SMS proves itself the top dog when it comes to direct marketing

In Africa, there are about 650 million cellphone users. The majority of them are prepaid users with an inexpensive phone, which means that SMS is still the best and most effective way to reach them.

Marketers sometimes forget that their target audience isn’t necessarily following the latest trends – especially those in poorer communities. Just because you have a smartphone, it doesn’t mean your customers have one as well. But the one thing you can be 100% certain of, is that no matter how low-tech a customer’s phone is, it will be capable of sending and receiving texts.

According to research done by Cellfind, the “majority of connections are still basic 2G voice and SMS services, and simple 2.5G data services, rather than 3G or LTE connections.” So before you say SMS messages are too simple for marketing purposes – think again.

Eight out of ten people on our continent owns a cellphone. They might change their address, but they rarely change their phone number. And as we all know, nobody leaves home without their mobile.

People’s love for their phones is exactly what makes mobile marketing as a whole (and especially SMS) such an effective way to reach your customers.

We have talked about all the advantages of SMS marketing many times: it is personal, quick, cheap and interactive. But did you know: you could get a better response rate from consumers as well? According to the research, direct mail can give you a poor response rate of 2.6% with published media not faring much better by 8.5%. But. Texting (depending on your campaign, strategy etc.) could give you double digits – around 30% to be exact.

Looking at how well you can reach consumers, mobile can give you a staggering 64.4% better reach than internet channels. (80% versus 15.6% respectively). This is due to the fact that people have become immune against email marketing because of all the spam. It is also quicker to react on a text than an email, because you don’t have to log into your account etc.

So, what are you waiting for? Start your SMS Marketing with Integrat today!

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