Heres How SMS Marketing Fuels Growth for Small Businesses in the Service Sector

Here's How SMS Marketing Fuels Growth for Small Businesses in the Service Sector

As quoted by Charles Golvin, research director, Gartner for Marketers, “SMS remains an effective, yet underutilized, mobile tactic among marketing leaders.”

Businesses are constantly trying to engage their prospects and customers across different touchpoints of the buyer journey. Although emails and mobile apps are used extensively to woo consumers in the digital age, the humble SMS remains a useful tool that brands do not fully exploit in their marketing efforts.

In what ways are SMS solutions more effective than other marketing tools?

An SMS does not require specific devices to be read. Whether your customers are using a smartphone or the older basic mobile phone, you can easily connect with them via text.

The top factors that make SMS service a suitable channel to engage customers and support business growth are:

Massive reach

As per a survey by smartphone brand Vivo,¹ in association with Cybermedia Research (CMR), an average Indian spends one-third of their waking hours on their mobile phones. It translates into 1800 hours per year. Any beep on the phone is hard to ignore, and short texts get noticed faster than emails, even if they are from new sources. Also, it takes only 90 seconds to respond to an SMS, compared to 90 minutes for email.²

With their phone at an arm’s distance most of the times, texting is about as close as your business can virtually get to your target audience.

Personalisation

Most people dislike the way brands continue to use traditional strategy of flashing generic ad messages repetitively. The streams of commercials on the TV, the interrupting ads between YouTube videos and banner advertisements flooding the social media tend to annoy the audience.

SMS marketing makes it simpler to personalise messages, even if they are sent in bulk. You can segment the customer data on your SMS application to send bespoke texts to people who have already used your service.

Sample this:

Hi Shivam! Here’s a special offer to make your next trip in XYZ Cabs more pocket-friendly. Use coupon code XYZ15 for a 15% discount when you book our service. Offer valid till 30th March 2020.

Even where you do not have names, you can send messages to new and existing customers in particular locations for targeted offers.

An example:

Dear GK-2 Resident, ABC Foods invites you for special Navratra meals at just ₹300 per plate, between 25th March and 3rd April 2020, at our new restaurant in your neighbourhood. We also have surprise gifts for the first 20 customers on each day of this festive period!

While similar messages can also be sent by email, the short text is a better option as the open rate for SMS is 98% as against 20% for email.²

Customer engagement

Besides being a channel for businesses to engage more with their customers, SMS services also give customers a way to engage with businesses.

So, when you send personalised messages with discounts and offers as illustrated above, the chances of buyers redeeming them are ten times higher than for coupons² shared on social media and other public platforms.

An exclusive message lets them feel that a brand is more approachable and not merely “that one company whose service I use sometimes.” By connecting with them on their mobile phone, you prompt your clients to remember your business.

Cost efficacy

A bulk SMS service application makes it a breeze to send texts to a wide demographic cost-effectively. SMS campaigns are also more affordable when you compare them to print advertising or a Facebook ad.

Startups that want to advertise on modest budgets can use a digital text messaging platform to communicate with their customers and prospects.

Fast delivery

There is practically no wait time in texting. As soon as you click the send button on your bulk SMS service software, you can be sure that your customers will get the message promptly. This is better than TV commercials that can be missed, online video ads that can be skipped, and emails that land in spam folders.

Furthermore, for SMS marketing, you need not wait for graphic designs or print material. Nonetheless, it can be integrated with other online and offline marketing campaigns.

And, because you know that texts are more likely to be opened than emails, you can be certain your customers will notice your branding message as quickly as possible.

With such benefits, no wonder that between 2015 and 2017, SMS marketing grew by 92% for the B2C and by 197% for the B2B segment.

The SMS service app devised by Tata Tele Business Services has inbuilt features for hassle-free management of business text marketing campaigns. It provides:

• Advanced campaign scheduler to manage the timing of your messages in advance
• Distribution list feature for a one-time upload of base SMS and its transmission to multiple customers
• Auto scrubbing of duplicate numbers to ensure that one SMS is not sent twice to the same customer
• Pause feature to stop a campaign midway in case of exigencies
• Inbuilt data security to always keep customer data in your control
• Ease of soliciting customer feedback and service/product reviews cost-effectively
• Customised promotional features to market products and services
• Intuitive dashboard for daily reports and actionable insights

The best part of using this bulk SMS service is its OpEx pricing model – you pay only for the messages that actually get delivered to your target customers. If a text does not reach certain inboxes due to issues with cellular network or the users’ device, there is no need to pay for those failed deliveries.

To know more about our SMS solutions, please download the brochure at https://www.tatateleservices.com/downloads/products/resources/brochure/SMS-Solutions.pdf.

Sources

https://yourstory.com/2020/01/india-smartphone-time-spent-vivo-survey
https://techjury.net/stats-about/sms-marketing-statistics/#gref