TheBenefitsofSMSasaMarketingandCommunicationsChannelFromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

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WhycompaniesandorganizationsshoulddoSMS.

We’regoingtotalkthroughfromanorganizationormarketerspointofview,whatSMSisgoodforandhowanorganizationshouldusethechannel.Thesearenottheonlyanswers,buttheyareprettycomprehensiveandwe’retalkingatahighlevel,soitcoversalot.

Let’stalkaboutthecoldhardfacts.Firstandforemost,SMSisthemostubiquitouschannelofcommunicationontheplanet.I’dimaginetherearemorephonesontheplanetthananyothertypeofdeviceandeverysinglephonehasSMS.Likeeveryone.Almosteveryoneontheplanethasone.

I’vehelpedtolaunchcampaignsthatwerefocusedonhomelesspopulationsandSMSwastheobviousandonlychannel.Youmightbethinkingthatyou’reamarketerandthehomelessisnotinyourtargetdemographic,butyoungpeopleit’stheironlychannelinadifferentway.Theyjustdon’tuseemaileveniftheydohavetohaveanemailaddressforsomereason.Idon’tthinkanyonereallyusesemailuntiltheyhaveajobthatrequiresit.

Anyway,I’mgettingaheadofmyself.FirstfactoristheubiquityofSMS– absolutelyeverywhere.

Thesecondfactoristheimportanceofthechannel.Textmessagingisthewaythatpeopletalktotheirparents,children,bestfriendandsignificantother.It’ssimplythemostimportantchanneloutthere.

Nowthisisstilltrue,butIfeelit’sslippingabit.IhavesomefriendsthatmovedoutofthecountryandweuseFacebookMessenger.IhaveonefriendintheUKandweuseWhatsapp.Mostthingsthataregroupmessageswe’redoingonMessenger.AndofcourseIhavefriendsthatworkinthemessagingspace,soweuseAllo ironically.AlthoughIdolikeitalot.

FromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

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Fornow,SMSisstillking.Whenanyonehere’sthatsoundtheyautomatically&instinctivelylookattheirphone.Itsimplycan’tbehelped.InfactI’darguethatthemessagingping,SMSoryourmessengerofchoice,isthenumber#1triggerintheworld.Ifyou’reamarketerandwanttogetsomeone’sattentionthereisnothingthatgrabsattentionlikethemessageping.

WhattheubiquityandimportanceoftheSMSchannelmeansisthatwhenanorganizationsendsamessage,it’sgoingtobereadanditwillbereadquickly.That’ssomethingeasytosayandeasytohear,butthenumbersthatarefloatingaroundarethatmessageshavea99percentopenrate andtheaveragetextisreadin90seconds.Thisisjustsimplyinsanity.Ibetfortheaveragelinkontheinternet,99%ofthepeoplethatclick,don’tactuallymakeittothepage.That’showcrazya99%openrateis.

NOW,thereisachancethesenumbersaren’texactlytrue.It’sreallyhardtotell.It’sjustwaytoomuchofanechochamberoutthere.Ifyougoogleforit,thereareamillionhits,allthenumbersareimpressive,buttheyareallcompaniessellorpromoteSMScampaignsornewsstoriestalkingaboutSMScampaigns.It’sunclearwhatthesourceforthisdataisand/orwhoacrediblesourcewouldactuallybe.

BUTevenwiththatuncertainty,SMSisubiquitousandanimportantchannelforalmosteveryone.Becauseofthosefactsopenratesareveryhighandopenshappenveryquickly.

WhatisSMSgoodforfromamarketing/communicationchannelview?First,let’sreviewwhatit’sNOTgoodfor.Remember,SMSrequiresanoptin,soit’snotanadvertisingchannel.ByadvertisingchannelImeanthatabrandcanusethechanneltofindnewpeople.Theycanpaytogettheirmessageinfrontofpeople.ThisisnotpossiblewithSMS.Youcannotjustsendauseratext,theywouldhavehadtomessageinfirst.Andiftheymessagedinfirst,thatmeansthebrandreachedthemsomewhereelseandaskedthemtomessagein.

FromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

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Thisisactuallyacommonquestion.It’snotpossibletobuyalistofnumbersandsendthematext.That’sabigreasonwhyyou,asatextmessageuserdonotgetspamtextsoften.

SMSisnotanadvertisingchannel,butit’sgreatasaresponsechanneltoadvertising.Thisisactuallythefirstbigsuper-powerofSMS.Ifyoudoatv commercialandthecalltoactionistojoin,call1800orgotowww.com ortextjointo12345,thetextmessagecalltoactionwillbeatthe800numberandwebsite.Fromacalltoactionsomeoneismorelikelytotextinratherthancallinorvisitasite.

Let’seventakethisastepfurther.OncesomeonetextsintheyaremorelikelytoprovidetheiremailaddressoverSMScomparedtothephoneorURLresponsechannel.ThefirstsuperpowerofSMSisasaresponsechannel(responsetoabrandsadsandmedia)andthatmeansthatthebrandgetsmorepeople,moreleadsfromalloftheiradvertisingefforts.

Here’satheoreticalexample.We’veallseenheardandreadaonehundredGeico commercials.Whetherit’scavemenorthelizard,theyallbasicallysaythatIcansave15%ormoreoncarinsurancebygettingaquotefromGeico.com.FromwhatI’veseenwithclientsifGeico addedortextthewordGEICOto12345eachcommercialwoulddrivemorepeopletogetaquote.

I’veseenmanydifferenttestsandtheyusuallyworksomethinglikethis.Let’sstickwiththeGeico example.Inordertogiveaquote,Geico needstounderstandzipcode,make&modelofthecar,ageofthedriverandmilesdriveneachyearinordertogiveaquote.Sosendingtheusertothewebsiteisjustthefirststepofthisprocess.Samewiththeusertextingin,it’sjustthefirststepofthedatacollectionprocess.

WithtestI’veruninthepasttheSMSchannelwilldriveabout3timesmoreleadsthantheURLcalltoactionfromaTVcommercial.That’shuge.Thisratiowillchangedependingontheadvertisingmedium.ForaTVcommercial,viewerswillprobablybenearacomputerorthey’llhaveaphonewithabrowser.Ifsomeoneweretostandupataneventanddothesamecalltoaction…apersonwouldbemuchmorelikelytotextinratherthangotoaURL.

FromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

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Basically,thefurtherawayaviewer/listenerisfromacomputer,thebiggertheratiowillbe.ThinkaboutascenariowhereBruceSpringsteenwantstohelpacharity…

AnotherbigadvantageforSMSasaresponsechannelisthatit’saninstantsubscription.Ifausermessagesin,butdoesn’tprovidetheinformationaskedfor,theorganizationcanfollowup.IfausergoestotheURLandjustleaves,thatuserisgone.

Again,thebestwaytodescribethisvalueisthatSMSworksasaresponsechannelandwilldriveMOREPEOPLE–whetherthatmeansleads,donors,customersetc.

Superpowernumber2forSMShastodowithactivation.Whenamessageissent,it’sgoingtobeseenandit’sgoingtobeseenquickly.Thebestuseformessagesistodriveactionfromtherecipients.

IntheGeico scenario,itwouldbebettertosendanactivationmessagesuchas“rememberthatyouneedtoaddacreditcardtotheaccountbeforeyou’recovered”ratherthananinformationmessagelike,“Geico wasrated#1byJDPowerandAssociates.”

Textsaregreatatgettingpeopletodothings.Sometimesthatmeansreplyingwithdata,sometimesitmeansarealworldactionandsometimesitcanleadtolongtermbehaviorchange.TheonethingthatI’veseenoverandoveragainisthatthemobilelistwilltakemoreactioncomparedtoanyotherlistamarketercanaccess.Mostofthetimewe’recomparingthemobilelisttoemail.

I’veseencampaignswherepeopleonthemobilelistaremorelikelytovote,donateorevenquitsmoking.Thisactivationideaisabigdealforbrands– Geico wantspeopletobuytheirinsurance,AmazonwantspeopletosignupforPrimeandapresidentialcampaignwantspeopletodonateandvote.Everythingcomesdowntoactivationatsomelevel.

FromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

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Here’swhereitgetsinteresting.Peoplewillprobablynotfinalizetheirinsuranceonthephonemostofthetime.Theyprobablydon’tsignupforPrimeonthephoneandtheydefinitelycan’tvoteonthephone.Butthepeopleonthemobilelistthatreceiveatextwillbemorelikelytotaketheactioneveniftheactionisn’tontextoreventhephone.

AnexamplethatIusedallthetime.It’satrick,butjustthinkthroughitwithme.Let’ssaythatyouarethemarketerforaCRMcompanylikeSalesforce.Peoplecometoawebinarandgivetheiremailaddresstoattendthewebinar.Afterthewebinarthereareautomatedfollowupsoveremail.Thewholepointisthatwewanttonurturetheleadsthatattendedthewebinarandgetthemtosignupforsalesforcegiveacreditcardetc.Solet’ssay100peopleattendthewebinarandSalesforcehasemailaddressesforallofthem.HowmanypeoplesignupforSalesforcethroughthatemail???

It’satrickquestion.Zeropeoplesignupthroughtheemail.It’sactuallyimpossibletodothat.Peoplesignuponawebpage.Theemailwilllinkpeopletothewebpageorsimplyremindthemtogotothepageandsignup.SMSworksthesameway.

It’sslightofhandbecauseemailisdefinitelyadirectroutethesignuppage.WithSMSit’stoughtolinkoutandgetthepersontosignupontheirphone.WithSMSit’salsoprobablythatpeoplegetthetext,butthensignuponthedesktopcomputer.Andit’salsocommonthatthetextwouldactuallycapturetheperson’sattention,increasethechancesthattheyopentheemailandthenconvert.

Whatevertheroute,thedataisprettysolid.Wewouldregularlyseethemobilelistconvert3-5xbetterthanthenon-mobilelist.Justtogetreallyspecific,thetextcampaignsareusuallyworkinginthesamedepartmentastheemailcampaignsorCRM.Sothecohortsthatarebeingcomparedaretheemail+SMSlistvstheemail– onlylist.Inthatscenario,themobile+email listwillusuallydo3timesbetter.

FromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

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It’snotsurprising,right.Themobilephonenumberisasignofinterest.Imeanwhenyou’resingle,you’remorelikelytogooutwithsomeoneifyougettheirnumber.Thisisalittlelikethebusinessequivalent.

There’sonemorethingtotalkaboutquickly.IsoldSMScapabilitiesforalmost8years.Whenanorganizationwouldreachouttheywouldalwayshaveoneofthesebenefitsinmind.SoI’dgetacallsayingsomethinglike– wehavethisopportunitytopartnerwitharockback.Wethinkitmakessenseforthebandtotelltheirfanstotextin.

Ortheywouldbethinkingaboutthesecondsuperpower– wewanttotextpeopleandgetthemtodoX.

Inorderthecampaignandorganizationtobesuccessfulbothbenefits,bothsuperpowersneedtobeused.Ifyou’rethinkingofagreatwaytouseSMSasaresponsetomedia,youstillneedalongtermplantoactivatethepeoplethatrespondtothemedia.

Ifyouhaveagreatideatotextpeopleandgetthemtopurchase,orshowupforanevent,youalsoneedanideaofhowthepersonwilljointhelistinthefirstplace.Thatoptinisarequirement.

It’sreallysimilartotheapproachofemail– anorganizationneedsawaytogrowtheirlistandsomethingtosaytothelistthey’vegrown.

Lastly,IboildownthebenefitsofSMStoMorePeopleandMoreAction.Intermsofdirectmarketing,notbrandmarketing,thesetwobenefitsareaboutallthereis.

Source:http://thechatbubble.com/2017/09/the-benefits-of-sms-as-a-marketing-communications-channel/

FromTheChatBubblewrittenbyMichael

messaging@marketron.com |marketron.com/digital

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