According to one recent study, it’s been estimated that approximately 97% of all Americans own a cell phone. About 85% of those people own a smartphone like an iPhone or Android device.
Regardless of the type of business you’re running, so much of your success depends on your ability to meet consumers where they are. Thankfully, this is now easier than ever before, thanks to the fact that most of us carry a powerful little supercomputer around with us in our pockets all day long that keeps us constantly connected with the world around us.
This all underlines the importance of leveraging SMS text messaging as part of your larger marketing campaigns. But to truly make the most of this modern-day phenomenon, there are a few important things to remember about SMS API integration in particular.
Unlocking the Potential of SMS Campaigns
One of the things that makes SMS marketing so effective is that our brains are essentially trained to think of text messages as “important” by default. One study indicated that not only do about five billion people send and receive text messages regularly, but about 90% of those sent are read within just three minutes of getting them.
Part of this is because a major benefit of SMS campaigns is that they help give shoppers information precisely when they need it. Take SMS reminders, for example. After someone has made an appointment with your business, they can sign up to receive a reminder confirming that event ahead of time. Did you know that almost half of all people say they would likely miss a healthcare appointment if they didn’t get a text reminding them of it? It’s true, and you can bet that the same concept extends to other industries, too.
But SMS campaigns are also helpful in other ways, too. Based on the wealth of personal information you’re collecting about those in your target audience, you can send them targeted reminders about time-sensitive deals and other promotions you may be running. If someone has purchased Product X, you can be reasonably certain they’re interested in Product Y When Product Y goes on sale, send a text notifying them about it. Not only does it generate a great cross-sell or up-sell opportunity, but it’s another way to deepen the layer of personalization you’re trying to create – thus empowering the customer experience at once.
All this also serves as a reminder of why you should start building your SMS API integration around a high-powered platform with all the features needed to accomplish your goals. Tools like Mitto (for just one example) make it easy to follow all SMS reminder best practices, like simply knowing when and how to send SMS reminders in the first place. Timing is everything, so if you send a message too late, you’ll have missed an opportunity. Sending messages too often runs the risk of being seen as pushy.
These types of tools also help manage things like automated replies, personalization, and more – all from an easy-to-use platform that compiles everything you need into one screen.
Overall, if you’re trying to take your business’ message to the broadest possible audience, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better way to do it than SMS. Even social media sites vary the total number of active users, demographic breakdowns, and other factors. From that perspective, SMS is practically universal. It doesn’t matter if you’re targeting men or women, old or young people, college graduates – you name it, and they’re there.
All you need are the tools to tap into those audiences, which is what SMS API integrations are all about.
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