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Marketers must act as the growth engines driving their organizations forward in 2024 to achieve effective growth for brands, retailers, or e-commerce businesses. This requires rethinking their channel mix across the entire marketing funnel to ensure their brand remains in consumers’ minds.
One strategy that continues to gain traction is SMS marketing. It’s not just for sending promotional messages at the bottom of the funnel; it can also effectively remind customers of a brand’s position in its category. SMS can unlock untapped business growth and help brands stay competitive when strategically integrated with other marketing channels.
Why SMS Marketing is Essential for Growth
In a world where businesses constantly seek ways to engage with customers and outpace competitors, SMS marketing has emerged as a powerful tool for driving growth. Here’s how SMS marketing helps businesses achieve that:
- Direct and Immediate Engagement: SMS marketing offers one of the fastest ways to communicate with customers. Since most people carry their phones all day, SMS messages are typically read within minutes. This instant engagement lets businesses quickly inform customers of promotions, product launches, or time-sensitive deals, leading to faster conversions and more immediate action.
- High Open Rates and Visibility: Unlike emails, which often go unnoticed in crowded inboxes, SMS messages boast a staggering 98% open rate. This high visibility ensures that your message is likely to be seen and acted upon by your audience, making SMS one of the most effective marketing channels for customer engagement.
- Increased Conversions: SMS marketing’s immediacy and personal nature result in higher conversion rates. When paired with targeted offers and well-timed messages, businesses can encourage customers to take action almost instantly—whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a service, or participating in a promotion.
- Personalized Customer Experience: SMS marketing allows businesses to deliver personalized and relevant content directly to customers’ phones. You can enhance customer loyalty and build stronger relationships by segmenting your audience and sending tailored messages.
- Cost-Effective and Scalable: SMS marketing is an affordable solution, especially compared to other digital marketing strategies. It allows businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), to reach a large audience without the heavy costs associated with traditional advertising channels.
- Increased Customer Retention: SMS marketing enables businesses to stay in mind with their customers. Regular updates, personalized offers, or event reminders can keep your audience engaged over time, reducing churn and increasing customer lifetime value.
How SMS Marketing Works
- Opt-ins: Customers subscribe to receive SMS messages by providing consent, usually via a keyword or online form.
- Segmentation: Businesses divide their audience into groups based on demographics, behavior, or preferences.
- Personalization: Tailoring messages to each customer’s preferences, using names or past purchasing history.
- Message Creation: Crafting concise, engaging messages with clear calls-to-action (CTAs) to prompt immediate responses.
- Automated Campaigns: Setting up SMS campaigns to be sent automatically based on triggers like purchases or special dates.
- Message Delivery: SMS messages are delivered instantly to the customer’s mobile device through a reliable SMS gateway.
- Tracking and Analytics: Monitoring metrics such as open rates, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions.
- Compliance: Ensuring all SMS campaigns follow legal guidelines, including opt-out options for customers.
Meeting Consumers Where They Are
Modern marketers often emphasize the importance of reaching consumers “where they are.” And in today’s digital age, that invariably means reaching them on their mobile phones. This is why marketers should consider making SMS marketing a core component of their channel strategy.
The data supports this shift. According to the SMS Consumer Trends Report by Klaviyo, the fastest-growing brands on its platform are those expanding their SMS and email marketing lists. In fact, purchases made via SMS have surged by 55% since 2022, underscoring its potential as a growth avenue in 2024 and beyond.
Brenden Rawson, Founder & CEO of Andzen, explains:
“SMS marketing is experiencing significant growth because it meets consumers where they are most engaged: their mobile devices. When used correctly, the direct, personal nature of SMS captures attention more effectively than other channels, delivering timely and relevant messages that drive action and translate into higher conversion rates.”
The Power of a Strong SMS List
The Klaviyo report also highlights a crucial point:
“Your audience—i.e., your list—is a reflection of your ability to earn the right to talk to prospects and customers repeatedly, without relying on third-party channels.”
Building a robust SMS list isn’t just a good business practice; it’s also a testament to a marketer’s ability to cultivate direct, meaningful relationships with their customers. With SMS messaging rapidly growing in importance and offering straightforward attribution, investing in your SMS list becomes essential for sustainable growth.
According to Klaviyo’s research, one of the most effective ways to grow your SMS list is by offering customers exclusive benefits, such as special discounts, early product access, or sale alerts. These offers incentivize customers to subscribe and engage, ensuring your brand remains in mind.
By executing a well-planned SMS marketing strategy, you can keep customers engaged, enhance their lifetime value, and strengthen brand loyalty.
How to Effectively Market via SMS
Klaviyo’s survey of over 8,000 consumers worldwide provides valuable insights into effective SMS marketing strategies. Contrary to conventional beliefs, SMS marketing is not just for occasional or urgent communication. In fact, 72% of customers who subscribe to a brand’s SMS list expect to receive a message at least once weekly.
Jason Anderson, Chief Operating Officer at Andzen, explains:
“SMS marketing isn’t just a tool for closing sales—it’s a critical component for engaging customers throughout their journey. By leveraging SMS earlier in the funnel, alongside email in an integrated automation flow, brands can create touchpoints that educate and inform, foster a stronger connection, and improve conversion rates.”
However, there are some caveats to consider.
While most consumers want to receive messages more than once a week, they prefer specific messages. The most desired messages include birthday discounts (29%), coupons or promo codes (26%), and early access to sales, product drops, and VIP experiences (24%).
At first glance, this might seem like giving away value for free, but that’s not necessarily true. By making your SMS subscribers feel part of a broader, more meaningful community, they are more likely to respond positively to your communications and convert when presented with a bottom-of-funnel message rather than seeing your messages as a nuisance.
Segment Your Audience for Maximum Impact
To maximize the effectiveness of your SMS marketing efforts, segment your list based on different customer personas and behaviors. This allows you to tailor your messaging to various segments, ensuring your communication is relevant and impactful.
A/B testing can be an invaluable tool here. You can determine which content resonates best with each audience segment by testing different messages, offers, and timing. This data-driven approach enables continuous optimization of your SMS marketing strategy.
As Jason Anderson puts it:
“Creating a community via SMS means going beyond transactional messages to deliver content that adds real value to your audience. With A/B testing, you can refine your messaging strategy, ensuring each communication feels personal and relevant. This level of customization helps turn one-time buyers into repeat customers and advocates for your brand.”
Cross-channel measurement has become more challenging than ever in a media landscape that grows more fragmented daily. As a result, there has never been a better time to take SMS marketing seriously. By leveraging SMS to deliver frequent but meaningful messages, you can ensure your brand remains at the top of your customers’ minds.
To build loyalty and maximize growth, consider these SMS marketing best practices:
- Consistent Communication: Regular updates and promotions keep your brand visible and relevant.
- Value-Added Content: Provide content that is not just promotional but also informative and valuable to the customer.
- Exclusive Offers: To make your SMS subscribers feel valued, reward them with special deals or early product access.
- Feedback Collection: Use SMS to solicit customer feedback, demonstrating that you value their opinions and are committed to continuous improvement.
Integrating SMS into your broader marketing strategy and focusing on meaningful engagement can strengthen customer relationships, increase lifetime value, and drive sustainable growth.
