4 Fundamental truths that make SMS such an effective channel
Simple ubiquitous tools like text messaging will remain dominant while large internet companies continue to create proprietary and closed social and messaging platforms that require a lot of effort to use and give very little marketing reach. Here are 4 reasons why SMS is a great marketing channel.
1. NO INTERNET REQUIRED! - SMS is infrastructure.
SMS operates over the same wireless protocol as mobile phone calls. We do not need a separate app or even a 3G internet connection to receive an text message. If recipients are data capped or out of a high signal strength area, no problem. SMS will still get through where internet protocols will not.
SMS is built into and available on every mobile platform out there. It is not confined to a limited audience like Apple or Android users, it can be delivered to any mobile phone, anywhere, anytime.
2. NO APP NEEDED! - Increased message penetration
Every time you ask a user to do something in order to interact with a campaign, a percentage of the audience is lost. It still boggles our minds that real digital marketing campaigns ask users to search for, download and install apps and then perform actions using those apps in order to interact with a campaign. By the time the core message is imparted, the user is more than likely lost to frustration.
To receive an SMS requires no effort, it doesn’t even need an internet connection. It is reliably delivered, and always read. And because it is short you are forced to deliver the most succinct message you can which always equals success.
3. NEAR 100% READ RATE - Cuts through social and free message noise.
There are a flood of free messaging apps coming onto the market. These in theory are supposed to solve the problem of the expense of SMS. However at the same time they creating a worse problem, that of messaging noise.
Because of the fact that they are free, internet messaging and social inboxes end up full of your friends every waking thoughts, and due to that fact, you stop listening. SMS cuts through this barrage of social and messaging noise.
If somebody sends you an SMS text message you know they have paid for it and they need you to listen and reply. This fundamental expectation leads to SMS having a near 100% read rate.
4. SMS IS INTERACTIVE - A short message that delivers a lot!
Don’t think of the SMS message as the end, think of it as the beginning. It is the most successful and responsive communication method for a reason. It is the call to action, the connection of an idea to the rich media experience that today’s mobile devices can deliver.
Mobile web links can be inserted into messages that can link to mobile optimised landing pages for rich marketing experiences like forms, video and visually rich information.
SMS is 2 way! Replies to messages can be forwarded to email and web applications for automated responses or pretty much any application your imagination can think of.
