Big data is a gamechanger for the marketing sector. We have talked about the benefits of using big data in online marketing. However, there are other reasons to use big data to make the most of your marketing strategy.
One often overlooked opportunity to leverage big data is in the context of SMS marketing. More companies are using SMS to expand their reach and capture a larger share of the market. They can be a lot more effective with these strategies if they embrace data analytics, AI and other similar technologies.
Big Data is Invaluable to the Future of SMS Marketing
When you’re running a business, getting the word out about your products and services is half the battle. The other half is enticing new customers and getting one-time customers to become repeat customers. Marketing via text messaging can do both. You will be a lot more successful with your marketing strategy if you are able to use big data to optimize your strategy effectively.
There are a number of reasons that data analytics and AI are becoming so important to the future of SMS marketing. Some of the benefits are listed below:
- You can use data analytics to monitor engagement and see how many customers open your texts.
- You can use a regression analysis tool to monitor purchases and brand mentions after an SMS campaign to see how it impacted brand visibility.
- You can use machine learning algorithms to script better text messages to connect with your customers.
- You can use website data analytics tools to see how customers engage with landing page content after viewing your text messages, so you can optimize your pages for a better mobile user experience.
- You can keep track of demographic data on your customers to make sure that you know which people are most likely to convert.
Text message marketing gives you a direct line to reach customers right where they are — on their phones. This is even more important in the era of big data, since customers are reached through digital communications more than ever.
The sense of urgency that text messaging carries, and customers’ high level of trust in marketing texts, mean that customers open and read these messages at much higher rates than they do email, and engage with them much more than they might with traditional forms of advertising. Let’s take a look at what SMS marketing can do for your business.
Marketing Texts Have a Sky-High Open Rate and Data Analytics Can Improve that Even Higher
If you’re already using email to market to your customers, you might be wondering if opening a new channel via SMS is even worth it. But while only about 20 to 25 percent of marketing emails get opened and read, a shocking 98 percent of marketing text messages get read. Customers may not be acting on every text message you send them, but they are reading them — and that means they’re already more likely than not to take action.
What accounts for the difference? The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), signed into law in 1991, places heavy restrictions on how you can use text messaging to market to customers. Customers have to give their permission in writing before you can send them marketing texts. You also need to provide an easy means of opting out for customers that no longer want to receive your marketing texts. There are also limits on how often you can send a marketing text and what times of day you can send them.
Of course, not all SMS campaigns are equally effective. Companies that use data analytics technology to guide their SMS strategy tend to be more effective.
Thanks to these rules, customers know that when they receive a marketing text, it’s for a product or service that they already know they want. They’ll be excited to look at your marketing text, or if not excited, at least interested enough to open the text and read it. It will be even more successful if you use data analytics to improve on it. You’ll be getting your brand messaging out to an audience that’s truly interested in it, rather than one that is primed to ignore your brand messaging.
SMS Marketing Is Affordable and SMS Can Provide an Even Better ROI
Marketing to your customers via SMS is one of the cheapest forms of advertising, which is good news for small business owners operating on tight margins. You can use mass texting software to send text messages to your customer list for just pennies per message. You can even buy bulk texting packages that allow you to send hundreds or thousands of texts to customers each month, for a low flat rate.
The strategy is going to be even more effective if you know how to use data analytics technology to optimize your campaign. You will create a much more successful SMS strategy with a much higher ROI.
Data-Driven Text Message Marketing Encourages Engagement and Interaction
Text messages have a way of demanding your attention. Most people will drop everything to read an incoming text message, or if not read it, at least look to see who it’s from. When a message arrives — even a marketing message — the normal impulse is to read it right away.
And because customers have to sign up for your marketing messages, they’re already more engaged than others who might only be seeing your messaging on TV, or on highway billboards, or in the paper. Those people who only see your messaging out in the wild, so to speak, are less likely to make a purchase because those advertisements aren’t targeted to them. You can get even better engagement if you have accurate demographic data that you use to make sure your texts are delivered to the recipients most likely to convert. While not every customer who receives your marketing text messages is going to act on every single one of them, you’ll be getting your message out to a more receptive audience that is ready to engage further with that messaging. To boost engagement via SMS, use quizzes, polls, and other strategies to encourage interaction and build customer loyalty.
Marketing Texts Can Reach Customers in the Moment
Do you need to reach your customers right away with urgent, time-sensitive sales and offers? Because text messages have a built-in sense of urgency that encourages recipients to open them right away, SMS marketing can be the perfect way to get the word out to your customers about special promotions and offers that won’t last. You can bring in more customers to your bar’s happy hour, for example — just shoot out a quick marketing text to your customer list and those who are nearby may feel tempted to stop. Even if you don’t own a bar or a restaurant with daily specials that need to be regularly promoted, you can use text messaging to create a sense of urgency that will bring customers into your business for doorbuster prices, flash sales, or other promotions.
If your company isn’t using text messaging to market its products and services, you’re missing out on the chance to get your message out to your most engaged customers. Boost sales, cut advertising costs, and grow your customer base with SMS marketing. You’ll be glad you gave it a shot.
Data-Driven SMS Marketing is the Future
You can’t dispute the fact that big data is changing the future of marketing. One of the most obvious examples is in the form of SMS marketing. More marketers are using data analytics to guide their text message marketing strategies to better reach intended customers.
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