Posted by You want to share information with your customers. They want to hear about it in a way that is natural and convenient for them. So which marketing method is less invasive and more effective: SMS or push notifications?
The truth may surprise you, as consumers are increasingly feeling “pushed” by a constant barrage of notifications, and seeking out more personal experiences with their favorite brands.
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A Bit Too Pushy
Before you are even able to push notifications to your customer, there is usually a prerequisite of having a mobile app. All companies should think carefully about how an app would be a useful and necessary part of their customers’ daily lives. Otherwise, it won’t be.
While they can be useful in carrying out a specific business objective, apps are costly to build and may take months before completion — disabling you from using notifications until it’s fully built out.
Additionally, consumers may not be motivated to download yet another app on their mobile devices. With so many apps already a part of people’s daily lives, your app may appear as just another drain on your customers’ valuable mobile data and battery life.Who is to say that a critical number of customers will download your app — and keep it on their phones for longer than a few days?
Bottom line: With a push notification marketing plan, there are simply too many unknowns and not enough control. Text messages are instant, direct, cheap for you, and free for your customer. All around, it’s less legwork and more ROI for your campaigns.
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The Reward of the Personal Touch
While they are becoming more acceptable as part of the mobile culture, push notifications can still elicit a negative response from consumers.
A 2017 survey revealed that around 89 percent of consumers would disable an app after receiving any more than two weekly push notifications. That’s a tolerance threshold of just two notifications per week does not bode well for a marketing plan that focuses primarily on pushing information to the user. We are so used to swiping these notifications away when we have more important tasks at hand; it’s no wonder they are proving ineffective at holding customers’ attention when it comes to marketing.
Even when compared to mobile ads, which are typically highly targeted to each unique user, SMS campaigns reign supreme. Text messages drove nearly double the responses and actions that mobile advertisements did in 2017.
The real reward of SMS marketing? The vast majority of text messages, estimated to be around 90 percent, are read within three minutes of receipt. For such an inexpensive form of marketing, the impression rate is outstanding.
As long as the information in your texts is valuable, and your customers have opted into receiving them, you really can’t go wrong by communicating with them in this way.
Texting is a friendly way to advertise and offers opportunities to share time-sensitive information with the ability to add images and links if necessary. Above all, SMS marketing keeps it brief and on topic. Utilize this direct channel to keep customers loyal, rather than “pushing” them away.