SMS Marketing Too Intrusive or a Missed Opportunity?

Simply put, text messaging is personal. It’s the one line of communication that happens among people you know personally — a parent, loved one, friends and companies that you give permission to send you information.

As of today, 64 percent of American adults own a smartphone, with ownership on the rise among the younger generation. SMS is a valuable a way to communicate with your customers by providing deals, promotions or notifications about their account, like an upcoming bill… but only once they’ve opted in to receive those communications. Companies doing SMS correctly have a greater understanding of what their target’s customer journey looks like, what role each channel plays in the customer journey and how psychology lines up with those channels.

With smartphone users on the rise, why aren’t more brands adopting SMS as a way to deliver content to their customers? Some companies might feel that sending a text message as the first touchpoint is too intrusive, but here are some points to keep in mind when leveraging SMS communication in your marketing mix:

• Content needs to feel like content they would normally receive via text messaging
• Value of the text message content should be timely and not spam the user
• Interactivity should be a two-way street and allow recipients to send “commands”
• Permission from the receiver to opt in or out with ease
• Measure how many users subscribed and then dropped off

When developing your SMS marketing strategy, think about your customers as if they were a loved one — after all, they’re the ones on their way to becoming your brand ambassadors…who will love your brand.