The era of single-channel marketing is over. Marketing professionals now have access to several touchpoints via diverse mediums. In order to provide the best experience, customers also expect businesses to use all of them. By enabling you to communicate with customers—and potential customers—in real-time with pertinent and persuasive messages, SMS marketing can be a useful addition to other forms of marketing. 

SMS marketing (also known as text messaging marketing), one of the methods of marketing automation, involves an opt-in stage. The customer’s phone number is stored in a database whenever the customer responds to the initial message (eg opt-in). The software then generally sends a confirmation text. The number is then retrieved and used for the relevant marketing information. Clients have the right to opt out of further messages at any time. 

SMS Marketing and its Invaluable Purposes 

SMS Marketing can be used in several ways: 

Providing Value: The messages need to display exclusive deals to your customers. The audience needs to be segmented to receive the most relevant messages so that when they receive the text from the business, they will be excited to open it. 
Pay attention to timing: Track the times that users are most active on your mobile site to find the ideal times to send out promotions and other news. After the user opts in, the system should be prepared to send an immediate confirmation so that the opt-in customer does not lose interest. 
Track results: If you expect your SMS mobile marketing plan to have any effect, you need to keep track of its effectiveness. It is important to track the opt-outs to determine which content generates the best response. 

Why Choose SMS Over Other Channels? 

These are just some of the reasons why text messaging can be preferred over other channels: 

SMS is one of the most-believable marketing channels for the public.
The open rate of the SMS text message is 98% which is better than the rest of the email marketing. 
SMS marketing quickly allows you to engage with the customers since the average response time for text messages is 90 sec. (When compared to email marketing it will take more days or weeks to engage with the customer) 
In today’s era people are likely to have their mobile phone with them at least 15+ hours per day, making SMS marketing more reliable and efficient to convey the marketing aspects to the customer. 

Advantages of SMS Marketing: 

Alerts  
Event Interaction  
In-store promotions  
Mobile marketing opt-ins  
Personal interaction 

What is Salesforce’s Mobile Studio and How it Helps in SMS Marketing? 

The Salesforce Mobile Studio personalizes your mobile messaging with SMS marketing, push alerts, and group communications to help you reach customers on any device. 

For SMS marketing, mobile studio helps to send relevant messaging based on customer preferences and behaviors, driving engagement. 

Mobile Studio Uses: 

Real-Time engagement:

Reach your customer on the device and channel they are using with meaningful, relevant content.  

Location Based:

Engage with your customers in the right context based on their location.   

Multiple Channels-One Device:

Unlock different mobile channels to deliver the right experience all in the palm of your hand.  

Engage via Every Mobile Channel: 

Single Platform across all mobile channels which creates a cohesive and connected experience for the customer.  

SMS (Short Message Service) 
Push notifications 
LINE chat message 
Mobile inbox messages 
Custom activities  
Mobile in-app messages  

Mobile Studio includes: 

MobileConnect: text messages (SMS, MMS*)
MobilePush: Push Notifications and location-based messages from mobile apps
GroupConnect: LINE, WhatsApp, Facebook, Messenger chat, and app messaging. 

MobileConnect Uses: 

 MobileConnect which helps to use SMS for your high-touch customer interactions. 

Deliver a positive experience: Automate transactional and promotional SMS with personalization to truly connect with customers.
Talk to your customers: Create response messages with SMS and multimedia, making the conversation two-way and a means to get to know your customers better.
Get Started Quickly: Prebuilt templates are available for any campaign to get started.
Global reach: With the help of international codes the messages can reach globally. 

MobilePush Uses: 

 MobilePush which helps to keep users excited and engaged in the mobile app. 

Customer communication for app users: Push notifications allow you to create specific messaging to build customer lifetime value.
Customer Retention: Use push notifications and in-app communication to make app interaction a habit and influence behavior to retain customers.
Location-based messaging: Use a geofence to target the customer bases on location. 

GroupConnect Uses: 

GroupConnect which helps to extend 1 to 1 customer journeys onto chat apps. 

Personalization: Ask automated questions to your users, store and reuse responses for personalized details
Increase Customer engagement: Create two-way communication by capturing keywords and sending automated responses.

Improve Customer communication: Reach out to billions of users in WhatsApp with transactional messages.

(Note: GroupConnect chat messaging API to send shipping notifications, order confirmations, receipts, and other utility messages.)

Mobile Studio and Customer Journey 

We can use all capabilities of the Mobile Studio within Journey Builder. The Journey Builder helps to reach the right customer, at the right time and in the right medium. 

Easy Personalization:  

Use your customer data to personalize your content and journey experience with each of your subscribers. 

In the Journey builder use entry source data across email, SMS, push notifications, and inbox messages. 

Unified Content Storage:  

Journey Builder allows you to create message content for all mobile channels in the content builder for a more unified experience. 

Content builder houses email, SMS, push notifications, in-app and line messages. 

Einstein Send Time Optimization: 

Einstein Send Time Optimization tool uses the data to analyze and predict the optimal engagement time to maximize engagement. 

Connect with us to learn more about Salesforce capabilities. We can be your digital success partner!