6 Reasons Why Every B2B Marketer Should Be Using SMS Today
SMS (text) and MMS (audio, video) messages are one of the most efficient and cost-effective tools available to B2B marketers today. However, current research shows that less than half (48 percent) of all businesses have incorporated SMS into their marketing strategy. If you’ve been thinking about getting SMS for Eloqua or SMS for Marketo, now is the time. Below, we’ve gathered six reasons why this underutilized tool is your best bet for slaying this year’s marketing and sales goals.
1. SMS Works
Did you know that 90 percent of your leads prefer to be texted? That’s right, they are just like you, insanely busy and wishing the businesses they interact with would help them make the most of their time by just sending a simple text. The wonderful thing about giving customers what they want is that it makes them feel like you are listening to them and that you get it. It also makes them more loyal to your company because you’ve made doing business a quick and painless affair. That’s a pretty big feat for 160 characters of text.
2. SMS Increases Engagement
The ultimate goal of most marketing campaigns is to increase sales and the easiest way to do this is to boost engagement. Fortunately, SMS makes this task super easy. First, SMS allows any customer on any mobile device to receive your message. Second, we live in a phone-addicted society, where 90 percent of all SMS messages are read within the first three minutes of being received. Those are fantastic odds. To put it in perspective, let’s “table this discussion” and compare the B2B marketer’s go-to-tool, email, with SMS.
| SMS | ||
|---|---|---|
| Response Time | 90 Seconds | 2 Days |
| Open Rate | 98% | 22% |
| Response Rate | 32% | .12% |
| Click-Through Rate | 19% | 4.2% |
3. SMS Builds Relationships
SMS offers your company a great opportunity to use the personal data you have gathered about a customer and apply it in a way that feels both professional and conversational. After all, customers don’t give their numbers to just anyone, so when one of yours opts-in to receive SMS/MMS, make sure your messages reflect the personal nature of this one-on-one communication channel. A couple of ways to do this include, using their name and/or company name in the greeting and sending information that matches their requests and place in the sales cycle.
4. SMS Is Versatile
More than a convenient way to send timely information to top customers and prospects, SMS offers an endless array of use cases for smart B2B marketers. Whether the goal of your message is to increase engagement, close deals or build brand loyalty, SMS can help. A few of the more popular use cases for SMS are:
- Information: Links to Blogs, Landing Pages, Social Media Sites, Apps, etc.
- Pitches and Product Intros: Videos and Demos
- Announcements: PR, Sales and Events
- Alerts: Service and Product Statuses
- Data Collection: Feedback, Surveys, Polls
- Notifications: Shipping, Scheduling, Conference Calls, Webinars, etc.
- Reminders: Appointments and Updates
- Follow-Ups: Introductions, Confirmations, Thank You
5. SMS Is Easy
In addition to being economical, SMS is easy to implement. However, to make sure your SMS venture is a success there are a few best practices you will want to follow:
- Opt-In: Like email, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) requires businesses to have recipients opt-in to receive text messages.
- Be Inviting: Give customers multiple opportunities to opt-in to receive SMS. You can do this via your website, landing pages, and any other technical seo tools you use.
- Opt-Out: Make it easy for customers to quit receiving SMS texts by replying STOP or NO.
- Take Care of Business: Include appropriate carrier disclosure notices (i.e. msg & data rates may apply) in the launch messages of your campaigns.
- Frequency: Make sure customers know how often they can expect messages. Ideally this number should be between two and four messages a month.
- Engage: Give customers the ability to connect with you quickly by texting HELP to reach customer service.
6. SMS Enhances Cross-Channel Campaign Results
Most B2B buying cycles are lengthy endeavors that require input from a variety of people in various roles and departments across an enterprise. Because of this, SMS has been largely overlooked by many B2B marketers, but it can and should play a vital role in helping your prospects and customers progress down the pipeline. In fact, recent research found that customers are over 40 percent more likely to proceed to purchase when SMS messages are included as part of a multi-channel marketing experience. Several Sureshot customers, like Vistage and 3M, have enjoyed remarkable results (below) simply by adding SMS to their cross-channel strategy.
- 64% — Increase in open rates experienced by Vistage using Sureshot’s SMS connector
- 500% — Increase in response rates experienced by Vistage using Sureshot’s SMS connector
- 2X – Increase in reach of mobile marketing efforts achieved by 3M in six months using Sureshot’s SMS connector
Add SMS/MMS to Your Marketing Strategy
Sureshot can help your business boost engagement, increase sales and enhance your customer’s experience through our easy-to-use SMS for Eloqua or SMS for Marketo. If you’re ready to see the dramatic results SMS can produce for you, contact Sureshot, today.