Understanding how to effectively advertise on social media may be a key element to a company.
Twitter alone has around 200 billion tweets per year and Facebook has over 330 million month-to-month active users.
And where exactly does SMS marketing fit in with all of these big numbers? Well, surprisingly… quite far from what you would expect.
It blows them all out of the water with an enormous amount of 560 billion SMSes being sent out worldwide every month.
The day-to-day volume is over 85 text messages per day per adult under 45 in the United States alone, a result of having 81% of all Americans texting at least once a day.
What does that tell us, besides being one of the world’s most harmful obsessions?
It means that text messaging is probably the most natural present type of non-verbal interaction between people.
And companies too. To put it in another way – sell to consumers the same way they communicate with each other.
This only feels natural to them and psychologically instills trust in your brand or product.
Why Text-Messaging Customers Increases Sales
That being said, do not let the big numbers deceive you. Let’s talk more about the real data behind text messaging and how companies should become a part of SMS marketing.
1. Highest Reach
Over 92% of people in the U.S. own a mobile device that supports text messages. That includes both mobiles and smartphones.
As you can see, text messaging is one of the most prevalent forms of communication in the modern world, as well as being one of the most readily available forms as well.
For more marginalized age brackets in the U.S., it’s a lot easier to communicate with others through their smartphone, than to get on a computer.
2. Highest Open Rate
Let’s talk about open rate for a second. As of today, the average open rate of SMS messages is a shocking 98% while email has just an open rate of 20%.
The average time that it takes somebody to reply to a text message is 90 seconds. However, when you compare this to an email, it’s much higher, with an average reply time of 90 minutes.
Not only is texting more convenient, but it invokes a much more rapid response time.
3. Highest Response Rate
The average response rate of SMS messages is about 45%, while email has a response rate of only 6%.
As we talked about a little bit above, that 45% that are replying to text messages are replying within an average time bracket of 90 seconds, while that 6% of email responders are taking 90 minutes to reply.
This means that if you want to get someone’s attention and receive a reply that can open that line of communication, you might want to try SMS.
To make things even easier, you could try using a reliable SMS gateway that enables you to send mass text messages with confidence.
An SMS API is a defined set of instructions that enable applications to send SMS via an SMS Gateway.
An SMS Gateway API is used to add native bulk SMS capability to existing software and applications.
This is the perfect solution to sending bulk text messages over a range of different mobile networks.
4. Favorite Millennial Activity
Millennial’s exchange an average of three times more text messages than phone calls or emails.
Text messaging is preferred by millennials over speech-based communication, making it the most efficient channel for advertisement targeting millennials.
Millennials are much more likely to respond to a marketing campaign that they receive through a text message, than through an email or over the phone.
Does anyone respond to telemarketers anymore?
5. SMS is BIG for Business
82% of people are using texting for business. Sales prospects receiving text messages have a 45% conversion rate compared to those who are not sent any text messages according to statistics provided by the text-messaging software for businesses, XAMARK.
6. Highest Customer Satisfaction
One of the best things about SMS is that it gives clients and customers the ability to respond get back to the business efficiently. When you talk to someone on the phone, you have to wait for a customer representative.
Text messaging means that the customer can get in touch on their own accord, receive a timely reply, and have a record of the conversation themselves.
A study showed that a text message service that the U.S. Military implemented to help injured soldiers returning home resulted in quick and easy access to advice and support.
7. Consumers Prefer SMS Offers
47% of consumers prefer texting for instant problem solving when communicating with brands, rather than waiting on the phone.
85% of customers also want to be able to reply to the text messages they receive from businesses.
Businesses communicating with their customers through SMS offers a non-invasive, passive sales angle that can offer up a higher conversion rate than other ways of communicating.
8. Texting Converts
Texting during the sales process can lead to more than a 112.6% conversion rate.
People in sales jobs reported that when they sent their prospective clients a text message after talking to them about the product, their conversion rate was 40% higher than those that didn’t receive a text message.
It’s clear here that when sales employees use SMS messages in their sales strategy, they’re much more likely to win clients over than if they don’t.