A Year of SMS Marketing in Review

An in-depth review of SMS Marketing from a multipronged perspective. Find out the factor that is driving the success of SMS marketing and explore how this digital marketing technique has fared over the years. SMS Marketing has gone through tremendous advancement down the years. Thanks to global and local businesses which are capitalizing the potential of SMS marketing to render effective communication to its customers. Generally, businesses are trying to integrate SMS communication to their digital communication strategy in order to adopt a mobile friendly business strategy. It is A2P SMS communication that is making heads turn on a global level. According to Telefonica's SMS Marketing report, traffic through A2P SMS is forecasted to grow at a rate of 6% on an annual basis, which is expected to peak by the year 2017. The report also states that A2P SMS revenues will hit US$ 50 billion by the year 2018. The same report also highlights that banking and OTT companies contribute to 60% of the total A2P SMS traffic. In similar lines, the report also states that 24% of the total A2P SMS traffic will be through OTT companies, as traffic through these companies is poised to increase substantially. Over a period of time, engagement rates with SMS messages have gradually increased. It is said that engagement rate of SMS messages are 6 to 8 times higher that than those of other modes of communication, especially with email communications. According to the finding published in comScore, the use of mobile phone peaks during the late night until morning, whereas use of tablets is restricted only during the evening time. What is driving the success of SMS marketing? As per the finding published in a recent research article, smartphone users spent 9.9 hours before the screen. This figure justifies the immense potential that SMS marketing command when compared to all other digital means of communication. It is the penetration of smartphones that has brought an increased demand for SMS marketing. An interesting finding on Mobile Marketing published in smart insights portrays content consumption behavior in the following fashion.

• Smartphones- Ruling content consumption in the morning time
• Tablets- Ruling content consumption in the evening time
• PCs- Ruling content consumption during the rest of the day

The fact that 90% of the text messages are read within 3 minutes from its receipt make SMS marketing the most ideal and emerging method of digital communication. Growth potential of SMS Market A research report published in transparency market research forecast that the total market revenue of A2P SMS market would be US$83.03 bn by the year 2024. Subsequently, the SMS traffic volume would be at 2,273.39 bn SMSes by the year 2024. This revenue and volume forecast is inclusive for all categories of A2P SMS market namely promotional campaigns, pushed content services, inquiry-related services, customer relationship management services and interactive services. It is expected that customer relationship market and promotional services are poised to become the most attractive markets in the years to come. An observation of SMS usage pattern – Must-to-know statistics for SMS marketers SMS usage pattern has evolved with the passage of time, and this has ensured a sharp increase in the revenue garnered through SMS marketing.

• Every other research report indicates that millennials are the major revenue drivers of SMS marketing. Almost 87% of the millennials have their smartphone on hand round-the-clock. 80% acknowledge reaching out to their smartphone the moment they wake up in the morning time.
• It is estimated that 16% of the SMS exchanges are related to business. However, this number varies with region. It’s 22% in APAC, 12% in US, and 15% in EMEA. As many as 82.1% of the users acknowledge opening every single text message received in their inbox.
• According to a research finding, 64% of the users long for more business-consumer interaction. In fact, 70% acknowledge SMS as the best attention-grabbing communication technique.