Using SMS as a marketing channel means more than just lead gen and winning deals. It can also provide a strong sounding board for customer retention, brand exposure, and engagement with existing customers.
Lead generation and customer acquisition are essential marketing activities, but did you know it costs 5 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to retain a current one?
Are your marketing efforts focused in retention or in acquisition?
- 44% of companies put a greater focus on acquisition than retention
- Only 18% of companies focus on customer retention
- Increasing customer retention by as little as 5% can boost profits by as much as 95%
Anyone familiar with the 80:20 rule understands the important role of current customers. If 80% of your sales come from 20% of your customers, there’s ample opportunity to grow profits by optimizing existing relationships.
How can SMS help?
SMS marketing is more than just notifications, alerts, and reminders to generate customer response. It’s a powerful two-way communications channel that goes directly to the hands of consumers.
Most people carry their mobile devices with them everywhere. And most prefer text messaging to other mobile channels, with U.S. users sending 5 times as many texts as calls.
The Mobile Takeover
- Ratio of mobile devices to computers is 4:1
- 80% of professionals use SMS for business purposes
- 72% of people prefer to interact with businesses via mobile
- 31% of consumers will respond to a mobile survey
- 3 or more purposeful text messages increase conversion
If these metrics tell us anything, it’s that users want to communicate with businesses on their mobile devices! Businesses using SMS are penetrating 95% of mobile device owners, a far greater number than push or email that’s optimized for mobile.
SMS is Immediate
Most SMS messages are delivered within 10 minutes of sending, making SMS an immediate form of communication. With 90% of people checking their messages within 3 minutes, your message won’t sit unread like it would in an email inbox.
Other SMS benefits include:
- Direct and personal engagement with users - SMS is two-way and can be used for pure engagement or acquisition purposes to better qualify leads
- Straightforward communications - The simplicity of SMS saves design time while delivering concise messaging that people pay attention to
- Highly trackable - SMS campaigns are easy to track and optimize further based off such metrics as:
- Growth rate
- Churn rate
- Cross-channel engagement
- Redemption rate
- Cost-effective - SMS has a substantial ROI given its high open and response rates
The SMS Value-Add
Customers are more likely to interact with your business when they’re given value outside of the product they use. Two-way SMS messaging, ongoing offers, and loyalty programs via SMS can provide that extra value.
- Re-engage your inactive customers with an SMS campaign to draw them back to your business
- Send short surveys as feedback or as segmentation for future targeting
- Offer exclusive loyalty programs to increase engagement and encourage word-of-mouth referrals
- Drive continued awareness and education with linked content accessible via SMS
- Integrate SMS capabilities with your current software to enhance engagement and open rates
Customers who appreciate the value added by your business are more likely to become brand champions. Since 84% of B2B decision makers start their purchase with a referral, growing brand champions from your existing customer base can drastically increase sales.
In fact, the next time a customer purchases from you, send them a thank you postcard with SMS keyword opt-in information. A simple gesture like that not only builds your distribution list for SMS, it makes a long lasting impression with that customer.
So you're a believer in the power of SMS... what about RCS? Download the free eBook to discover how this modernized SMS machine is boosting user experience through stronger interactions.
