Ranked List of Advantages of SMS Marketing for Your Business

Getting your message noticed can feel like a challenge. Emails often go unopened, and social media posts are easily overlooked. 

SMS marketing offers a simple solution: delivering your message to your customers’ mobile devices. It’s fast, reliable, and ensures your communication stands out.

With SMS, you can send updates, promotions, or reminders in a way that feels personal and direct. Text messages are quick to read and almost always opened. This approach helps businesses maintain strong customer relationships without unnecessary complexity.

In this article, we will explore the key advantages of SMS marketing, why it works so well for businesses of all sizes, and how it compares to other communication channels.

Why Choose SMS Marketing?

Text message marketing helps you build meaningful connections with customers in a way that’s direct, timely, and impactful. Here are specific reasons why businesses rely on SMS marketing and how it solves real challenges in communication and engagement.

Provides the Power of Immediate Attention

People check their phones constantly throughout the day. Research shows that text messages have a 98% open rate, and 90% of messages are read within three minutes. This level of engagement makes SMS perfect for urgent updates, like last-minute reminders or time-sensitive deals.

Other marketing channels, like email or social media, don’t provide the same immediacy. Emails might sit unopened for hours, and social media posts can be buried in feeds.

Even phone calls may go unanswered if the recipient doesn’t recognize the number. SMS, on the other hand, delivers to the customer.

Customers appreciate updates that save them time and keep them informed. Sending relevant messages builds trust. If a customer receives an SMS about their package being out for delivery, it reassures them that the company values communication.

Gives a Personalized Touch Without Extra Effort

SMS marketing platforms allow businesses to use automation and customer data to personalize messages. Details like customer names, purchase history, and preferences can be integrated into texts. This creates a feeling of individual attention without requiring manual effort.

Aside from making sales, personalized SMS messages can also improve customer experience and build trust. Sending thoughtful messages, such as appointment confirmations or friendly follow-ups, shows customers that the business values their time and relationship.

Solves the Overload Problem

Many marketing channels today are oversaturated. People receive hundreds of emails a week, scroll through endless social media posts, and are targeted by numerous ads.

SMS marketing avoids these pitfalls by being simple, direct, and free from distractions. 

A text message arrives directly in a customer’s inbox, separate from the clutter of emails or social media feeds. Since people check their phones frequently, SMS messages are almost guaranteed to be seen.

Another way SMS solves the overload problem is by keeping messages relevant to the recipient. Unlike generic ads or mass emails, SMS campaigns often use customer data to target specific needs or preferences.

Is Cost-Effective for All Business Sizes

SMS marketing is accessible to businesses with limited budgets while still being impactful.

The cost of sending an SMS is just a few cents per message. Even for campaigns targeting thousands of customers, the expenses are minimal compared to other marketing methods like pay-per-click (PPC) advertising.

SMS marketing isn’t just for big companies with massive customer bases. Small businesses, local shops, and even solo entrepreneurs can benefit. For instance:

• Small businesses: A local bakery can use SMS to promote daily specials or limited-time offers, spending just a few dollars a day.
• Medium-sized businesses: A fitness studio can use SMS to remind members about classes and drive attendance without relying on expensive advertising.
• Large enterprises: A national retailer can send bulk messages about seasonal sales, reaching millions of customers without overspending.

One of the biggest advantages of SMS marketing is how easy it is to track ROI. Businesses can measure how much revenue a campaign generates and see if the investment is worthwhile.

Guarantees Customer Engagement

Texts are short and actionable for customers to respond or follow through by clicking a link, replying to confirm, or redeeming a coupon.

Unlike many other marketing channels, SMS allows for real-time conversations with customers. Two-way messaging enables businesses to answer questions, confirm bookings, or gather feedback.

SMS reaches customers directly and doesn’t compete with other notifications or promotional clutter. When a text message pops up, it demands attention and gives businesses a rare opportunity to engage customers.

Bridges the Gap Between Online and Offline

SMS marketing strategy can turn online promotions into real-world engagement by delivering personalized offers or updates that encourage customers to visit stores, attend events, or complete in-person actions.

Example:

A local coffee shop sends this SMS:

• “Stop by today and show this text to get a free coffee with any pastry purchase!”

This simple message drives immediate foot traffic while rewarding loyal customers who follow the shop online.

Similarly, an eCommerce store with a physical presence can use SMS to promote in-store pickup for online orders:

• “Your order is ready for pickup at our Main Street location. Visit us between 9 AM and 7 PM today!”

For businesses with brick-and-mortar locations, SMS marketing is a powerful tool to attract customers from online platforms to physical stores. Offering exclusive in-store deals or highlighting limited-time events can motivate online followers to take action offline.

Overcomes Connectivity Barriers

SMS doesn’t require smartphones or advanced technology to function. Any device with texting capabilities, from basic feature phones to the latest smartphones, can send and receive messages.

When it comes to urgent messages, SMS is the most dependable option. It ensures timely communication even in areas without Wi-Fi or when mobile data is unavailable.

Common Use Cases of SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is widely used across industries because of its versatility and direct nature. Below are some of the most popular applications businesses can use to connect with their audience.

Personalized Marketing Campaigns

Instead of a generic “one-size-fits-all” approach, businesses use customer data such as names, purchase history, location, or browsing behavior. A personalized SMS campaign involves sending messages that are specific to each recipient.

• Product recommendations: Use customer purchase history to suggest products they might like
• Birthday or anniversary offers: Celebrate special occasions by sending exclusive deals to customers
• Location-based promotions: Send offers relevant to a customer’s geographic location
• Shopping behavior follow-ups: Use browsing or cart data to remind customers about items they viewed or left behind

Appointment and Event Reminders

Missed appointments and no-shows can cost businesses time and revenue. SMS reminders are a proven way to keep customers on track.

• Healthcare and wellness appointments: Reduces missed appointments and gives patients an easy way to confirm or make changes
• Salon and spa visits: Keep businesses’ calendars full while avoiding last-minute cancellations
• Event invitations: Ensure attendees have all the details they need to minimize confusion

Customer Feedback and Surveys

SMS is an effective tool for collecting insights about customer satisfaction, service quality, or product feedback. Businesses also benefit from real-time responses, where they can address issues or capitalize on positive feedback.

Compared to other channels like email, SMS surveys require less effort from the customer and have higher response rates.

SMS surveys not only save time but also strengthen relationships with customers. When businesses request feedback, it shows that they care about their customers’ experiences and opinions.

However, the success of an SMS survey depends on keeping it simple and to the point. Asking one or two clear questions is often enough to gather actionable insights. 

If more detailed feedback is needed, you can include a link to an external form where customers can provide additional information.

Two-Way Communication

Instead of merely sending promotions or reminders, businesses can encourage interaction, such as confirming appointments, asking questions, or seeking assistance.

Real-time exchange makes communication responsive and improves the overall customer experience. Customers feel valued and more connected to the brand when they know they can reach out and get a quick response.

Setting up two-way SMS is easier with modern messaging platforms like Textellent. These platforms allow businesses to automate responses for common inquiries and route more complex questions to live agents.

Flash Sales and Promotions

SMS messages are ideal for conveying the urgency of flash sales with short, impactful language and clear deadlines. Phrases like “Today only,” “Hurry,” or “Ends soon” encourage customers to take immediate action.

Seasonal and holiday promotions are another excellent use of SMS marketing. SMS makes sure customers are informed about special deals by sending reminders and updates throughout the promotional period.

Transactional Notifications

Transactional notifications are non-promotional messages triggered by specific customer actions or events. Compared to marketing messages, their primary purpose is to inform, not to sell.

Examples of transactional notifications include:

• Order confirmations
• Shipping updates
• Appointment confirmations
• Account activity alerts
• Billing alerts and payment reminders

Modern SMS platforms like Textellent can automate transactional notifications by integrating them with your existing systems, such as e-commerce platforms, CRMs, or booking tools.

How to Get Started With SMS Marketing

Incorporating SMS marketing can feel overwhelming, but breaking it down into manageable steps makes the process straightforward. Whether you’re a small business or a large enterprise, these steps will help you launch a successful SMS marketing campaign.

Step 1: Choose the Right SMS Marketing Platform

An SMS marketing platform is the backbone of your campaign. It allows you to send bulk messages, automate workflows, and analyze campaign performance.

Textellent is a business texting solution built to provide flexibility, efficiency, and impactful results. Here’s why Textellent is the ideal choice:

Unique Speed to Lead Automation

One of Textellent’s standout features is its Speed to Lead automation. When a prospect inquires, Textellent immediately sends a personalized, context-based text to thank them. This quick response grabs their attention and begins the conversation.

Even more impressively, over 50% of prospects engage further by texting back photos, measurements, or additional details about their needs. Instant attention makes prospects feel valued and keeps them engaged and ready to move forward.

Automated Text Campaigns and Drip Campaigns

Textellent allows you to automate text blasts, group messages, and recurring campaigns to keep customers informed and engaged without constant manual effort. Messages can be scheduled in advance for seasonal promotions, greetings, or reminders.

What sets Textellent apart is its drip text campaigns, designed to nurture prospects over time. 

Drip campaigns are multi-layered and can include testimonials, product examples, photos, or special offers. These campaigns run automatically and can be stopped manually or set to pause when a customer starts engaging.

Appointment-Based Follow-Ups and Review Automation

Textellent makes post-appointment communication effortless. With automated review requests, businesses can ask customers to leave feedback immediately after their appointment.

The message can include links to review portals and even feature a subtle five-star graphic to encourage positive reviews. Automated thank-you messages after meetings can discuss the next steps or ask for referrals, which offers a professional and less awkward alternative to in-person requests.

To keep customers coming back, Textellent automates follow-up messages inviting them to book their next appointment. These reminders can include booking links, discounts, or coupons for upgraded services for a steady stream of future business.

Tag-Based Segmentation for Targeted Messaging

Customers can be tagged based on their preferences, purchase history, events attended, or how they opted in through a web form, social media ad, or a keyword from a campaign. Textellent’s SMS segmentation allows businesses to send context-based messages tailored to each customer.

Tracking Campaign Effectiveness

Textellent helps you measure the success of your marketing spend with trackable keywords and coupon codes. You can assign unique keywords to different advertising channels, like social media ads, door hangers, or truck wraps, and see which campaigns drive the most engagement.

Flexible Integration and Lead Management

Textellent allows businesses to send messages using their existing phone numbers. This is a big advantage because customers are more likely to trust and engage with messages from a number they already recognize.

Textellent also ensures that customer responses come from real phone numbers, not shortcodes or generic numbers. Interactions are more personal and genuine, which makes customers feel like they’re texting a real person.

Lead Nurturing and Follow-Up

Its lead generation and nurturing capabilities are equally impressive. Textellent can automatically send personalized messages to new inquiries to keep leads warm and encourage action through drip campaigns.

Drip campaigns can be triggered by customer actions, like filling out a form or making a purchase for consistent engagement.

Send Engaging MMS Messages

Unlike many platforms, Textellent supports MMS (multimedia messaging service) to make it more eye-catching and memorable. You can include images, videos, or graphics in your texts when showcasing a product, sending a flyer for an event, or providing visual instructions.

Save Time With Ready-To-Use Templates

Creating professional messages is easy with Textellent’s template library. These pre-built templates cover common scenarios like reminders, promotions, and follow-ups.

Focus on the Customer Journey

What sets Textellent apart is its focus on the entire customer journey. From the first inquiry to post-purchase follow-ups, the platform helps you stay connected with your customers at every stage. This comprehensive approach builds trust, strengthens relationships, and drives long-term loyalty.

Step 2: Build Your Subscriber List

The first and most important rule when building your subscriber list is to get explicit consent from every subscriber. Compliance with laws such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) makes sure customers understand what they’re signing up for and includes clear instructions for opting out.

Make it easy for customers to subscribe by offering multiple ways to opt in. Different people prefer different methods, so having options ensures you capture as many subscribers as possible.

Some effective channels include:

• Website forms: Include an SMS signup form on your homepage or checkout page
• Text-in keywords: Encourage customers to text a keyword to a short code to join
• Social media promotions: Run campaigns on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to promote SMS sign-ups
• In-store signups: Use signage, QR codes, or receipts to invite in-person customers to join

Tip: Use Textellent’s tag-based segmentation to track how customers opt in so you can tailor follow-up messages to match the context of their signup.

Consistency is key when promoting your SMS list. Make sure customers see the invitation to subscribe at every touchpoint. The more visible your SMS opt-in options are, the easier it is to grow your list.

Step 3: Craft Compelling Messages

Before you write, define the purpose of your message. A clear goal helps you focus the message and make it more effective.

SMS messages are concise by design. Avoid unnecessary words and get straight to the point. You must use plain language and keep sentences short for easy readability.

Personalization is also key to engagement. Using the customer’s name, referencing their past purchases, or tailoring the message to their preferences makes it feel like the message was crafted just for them.

Textellent makes personalization simple by automating these details, pulling in names, past interactions, and even specific preferences.

Sometimes, a picture is worth a thousand words. With Textellent’s MMS capabilities, you can include images, videos, or graphics in your messages. This is especially useful for product promotions, event invitation instructions, or maps for in-store visits.

Step 4: Set Up Automation

Automation saves time, reduces errors, and promotes timely communication when sending appointment reminders, running drip campaigns, or engaging new leads.

Textellent’s Speed to Lead feature captures and engages leads as the prospect submits an inquiry. Textellent automatically sends a personalized, context-based text thanking them and asking for more details to keep the conversation moving.

Drip campaigns run on your schedule, keeping your business top-of-mind without overwhelming customers. Importantly, these campaigns can stop automatically when the customer begins responding, ensuring that communication stays relevant.

Example Campaign

1. Day 1: “Thanks for reaching out! Here’s a look at what we offer: [link].”
2. Day 4: “Still thinking about booking? Here’s a 10% discount for first-time customers: [link].”
3. Day 7: “Let us know how we can help! Reply to this message, or call us directly at (555) 123-4567.”

Textellent’s drip campaigns also allow you to nurture leads over time with a series of automated messages. These campaigns can include testimonials and photos or examples of products or services.

Step 5: Monitor and Optimize Your Campaigns

Monitoring the right metrics is essential for evaluating your campaign’s effectiveness. Start by assessing delivery rates to confirm that your messages are reaching recipients.

If delivery rates are low, it could point to outdated contact information or carrier restrictions that need to be addressed.

Open rates are typically high for SMS messages, but response rates will reveal how engaging your messages truly are. If responses are low, re-evaluate your call to action (CTA) or messaging style to make it more compelling.

Numbers alone aren’t enough. You also need to act on the insights they provide. If your click-through rate is lower than expected, consider changing the placement or wording of your CTA to make it more enticing.

On the other hand, if opt-out rates are rising, you may need to adjust the frequency or relevance of your messages to better align with customer expectations.

Testing different versions of your messages can reveal what resonates most with your audience. This might include trying out different CTAs, tweaking the tone of your messages, or sending them at different times of the day.

Make Every Message Count—Start SMS Marketing With Textellent!

How often do your customers see and act on your marketing messages?

Text messages are fast, direct, and almost always read. With open rates close to 98%, your message is far more likely to be seen than with email or social media.

Textellent makes the advantages of SMS marketing even stronger. This platform lets you send targeted messages that get results.

With tools like Speed to Lead automation, you can reply to inquiries to keep customers engaged. You can also set up drip campaigns to send follow-up texts and use tags to personalize messages based on customer preferences.

Every feature is designed to make your SMS campaigns more effective and easy to manage!

Make the most of what SMS marketing can do for your business. Textellent helps you save time, reach more people, and build stronger connections with your customers.

Try Textellent and see how SMS marketing can work for you. Sign up for a free trial or book a demo today!

FAQs About Advantages of SMS Marketing

What are SMS’s advantages and disadvantages?

SMS marketing guarantees your message is seen quickly, with open rates reaching up to 98%. It works on any mobile phone and is cost-effective for businesses of all sizes. Personalization options also make it easy to send targeted messages that engage your audience.

However, some platforms struggle to handle longer messages or lack features like multimedia support. Overuse or irrelevant messages can lead to opt-outs, and businesses must comply with strict regulations like TCPA.

Textellent overcomes these challenges by supporting MMS for rich media, automating personalized campaigns, and managing compliance.

What are the benefits of SMS marketing?

SMS bulk marketing lets businesses send messages to thousands of customers instantly, with up to 98% of texts being read within minutes. It’s perfect for time-sensitive promotions, appointment reminders, and event updates.

Platforms like Textellent make it even more effective by allowing businesses to automate campaigns, personalize messages with customer details, and track engagement through analytics.

How often should I send SMS messages?

It depends on your audience and purpose, but most businesses find a balance of two to four messages per month effective. Too many SMS marketing messages can lead to opt-outs, so it’s important to focus on relevance and value.