Do you have a partner, someone you like and perhaps love? Do you and this friend text message each other hour after hour avidly reading each other’s thoughts however mundane and all in an instant? Yes I thought so. I do the same and I suspect quite a few billion other friends do too. “Going shopping… Going to sleep… Walking the dog… I’m dumping you… Kisses… More kisses… Oh I love you more…” Even if you ignore them after an argument, you’ll read every single one later in the day.
Is it any wonder that SMS messaging has a higher opening rate than any other marketing medium? If you get 43 envelopes through your door during a week, all making a pretty pattern on the mat what’s the process? You instinctively flick through the postmarks and emblems seeking out anything important and the rest go straight in the bin. Emails have certainly started going the same direction and that’s if you even get to see them.
I have a Hotmail account, recently it got revamped into the style of Gmail. With the latter emails are sorted into promotions and receive a scale of importance in the main inbox and there’s still a spam folder. Hotmail has several features, Junk, Featured and other with red flags and pins. It has to be said that most of my email goes into other or junk automatically, it’s like having three email accounts that all need checking.
Suffice to say I believe I have just illustrated again why SMS Marketing spend is booming. Globally there are more mobile phones out there than there are people. You’ll also read suggestions that there are more mobiles than toothbrushes and that some people can’t even go to the toilet as often as they can use a mobile phone. Another important fact is that SMS and Email are not sent along the same protocols. While text messages can be received due to a wider network just like calls, email tends to need either wifi or setting up on a mobile to act like an SMS once received.
There are no Cadbury’s Egg varieties amongst us it seems, lick, nibble, bite. We are all quite similar when it comes to text messaging with open, open and erm open, and that is a dream for short messaging marketeers. A whopping 98% of people open a message and read it within three seconds. Depending on the message you are trying to get across, if it contains a link almost a third will click through and almost half of those will act upon landing.
While it is clear you still need to invest in creative thinking, building the correct SMS text using the correct go words and pulling the customer in. Designing a path to a sale once they land or ensuring they participate as you wish by either entering a competition, signing up or giving you their Kidney. “I love you more, here’s my vital organs” You surely cannot ignore the facts surrounding SMS open rates, CTR and the eventual conversion which is the whole point of getting the mobile number in the first place. “I still love you more…”
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