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Text marketing

Text marketing and live chat for customer acquisition and retention in local retail
Reading time: 5 minutes

You already know how convenient, quick and easy it is to communicate with your customers via web chat. Texting or chatting has been one of the most important and preferred ways of communication the recent years and you are probably already using it to communicate with your customers.

However, what about your marketing campaigns?

Do you still rely on weekly newsletters or paid ads on social media, maybe even in the local newspapers? Are you sure you are addressing your target groups in this way? Or are you still looking for a good option to use your marketing in a targeted, convenient, appealing and cost-effective way?

Here is why text messaging is an important part of marketing, especially for local businesses and often outperforms other channels:

1. The smartphone as the most personal object

Everyone is nowadays closely connected to their smartphone. According to a study by KPMG Global, a third of the millennials worldwide checks once every five minutes their mobile device even without notifications.

2. Texting as the main feature of mobile devices

Even if the whole life is stored, organized or shared publicly on the smartphone, the most used function remains texting, independent of the chosen app. 97% of all smartphone users communicate with their contacts at least once a week. Texting is with 88% the most used feature on any smartphone every day.

3. The channel of choice for consumers

Given the choice, 85% of smartphone users prefer a short text over calling or emailing to contact businesses. Text messages can also be sent and received completely independent of the daytime, without interrupting the current activity of the respective user.

4. Mobility

92% of people always have their mobile phone ready to hand, no matter where they are or what time of day it is, which makes it the most used device. Also, every user has at least one text message app installed, even if it is just classical SMS. Thus, there is no need for either the sender or the receiver to learn anything new. Classic SMS have the additional advantage that no internet access is required.

5. Suitable for every phase in the buying process

Text messaging can lead to better customer engagement at every stage of the customer journey. Whether for marketing purposes, in consulting, as a service or in after-sales – text messages offer the opportunity at every point of the customer journey to create a better, special customer experience and therefore form the relationship with your customers, which is more crucial than anything else nowadays.

6. 1:1 Conversations

Marketing campaigns often fail at the right timing. The target group should be addressed when the need for the marketed product or service is the most urgent. With text messages, the customer decides when to react and interact. The guesswork around “The right people at the right time with the right content via the right channel” is eliminated.

7. Texts are interactive and provide important insights

If your customer receives a text message with the right keywords, it is up to them whether and when they open it, react to it, and start a conversation. Put into an active role gives him the feeling of being valued. If he answers, a context is created which can reveal wishes and needs and provides you important information about your customer.

8. Give your customers what they want

According to a 2017 study by Quiq, the majority of consumers would pay more for a product or service if it would be delivered with support in form of texts. The study also shows that brands that offer mobile messaging are perceived more positive.

9. Higher Opening Rates

Not only because text apps cover our daily communication with the outside world, but also because of our overflowing email inboxes, short text messages have significantly higher open and click rates compared to emails. With an opening rate of over 90% compared to only around 20% for emails, text messages are the clear winners.

10. No Spam

8 out of 10 emails end up in the “Spam” or “Junk” folder. With text messaging, that limitation simply doesn’t exist. The classic SMS or a text via any other messenger services such as WhatsApp, Facebook, Telegram and many others are characterized by their simplicity: Effective, easy to read and accessible at any time on the go.

“As a natural and immediate way of communicating, text messaging should be an integral part of any local business’ marketing. The unique applicability to omnichannel campaigns can make a text message versatile. Not only are the opening rates higher and reading times shorter, they also address customers directly and give a campaign something personal and individual. Small reminders or birthday wishes sent via SMS bring you and your store back to your customers memory. Also, more targeted messages like a discount campaign or seasonal sales events – when it comes to long-term customer loyalty and boosting conversions– text messages are great for your marketing. With images, links, videos, QR codes and emojis or even voice messages, you meet your customers at eye level and provide them with a CTA (=Call to Action) to bring them back to your store.“ Markus Demirci, Founder & CEO mPocket.

The only limitations you have to consider are the compliance guidelines. These apply not only to email marketing, but also to text marketing . Therefore, you need the consent of your customers before texting them.

If you would like to get more information, have comments or suggestions, or already want to know which app you could use to send your next marketing campaign quickly and clearly, please leave your feedback or contact us directly at hallo@mpocket.io. In any case, we look forward to hearing from you.

*For reasons of better legibility only the simultaneous use of male and female language forms is not used. All personal names apply to both genders.

Jasmin Janson

Marketing & Communication Manager mPocket

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