Why Utilize SMS Signup on your Website

Text messaging (SMS)  is a part of daily life. It’s the primary way that basically everyone communicates. Why is that? Because it’s simple and convenient. Emails get buried among thousands of spam messages and inboxes pile up fast. Phone calls from unknown numbers go unanswered or quickly get screened. Text messages however almost always get opened. By Utilizing SMS signup on your site, you now have a powerful marketing tool at your fingertips. These phone numbers can then be deposited into CCAI and used for an outbound marketing campaign. So, let’s dive into our top reasons why SMS is so effective.

1. Authentication

Simply knowing the password to an account is not enough. In today’s world of cyber crime, two-factor authentication is a must for any serious business. For those of you who don’t know what this is, it’s when someone goes to sign into an account of some sort, and rather than getting in by typing in their password, your site will send a 6 digit code directly to their phone. The user then has to enter this code into their computer in order to get into their account. If you have access to your customer’s cell phone number, you can help protect their sensitive information by sending a two factor authentication text message to them. This is a quick and easy way to keep your clients/ customers safe.

2. Promotions

Promoting deals your business has going on is key to its success. Without properly marketing these promotions, there is no way for your customers to know about them. People love a good deal. Unfortunately, a lot of businesses use email promotions as their primary marketing tool. While email marketing is effective and it certainly has its place, SMS has more of an “in your face” approach.

3. Higher Open Rates

The most appealing aspect of using an SMS marketing strategy is that text messages get opened. Period. Emails often get ignored. In fact, I’d be willing to wager that as it stands, you have hundreds of unopened emails in your inbox right now (that may be something you should get cleaned up). Can you say the same about text messages? Likely not. The same goes for the majority of people. In fact, according to one study, 97% of text messages are opened within 15 minutes of being received. Emails have a disappointing open rate of 28%-33% on average according to Hubspot. The effective campaign frequency with email is also much higher. Meaning that it takes 30 email campaigns a month to reach the same level of engagement as 4-6 SMS campaigns a month. That is a huge difference!

4. Delivery Speed

The main reason that texting is so popular today isn’t just because of how convenient it is, but also because it’s fast! SMS delivery rates are much higher than that of email, because there are simply less factors that go into it. This is huge when it comes to things like two-factor authentication. The user doesn’t have to wait for a slow email delivery if there are server issues. They also don’t have to dig through their spam folder looking for their authentication code, only to find it after it expires. With SMS, the results are instant. Just the way we like it in the modern world.

5. Customer Relationships

People get hundreds if not thousands of emails a day. From work emails to marketing promotions, they just don’t feel special. When someone receives a text, it’s generally important which is likely why we see the high open rate mentioned earlier. By marketing your business to both existing and potential customers via personalized SMS, you are showing them you care. The wide range of SMS marketing applications is endless. You can send follow ups, special discount codes, and discuss upcoming product releases. The best thing about these all being delivered by text is that your customers or clients will actually read them.

Conclusion

We’ve got over reasons why SMS marketing is so effective, but the issue comes with gaining that information. Phone numbers are not as easy to obtain as emails. Everyone uses their email to sign up for everything. By implementing an SMS signup, and using this information in conjunction with Cloud Contact AI’s SMS services, you now have a way to create a better relationship with your customers and watch your business grow!