There are endless choices for businesses today as we consider different ways to reach our customers or more importantly have them reach us. Direct mail morphed into email which morphed into social media which has morphed into mobile applications. No matter which option you choose for your business, we just cannot ignore the fact that people have their mobile device within hands reach 24-7. Because of all these choices, we sometimes overlook the simplest function a mobile device has: the ability to text. With this comes some incredibly powerful throughput to your customer. To provide you with some context, market leader Mail Chimp estimates an email is only opened 20% of the time with an average click through rate of 2.65%. This means for every 100 emails sent, 3 people might read them. The social media channel has become so busy that promotion and boosting are a mandate for any campaign you run. The cost per lead is still very high and return on investment remains elusive.
By comparison, Mobile Marketing says text has an off the charts 98% open rate which often is done in under 90 seconds*. Beyond the fact that you can reach your customers with such precision, text lends itself to a conversation versus a call to action that may never reaches its intended audience. With this in mind, how many businesses are pursuing b2c marketing strategies that include text?
Some very simple applications for text are VOC channels, prospect follow-up, appointment confirmations, status updates, call center outreach, inbound phone calls, this list goes on and on. The win in all of these is that we create a channel for instant dialogue with the customer rather than a one-way notification. It sounds simple, but how do we really harness the power of text?
Let’s start with one of your most important assets: your business landline. Some of you may know this already, but here is a little quiz for you. Did you know that the landline you have been marketing for years actually has two separate components? The first is the voice portion of the line. The implication here is obvious. It manages the inbound and outbound voice calls. The mystery portion of your landline is the other half referred to as the “data” portion of your landline. So, to finish off your quiz, did you know that your landline is text capable? With this in mind, what if your call to action is “Text or Call”? Now let’s factor in the engagement rates of texting and I think we have a winner. Through an inbox portal, desktop or mobile access, scheduled messages, payment collection and templates, you have a solution that provides unprecedented access to your most valuable asset: your customers.
* Small Business Mobile Marketing
