The Death of Email Marketing: Why Brands & Marketers Are Turning to SMS Messaging

It's no secret that email marketing is on the decline. A recent report by The Radicati Group found that the average business worker receives 121 emails per day. With such a high volume of messages, it's no wonder that so many people are quick to delete anything that doesn't interest them right away leading to a perpetual decline in all pertinent email marketing metrics. This has led many brands and marketers to attempt to find new channels in which they can increase interaction and ultimately drive higher returns. Some marketers have turned to SMS messaging as a more effective way to reach out to their target audiences.

There are a number of reasons why SMS messaging is becoming a more popular marketing tool. First, SMS messaging is a more effective way to reach out to customers because it's more personal than email. With email, there's always the chance that your message will end up in a recipient's spam folder, no matter how great your content is, if the customer doesn’t see it, it can’t work. Second, if you are able to get your message in front of consumers, the vast majority will never open the message and if they are opened it will likely be hours or days after the message was sent. Finally, according to a study by DMA, about 90% of people who receive a text message will reply within three minutes. That's a significantly higher response rate than what you'll get with email.

How to get started with SMS marketing

If you're looking to start using SMS marketing to reach out to your customers, here are a few tips to help you get started:

1. Find a platform that offers integrations with your other marketing channels, allows for personalization, and allows for back and forth communication with consumers either directly or with the use of chatbots
2. Grow your list in creative ways, provide your consumers a frictionless onboarding experience and incentivize them with rewards they care about. Onboarding could be as simple as asking them to text a keyword, scan a QR code, or input their phone number on your website.
3. Make sure that you have the necessary legal permissions from your customers before sending them SMS messages.
4. Segment your customers to ensure that when you begin sending messages, you are targeting the correct people with the correct message.
5. Provide a frictionless purchasing experience by eliminating the need to click links to purchase. Implement a reply to buy campaign and customers can purchase simply by replying ‘yes’. This will have the largest impact on conversion rates.