Why SMS Marketing is worth millions and you're missing out

Did you know that we check our phone 85 times per day, on average?

What does that mean for your SMS open rates?

The winning number is 82.1%!

This vastly surpasses email which tends to peak at 20% if you’re a brilliant writer.

Should we be surprised that 80% of Millennials say their phone is the first thing they check when they wake up?

Let’s be honest, who did you say hello to first this morning? (phone or partner?)

The point is that people keep their phones handy and are always ready to use them to find information or check the latest social media updates.

It’s so effective that one of our clients generated 7 sales appointments from their existing database for a princely sum of $180 in SMS fees.

Jealous?

That’s potentially $5 million in revenue for $180

Are you familiar with mega online retailer Kogan? Well, they blitz their online sales using guerrilla SMS campaigns, they’re so successful their stock price has soared from $4.05 in March to over $14 in June.

I hope you bought some shares ??

So what are the advantages and how can you use SMS Marketing to crush your competitors? 

Personally, the results are loud and clear, for the unconverted or think you’re above SMS marketing, allow me to share my thoughts.

Advantage #1 - Texting has by far the best engagement rate of any marketing medium.

Emails can sit unread for days, phone calls can go unanswered, but text messages are almost always read immediately after they’re sent. And they tend to respond fairly promptly too.

Advantage #2. You can easily track who opened your message, what links they clicked, and who ignored the message.

Even better is that you know who gave you a fake number immediately!

Advantage #3. Interactive content: Mobile messaging makes it possible to get feedback from your recipients quickly via a quick tap on the ‘reply’ button or a click on your link.

You can deliver quick, simple messages that make it easy for someone to respond. SMS marketing programs allow senders to receive the responses via email so your team can be controlling the conversations conveniently from a PC or laptop. Convenience and user experience is crucial so when you do start this style of marketing, ensure your team is finger ready to reply to responses.

Advantage #4.  Immediate delivery: Overall, mobile marketing is fast.

Interestingly, people see phone calls as intrusive but they don’t consider SMS as an annoyance. In fact, they will often stop conversations mid sentences just to read their phones. I’m sure you’re guilty of this too.

Now that you’re ready to start your SMS journey, so how do you ensure your SMS technique is crafted cleverly to elicit a response?

See below for a blueprint I always follow to generate at least 20% replies within 5 minutes 

Tip 1 – Always personalise the salutation so your recipient feels familiar. Again, statistics have proven time and time again that personalisation generates triple engagement. 

Tip 2 – We encourage “Hey or Hi” because informality makes your campaign seem less bulk, so refrain from “Dear Sir or Dear Madam” because you are not asking for a marriage proposal.

Tip 3 – Be to the point about the reason you are messaging and ALWAYS ask for a response e.g. "Hey Michelle, I just wanted to touch base to see if you’re still looking for an apartment to purchase? Are you free for a quick chat later this afternoon?" Remember, you’re not here to make friends, you want to generate an appointment.

Tip 4 – Timing is crucial and we have found that morning tea breaks are the BEST times so anywhere between 9am – 11am seems to be the sweet spot.

I hope you have a brilliant week, don't accept excuses and CRUSH your sales.