Why Your Agency Should Offer SMS

The reality is the world is being shaped around our mobile phones. To access the phone is to access the customer. So, how do you harness its power to help your agency clients reach their customers? The answer—text messaging (also referred to as SMS/MMS).

Empowered shoppers now have more options than they did in the past when it comes to your agency clients. In fact, the “always on” nature of e-commerce sites and mobile technology has created a new breed of customers who want what they want immediately. Plus, they have no problem going elsewhere for a better deal or better service.

Consider this: SMS messages have a 98 percent read rate compared to 20 percent for email. SMS/MMS strategies can significantly increase efficiency compared to other agency marketing methods, like emails that only have a 22 percent open rate.

Have you gotten pushback from your agency clients who already feel they have a rock solid marketing strategy? The good news—they can stick to the old, tried and true methods while adapting to new ones through cross-channel marketing.

But, what about other agency mobile marketing methods, like in-game marketing or advertising through mobile apps? While mobile is a huge development in the marketplace, the smartphone isn’t quite as huge. For example, according to Pew Research, two-thirds of Americans are smartphone users. That means one-third of Americans are unreachable via push notification, in-game mobile marketing, in-app mobile marketing, and so on.

The choice is clear—the most reliable way to reach all mobile users through your agency is with SMS. But, now the question is how exactly do you reach them?

Here are the 6 of the best way your agency can help your clients utilize SMS/MMS

1. Exclusive Offers

• Use SMS/MMS to advertise special offers like discounts, coupons, daily specials, etc. This is a great alternative to traditional print advertising since mobile offers are redeemed 10x more frequently than print offers.

2. Promote Special Events

• Clients can alert their customers of special events in real time using SMS/MMS. This is ideal for a retailer who wants to promote a semi-annual sale, a non-profit that needs to recruit volunteers, or a local community center that wants to promote a concert series in the community—the possibilities are endless.

3. Sweepstakes

• Help your clients spark their customers’ interest while adding them to their database by running an SMS sweepstakes. Examples include: a chance to win a gift card, merchandise, free tickets to a local sporting event, etc.

4. Surveys and Polls

• SMS surveys and polls provide a faster and less intrusive way for your clients to find out what they’re doing well and what they need to work on. Examples: a customer comment card at a restaurant or a call-to-action in a monthly invoice that encourages customers to text in a keyword and then rate their experience.

5. Cart Abandonment

• Retail clients can use SMS/MMS to entice their customers to come back to their carts to complete their purchase using incentives like free shipping or price discounts.

6. Product Information

• Help your clients add value for their customers by offering useful information about products through SMS/MMS. Examples include: product upsells or new product announcements.