Wednesday, October 16, 2019

Is Texting next?

I've recently been receiving a lot of SPAM text messages that often include some variation of a recognizable name of a contact I know and a link to a website. It's suspicious and definitely not associated with any specific company or product which leads me to ponder, outside of 'spam', how often are companies using text messages as a marketing channel?
How is this regulated? When do you sign up for it? and is this a successful method to use? Below are the answers to those questions:

1) Regulation:
Telephone Consumer Protection Act: TCPA prohibits text messages sent to a mobile phone from an auto-dialer unless (1) you previously gave consent to receive the message or (2) the message is sent for emergency purposes. Since October 2013 prior express written consent is required for all text messages sent to cell phones for marketing purposes.
In synopsis: if you receive marketing texts lets say from your Dentist, from a brand, etc you likely signed off on this when you set up an account or visited the business for the first time and filled out paperwork. Similar to the process for email account marketing when you have an opt in/out box.

2) Text messaging impact/stats:
-According to VoiceSage-  SMS open rates beat email nearly 5x over. Texting appears to be a more trusted and personal way to communicate marketing offers BUT it also has the potentially to significantly deter end users because of the intimacy associated with text/call.
-For Opt-In subscribers, 75% of them would not mind receiving SMS text messages from a brand. Meaning- when someone actively opts in to this mode of receiving messages most or 75% of them wouldn't mind receiving the marketing offers (obviously) AND they are respond more fast and more often than email.
-The use of SMS marketing has grown 197% as a strategy in B2B efforts from 2015-2017 - Source : Salesforce.

All in all, I'm guessing this will be a growing avenue towards digital marketing due to how we've evolved our communications from mostly call to now text/social media/email. I think its an interesting way to engage customers in the future.


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