Today, SMS is seen by many as a must-have marketing channel, but why? In this video we’ll learn what SMS is, and why it could be absolutely game-changing to your online business. 

SMS, which stands for short message service, refers to messages of up to 160 characters, including plain text, numbers, and emojis sent as a text message to someone’s phone. Like email, SMS has evolved into a direct marketing channel that lets brands connect with consumers in a personalized and measurable way. 

In fact, businesses are using it in every step of the customer lifecycle to turn leads into customers, drive conversations with customers, and boost brand loyalty, which we’ve learned is a huge priority leading away from the Web2 Direct Marketing of last year and into the community-driven Web3 of today. 

So why is it so effective though? Think about these questions. How many email addresses do you have? How often do you check it? How many of those emails do you actually read? Now ask the same questions for your phone. You have at most two mobile phone numbers, you check them constantly, and read almost every one. 

And whereas the average open-rate of emails is around 1.1% for ecommerce brands, Brands who use Attentive for text messaging see average click-through rates of 30%, and have driven 20.5% of their total online revenue through SMS.

Over the next several weeks, we’ll dive into how to get started with SMS, what questions we get asked the most, as well as important trends to keep you in the know and on the forefront on this emerging marketing channel for your business. Stay tuned and I’ll see you next time!