SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is a strategy based on sending SMS to a broad audience around the world. SMS marketing is efficient for all kinds of businesses because it helps reach different goals within a short period.

Watch the video to learn how to boost your business with SMS marketing!

Among the reasons marketers consider SMS marketing necessary, you can hardly find any weak points. Here are some main factors in choosing SMS marketing:

• Global reach. As five billion people have a mobile connection, SMS marketing offers vast opportunities for engaging with the audience, limited only by creativity and the size of the phone number list.
• High level of interaction. People check mobile phones 80 times a day; for that reason, SMS marketing campaigns show a significant open rate.
• Multiple opportunities for usage. Businesses use SMS marketing for advertising, alerts, notifications, reminders, password confirmations, competitions, news, product information, etc.
• Fits business of all sizes. Huge companies like banks, travel agencies, airlines, healthcare providers, etc., take advantage of SMS marketing as a tool to reach masses. At the same time, a small business uses it for local audiences with more precise aims on a smaller scale.
• Instant contact with users. Typically, an SMS campaign takes 3-6 seconds for the delivery. Speed is an essential factor in SMS marketing efficiency.
• No bounces. Unlike email marketing, there are no bounces during SMS marketing campaigns. Even if a mobile device is out of range or turned off, the SMS will reach users after the phone is connected to a cellular network again.
• Works best in combination with other channels. SMS marketing goes along with email marketing and web push notifications. Savvy marketers create a mix of these channels to reach their goals, and sometimes they send SMS automatically to duplicate the message that email failed to deliver.
• No special skills required. Creating SMS campaigns is very easy. It takes about five minutes to build one.

How much does SMS marketing cost?

The pricing of SMS marketing varies among different SMS providers. Three factors influence SMS prices:

1. Location. Prices vary depending on the country you send SMS to.
2. Channel. The cost depends on whether you send SMS to your native or foreign country. It is called the national or international channels, accordingly.
3. Sender’s name. The laws of some countries require registration of the sender’s name. Unregistered sender’s name allows only 11 symbols.

SendPulse allows sending SMS campaigns at the speed of 200–500 SMS per second on 800 networks in over 200 countries around the globe.

Send SMS to skyrocket sales!

Make SMS promotions more personalized, targeted, and useful. Send your first text message in a few minutes.

Register and send an SMS campaign!

You can start doing SMS marketing with SendPulse after registering.

Step 1: Create an SMS campaign

Use the “Send SMS” icon on any page in the right upper corner in the website’s header.

Step 2: Fill in the name of the sender

It can be up to eleven characters long, including spaces. Only Latin letters allowed.

Step 3: Insert text

The length of one SMS is 160 symbols. Personalize a message using variables. Different subscribers will receive slightly different SMS, based on personal data like name, gender, country, etc. You can see how your SMS advertising looks like on a mobile phone, previewing it on the right-hand side.

Step 4: Choose the recipients

Select one of your mailing lists or type in one number per line manually. Enter recipients’ phone numbers in the international format. Use segmentation to tailor messages to more specific groups of people.

Step 5: Launch the SMS campaign

You can send the message immediately or schedule it for the most convenient time and date.

Here’s a more detailed instruction on how to do SMS advertising.

SMS Marketing Automation

SendPulse enables you to use SMS marketing as an integrated part of your automation. You can send SMS to users, who have never opened an email, and duplicate the information in the SMS, which is more likely to be opened.

You can also create an automation flow that consists of SMS only. Here’s an example of how it might look.

• Opt in phone contacts. Don’t send an SMS campaign without recipients’ permission. It’ll do your business more harm than good because people don’t expect messages from you; it will only irritate them, so use an SMS opt-in approach instead.
• Make time-sensitive offers. Add the element of urgency mixed with a unique value. It’s a strong incentive to engage customers with your proposal.
• Implement personalization. Personalize your SMS marketing to provide your audience with a more pleasant experience. Personalization is a key for building trustful relationships with the customers.
• Write an original text. The length of the SMS is 160 symbols. You have to be flexible enough to promote your product and intrigue consumers. Be as short as possible, using every word to the point.
• Segment your audience. With segmentation, you can send slightly different messages to various groups of people based on similarities like gender, country, and the place is a sales funnel, etc.
• Send SMS when convenient for users. Find out the best time to send an SMS campaign to reach more audiences. Do not interrupt people when they are most probably busy or asleep.

SMS Marketing Examples

SMS marketing is a tool for multiple purposes. Let’s find out how businesses use it to fulfill their needs.

Restaurants. SMS marketing is a crucial instrument to grow loyalty among the customers by giving discounts from time to time.

Sports clubs. Businesses, as such, can announce games, confirm the booking, make competitions for the fans, offer discounts on merchandise.

Airlines. SMS marketing is useful for sending reminders about the flights, proposals on tickets, updates on new destinations, etc.

References

1. The article "What is SMS Marketing, and How Does it Work?" on Business 2 Community defines SMS marketing, covers its basics, explains the way it works and provides tips to follow.
2. The article "Getting Started With SMS Marketing" on The Balance Small Business defines the term and explains how to get started.++

Last Updated: 08.02.2024