With new technologies and more people relying on their smartphones to stay connected, short message service (SMS) direct marketing is growing in adoption. It is an effective way to personalise communications to stay in contact with customers. For example it can be used for direct contact with potential homebuyers, improve campaign results, and drive conversions.
Direct Marketing Explained
Let’s step back for a minute and define ‘direct marketing.’ It is an umbrella term used to describe how a company reaches a target market with messaging that encourages the recipient to act in a specific way (e.g., register for an event, subscribe to a program, buy a product, etc.).
Direct marketing is tailored to specific market segments, whereas traditional campaigns are directed at mass audiences. This can be done with targeted online ads, telemarketing, direct mail, and SMS campaigns. SMS marketing is successful when the messages engage existing and potential customers in a meaningful way.
More About SMS Direct Marketing
SMS direct marketing is a fast-growing form of direct marketing that uses brief text messages to deliver personalised promotional offers, time-sensitive updates, reminders, delivery updates, and other relevant information to a person or group of people.
This communication channel allows people to actively interact with brands and builds customer trust and loyalty. At the same time, businesses can learn more about their market base through the data collected by SMS responses.
However, before you start shooting off buckets of SMS messages, make sure the recipient has given explicit permission for you to contact them this way. Otherwise, you could be violating consumer protection laws and regulations and turning off the person you are trying to reach with messaging that feels intrusive and irrelevant. It is important to understand how to avoid legal issues and to protect the brand’s reputation by being informed about any legal restrictions.
Similarly, you don’t want to overwhelm people with messages or they will opt out of receiving future communications. You need to think strategically and use the channel wisely.
When done right, SMS marketing can greatly improve brand awareness and sales, keep customers engaged and satisfied, grow your brand reputation, and improve the bottom line. A good example of an effective SMS direct marketing campaign is first-dibs texts (and images) sent to a brand’s superfans about new or restocked items.
Why SMS Direct Marketing Makes Sense
SMS is a cost-effective way to reach an intended audience. Because people spend so much time on their phones and most messages remain on the home screen until read, texts have a better chance of reaching (and being seen by) a target audience. This makes SMS a perfect vehicle for delivering time-sensitive offers and notifications.
Techjury recently reported that 98% of business SMS messages are read by recipients, and other experts report that one-third of customers engaged with a call to action. As evidence of its effectiveness, there was a 70% increase in promotional SMS messages sent for Black Friday in 2022 (a massive American sales day), which led to a 57% increase in sales during that shopping weekend in 2022 as compared to the previous year!