Debunking the myths around SMS marketing
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The following article has been developed by Marketing on behalf of Oxygen8 Group to promote the report, ‘Mobile engagement: Why SMS is still the biggest missed opportunity’.
Despite most people in the world being practically attached to their smartphones, SMS marketing is proving to be an underutilised resource.
As email inboxes become more flooded, and open rates decline, SMS is standing out as the consumer’s chosen form of communication.
Oxygen8 Group’s latest report, ‘Mobile engagement: Why SMS is still the biggest missed opportunity’, debunks eight common misconceptions about SMS marketing and explains why more and more marketers are giving preference to the channel.
Just some of the statistics cited in the report in favour of SMS marketing include:
- 98%: the open rate of SMS,
- 64%: the amount of purchases made as a result of a relevant SMS, and
- 64%: the amount of consumers that think more businesses should use SMS.
A recent study by Loudhouse SAP found 37% of 18-to-24-year-old respondents checked their mobile phones every 10 minutes. Older generations check them slightly less frequently, but many people of all ages and professions admit to being ‘addicted’ to their smartphones.
“The irony is that this generation, in marketing terms, is most engaged and most responsive to SMS, a technology that is decades older than the smartphone,” writes the report’s author, Oxygen8’s CEO Louise Ford.
“A further irony is that, on the whole, marketers have not yet caught onto this phenomenon. SMS marketing remains, all-too-often, overlooked or given an insufficient slice of the mobile marketing budget.
One common misconception about SMS marketing is that it’s only useful for small business. In fact, many large businesses are realising the power of the humble text message to engage their customers. Here are just some of the ways:
- remind customers to make payments or attend appointments,
- offer unique loyalty opportunities near shops,
- alert customers when a product they are interested in becomes available,
- communicate fraud alerts, and
- remind customers to use coupons or rewards.
The report investigates the reality of each of the following misconceptions one by one in detail.
The common misconceptions about SMS marketing:
- it’s not trackable,
- it’s not engaging,
- it’s too time consuming,
- it’s invasive,
- it lacks the ability to segment and personalise,
- it’s difficult to integrate with other channels,
- it’s just for retail, and
- it’s only for small business.
