Reasons to consider using SMS Marketing as part of your Digital Strategy

On average, we check our mobile phones 85 times every single day. Furthermore, around one in every four adults [1] confirm that checking their phones is one of the first things they do after waking up in the morning.

With numbers and statistics like that, it should come as no surprise that open rates for text messages are an impressive 82% [2]. So the question is, have you ever considered introducing an SMS focused component to your marketing strategy?

Now, this doesn’t mean that SMS marketing will immediately be the promotional tool of your dreams. There are, of course, right and wrong ways to approach an SMS strategy. So let’s take a closer look at some of the primary benefits and explore some of the best ways to implement this potentially powerful marketing tactic.

The benefits of SMS marketing for veterinary businesses

There are myriad reasons why you might want to send an SMS to your target audience. You might want to promote a new service, introduce a new product, collect customer feedback or send a general update about what’s happening at your practice or veterinary business.

Many of these communications could also be sent as social media posts or email, so let’s take a moment to explore why a text message could be the optimal channel.

– Immediate delivery

SMS marketing is speedy. As soon as your message is sent, it is immediately delivered to the recipient. This means that you can promote time-sensitive messages, which may include local pet health updates, practice updates, or campaigns to target certain seasonal health issues and the preventative healthcare options that can protect pets.

– Higher response rates

In addition to higher open rates, text messages also receive higher average response rates. Your response rate can be used to determine how effective your SMS marketing messages are and help you to hone your messaging until you establish a style and tone that works for your audience.

Now, let’s explore some of the main considerations you should make before implementing your first SMS marketing campaign.

– Obtain permission

Clients don’t want to be inundated with messages from businesses they haven’t given permission to contact them, so ensure any pet owners you’re sending your messages to have opted-in to this form of communication.

– Deliver value

Your audience only wants to receive messages that are valuable to them. One of the easiest ways to do this is to offer an exclusive deal for your SMS marketing list or provide helpful information that is pertinent to their pets. Remember, SMS communications should be short and sweet, so try to condense everything you need to say into around 160 characters. Worried you won’t get your message across in such a short message? Use the SMS to engage your audience and drive traffic to a landing page on your website.

– Personalise your SMS communications

When messages are specifically tailored to customers, they are more likely to engage with the content and take action. Personalisation tokens can be used to address each recipient using their name, to send location-based offers, and to refer to recent interactions they have had with your practice.

If SMS marketing sounds like it could be a good option for you, but isn’t something you have the time or resource for, please get in touch with our friendly team! We’re happy to answer any questions you may have and can provide the SMS marketing service for you, should you need us and if it’s the best approach for your business. 

[1] https://www.studyfinds.org/survey-quarter-checks-phones-less-than-minute-after-waking/

[2] https://www.shiftcomm.com/blog/what-is-the-open-rate-of-sms-text-messaging/