SMS (Short Message Service) is one of the most influential commercial communication platforms in 2024-2025. Due to the quick development of technology and consumers’ changing expectations, SMS has established itself as a crucial instrument in business-to-consumer (B2C) operations. But what is SMS marketing in real life, and how will it boost your online business in 2024?
SMS marketing, generally recognized as text message marketing (or simply text marketing), is a simple approach to reach your consumers while achieving a significantly better ROI. Customers like it, too, with 70% thinking it’s an excellent method for firms to get their attention.
Let’s examine the main trends influencing SMS marketing, investigate the factors driving its expansion, and identify business-friendly possibilities for the coming year. Keep exploring to learn what SMS is in marketing and some significant use cases in 2024.
Table of Contents
What is SMS Marketing and How Does it Work?
SMS marketing is a type of marketing in which organizations offer promotions to clients via text message. To put it another way, text marketing and SMS marketing are synonymous.
Businesses may stay in touch with you by using this direct communication technique to share news about new items, unique promotions, or even valuable recommendations in real-time. Customers feel appreciated and distinctive when you use this kind of marketing since it establishes a personal connection between you and the company. Additionally, you don’t have to be concerned about spam or unsolicited SMS overflowing your inbox because it is permission-based.
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To send SMS marketing messages, you must first obtain consent through opt-in. After that, you may text promotional messages to your client’s mobile devices. Text message or SMS marketing, unlike other digital communication strategies, may still reach clients who are not online.
You may use business texting software to schedule texts and SMS promotional texts for delivery to your mailing lists. A messaging app allows for two-way conversations with consumers and automated interaction with client management.
SMS marketing, such as email marketing, is opt-in, meaning that customers must sign up for it. However, in contrast to email marketing, SMS messages are substantially shorter.
What Makes SMS Marketing So Popular?
Before knowing the uses of cases in “What is SMS marketing?” you must understand why it is in high demand. The rise in popularity of SMS marketing may be attributed to several factors:
- Around the world, 84% of people own a smartphone. This implies that practically anyone may get your SMS messages.
- While approximately 5% to 10% of email recipients reply to marketing emails, SMS marketing has a 45% response rate.
- Nineteen percent of SMS marketing receivers will click on a link inside the message. Compared to clicks on links in email marketing communications, this is over six times as numerous.
- More than half of customers prefer getting promotional SMS messages, and 60.8% of them want to text a business.
- You may reach clients no matter where they are. Also, provide marketing messages to those who do not check their email or have a connection to the internet. By 2027, it is expected that there will be an estimated 7.69 billion smartphone subscribers. This makes SMS marketing the most convenient and cost-effective approach to reach customers.
Dakota Financial, for example, serves a large number of clients in locations with limited data connectivity. In these instances, text messaging is critical to maintaining contact. Let’s now talk about some benefits of using SMS marketing in our What is SMS marketing guide.
Benefits of SMS Marketing in 2024
Compared to different digital marketing strategies, SMS marketing offers several benefits.
It’s Quick
In many ways, text message marketing is quick. You don’t have to create any visuals to accompany your information, unlike with social media or email marketing. You also do not need to compose a lot because text messages have a little character restriction. They may be made and sent quickly and easily.
Second, SMS can get to your receivers more quickly than emails or Instagram posts. When your consumers get an SMS, they instantly receive notifications on their phones. In contrast, to view your other marketing materials, consumers would have to go through the extra effort of downloading a social networking program or email client.
Exceptional Response Rates
In terms of response rates, text messages outperform emails by nearly six times. This makes SMS one of the most engaging communication mediums on the market, allowing you to learn more about your target demographic.
To boost brand loyalty and corporate exposure, all you have to do is enhance client communications. SMS marketing offers all of that and more.
It Receives Excellent Response Rates
SMS opening rates are high, and so are the response rates. The average answer rate for an SMS marketing message is 45%, but email click-through rates are rarely more than 7%. Customers are far more likely to click on a link sent by SMS than an email. Therefore, knowing what is SMS marketing is necessary before jumping into it.
Producing Content Is Not Time-Consuming For SMS Campaigns
Texting is by far the most accessible marketing tool for businesses to use.
Blog posts may be lengthy, social media material needs a team to photograph and style, and emails must have a strong voice and an eye for visual design to stand out in your audience’s inbox truly. However, because SMS messages only contain 160 characters, you must be concise with a clear message and a powerful, prominent CTA.
Even if you’re creating an MMS message, which allows you to include extra media such as a picture, GIF, or MP4 video, the file size is restricted.
Your text messages are fundamentally simple. Therefore, your campaigns will feature a more targeted and easy design.
Creating Loyalty
If marketing teams employ special text messages to involve customers in many expressive discussions, they may figure out long-term links and loyalty. Personalized messaging empowers businesses to personalize their business content to certain clients, demonstrating how the actual brand values and respects each individual.
Organizations may use a targeted strategy to offer clients discounts or promotions via text messages, incentivizing them to return and make further purchases. And, if marketers use SMS automation, such text messages may remind consumers about forthcoming events or deals, keeping the company top-of-mind and encouraging customers to stay loyal.
What is The Best Time To Send SMS Marketing?
To get the most money per send, it is advisable to send SMS marketing messages at 12 or 8 p.m. You may reach your audience when they are most likely to be active and engaged—during their lunch breaks or as they calm down in the evening—by focusing on them during these times.
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Top 10 Use Cases of SMS Marketing in 2024
Now is the best time we have to introduce the top 10 use cases of SMS marketing in 2024 in our blog of what is SMS marketing guide. Let’s go:
Use A Tool To Send Your Marketing Messages
After all, you don’t have time to email every consumer personally; therefore, you’ll need tools to assist you in automating your SMS marketing. You can choose to employ a cohesive framework like Lightspeed Advanced Marketing, but some alternative providers only offer text message marketing.
Another SMS marketing solution would track your campaign statistics independently from all of your other marketing efforts and would require you to supply a list of client contact details. Selecting a loyalty program that works with your point-of-sale system has the advantage of allowing you to gather information, handle data, and send campaigns from the exact location where you handle purchases.
Content Sharing
Customers may be reached by text message to share how-to manuals, product specifications, and other resources. Marketers are typically aware of the benefits of content marketing, but text message content distribution is still in its early days. However, this is an SMS marketing use case that, such as email content marketing, creates connections and keeps clients engaged. Texting amusing or valuable material may be an efficient way to reach and maintain clients’ attention.
Two-Way Messaging
One of the distinguishing features of SMS marketing is two-way communication. What renders texting so revolutionary is the simple idea that your marketing team can communicate with clients instantly and in real time. Customers today want to know that they can reach you if they have any issues and that your firm is operated by actual people rather than computer systems. Texting back and forth improves the experience’s customization and engagement in comparison to other channels, whether for customer service or purchasing advice. It is equivalent to two-way communication, except customers expect a text message in response. This category includes pre-sales inquiries and requests for demos. Sales teams may utilize two-way texting to interact with prospects. It is the best use case in our “What is SMS Marketing” blog.
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Monitor Results
Once a message has been issued, monitor its effectiveness. Check the number of individuals who clicked on the link you included in your message. See how many individuals utilized the unique discount code you created for your SMS advertising campaign when they made a purchase and how many sales you were able to make. Examine these numbers about the quantity of messages you sent.
Don’t only follTrackrack efficiently. It takes a lot of time to track results manually. You may spend more time acting on the data and less time gathering it by using SMS marketing solutions, which can automatically produce reports for you.
Drip Marketing
Drip SMS campaigns are a type of focused marketing technique in which a set of receivers receive a series of pre-planned text messages over a certain amount of time.
These SMS (Short Message Service) programs seek to progressively engage and raise receivers, similar to drip email marketing.
The messages are often sent in response to specific online/physical events or activities, which include a user clicking a link, buying something, or signing up for a special service.
Flash Sales
Flash sales may upsurge your company’s traffic right away. This tactic typically involves offering a product for sale in limited numbers at a substantial price for a short time. When customers have their push notifications enabled, you may make flash sales since you know that your messages will probably be viewed in three seconds or less. Flash sales are an excellent way to give your marketing campaigns a feeling of urgency rapidly. This is faster than any other media. Texting results in shorter open times and quicker responses to your campaign when it provides a reasonable chance of quickly reaching your target. So, Knowing What is SMS marketing is necessary if you are going to jump into the business world in 2024.
Polls And Surveys
Text-based polls and surveys serve two purposes. One of the best ways to find out how your audience is feeling is to ask them for comments. What do they think about the suggested new product design? What is their favorite flavor in your company’s lineup? It’s also the best way to include your audience by making them feel like they have a say in the decisions that impact your business.
One excellent way to utilize text messaging for surveys is to send a quick survey to customers after they make a purchase. This might help you find out if your product or service meets the expectations of your clients and get feedback on how satisfied they are. Surveys may also be used to learn more about customer preferences or to get input before the introduction of new products or services.
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Reach The Appropriate Clients At The Appropriate Moment
A person who lives close to your flagship store and spends a lot of money there each month may respond differently to various messages than someone who only shops online and buys things around the holidays. Similarly, a satisfied consumer would be more receptive to multiple forms of marketing than a disgruntled or indifferent one.
You may increase your effect by grouping your consumers according to their behavior. Use a platform that uses POS data to automatically split your clients into groups to save time and guarantee that your buckets are always correct. It is yet another best-use case in knowing what is SMS marketing in 2024.
The Launch Of A New Product
When you launch a new product or service, you want your consumers to know about it immediately. Nor tomorrow, nor next week. It’s crucial to move fast, particularly if you wish to provide your loyal SMS subscribers the opportunity to buy the products before everyone else does. Because messages are often seen within the first few minutes of receipt, texting is the perfect way to give consumers first dibs or notify them in advance of the debut of your product.
Notes Regarding Abandoned Carts
The shopping cart reminder has become a tried-and-true eCommerce strategy that is nearly as ancient as the shopping cart itself. When a customer starts shopping but leaves the cart empty before completing their last purchase. This helpful feature steps in to gently remind them to do so. However, imagine that you can be confident that your customer would see the message relatively immediately after you remind them that they have an item in their cart. Nine out of 10 individuals read the texts they get in the first three seconds.
Conclusion
Your clients use their mobile devices and the internet extensively. You may contact a large number of people with brief yet delicious offers by using SMS marketing. Now, we hope you’ve clearly understood what is SMS marketing campaign and its use cases in 2024.
Connecting your SMS messaging platform to your point of sale is the most remarkable approach to obtaining consumer behavior data, which will be the foundation of your most successful SMS marketing campaigns.
FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions)
Is SMS Marketing Illegal?
Unauthorized and unwanted telemarketing calls and texts are covered by the TCPA. To comply, marketers must get permission before sending commercial text messages, explain the contents of the SMS communication, and provide an unsubscribe option.
Does SMS Marketing Work?
According to studies, SMS texts have an average response rate of 45%, whereas email responses average 6 percent. SMS conversion rates are more significant due to the fundamental nature of the marketing message.
What Is the Main Difference Between Email And SMS Marketing?
On the one side, SMS can provide your audience with rapid updates; it’s straightforward, prompt, and ideal for communicating urgent information. Email, on the other hand, provides a broader audience and the chance to incorporate detailed information and images.
What Is SMS And An Example?
Often called “text messaging,” SMS (Short Message Service) is a service that allows users to send brief messages to mobile devices, such as smartphones & cell phones, up to 160 characters long (or 224 characters if utilizing a 5-bit format). Keep an eye on Tech.