Short Message Service (SMS) dates back to the early 1990s, when it was developed as part of the growing mobile telephone industry. As we now know, it quickly exploded in popularity and became an essential part of the lives of people across the world.
The evolution of SMS continued with the development of SMS gateways. This allowed businesses to send staggering amounts of messages orchestrated with customer data.
The process of implementing SMS gateways involves choosing the right gateway provider, integrating the SMS gateway with existing systems, developing a messaging strategy, and optimising that strategy based on data. Today, the best Australian SMS gateway, like all quality gateways, simplifies mass communication and elevates a company’s ability to reach current and future customers.
More Than Just Texting
We’ve come a long way since SMS was born, and today, businesses trying to reach their audience have to break through endless messages from all corners. SMS gateways can help, allowing for quick, directed messaging that can help put a business ahead.
Why SMS?
- Direct access: Emails run a high risk of ending up in spam folders, completely forgotten or ignored. SMS lands directly in a person’s message box, increasing the chance they see or engage it.
- Higher open rates: SMS messages often have open rates of more than 90%, vastly outperforming email marketing. This also makes them ideal for time-sensitive communications.
- Cost: Compared to other marketing channels, SMS can be more affordable with a higher ROI. 160.com.au offers competitive prices in this already cost-effective market, so you can take full advantage of the rewards.
- Customer retention: Regular updates and personalised messages mean you can grow the relationships you already have with customers and target future shoppers with language crafted specifically for them.
- Real-time analytics: A key part of business is knowing what works, and SMS gateways allow access to immediate insights into delivery and engagement. This makes it easier to refine strategies with data-driven adjustments quickly.
Implementing an SMS Gateway in Your Business
Like any other tool, an SMS gateway holds high potential, but requires work to maximise its value. Here are some steps to contemplate as you implement an SMS gateway into your business:
- Define Your Objectives
Understand what you want to achieve with SMS marketing. Whether it’s driving more sales, improving customer service, or streamlining appointment systems, your goals will dictate the features you need and how you approach step two.
- Choose the Right Gateway Provider
Once you’ve defined what features are important to your business, it’s important you ensure the provider offers them, such as global reach or reliability of email-to-SMS gateways. However, there are a few aspects every provider should have.
- Integration capabilities: The gateway should be capable of integrating seamlessly with your existing CRM and marketing systems.
- Compliance and security: The gateway should comply with privacy laws and data security standards.
- Integration with Existing Systems
Integration is the key to implementing an SMS gateway. This can include syncing with your CRM for personalised messages or synching with your e-commerce platform to send cart abandonment reminders. Integrating the gateway with your existing systems using a developer API for an SMS gateway can be beneficial.
- Test and Optimise
One of the benefits of an SMS gateway is access to analytics. As soon as you start sending messages, you can begin to gauge their effectiveness. Then, you can use data to optimise message content, timing, and frequency.
Bringing It All Together
Incorporating an SMS gateway into your business can be a massive leap forward for organisations. It can optimise their outreach, create direct lines of communication to their customers, and improve their services, all at a cost-effective rate. Reach out to 160.com.au today and see how we can help you strengthen your client base and expand it beyond what you thought was possible!