Here’s how your business can use SMS within your marketing strategy

Business SMS marketing strategies

SMS has been around for many years. But that doesn't mean it’s not relevant today and that it shouldn’t form an important part of your marketing strategy. In fact, SMS is actually how customers prefer to interact with businesses. They don’t want emails, they don’t want phone calls, and they really don’t want letters filling their post boxes. This is your opportunity to speak to customers in a way that they’d appreciate.

We’ve spoken before about how SMS marketing helps restaurants engage customers and how SMS marketing can help in the entertainment industry. We’ve discussed how gambling, sports, insurance, banking, beauty, and media industries can make the most of this form of communication. There’s no doubt that SMS is a game changer for every type of business, all over the world. Here are some of the ways that every business – no matter the industry – can embrace an SMS marketing strategy.

One-time passwords

A one-time password or pin (OTP) is a numerical password that can only be used once. It’s a secure way to provide access to a login session or transaction on a computer or other internet-connected device. The password becomes invalid after its use and can’t be used again. This is usually used to confirm payment.

Two-factor authentication

Two-factor authentication, or 2FA as it’s commonly known, combines something the user knows (a pin, password or secret) with something the user owns (device or mobile phone). Sometimes 2FA makes use of an OTP. It’s agreed that SMS is the ideal channel for 2FA because it’s separate from your website or application. This makes it more difficult for hackers, as two separate channels would have to be compromised.

Reminders

There are many businesses in several different industries that make use of SMS to remind customers about appointments. Time is money and a missed appointment means you, as the business owner, lose out on income when the customer doesn’t arrive. It’s preferable for a business to spend a small amount of money sending messages to remind customers about their appointment than lose out on that potential income.

A bulk SMS marketing strategy

An effective way to communicate with customers, and one way which customers are sure to appreciate, is by using SMS. Messages are usually opened within minutes of being sent. Added to that, 98 percent of all SMS messages are opened. That's an open-rate that no other form of communication can compete with. And with its low costs, there's no denying that SMS marketing is a cost-effective method of communicating with customers which provides maximum return on investment.

Customer feedback

It’s not just about sending messages to customers. A good relationship with customers should invite responses. Two-way SMS makes this possible. You can ask customers for feedback and use the information received to make positive changes to your business and implement those within your marketing strategy.

Follow-ups

You know that SMS messages are better perceived by customers than other methods of communication like social media or email. So, use SMS to follow up with your customers on the information they’ve already received. A quick SMS to ask about an email will be better received than yet another email.

With some smart thinking and insight into your customers’ preferences, you are certain to find ways to implement SMS into your marketing strategy. There’s no doubt that SMS is important for a business. Customers want to communicate with businesses using messaging, specifically SMS-enabled chatbots. Businesses that choose not to communicate with customers in this way are missing out on important interactions.

If you’re interested in why businesses should be making use of SMS messaging, read our recent article which emphasizes the benefits of SMS and chatbots for business – particularly those in the finance, travel, hospitality, and retail sectors. If you’re working in any one of these sectors, or any sector really, the use of SMS and chatbots to enhance user experience and improve customer loyalty should be a no-brainer for you.