VoxDirect Blog

7 Amazing Benefits of Text Message Marketing for Your Small Business

Written by Staci Wallace | Aug 19, 2020

You’ve heard of email marketing, social media marketing, and search engine marketing, but have you considered using text marketing to grow your business?

Many business owners overlook text message marketing because they see it as invasive or simply assume there won’t be an immediate ROI.

But these misconceptions couldn’t be farther from the truth. In fact, there are many revenue-generating benefits of text message marketing.

How could text messaging be used to grow your small business? 

Watch the video below or continue reading to learn about the 7 benefits of text message marketing for growing brands!

 

How Does Text Message Marketing Work?

Text message marketing – or SMS marketing –is a marketing method that involves sending special offers, announcements, coupons, deals, and other information to subscribers via text message.

SMS marketing allows brands to reach customers faster and more directly compared to other marketing methods. 

The vast majority of Americans (96%) own a cellphone, making it easy for brands to reach prospective and existing customers through text messaging campaigns. 

Not only does text message marketing work to draw up new business, but it can cultivate customer loyalty and drum up repeat business from existing customers.

The key is in using text message marketing effectively and ethically to generate maximum results without harming your brand.

That’s why it’s recommended that businesses follow SMS marketing best practices to get the best return-on-investment from their texting campaigns.

7 Benefits of Text Message Marketing

While some of the benefits are well-known, there are many others that might catch you by surprise.

Consider these 7 amazing benefits to text message marketing so you can decide whether this marketing strategy makes sense for your business.

1. High Open Rate and Engagement Rate

By far, the top benefit business owners rave about is high open rate and engagement rates.

Research shows that SMS open rates skyrocket to as high as 98%, compared to a measly 20% for email marketing.

Even more shocking?

People respond to text message campaigns within 90 seconds, on average, compared to 90 minutes for email.

And that’s just the beginning.

Text messages also see a 209% higher response rate than telemarketing (phone calls), email, or Facebook.

Plus:

Consumers redeem SMS-delivered coupons 10 times more than coupons delivered via other marketing channels. 

Businesses can take advantage of text message marketing to reach more customers, faster, and improve conversions on their offers.

If you run email campaigns but are sleeping on SMS marketing, you could be leaving money on the table..

2. High Conversion Rate

More data shows that prospective customers who receive SMS marketing messages from a brand are 40% more likely to convert than those who don’t.

What would it mean for your business to close 40% more deals or generate 40% product sales?

Here are the open rates, click-through rates, and conversions rates for the top small business marketing platforms:

Channel        Open Rate    Click-through-rate 

Email               20.81%           2.43%     

Google Ads       1.91%             2.7%

Social Media     0.58%            1.9%

SMS                 82.1%            36% 

Here's a thought - assume you have two lists:

Each with 100 subscribers, who are either being targeted by an SMS marketing campaign or by an email marketing campaign.

Now, say 10 of those 100 email subscribers convert and buy your $500 subscription -resulting in $5000 in revenue (10% conversion rate).

If your conversion rate on your SMS campaign is 40% higher (14%), you can expect an additional $2000 in sales ($7000 total).

This difference can surely add up over time...

For businesses looking to get the best return from their marketing, it’s worth running SMS campaigns to see how conversion rates compare to other, more traditional, marketing methods.

3. Cost Effectiveness

The true measure of a successful marketing campaign, in its simplest terms, is how much revenue you've generated, relative to the cost it took to acquire those sales. 

In choosing the best marketing strategy for your business, it’s important to look at customer acquisition costs (CAC) for each channel, relative to your customer lifetime value (LTV). 

While acquisition costs vary widely from business to business, here’s what most businesses can expect from the top marketing methods in terms of CAC: 

  • Google Ads: $45.27
  • Facebook Ads: $18.68
  • Email Marketing: $.71-$1.65
  • SMS Marketing: $.06-$.09

SMS marketing is a clear frontrunner when it comes to CAC.

What these numbers mean is that you’re paying less money while generating more revenue for your business.

When compared to other channels, text messaging is the more affordable and higher-converting option.

4. Instant Delivery 

An important factor about text message marketing is that it will reach the target audience within seconds.

It’s also possible to automate your SMS marketing so you don’t have to lift a finger.

Segment your subscribers and schedule the messages to deliver to the right people at the right time.

With personalized offers and fast service, you’re likely to increase conversions on your important campaigns even further. 

The faster you’re able to reach prospective customers, the faster they’ll be able to convert.  

5. Higher Reliability and Flexibility

With text message marketing, the opportunities are nearly endless.

You have massive marketing potential right at your fingertips, with the reliability and flexibility you need to connect with your customers in real-time.

One of the top applications of text messaging by small businesses is building brand recognition by sharing tailored content to new subscribers.

You can keep prospective customers up to date about your latest offers, what events you’re hosting, and more!

Text messaging offers flexibility in terms of the different types of content that can be shared with subscribers.

You can use SMS marketing to send:

  • Exclusive coupons
  • Discounts and special deals
  • Links to downloadable content (like ebooks)
  • Videos
  • Announcements
  • Event information
  • Customer support information
  • Customer satisfaction surveys
  • Contact forms
  • Links to your website or landing pages
  • Monthly newsletters
  • Business contact information
  • Invites to review your business

The beauty of SMS marketing is that you can get creative with the type of content you send.

Don’t be afraid to mix it up by sending different types of media, unique offers, and compelling calls-to-action.

Free, ready-to-use templates available from VoxDirect 

6. Simple Integrations

Text marketing also enhances and supports your favorite marketing mediums, such as social media and email.

With easy-to-use integrations, you’re able to adopt a multi-channel marketing strategy to reach customers where they engage with your brand most.

For example, you can collect data via your SMS marketing campaigns to inform your ad targeting strategy as well as your content marketing strategy on social media.

You can also integrate SMS marketing and email to send subscribers updates on both platforms. 

Want to improve clicks on your email marketing campaigns? Send subscribers an SMS message to remind them to check their inbox.

Also, include links in your messages to drive website traffic, encourage social shares, and boost sales. And, don’t forget that VoxDirect integrates with Zapier - providing you with even more options. 

7. Easy to Use Technology 

 

Text marketing may be relatively new compared to other marketing techniques, but its technology is easy to use for nearly any business owner.

In fact, with tools like VoxDirect, small businesses can create text campaigns in just a few clicks - then watch results start pouring in.

 

Even better?

Engagement and conversion tracking is made easy in text message marketing. 

Most platforms report on these metrics:

  • Open rate
  • Response rate
  • Click-through rate
  • Website traffic (new users)
  • Social shares
  • Conversion rate

SMS marketing makes it easy to track the success of your marketing efforts and see real, tangible results that contribute to your business’s growth.

Why Choose VoxDirect?

VoxDirect offers a simple, all-in-one phone and text marketing system that helps small businesses get and stay connected with their customers.

We’ve seen the power of text marketing in action – from higher open rates to sky-high conversion rates.

That’s why we offer effective, easy-to-use solutions for businesses looking to add SMS marketing to their holistic marketing strategy.

Simply use one app, one phone number, to send tailored SMS campaigns, boost sales, and keep customers coming back for more. 

Browse Plans to get started with text message marketing in your business!