SMS Marketing - Whats your take

Hey there Woodward.. I followed you here from the general forum to answer your question.. haha

I've received a few "text" messages from vendors over the past few months even though I've never signed up to receive any knowingly.

Personally, I've found them annoying and view text messages as a place where I expect to be contacted only by friends perhaps the odd client at a strange hour (which I don't mind as they don't tend to wake me up :-P).

So.. as a "person" or prospective client/customer... I don't want your darn texts. (Or, at least not yet).

As a vendor, I'm interested in the idea, but they remind me a bit of twitter tweets.
It can be hard to get a complex idea across within the character limit of most phones - and I don't think most people want you to send them a novel's worth of text messages.. haha.

Overall thoughts are these...

Like the Pictures vs. 1,000 Words debate, I think text message based advertisements will be better than e-mails for certain markets. Open rates may be higher, but that's only because users don't tend to see a title before they open - they just see a "1 new message" icon on their smartphone.

The other issue is timing. If you send your prospect a text message while he's working his 9-5 day job, or his 12:30-9 afternoon shift... or his 11pm-8am night shift... he won't necessarily be able to respond to it in the timely fashion you're looking for anyway.

So.. if you want to use it - make sure it makes sense for your market... don't just hop on the band wagon because it's a hot topic.

Cheers,
-Adrian

Agree with you Adrian, on pretty much all of your points. It really annoys me when I get them but for some reason I'm still intrigued and just dont think its been utilized correctly yet and keep wondering if there is a better way to use this method with a higher conversion and not annoying the customer as much. Of course another thing is not everyone is in the 4g market and well at least for me 3g doesnt really load pages very fast unless there optimized.

It's true, Woodward.

Despite what I said perhaps sounding a bit negative.. I'm still keeping my eye on it.

Personally, I can't justify utilizing the method in my business ventures yet, but (as many people will agree I'm sure) I do see potential.

Right now, I'd be inclined to try text message marketing if my market was "techy" or part of that group best known as "trail blazers". There are still too many people out there with 3g phones on those darn 3 year contracts... haha. I know my girlfriend is one (blackberry curve - not sure of the exact model). She steals my phone (samsung galaxy) whenever we need to look up something up on the web or use the GPS.

There is, however, definitely something to be said for having the facilities in place for when they get that upgrade to a (presumably) 5G phone. :-P


Cheers,
-Adrian

I agree with Adrain and whether looking at it through a personal or vendor's perspective. thanks for the info

i used them in the past as part of a whole digital marketing strategy to get a hold of younger consumers for certain products...like someone already mentioned, the trick is for the link to take you to an optimized mobile site...my phone carrier sends me sms almost on a daily basis and their site is horrible

With all of this said, are there any tools that are good for sending the SMS messages and can I use aweber to get the opt-in? Maybe a tick box? I have yet to actually work with opt-in list. Its actually what is next on my list to actually learn, and I wouldnt mind adding a sms opt-in for future use of course not until i can find the best way to use it and know that its not going to annoy my customers or prospects

If you are in the US or Canada I can help...just pm me or call the number in my Signature Line


Posted from Warrior Forum Reader for Android

I think apps with push notifications are more viable in the long term. Especially if you are looking to expand beyond a local market.

Since everything is on an optin basis and text messages are typically read upon arrival SMS marketing is proving to be extremely effective. My only advice here is that the offer must still be relatively enticing to drive the customer to click on your mobile link.

I used textmarketer for a competition at the Ideal Home Show in London to win quite a decent prize, we got 96 entrants over 3 weeks via text. Not great compared to the value of the prize. I asked a few people why they didnt enter and the typical response was "yeah enter the competition and get a message from you guys everyday for the rest of my life" it didnt work for us but maybe it has done for someone else.