Cross-Channel Marketing and the Use of SMS in the Consumer Journey
Cross-channel marketing allows online enterprises and retailers to use multiple communication channels to interact with consumers and build a unified shopping experience. In this post, we’ll look at the importance of SMS in cross-channel marketing and why it’s essential in a complete consumer journey experience.
Consumers today shift from one channel to another to engage with businesses via email inboxes, social media platforms, smartphones, and laptops. Google found that consumers shopping across multiple touchpoints have a 30 percent higher lifetime customer value than those who don’t.
In relation, Aberdeen revealed that 51 percent of marketers use at least eight channels in delivering customer experience. SMS is one of the touchpoints with increasing usage in online cross-channel marketing strategies. The latest data shows that 69 percent of marketers leverage it worldwide.
In 2020, the number of mobile messages sent increased by a whopping 400 percent. This is likely due to the SMS conversion rate experiencing year-over-year growth of 102 percent. When done correctly, SMS provides an easy way for brands to connect with consumers and convert them into customers. Here are some solid reasons why mobile messaging capabilities are now a must for online brands and retailers rather than simply being a nice perk.
Personalisation
Consumers check their phones about 80-150 times daily, making mobile messaging increasingly personal, immediate, and direct. However, this isn’t the only reason to utilise SMS to customise customer journeys. According to a Salesforce poll, consumers expect it, and those who don’t adapt their communications risk losing almost half of their customers.
Relationship Building
For 75 percent of consumers who already care about a brand, receiving text messages is something they’re open to. As a platform for boosting loyalty and retention, brands can keep shoppers in the loop with the latest updates on rewards.
Mobile messaging can be a great way to connect with customers and offer exclusive deals and offers. You can also use it to survey your customers, collect feedback, and get reviews.
SMS is a quickly-growing tool that brands use to improve customer interactions, loyalty, and retention. Not only is it personalised, accessible, and engaging, but it has also been shown increase conversions. With SMS conversations, you’re no longer limited to just emails and social media platforms. As a highly effective communication channel, SMS rounds out a successful cross-channel marketing strategy.
Enterprise SMS Server software security
BNS’s enterprise SMS server software runs in the customer’s cloud tenancy, shielding sensitive SMS data from service providers. The SMS Server software sends the necessary information to the SMS network provider via secure encryption protocols considered industry standards.
Service providers in Australia and a few other nations are obligated to keep the data safe after it has been transmitted to the SMS network. All metadata supplied by the customer’s applications through the SMS Server software is securely stored in customer’s SQL databases in the customer’s cloud tenancy and isn’t accessible to any SMS service provider. The SMS Server software offers comprehensive analytics tools that allow customers to analyse how well their services perform.