At Polaris Pacific, we’re always on the lookout for new ways to take the tech world’s latest and greatest advancements and put them to work for our clients. For the second installment of our Marketing Tests Technology series, we tackled the ins and outs of SMS Marketing.
Aiming for a different inbox.
Email marketing is tried-and-true, but it has its caveats: important communications could get lost in perpetually bottomless inboxes, and if you err on the side of sending more, you risk diluting your brand messaging—or worse, irritating your audience. Texts feel more personal, and more urgent. People can sometimes go days without checking their email, but a text notification? Not so much. That’s why texts are perfect for time-sensitive communications, like open houses or broker events.
Here’s how it works.
There are several services available, and they mostly work the same way: using an easy tiered pricing system, you can purchase affordable monthly packages, including a set number of texts. Setting up outbound marketing messages is equally as simple—if you’re careful. For your information to be accepted into many of the systems for delivery, everything must be meticulously uploaded, which can take some time. Additionally, there’s usually an approvals process to contend with, so planning ahead to get the timing right is key.
Running the numbers.
As far as analytics go, it’s no question email marketing is way ahead of the game. SMS platforms will tell you how many of your messages have been delivered, but there’s no metric for click-through rates or conversions, leaving you pretty much in the dark about whether your texts are really driving more engagement. However, people receiving your messages are able to respond to them, sparking a direct conversation with sales agents, who can access everything on a desktop interface. This feature paired with specific tracking URLs could portray a fairly accurate picture of how well your texts are performing.
The verdict.
We give SMS marketing 4 out of 5 stars. As an outbound marketing vehicle, it’s affordable, easy to use and speaks uniquely to the pervasive Millennial preference for hyper-efficiency. We’re still working out what works for us—especially in the analytics arena—but for now, we’re happy to subscribe.
