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Gartner Group Inc. has been around for nearly 4 decades and has established itself as one of the most reliable sources for predicting future trends. Gartner uses SMS marketing and had, in fact, highlighted how something as underutilised as a text message could impact customer engagement.

If a firm’s goal is to increase customer loyalty, SMS marketing could be an effective tool towards making that happen. It might seem like a rather tall claim to make but when one goes by the earlier statistic of the amount of time most people spend on their phone, it seems less far-fetched. With a few scattered exceptions, almost everyone around the world is consuming information on a screen that is no more than 7 inches in size.

Still need a bit of convincing on the power of the humble text message? This might help put a few things in perspective:

• Engagement rates

Emails can sit unread for days, weeks, even months on end, or even worse, redirected to the dreaded spam folder; phone calls can be ignored, and does anyone even care about timely newsletters anymore? Text messages, on the other hand, can be read almost immediately; they demand the attention.

The ability to multitask over a cell phone adds to the advantage of SMS marketing. The chances of reaching a wider group of people are exponentially higher when compared to other means of communication. Additionally, when text messages are customised to appeal to a specific group of people, it makes the firm seem more accessible to the consumer.

• Instant delivery 

On average, it takes less than 7 seconds for a text message to be delivered. Combine that with the cost efficiency of sending out bulk text messages, and top that off with the added advantage of sending it to thousands of customers with a few measly clicks of a mouse. This could very well be the marketing trifecta of the 21st century—time-efficient, cost-efficient, and large-scale customer engagement. 

• Interactive content 

There is a reason why content has been dubbed king by Bill Gates. It is the heart of any marketing campaign and its implications for digital marketing plays a big role in determining the success of a campaign.

The advantage of SMS marketing from this perspective is that firms can make their content interactive while keeping things to the point. Consumers do not want to spend their time sifting through a premise and a build up when they could instead head straight to the punchline: what the firm is offering and how they can sign up.

It could be as simple as adding a link to redirect the target group to your website or adding a reply channel to encourage feedback. Interactive content can make all the difference in the digital age where most marketing strategies can easily come off as impersonal and disconnected.

• Trackable platform

An added bonus to SMS marketing: it allows you to track the number of people who have viewed the text message—whether it evoked a response or was ignored. This, in a way, could be an easier way to gauge how well or how poorly a marketing campaign has performed. 

• Simplified set-up 

Setting up an SMS marketing campaign is child’s play in comparison to other marketing campaigns. It comprises two steps—step 1: sending a keyword to a registered short-code (usually a 5 or 6 digit number); step 2: adding a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ response option for the ‘opt-in’ ‘opt-out’ facility.

These are just a few reasons why a simple text could be the solution to driving a marketing campaign. The research director for Gartner for Marketers, Charles Golvin has emphasized the impact that SMS marketing can have when used in conjunction with mobile applications.

If the goal is customer engagement, the solution is quite literally in the palm of your hand.