ALEXANDRIA, Va.—Texting is the latest way brands are communicating with their customers, according to Forbes. This forum for communication, once reserved for intimate conversations with family and friends, is now being entered by retailers to get the attention of their target audience—and they are succeeding.
The open rate for marketing text message is near 100% due to the fact that Americans check their phone 96 times a day, according to Forbes.
“My gut here is that SMS will be the new email,” Tejas Konduru, CEO of mobile commerce platform Via, told Forbes. “Even two years ago there was a hesitation that text seemed pretty intrusive. Now it’s the No. 1 channel everybody wants to invest in.”
Attentive, the biggest company in the text marketing space, said it facilitated over 18 billion text messages between retailers and their customers last year, driving over $10 billion in sales, more than double the previous year. The company says that for every dollar a retailer spends on text message advertising, they make $55 in return.
Companies usually text their customers about weekly promotions, and some companies are personalizing their texts by paying close attention to engagement and what a customer has purchased.
Dr. Squatch, a soap company, may send its loyal customers three texts a week, but if it sees the customer isn’t engaging, it will scale back, while Brooklinen may send a customer a message about towel bundles if they’ve shown interest on the site or purchased towels in the past but pays close attention to a customer’s buying habits. The idea is not to text someone who just bought towels last week and isn’t likely to need another set anytime soon, according to the company. Companies also send texts about early access to new products.
Forbes says the “next frontier” in text marketing is making it a more conversational channel, where shoppers can request and buy items directly via text, ask questions about a product or get help from a customer service rep. Brands may also ask for customer feedback through text message, such as asking a customer why they left a one-star review.
“I think SMS is going to become required for every brand selling online,” Adam Turner, CEO of Postscript, told Forbes. “What’s going to drive that is consumers saying, ‘Yes, you can text me, but don’t send me the same thing every single day.’”
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