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E-Mail Marketing Old School? SmartPhone Marketing is the Future!! Don't be left Behind!!

Redbumper

Smashing Bugs
Oct 31, 2011
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It is time for dealers to move forward and embrace change in regards to technology and make changes to their marketing strategy to consumers.

The below research says it all! Question is? What are dealers going to do about it?


There are four key SMS marketing statistics when comparing SMS to email marketing.


  1. Did you know 90% of all emails are spam? Compare that to only 1% of text messages.
  2. Did you know that only 34% of people use their mobile phones to email? Compare that to 72% of people who use text messaging on their mobile phones.
  3. Did you know that only 22% of all emails are opened? Compare that to 98% of text messages.
  4. Did you know the average person receives 1,216 emails per month? Compare that to only 178 text messages.
SMS Marketing VS Email Marketing | SMS Marketing Blog
 
Call me a cynic, but I'd sure like a citation for these stats. Where are you getting these numbers from?

The link goes to a company that sells SMS marketing services and has more than a hint of a conflict of interest.

Reminds me of a quote about statistics. "Exactly 83.5% of all statistics used to win an argument are made up at the time they are given."
 
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Say What You Will. That fact of the matter is, consumers will read a text message before they will an e-mail.

SMS marketing has some distinct advantages over email marketing. In this article we compare SMS marketing vs. e-mail marketing. Learn the pros and cons of both SMS marketing and e-mail marketing to see which is the best advertising and marketing for your business.
Technology offers business owners a number of opportunities to market their products and services to customers and potential customers. We are connected in ways that many of us could never have imagined even 15 years ago. For a while, email marketing was the big thing, since it allowed businesses to send messages to a lot of people at one time. However, even though email marketing can be effective, new types of marketing might be even better choices. One of the new trends in marketing is SMS marketing. You might find that this type of marketing provides you with advantages that outweigh email marketing.
[h=3]Good Points of Email Marketing[/h] There are definitely some good points to email marketing. Email marketing provides you with the ability to reach thousands of people at once. Additionally, if you catch the customer at the right time, you can see an immediate conversion. On top of that email marketing messages are highly customizable. You can also create a situation in which customers receive targeted messages. This can help conversions. Plus, because they are so simple to customize and send, email marketing is rather cost efficient. However, the truth is that many of the advantages associated with email marketing can be found with SMS marketing. And SMS marketing offers some additional advantages that email marketing can’t compete with.
[h=3]Advantages of SMS Marketing[/h] SMS marketing makes use of the popular cell phone communication method known as the text message. Businesses can send text messages right to the cell phones of customers and potential customers, reaching thousands in an instant. Additionally, it is possible to customize and personalize SMS marketing campaigns in ways that are similar to email marketing. However, SMS marketing has the added advantages of portability and the fact that recipients pay immediate attention to the message.
When it comes to email marketing, many users are beginning to discard messages. They see that the message is from a business, and may decide to discard the message unopened. Another issue with email marketing is that sometimes messages are automatically sent to the junk mail folder. If your message is caught in a spam filter, the intended recipient will never even know that it existed. This can be a real source of frustration for many businesses.
SMS message marketing, on the other hand, doesn’t have those problems yet. The text message is not consigned to a junk folder; the recipient is notified immediately that it has arrived, and many cell phone users will read such text messages. Even if the recipient decides to block you from send SMS marketing messages, it still represents an active step that the potential customer has to take, rather than something that happens automatically, as with email marketing messages sent to the junk folder automatically.
Another advantage that SMS marketing has is that it can provide a impetus for action while the recipient is available to do something. It is possible for businesses to send SMS marketing messages to the cell phones of people in a certain area, offering a special deal if they come in. Recipients are already in the area, so it is much easier for them to act on the message received. The immediacy that comes with SMS marketing can be a real advantage to businesses, and it’s something that may not be available with email marketing.
[h=3]Bottom Line[/h] Email marketing can have its place. It is a great way for businesses to share newsletters and exclusive deals to those who have opted in to receive communications. However, email marketing has some drawbacks that are difficult to overcome. SMS text marketing, on the other hand, represents opportunities for the future. The nature of SMS marketing encourages immediate action, and it also makes it difficult for recipients to overlook the messages they receive. It is definitely worth it for a business to consider the possibility of SMS marketing as part of an overall strategy.



SMS Marketing vs. E-mail Marketing - Best Text Marketing
 
I like the idea of SMS, and we're using it currently for communication with customers. We're not, however, using it aggressively in marketing. This is a function of our discussions with customers who are thrilled to receive status updates in service, but only if we promise to not send them "harassing sales crap". Part of the reason people get less texts and read them at a higher rate is that phones are not as well designed to deal with junk texts. As a result, people are more active in managing their SMS traffic. People may want a text every time gas stations are raising prices, but a monthly "best sale ever" text? I don't think so.

That said, to be able to opt in on texts every time the car they want has a price change? That's a winner!
 
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RedBumper,

I'm not questioning the validity of SMS marketing, I just want the source data for the stats. When you start a sentence with "Did you know" I expect demonstrable proof that I had reason to know. When you end it with statements that aren't my personal experience I really start to question the data. "90% of email is spam" or "the average person receives 1,216 emails per month," I immediately want proof that I have some reason to believe that is fact not fluff to sway my opinion about a product or service.

Not picking at you, necessarily, I'm just saying the site you linked to has a serious conflict of interest for these statements without a citation to a credible study or source data since they sell SMS marketing services. It'd be like me telling you 97% of people won't buy from your dealership unless you are DealerRater Certified. Sounds great, but you better pull my card on that stat.
 
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I smell an agenda here.

Sms marketing (sales pitch) is difficult. I've been there and done that. The retention is not do great. Plain and simple, most people do not want sales messages going to their text inbox. And from my experience, the ones that do, only want it for a short time and quickly opt out.
 
RedBumper,

I'm not questioning the validity of SMS marketing, I just want the source data for the stats. When you start a sentence with "Did you know" I expect demonstrable proof that I had reason to know. When you end it with statements that aren't my personal experience I really start to question the data. "90% of email is spam" or "the average person receives 1,216 emails per month," I immediately want proof that I have some reason to believe that is fact not fluff to sway my opinion about a product or service.

Not picking at you, necessarily, I'm just saying the site you linked to has a serious conflict of interest for these statements without a citation to a credible study or source data since they sell SMS marketing services. It'd be like me telling you 97% of people won't buy from your dealership unless you are DealerRater Certified. Sounds great, but you better pull my card on that stat.

Lets agree there is an agenda - it's ok. You offer texting services and your posting great stats about text marketing.

You're right about dealers needing to stretch their boundaries. Instead most are still trying to figure out which 3rd party lead provider has the best leads.

I've went outside the boundaries with text marketing campaigns. There is value in it, when done right, but even then the returns are small. IMO there are bigger fish to fry and more effective areas to spend your money and resources.

My final stance on this subject...(for now)

Send to mobile feature on your websites VDP - this has value.. It engages the customer and is an effective way to drive traffic to your mobile site.

Text for price drop - allowing the consumer to sign up for text alerts when the price on a car drops. Still waiting for a vendor to offer this service. For some reason I can see this feature yielding some decent results.

Text "this" to XXXXX - little to no value. I really wanted this to work. I ran one one of these campaigns for several months and gave it prime placement. Little to zero engagement. QR scanning is easier than this and even that yields little engagement.

Text for service updates and alerts - this is a completely different campaign but even then I have only seen very small percentage of people opting in to receive vehicle service update alerts via text. I personally would opt-in for this, but most won't.

Will this change with time? Will we catch up with this technology? I dont think that's the case. At this point I think its safe to say no. It's already been around long enough.
 
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We use SMS in the higher education sector and it's been very successful with enrollment officers.

Email marketing is good if you are able to reach your client base at the right time. Catching email titles that are not spammy but give customers a reason to click generally do well.

Personally, I'm not much of an SMS person, I get spam messages sent to my phone all the time and I immediately delete them. I'd rather have messages sent to my email though.
 
Text for price drop - allowing the consumer to sign up for text alerts when the price on a car drops. Still waiting for a vendor to offer this service. For some reason I can see this feature yielding some decent results.

Jeff, since you brought up a great feature, we do offer that with our Smart App.

If you and Alex are going to be at NADA it would be great for you guys to take a look.

Thanks