text marketing has the potential to completely transform your business. This article will delve deep into text marketing, and explain how it can help you:
What Is Text Marketing?
Before we begin, let’s briefly cover text marketing. Text marketing services have become popular among business owners in recent years. This is because they provide businesses with an opportunity to contact their audiences and notify them of product developments, promotional sales, and updates. Text marketing is the mass sending of messages to one’s customers.
Before the advent of text marketing, businesses had to rely upon email marketing campaigns. Email marketing, while still effective, pales in comparison to text marketing. This is because people receive hundreds of spam emails daily, so they are unlikely to read your business’s promotional emails.
Text messages are very different from emails. Most people only receive a few text messages a day. When people receive a text message, they instinctively open it right away to see who it is from, and what it is about. When a person opens your message, there is a very strong chance that they will follow through and investigate your site.
1. Higher Open Rates
Unlike other modern methods of marketing, text marketing has a very high open rate. The reason for this is that people are more interested in the content of text messages than they are in emails. In today’s social media-driven age, few people communicate via text message. People instead choose to use applications like WhatsApp, Instagram, and Telegram to talk. Yet, they still receive notifications from text messages, as they do with these platforms. Once a message recipient has opened the text, they are more likely to follow through and visit your website. Once you have them on your website, it is easier to convert them into customers. As mentioned in this review of Emotive’s business texting software, text messages have a 98% open rate. Emails, on the other hand, have a 20% open rate. With these statistics in mind, the better option is clear.
2.Highly Cost-Effective
Another advantage to using text marketing software is that it is cost-effective. This is especially true when compared to other modern methods of marketing (influencers, SEO, etc). If you have recently started your business and want an effective method of getting in touch with your audience, then text marketing is for you. The only downside to text marketing is that you need to have contact information for the people that you are messaging. This is a problem for small, recently opened businesses because it’s very unlikely that they would have a huge index of potential customers to hand. There is always the option to buy contact information, but this could be illegal in your country. Some countries prohibit the sale of customer indexes. Make sure that you research the legality before you consider doing this, otherwise, you could get into a lot of trouble and develop a bad reputation.
3. Broader Demographics
Text marketing allows you to message a broad range of people. Unlike other forms of marketing that need you to conduct extensive research, data accumulation, and outreach, text marketing allows you to connect with your audience immediately. The ability to send thousands of people a message at once will increase your company’s revenue and broaden your audience. People that signed up for your business’s newsletter and text marketing but have forgotten will be re-engaged. They could be re-converted into customers, boosting your profits. A broad range of customers is essential if you want your business to succeed.
4. You Get Direct Contact
As has already been mentioned throughout, text marketing allows you to get directly in contact with your audience. The reason for this is that most people carry their phones around with them, checking them several times an hour or more. Because people check their phones so much you are able to get in direct contact with them – you capture their attention almost immediately. This is especially true considering that most people have notifications turned on at all times. The problem with emails is that they can be pushed to the bottom of a customer’s inbox because they receive so many. This isn’t the case with text messages, but even if it was, because customers receive them immediately and are more likely to engage with them, the problem of text messages “getting lost” never manifests.
5. Engage Customers
Text marketing has higher levels of customer engagement than other modern marketing methods. This is because customers open them immediately, resulting in follow-throughs and website visitations. If you are sending out news of promotional sales or new products, there is a strong chance that recipients will make purchases. This is especially true if they are past customers. Customer engagement is essential if you want your business to succeed. If you are having trouble with customer engagement, you could send out a survey or questionnaire. These will allow you to determine why customers aren’t engaging.
6. Supports Other Marketing Activities
Text marketing does not need to be only used for issuing news or updates on products. It can also be used to complement other methods of marketing. If you run marketing campaigns on your social media page, you can notify customers of this. You can also tell them if you are collaborating with other businesses. Text marketing complements other methods of marketing because it is affordable. It is also effective, allowing you to deliver news immediately.
7. Faster Delivery
Text marketing messages are sent and received immediately unless the recipient’s phone is turned off. Emails can sometimes take a while to send; they can also take a while to be received by the other person’s mail provider, even if they have left your mailbox. Text messages are sent and received almost instantly, without any delay. As already mentioned, the only reason that a person might not receive your message is if their phone is turned off. When their phone is turned back on, they will receive a notification instructing them that you have messaged them straight away.
8. Opt-In, Opt-Out
Text marketing gives your audience the opportunity to either opt-in or opt-out of text messages. This allows you to filter out people that aren’t interested in your business, giving you direct access to an engaged and interested audience. Anybody that opts in – or people that don’t opt-out – can be converted into customers. This is because they have made a concerted effort to continue engaging with you and receiving your messages. If you fail to engage customers after they have opted-in, they can still opt out after. This means that you need to work hard to please your audience.
9. Adjustable Approach
Text marketing is a very flexible method of marketing, requiring very little work. It is far superior to other modern methods of marketing, like influencer marketing. Because you are able to operate text marketing software yourself, you don’t have to worry about working with other people. Text marketing is also flexible because it allows you to work according to your own schedule. You can also customize your messages, and send out messages whenever you think that it is an appropriate time to do so. With that said, you should never send messages out late at night or early in the morning, otherwise, you risk irritating your customers. Irritating customers is not a good way to get them to buy products from you. In fact, it will only result in them opting out and disengaging. Disengaged customers can be very bad for your brand, especially if you are just starting out.
10. Instant Responses
Finally, text messages usually yield instant responses. Customers will either opt-in or opt-out immediately. If there are timed promotional sales taking place, they will act fast. Text marketing produces instant results. Text messages also allow you to send your customers surveys and questionnaires. Surveys are a great way of finding out how customers perceive your brand. Knowing what customers think will help you to boost sales. It will also help you to increase and improve your product offerings. Some businesses send surveys out asking their customers what they would like to see. When customers respond to these surveys, businesses then tailor their products to them. If you have just started your business, this is a good way to develop and improve. With that said, it can still benefit your company even if it has been running for some time.
If you are a business owner, then you will enjoy text marketing. As this article illustrates, the advantages are many. It is very simple to get started with text marketing. All you need to do is buy a provider’s software, download it, and get started. There are very few other methods of marketing that allow you to get started as quickly as text marketing does. It’s also worth remembering that text marketing is very cheap compared to other modern marketing solutions.