We all use text messages (SMS) as part of our daily life and in recent years more & more companies are using SMS’s as part of their sales, customer service & marketing strategies.
Consumers are more receptive to information sent by text as opposed to e-mail. Research shows that “97% of text messages are opened, while only 22% of emails are opened”.
The first text message was sent from a computer to a mobile phone 20 years ago. On December 3rd, 1992, engineer Neil Papworth sent the first SMS message to Richard Jarvis of Vodafone.
It simply read “Merry Christmas,” and Jarvis had no way of replying.
Things have improved a lot since then! On average people send over 200 SMS and MMS messages per month in 2011.
Furthermore, new trends are emerging. New apps such as Whatsup and Vibr are decreasing the use of text messages for personal use increasing the effectiveness of SMS for businesses.
Text messaging has a multitude of advantages over other mediums, namely cost-effective, extremely quick, friendly, ease of distribution (most consumers have their phone with them at all times) and it allows you to interact with your customers. They are able to reply and engage in a conversation with customer service, increasing customer satisfaction in a quick and easy fashion.
The technology is changing so quickly, contact us for more information about how to integrate text messages into your customer service and sales strategies.
