How is Texting Becoming a Marketing Tool?

Did you know that 90% of text messages are read within the first 3 minutes??

This statistic may seem far-fetched, until you consider that people are tied to their phones pretty much constantly. The average person looks at their phone at least 80 times per day – and those people include your potential customers. Text message marketing is one of the best ways to communicate with your customers, and turn texts into sales.

Unlike many marketing strategies, such as emails that can be quickly sent to a digital trash bin or direct mailings that go straight into the actual garbage, everyone reads their text messages! Even if a message is ultimately deleted, a text gets a message across in a short and sweet manner that is nearly impossible not to read. That means that your message and the information it conveys is being retained by your customers at a much higher level with text message marketing than other forms of marketing.

Texting is Quick and Efficient

Life these days is busy. If it can’t be purchased online or researched on a smartphone, people are less likely to buy. Even an e-commerce based business can increase sales by using text message marketing.

A quick text is a great way to engage your customers’ interest, and the interactivity that text messaging allows makes it easy to receive feedback, since customer’s can provide it with the touch of a button. Sending information to a customer via text gets your point across succinctly, and your customer is more likely to retain the information or keep it easily accessible to refer to at a later time.

Customers Prefer Texts to Phone Calls

In a study conducted by franchisehelp.com back in 2016, 90% of customers preferred contact by text message over phone. Think about that for a minute – 2016 was FOUR years ago, and texting has become an even more popular communication tool since then.

Especially with the millennial customer base, texting is vastly preferred to phone calls or other forms of marketing. When a customer receives text message marketing, it’s easy to commit the information to memory since the message is short, and even easier to refer to it later. The same can’t be said for a phone call or email.

Text Message Marketing Makes Follow Up Easy

When a customer shops in a brick and mortar store, it’s easy for that business to gauge customer interest and sell or upsell on the spot by engaging on a personal level. E-commerce has a unique set of challenges in that the business owner can’t engage on a personal level with the customer, helping to increase sales. Enter text message marketing: by using text messages to follow up with customers about abandoned shopping carts, business owners are able to increase the conversion of abandoned carts into sales!

 Text Message Marketing Gets Results

Simply put, text message marketing is one of the best ways to engage with your customers. We’ve talked about the astounding rate at which customers open their text messages (90%!) but what we didn’t tell you is that that statistic is compared to a measly 20% open rate for emails. While email may be an acceptable way to follow up with loyal and long-term customers who already have a tendency towards brand loyalty, the statistics overwhelmingly show that there is simply no better tool to engage with new customer than text message marketing. 

Text message marketing allows you to personalize your messages, maximize conversion on your missed sales, and engage with your customers (both new and established) using the communication tool that is most convenient for them (and you!)