In today’s tech-heavy world, people have grown accustomed to on-demand connectivity. With smartphones, people can capture high-resolution pictures and send them in seconds, check in on the world’s latest trends in real-time, and much more. Still, despite how advanced consumer technology has become, text messaging is still popular.
Developed in 1992, short message service (SMS) remains widely used for numerous purposes. Friends, family members, and peers send SMS messages to communicate for recreation. Healthcare providers use it to remind patients of appointments.
Businesses also use text messaging to touch base with current customers and leads. Local restaurants routinely use SMS to inform customers of limited-time deals. Event holders and venues text concertgoers about updates regarding parking, hours of operation changes, and exclusive offers. Service providers ask clients about how good their experiences were. Put simply, businesses use SMS messages for a broad variety of purposes.
No matter how big your business is, what products or services it provides, or where it’s located, you can benefit from investing in a mass texting service.
Texting Doesn’t Bother Customers
How do you, personally, feel about viewing advertisements? Although you might have an answer prepared already, your relationship with advertising unarguably differs on the type of ad you come across and in what environment it’s shown.
For example, during a long interstate drive, you might appreciate coming across a clever billboard. On the other hand, however, a slew of midroll YouTube advertisements while watching your favorite creator’s newest release might aggravate you to no end.
Unlike those pesky midroll video ads, text messages are short and sweet. In today’s times, people are used to receiving dozens, if not hundreds, of smartphone notifications each day.
Findings from mass communication service providers support the idea that commercial text messages don’t bother recipients. According to CDYNE, “Simplified promotional messages don’t bother the customer; rather, such messages are more likely to persuade the targeted audience.”
SMS Messages Don’t Require Internet Access
As you know, the Internet is an active part of most Americans’ lives. According to Pew Research Center, a whopping 90% of Americans access the World Wide Web on a regular basis.
Social media platforms, one of the most common mediums of interpersonal communication, requires Internet access. Although many people can access the Internet from the smartphones, modern telecommunication companies put data caps on customers’ wireless plans. According to telecom providers, these caps only reduce data transfer speeds. In actuality, smartphone users aren’t able to load data at all once they reach their monthly limits.
To avoid hitting these data caps, smartphone users routinely self-regulate their mobile Internet usage, exclusively reserving it for emergencies or occassional use. This prevents your business from reaching audience members when running advertisements or exploring online marketing strategies. What’s the point of investing in marketing if your intended audience members aren’t even going to be exposed to it?
Text messages, on the other hand, don’t require Internet access. With SMS messaging, you’ll be more likely to get through to recipients.
Texting Boasta a High Open Rate
People are notorious for not opening all of the emails they receive. Since businesses offer free trials and other benefits in exchange for consumer information like email addresses, email users are used to simply ignoring emails from businesses. As soon as they recognize emails are from a non-important sender, they brush over them, not even bothering to read their titles.
Text messages aren’t ignored like emails are. Most smartphone users opt to leave notifications on for text messages, as they often concern personal issues. Even if they’re not interested in following through with offers or requests from commercial text messages, they still read them in full before closing them.
Another reason for texting’s high average open rate is that text messages are easy to understand. Unlike emails or social media, just about everyone understands texting.
CDYNE indicates that texting offers “an open rate of almost 98%,” essentially guaranteeing that leads or existing customers will read your messages.
Lastly, It’s Cost-Effective
Yet another major benefit of investing in a mass texting service is its cost-effectiveness. Sending SMS messages requires little on behalf of telecommunications companies. They provide commercial SMS access at low prices because they hope that businesses will purchase other services from them, virtually all of which are more expensive.
Mass texts also won’t require much labor on behalf of your marketing crew, further reducing your company’s marketing spending.
No matter how you slice it, investing in mass SMS services can boost your company’s bottom line.