Getting Your Money’s Worth From Text Message Marketing

I love to tweet, however, I take time to edit and sign off on my 140 characters because I analyze everything that represents me before I push it out into that eternally recorded stream of data: The Internet.

I do the same when it comes to sending out emails. I take plenty of time to edit them before sending. I wish that others did the same. My inbox is overflowing with long, uninteresting emails that will just be left for ‘when I have the time.’ Messages are slowly getting buried in the archive that is my inbox.

It’s true: Zero inbox is something I will never attain consciously, it will only happen when my email server decides to do it for me.

So tell me, how many emails are sitting in your inbox right now, unread? I know I am not alone and that I stand united with many other overly emailed brothers and sisters!

Now think about how many text messages you’ve received this week. You read them all as soon as you noticed them or heard them arrive, didn’t you?

In that difference in inbox reading behavior lies the key to the exploding success of SMS marketing. On average, text messages are read within four minutes compared to 48 hours with email.

This week I’d like to share with you an interesting marketing channel case study from Mobil1 Lube Express in Willow Grove, PA. It shows that text message marketing can be a very powerful and fast way to get your customers’ attention.

Like most car owners, Mobil1’s customers were used to getting reminders to come back and get their oil changed again, but this service shop wanted to see if how they sent those reminders made a difference.

Strategy: Offer discounts over the span of five months in exchange for opting-in for oil change reminders. Customers could select reminders by SMS text, email or direct mail (post cards).

The results were surprising. A total of 2,187 customers opted-in out of a possible 6,849 customers. On average, customers who received a text message reminder returned 8.4 days sooner than they did on their own (receiving no reminder) compared to two days sooner for direct mail receiving no reminder.

Text messaging response rates outperformed direct mail reminders by 15 percent and email reminder response rates by 8 percent.

Which type of marketing campaign do you think gave the biggest bang for the buck? Direct mail’s net return on investment (ROI) was $24 for each dollar spent, or 24:1. For email marketing it was $308, or 308:1. However, the ROI for text message marketing returned $344 for every $1 spent, or 344:1.

Not only was the return greater for Mobil1’s text message campaign but the cost to generate each returned customer (cost per customer) was $0.20, slightly more at $0.24 for email – and a whopping $2.76 for direct mail.

Based on the success of the program, Mobil1 Lube Express adopted the SMS and email program and decided to discontinue sending mailed reminders.

Over the years I have signed up for a lot of text messaging campaigns to evaluate how they are being run. I often wonder what the point of them is because they don’t give me value in return for my phone number. Mobil1’s campaign provided reminders in a timely manner for something that would benefit their customers. Think about what value you can give to your customers, regardless of which method you use to reach them.

Be a good digital communicator. Provide interesting and concise information that is useful. The success rate of your text or email campaign will rise dramatically.

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