SMS Marketing: Four Sectors Successfully Using Text Messaging

SMS marketing has seen a huge uplift in popularity in recent years, with big brands investing in the technology to better engage with their customers. There are so many benefits of SMS marketing, from the ability to directly to reach customers with your communications, to the fact that over 80% of SMS texts are read. With over approximately 90% of the world receiving mobile coverage, you’re highly likely to be able to reach your audience, regardless of where they are. SMS marketing is cost effective, and campaigns are quick to develop, in as short a time period as the time it takes to write a text message. This gives you the advantage of being able to communicate quickly, and effectively with customers, reacting to information almost instantaneously. With so many reasons to use SMS marketing, we’ve highlighted four sectors successfully using SMS messaging as case studies to highlight the advantages of investing in the technology.

Leisure

From gyms and fitness centres to restaurants and bars, the leisure sector has seen a huge growth in improved customer relations thanks to SMS marketing. Text messaging has been part of the revolution in the fitness sector in recent years, helping companies to grow their memberships exponentially. From offering discounted training sessions to sending reminders about upcoming classes, SMS marketing has helped the fitness sector to maximise its customer offering, by directly motivating customers to participate in their facilities. Gyms and health centres have also used SMS messaging to keep class sizes full, improving customer satisfaction. With online waiting lists, prompting texts notifications, your gym can promote 100% class attendance, and improved availability for your customers.

For businesses in the food sector, text messaging can be used as a way to confirm bookings or cancellations, helping to lower the number of missed bookings and no shows, which lead to a loss of revenue. SMS marketing is also a great way for these companies to send out last minute deals and offers to customers when bookings are looking light. For example, if you don’t have a booked-out restaurant over the weekend, you can send a text on Thursday offering 10% off main courses for everyone who books within a 24-hour period.

Sport

SMS marketing has been used highly effectively within the sports sector, helping to engage fans throughout the season and to continue communication during the offseason. Sports clubs and teams from amateur to professional level can use SMS marketing to promote upcoming games, events and ticket sales directly to an already engaged fan base. Text messages can be used to promote discounted ticket sales, including for lesser attended pre-season warm-up games, and friendlies. SMS messaging can help sports clubs improve their fan relationships, by offering real-time information on games to their fans, including statistics on players, scores and tournament rankings. SMS marketing is also highly effective during international sports competitions such as the World Cup, Wimbledon or the Masters tournaments. Fans can participate in the excitement around the tournament giving unrivalled access to brand sponsors throughout the games.

Travel and hospitality

If you work within the travel and hospitality sector or have been a customer of the industry in the last few years, you are likely to have enjoyed the benefits of SMS messaging directly. For airlines, the opportunities to sending text message reminders, prompting customers once online check in has opened. Providing your customers with text message reminders is also a way to add value to your relationship, offering reminder texts for flight times, and real-time information as things change. The more information your customers have about changes to their plans, the less likely they are to be frustrated when things don’t go to plan. Text messaging provides you with a quick and direct way to contact your customers with the latest information they need.

Within the hotel and accommodation sector, you can use SMS marketing to promote special offers and discounts to reduce the number of empty rooms you have. It’s also a great way to promote special occasions where you might offer packages, such as a room and dinner or a discounted two nights stay for events including Mother’s Day or New Year’s Eve. It’s also a great way to stay in touch with visitors who may only stay at your hotel once a year, or once every few years. Understanding your customer preferences is a key way to send useful, efficient SMS messaging to further your customer relationships.

Health and beauty

The health and beauty sector is a fourth industry which has enjoyed the benefits of SMS messaging for many years. A more recent development within the industry has been the advent of text messaging booking systems, which give customers far greater flexibility with appointment booking than ever before. To suit customers’ hectic, demanding lifestyles, SMS messaging allows booking around their daily lives, whether it be on the commute, on a break from work or last minute as they confirm plans. Customers will feel more positive about the service you offer as instead of being stuck waiting on hold on a call or having to log into a website to book their appointment, they can get the information they need at a time that suits them.

SMS messaging also allows businesses within the health and beauty sector to improve their customer care, by sending follow on texts asking customers to feedback within a 24-hour period after their appointment. This gives businesses a chance to address any issues almost instantaneously if a customer is unhappy, improving the number of customers likely to return to the salon in future.

Fastsms is a market-leading SMS marketing and text messaging platform, supporting businesses across the UK to improve their customer relationships and increase their revenues. Working across several sectors, we specialise in efficient, cost-effective communications which will produce tangible benefits for your business. For more information about how SMS messaging could work for your business, contact us today on 0800 954 5305 or email us on helpdesk@fastsms.co.uk to discuss your requirements.