Email Marketing vs. Text Marketing

Technical advancements in the past 10 years have had a dramatic effect on how we market our products and businesses. A 2013 report announced that 7 in 10 people in the UK (aged 16-64) now own a smart phone. This gives companies the opportunity to reach their clients in a whole variety of ways, including text, email and social media. However, the best way to blanket message the most people and target your marketing remains SMS and email. Here, we examine the pros and cons of both email and text marketing and their benefits against each other.

Email marketing allows for better presentation and hyperlinks.

Email marketing is a great way to send your company's top news frequently. Offers and information can be displayed in aesthetically pleasing ways, and companies can take advantage of using pictures and hyperlinks to drive potential customers directly to their sites. Presentation wise, the subject line of the email is a fantastic way to give people the headline of your announcement, whether it’s a special deal or new product. However, Text Message Marketing has advanced greatly over the past few years. Companies are no longer restricted to text alone, and can now send picture messages to make their marketing more visually pleasing. However, hyperlinks via text are far less effective than email, leaving people usually with one link to click on instead of multiple promotions.

SMS doesn’t end up in your junk mail.

A benefit of text marketing over email marketing is that people are much more likely to open their text and read it. The downside to email marketing is that sometimes, your message can find itself in people’s junk mail, where things often get ignored. Another problem with emails is that a large percentage of them will get deleted before they’ve even been opened. This is because people are unfortunately subjected to great avalanches of email spam that clog up their inboxes. It is for this reason that Barack Obama announced that Joe Biden would be his running mate in the 2008 election via text message: so he could effective reach out to his supporters without risking an email getting lost or ignored.

SMS marketing is fresher and more exciting.

Another benefit of text marketing is that it’s more unique. Consider how many times you receive a promotional Text Service compared to a promotional email message. Hardly ever. This ignites interest far more than email and means that your recipients are far more likely to pay attention. A great advancement in technology means that SMS messages can now be sent via email, which makes blanket marketing via these means easier and more constructive.

However, email messaging is more effective.

Although text marketing is more unique, a 2013 study by predictive analysts firm, Custoda, reported that email is still the most effective way to attract customers to your business online. They state the reason for this being that email marketing is based on permission. People have given you permission to target them; meaning they’ve shown an initial interest in your product or services. They also reported that email is the most popular activity on people’s smart phones, which would argue that email is in fact the most effective way to reach people.

Email marketing allows you to analyze the click-through rate.

Another fantastic benefit of email marketing is the ability to analyze the click-through rate (CTR). The CTR helps you to measure the success of your digital campaign by calculating how many people have opened an email and clicked through to landing pages. This gives you an idea of how effective your campaign actually is (rather than just how many people are being contacted). The CTR also gives you a way of quantifying your digital campaign without relying on customer feedback - as the data is very easy to acquire.

In conclusion, email and text marketing both carry plenty of benefits that are sure to increase your company’s profile and drive more traffic to your website. Due to the positives of both forms, a great idea is to use email marketing as your primary method and save SMS marketing for more important, prolific messages.

5 Major Brands Using Text Message Marketing

Despite a lot of the press focusing on the spam elements of Text Message Marketing, there are plenty of examples out there proving that it can be a successful venture. However, we can’t all emulate the successful campaigns and copy every detail - so instead of just giving out a list of successful brands using texts, we’re going to give you the lessons to be learned with this type of marketing.

1) CONNECT WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS with PIZZA HUT – Many experts in the industry believe that text message is a far more influential medium than email when it comes to marketing with over 90% of 18-34 year olds using their phone on a daily basis. In the UK, Pizza Hut set up a geofence location near each of their restaurants, meaning that passersby would receive a text message pointing out that they were half a mile away from a restaurant. The company reported that their text campaign was 4.4 times more effective than TV Marketing and 2.6 times better than online marketing, meaning that Text Services are still an untapped source of new leads.

2) ENCOURAGE OTHERS TO INTERACT WITH THE BRAND with PRETTY LITTLE LIARS – Every marketing campaign should encourage a call to action, or encourage your users to do something a little different from their normal routine. The TV show Pretty Little Liars used this to great effect, allowing subscribers to receive MMS messages from characters in the show. Making your customers a part of your brand is a vital part of marketing, and the campaign increased audience engagement with the show by 20% as well as creating a database of dedicated fans for future campaigns.

3) OPT-IN LOYALTY SCHEMES with O2 – These ensure that your potential leads are opting into a service they want. O2 Priority was originally a text message marketing campaign that encouraged O2 users to treat themselves at various shops and restaurants around them. By allowing users the choice to sign in, they were able to develop the scheme into something much bigger, and now offer exclusive presale concert tickets to subscribers.

4) TIE IN WITH A COMPETITION with PALMS CASINO RESORT – By creating a giveaway for your customers, it encourages people to sign in with the opportunity to get something out of it. The Palms Casino Resort recently ran an SMS competition with an overnight stay and dinner for two as its top prize. After entering, the entrants were asked whether they wished to subscribe for further updates, and the company were able to convert 60% of the entrants into subscribers – significantly better than the average contest, and retaining these subscribers meant that the campaign was a huge success.

5) KEEP IT SIMPLE, STUPID with SILVER-STONE – It might be the most obvious part of text message marketing, but keeping things simple is the best way to gain results. The UK racetrack at Silver-stone decided to keep things simple by sending a message to a list of users who had previously expressed an interest in attending Silver-stone, with only a hyperlink leading to an optimized page for purchasing tickets. The campaign was a huge success, generating an ROI of 608% for Silver stone and a wealth of new B2C leads.

When to Text: Suitability of Online SMS Marketing

When should you say it with a text? The suitability of Online SMS marketing

A text is a very quick, easy way to reach a large audience. However, something that’s limited to 160 characters clearly isn’t going to lend itself to everything. There’s no room for detail in an SMS so it has to be an instant hit – bang, here it is, go now, do this, do that. The tricky thing about online SMS marketing is that it’s hard to measure how successful you are. In many ways it’s a lot like trying to play football in the dark – you can have as many shots as you like but it’s difficult to know how many goals you score. Simply put, you can’t determine how customers behave after receiving your text.

If, for example, you encourage customers to buy a product with a text message campaign, and sales of that product then rise steadily, there’s no way of telling if that rise is due to the texts you've been sending or whether it’s because of something else. You can’t even say a percentage of that rise is due to the SMS campaign, all you can do is speculate. This is why SMS Marketing is better suited to reminding your customers about things – special offers that are only going to be available for a limited period of time, upcoming events or releases that they may be interested in.

Text messages have an open rate of 98% so you can pretty much guarantee that almost all of your customers will look at what you send them. But, with people wanting results quicker than ever nowadays it’s worth considering how many steps there are between that initial SMS and the customer making the decision to carry out the desired action. In the first place there is a drop-off rate of 2% (those who don’t even open the text message), there will then be another drop-off of people who read the text but do not act on it. Ideally you want this to be the last drop-off point so you lose as few customers as possible. If an extra step is required, like visiting a web page that they have to read before they can do anything, then you know you shouldn't be trying to say this with a text.

SMS Security

Why SMS is a secure solution

The Short Message Service, otherwise known as SMS or simply texting, is one of the surprise successes of the mobile phone age. No one really predicted how popular it would become when mobile phones began to have significant market penetration.

In fact, the system was based on radio telegraphy used in the 'pagers' that were around in the 1980 and in 1985 a standardized set of phone protocols were defined as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards. Today Text Services is a service component of phones (both regular and smart), internet enabled devices and other mobile communication systems.

Security

We live in an age of constant progress when it comes to communications technology and this can often mean older tech and its associated systems become outdated and are discarded.

The flip side of this is the attention of hackers and organised crime gangs moves onto the new thing, often finding vulnerabilities that can have serious implications for users.

Although SMS is a 'legacy' system, in 2010 it still had an estimated 3.5 billion active users, which accounted for 80% of all mobile phone subscribers across the world. Due to its ease of use and lower cost than voice calls, it shows no signs of declining.

Another reason for this popularity is the basic robust nature of the system, which means it is not vulnerable to viruses or hacking dangers in the same way that emails might be.

Applications

As well as being a popular consumer choice, SMS lends itself well to business use. The fact that secure, browser-based applications can send and receive business messages online and those text mail systems send SMS Services directly and securely from any email system means that it is a powerful marketing tool with a massive potential.

Simple multi-question SMS surveys mean clients can leave feedback easily and various HTTPS and SMTP tools offer flexibility and safety options for all kinds of commercial use.

Fund-raising

So called 'short codes' are widely used in interactive TV campaigns and fund-raising activities, and the fact that most people use their mobile phones in an 'always on' capacity highlights the potential for accessibility at any time.

Increased use of near field communication payments systems will mean that people start to think of their smartphone as an electronic wallet, so the security that SMS offers means an added level of potential for imaginative text-based revenue streams.

What we can Learn from South African SMS Marketing Services

One of the key benefits of using the short message service (SMS) to market your product or brand is the fact that it’s an instant dialogue between you and the consumer. You have their immediate attention.

The growth of SMS Marketing services around the world has been phenomenal in recent years, and nowhere more so than in South Africa. In a country with 52 million people, over 80% of them use a mobile, and only around five million use landline, it’s easy to see why SMS is such an effective business tool there.

Research in South Africa shows that there’s a very high engagement rate, with 97% of people messaged having read their SMS within five minutes of it being sent. All the statistics show that SMS Mobile Marketing has overtaken many of the more traditional ways of advertising and reaching potential consumers.

South Africa is now rated 3rd in the world for mobile marketing, with over 150 million SMS ads sent each month, and growing. Many businesses and organisations there have recognised the importance of having a SMS or mobile marketing strategy to advertise their products and services.

In the UK, with a population of 61.6 million, we own on average 1.8 mobile phones per person. The potential for the growth in SMS marketing in the UK is still huge, and more and more businesses are making it a key part of their advertising strategy.

So why is this kind of marketing so effective? It builds an instant relationship with the consumer who can respond to a call to action within minutes. Consumers can also forward messages to their friends or colleagues, spreading the word. It’s inexpensive and it means businesses can build databases for future marketing or campaigns.

Virtually any business or service can implement text messaging as a powerful way to connect with consumers and potential customers. If you own a restaurant, you can let people know about any special deals you have running. The same applies if you’re a florist, a hairdresser or furniture store. 

SMS Marketing is a great business tool for estate agents who can tell potential buyers about properties that have come on the market. Dentist and GP surgeries find it a useful way of reminding patients of appointments, which helps them to run their practices more efficiently.

For every 100 people in the UK, there are 122 mobile phones. That alone makes a compelling case for SMS Marketing.

Why isn’t Your Business Using Online SMS?

With the incredible advance in smart phones we have experienced within the last decade, one of the quickest and most efficient marketing techniques for businesses is to use online SMS, in order to get their message to their target audience in an instant. There are different means by which online SMS can be used to market or promote a product.

Firstly SMS Services can be used to let customers know about new deals and offers. Many companies now make it a formality to acquire a customer’s mobile number when signing up to use WIFI in their establishment, purchasing a product or registering an online account. Once they have this number they are able to directly message customers with deals and promotions that might be of interest to them. Companies online can even use product history to direct market to that particular customer.

Linked in with the previous idea, Online SMS can also be used to inform the reader of promotional dates and events. This is a quick way of inviting as many as many people as possible to events as they are already on the mailing list and a standard message can be sent to everyone. This is also an appealing method as people are beginning to rely more heavily on their phones than on computers. Now they can access everything they need to on their phone so why not promotional ideas too.

If the customer has an issue with receiving messages of this nature, then it is simple for them to opt out, generally with the option of texting stop. This was not necessarily available with previous methods of marketing. In addition to that, this form of marketing is much better for the environment than posters, fliers, leaflets or any of the older methods used. By using online SMS you are ensuring that your customer definitely receives your message, compared to the email filters and junk files that companies may have previously been affected by.

A further use of online SMS is to send instant news on issues influencing the company to share holders and employees, giving them greater involvement and informing them on news in the quickest way possible. Finally, Online SMS is a great way to send and receive feedback to customers, or to thank them for using your service. The option to do this allows customers a platform to evaluate the service you have offered them and can aid in your development. Following up after a service also reinforces the importance that a customer feels towards you company and instils loyalty.

Using Text Messaging Marketing to Get Close to Your Customers

We are now living in the digital age. This means that in order to run a profitable business, you need to have as much of a digital presence as possible. You may have cleared the email marketing stage. SEO may even have worked well for you. When you have done all that and mastered the art of social media marketing, it’s time to look at one more things on the list: Text Message Marketing. 

Everyone and their grandmother own a mobile phone these days. From six year old kids to ninety-six year old grandpas; if you haven’t got a mobile phone, you don’t know what you’re missing out on. If you want to get information out to the masses with just the click of a button, going through the mobile phone channel is the only way forward. 

Most people these days use mobile phones. Remember when everyone was jumping on the email bandwagon and email marketing was all the rage? Well, the digital age has moved things along bit more so instead of emails, you now send text messages. That’s not to say that you should leave the emails behind; smart phones have ensured that we can be readily accessible whenever we are on the move. Reading a text message, however, takes just a second. A very well written Text Message will ensure that you get the information across easily and quickly. What’s not to love about that?

Emails can get caught up in the spam folders. An advertisement in the local paper can easily be drowned with bigger, bolder and better advertisements that surround it. Who reads a paper these days anyway? Phone calls don’t work anymore; no one likes marketing calls and most people won't answer the phone to an unknown number. 

With short links making website links so tiny, you can easily slot them into your average online SMS Message with a wow-factor of special offers, news, exciting information, free trials, etc. Ideally you are going to want the message to be short and sweet; to the point. Don’t complicate things. You are going to need to cater for all walks of life, and the last thing you want to do is confuse potential customers with jargon. 

If you don’t offer good information or offers in your text messages, there is simply no point in sending them. Irrelevant information will lead to the potential customer getting annoyed and unsubscribing from your mailing list. You should probably do some researches before you jump right into things… When are the best times to send texts? How many texts should you be sending? 

With SMS mobile marketing, you are in the pockets of your customers. How much closer to them do you want to get? All you need to do now is get to work on some wow-factor mini-messages to allow your Text Message Marketing scheme to go full force ahead. Get with the times and you’ll get closer to your customers. It really is as simple as that.