sms marketing works: the open rate for text messages is more than 90% – a statistic that’s hard to beat when it comes to click through rates for any other digital channel.
To find out the basics of what SMS marketing is and how it relates to your business, take a look at this article:

Why use SMS marketing?

IGNORE the rise of SMS marketing at your peril. No marketer in any business, no matter what size, can afford any longer to rely on the well-worn, safe and comfortably familiar marketing channels.

Your customers are devoting more time than ever to mobile use so keeping up with the voracious appetite for mobile media and targeting your customers through their favored channel is a must. And the good news is, it’s an easy, cost-effective way of reaching your target audience with a personal message.

The time is now to make the most of the phenomenal rise in smartphone ownership and the engagement of mobile users. Statistics shows mobile penetration in Oman above 155% and Oman the second country in the GCC having highest smartphone. The number of mobile subscriptions tops 6.6 million. These stats confirm that mobile is here and it’s here to stay.

Benefits of mobile marketing

SMS marketing has many benefits. Here we take a closer look at eight of the best.

Excellent read rates for SMS

Mobile users only sign up to receive marketing text messages if they are interested in that specific product or service or if they trust your brand. Therefore, stay true to your customers’ original preferences and your text messages will be relevant, useful and, thus, your call to action or offer is most likely to be acted on.

There is a 98% open rate for text messages and 32% of recipients respond positively

This is way higher than response rates seen through other more traditional promotional activity, such as email marketing or print media.

Cost-effective marketing channel

Sending SMS marketing messages is a relatively cheap option, but don’t think for a minute the response you’ll get is low value! SMS campaigns can be sent starting from 0.003 OMR per sms; costs vary depending on your volume. With a message open rate of 98%, you won’t get higher than that from other marketing channels.

Texts are quick to send and immediately opened

SMS marketing campaigns may be designed, personalized and executed very quickly from either a web-based interface or via email. You can set up templates that can be used time and time again or try new formats to see what works best for your customers.

On the receiving end, your customers will see a tailored text message immediately on their mobile device, which we know is never far out of their reach, 24 hours a day. Opening text messages seems irresistible and a message is usually read within a few seconds of its arrival.

Mobile ownership is high and engagement is too

The mobile penetration rate in Oman is over 155%. Research shows the proportion of mobile users who accessed websites, used email services, downloaded apps and used instant messaging as their communication method all increase in 2015. The key driver behind this is the sustained increase in smartphone ownership.

Send as many or as few messages as you like

If you have an extensive database of opted-in numbers you can reach them all in one SMS shot. Or if you wish to send message to Omantel’s Opt-in database that can also be done. Unlimited SMS messages may be sent so you can manage your large campaigns easily. However, if you are handling very large data sets you may wish to stagger or schedule your activity to suit your supporting resources, such as a call centre, to avoid overload.

But don’t let that put you off if you have much smaller client lists. SMS marketing is not just for the big organizations. It also suits smaller or localized campaigns so even if you are a small business you can reach who you want, when you want with your SMS calls to action.