SMS for Business: How Texting Drives Engagement & Results

December 18, 2020

Text messaging (SMS) has incredible engagement and response rates, making it one of the most effective channels for businesses to connect with customers. With users opening 98% of SMS texts received and 90% of those within just three minutes, SMS is in a class of its own.

Plus, virtually all mobile phones support SMS. And it’s one of only two mobile channels (the other is mobile wallet) that allow you to message users directly without an app.

Given the massive engagement and reach, it’s no wonder so many leading brands leverage SMS to create deeper connections with customers.

How Businesses Use Text Messaging

Welcome and Onboarding: SMS is a direct and personal way to make a great first impression and deliver a warm welcome. Onboarding with SMS also helps brands learn more about customer needs, educate them and lead them to the next steps in the process.

Transactional Messaging: Delivering transactional details via SMS helps ensure messages are useful and visible for customers. Examples include order confirmations or alerts about account activities, appointments, flight changes, reservations, shipping and payments due.

Promotions & Campaigns: SMS is a powerful channel for sparking action and results with personalized promotional messages such as sale alerts, upsell opportunities or partner promotions.

Customer Support: SMS is also used for delivering great customer service to today’s increasingly mobile consumers. Brands often use SMS keywords like HELP or SUPPORT to help customers easily connect with an agent or find information.

With Mobile Wallet: Mobile Wallet is more popular than ever and mobile wallet integrations with SMS allow brands to easily deliver personalized passes, loyalty card updates, tickets or coupons.

Churn Prevention: You don’t need an app to receive SMS. That makes text messaging ideal for reaching customers who don’t have your app, helping re-engage customers who are inactive on other channels, or reaching those at-risk of churn.

Multimedia Messages: Adding a visual touch to text messages can make a big difference. MMS allows brands to add images or animated GIFs, as well as longer text. Industry stats indicate an increased click-through rate of 15% when using an MMS message.

Multi-Channel Engagement Strategies: Coordinating SMS with email, push notifications and mobile wallet passes can increase the reach and effectiveness of any campaign or promotion. Our revolutionary solution Airship Journeys make it easier than ever to orchestrate seamless customer journeys that drive deeper engagement — and exponential growth.

To learn more about can Airship can help power your SMS strategy, get in touch! And be sure to check out some of these great SMS resources: