Is Text Message Marketing Dead?
The most interesting question in the SMS Marketing industry is –
What makes SMS marketing more and more popular even though it hasn’t changed over the last 20 years?
Same 160 characters, same technology and same everything, however it’s getting more and more interest from brands. In fact, the number of brands that are interested this year in mobile advertising is significantly bigger comparing to the last year.
We can see an increasing demand for text message marketing over the years. But the question may then be asked is – why has demand been increasing even though the process and mechanism are pretty much the same and nothing has really changed over the last twenty years? Mobile phones got way smarter than before, this is the fact that we haven’t really taken into consideration. Ten years ago, no one literally had an iPhone: “I don’t really think they were around back then”, so really the only thing you could do was to get a text message and essentially show it to the retailer or restaurant and say “Here is my coupon or here is what I’m here for”. Pretty boring kind of experience but it worked obviously.
As the phones have gotten smarter and smarter, even though Text Message Marketing has remained the same, every version of mobile phones rolled out have proven to be more intelligent than previous versions. So, Text Message Marketing becomes so much more valuable because Text Message Marketing has ~ 97% open rate.
It means that 97% of customers will see offers that Brands have to offer.
Now, instead of just showing the SMS to the cashier, customers got so many options like:
- downloading the app,
- deep linking into mobile apps to go to specific page,
- taking puzzles and quizzes,
- watching a video etc…
Ten years ago, we couldn’t even imagine that we can send a text message to encourage people to watch a featured video on their mobile phone, as the technology wasn’t available.
It’s pretty powerful, right? See more SMS Marketing benefits here
Text Message has become so much more universal over the years as a communication and marketing channel, making it more interesting and valuable for marketing purposes.
Development of new mobile technologies like virtual reality, that will be introduced to mobile phones very soon, opens for brands a wide range of new experiences that they can offer to the customers. Text Message Marketing will stay the most effective way to deliver those experiences directly to the customers.
As it is often said “Text Messaging hasn’t changed but why does it feel like every year the Industry is buster and buster?” It is simply because mobile phones are getting smarter and brands are still looking for ways to get engage with customers.
SMS Marketing open rate of 97% makes one of the most powerful means to reach your customers and there’s really nothing you can compare.
