The document discusses the evolving perceptions of SMS marketing, highlighting its potential as a valuable communication tool despite misconceptions associating it with spam. It emphasizes the legal considerations, benefits of customer opt-in, and provides success stories from various companies that have effectively utilized SMS marketing. Overall, it advocates for SMS as a cost-effective and efficient means of engaging with a targeted audience, promoting a win-win scenario for both businesses and customers.

1. Evolving Perceptions on SMS Marketing
From Spam to Personal Connections
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Introduction
It is probably fair to say that SMS is one of the most contentious
communication channels available in the modern marketplace.
Of course there are many die-hard advocates of SMS as a business
tool, and the fact that 3.2 billion customers subscribed to SMS
campaigns globally in 2012 stands testament to its power.
However, the take-up of SMS marketing and customer service
technology among those businesses who have never tried it before
is still hindered by misconceptions, distrust and a lack of education
around viable applications.

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One such Misconception
Despite mounting evidence to the contrary, one such
misconception is that consumers and clients do not
welcome SMS marketing messages; that they see these
messages as annoying spam; that use of SMS marketing
can make your customer-base feel alienated and eventually
leave you altogether.
This certainly can be a worry if the target audience is receiving
unsolicited messages, too many messages or information
which offers little or no value. But done correctly, SMS can
be a game-changer for forward-thinking businesses.
One such Misconception

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SMS Marketing and the Law
Contrary to another common misconception, SMS marketing is not illegal, nor does it reside in a ‘grey area’ of
the law. There are clearly defined legal requirements with regards to providing and respecting opt-outs and
ensuring that the consumer has been given the relevant information and options relating to their subscription.
So long as the target audience have opted-in based
on an informed decision about what you are offering,
there is no barrier to SMS marketing.
Guidelines for mobile marketers
Adequate Notice
Mobile Marketers must inform the user of both
marketers’ identity or products and services offered
and key terms and conditions that govern an interaction
between the marketer and the user’s mobile device.
Choice & Consent
Mobile Marketers respect the right of the user to
control which mobile messages they receive. Mobile
Marketers ask for and obtain consent by obtaining an
explicit opt-in from the user for all mobile messaging
programs. Mobile Marketers must implement a
simple termination (opt-out) process so that the user
can stop receiving messages, and users must be able
to exercise their opt-out choice from any message.
Security
Mobile Marketers must implement reasonable
technical, administrative and physical procedures to
protect user information … from unauthorised use,
alterations, disclosure, distribution, or access.
Customisation & Constraint
Mobile Marketers ensure that mobile marketing
reflects broad customer expectations in any applicable
national marketplace.Mobile marketers should target
and limit mobile messages to that which users have
requested.
SMS Marketing and the Law

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The Stats behind the Facts
The Stats behind the Facts
There were similar fears around legality when email marketing reached its pinnacle and these have been
assuaged through extensive research and practice. The learning curve for perfecting SMS marketing should be
much shorter than for email marketing as it is a very similar channel.
Recent surveys indicate that, on the whole, consumers like to
receive marketing texts:
This clearly shows that, despite all the bad press, most people actually feel that they could benefit from
receiving SMS messages just so long as they have control over their subscription.
With 98% of SMS messages being read by their recipients (as opposed to 22% of marketing emails) in an average
of 4 minutes and being responded to by around 48% of recipients (a similar survey showed that only around 4%
respond to email marketing) SMS is well-deserving of a strong focus in your multi-channel marketing.
68% of people surveyed said that they
would be happy to receive SMS messages
with special offers and discounts.
A similar survey on email marketing showed
that only 37% said they would like to receive
the same via email.
49% of people surveyed said that they
would opt-in for SMS marketing messages
from a company they know and trust.

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Why You Should Opt-In
Whenever wherever
Firstly, almost everyone has their mobile phone with them all the time; whether they are at
home, at work or even at the gym, their mobile phone is with them. This means that you can
connect to your target group directly any time of the day wherever they are.
Cost-effective
SMS marketing is one of the most cost effective form of advertising. A text costs pennies to send
and anyone with a solid grasp of the English language can write them: You do not need to employ
a copywriter or specialist marketer, saving you money on wages and marketing all in one go. The
time it takes to produce an entire ad campaign can be reduced to mere minutes rather than the
weeks it could take for ad copy to be written and proofed and set into email or paper format
which also has to be fully designed.
Measure success
SMS marketing is a good way to measure the scope and results of your other marketing channels.
If you place a “text-to-action” on all of your newspaper, direct mail and television adverts,
you will know in real-time which advertising is reaching your target audience and which is not
producing an acceptable level of engagement; allowing you to extrapolate projections for R.O.I.
By promoting online channels such as websites or social media profiles in SMS messages, it is
also possible to drive measurable web activity from offline media.
Why You Should Opt-In
Putting these statistics aside, there are many other reasons why
companies should properly utilise SMS marketing.
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Why You Should Opt-In
Highly targeted
With outbound SMS marketing you only reach the customer/client base that you have a positive
relationship with, which means you are only paying to market to people who have opted-in
and are likely to respond to your advertising. If done properly, this is a highly targeted form of
advertising with campaigns that can be tailored to specific customers to produce greater
redemption rates and assemble lists to generate immediate sales each time you send a new
SMS advertisement to them.
Short and to the point
SMS messages are short. This means there is no space or need for filler material. The customer
receives the information they need/want without superfluous text that they need to decipher
before understanding what the message is actually about.
SMS alerts for customers or staff
SMS is perfect for confirming details with customers or indeed with internal members of staff.
A text message is unobtrusive but, equally, is not likely to be ignored and forgotten altogether
before action is taken. For example, the NHS use SMS to confirm patient appointments; although
a business could just as easily use SMS to keep sales teams informed of diarised appointments
while they are out on the road.
Customer service
It is more important than ever for businesses to get feedback from customers to improve
products and services. However, that means the competition for the customer’s attention is
fiercer than ever. Many companies use SMS to conduct surveys and generate research as well as
offering incentives for such activity, in turn increasing customer retention.
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Success Stories - Dominos
The Charlotte-UNC Dominos franchise, located near
the University of North Carolina, serves around
25,000 enrolled students. After some research, it was
revealed that special offers via Facebook were their
most effective marketing tool for the student market.
The school’s basketball arena had always been the
best place to promote the Facebook group, with each
game attracting over 3,000 students.
Previously the company had advertised their web
address, which redirected to the Facebook group,
on the big screen while the arena’s announcer read
the message.
The Area Director realised that there was a problem
with this approach: Who would make note of a
website during a basketball game? Most students
have smartphones but he felt that they were unlikely
to spend time during a game to react to an advertise-
ment; partly because of the huge demand for 3G or
WiFi in the stadium, but also because their eyes were
glued to the court and it would take too long to digest
all of the messages effectively on a Facebook page.
However, they could easily send and receive SMS
texts without too much disruption: When the game
was finished they could review the text and visit the
Facebook group.
To start with, they created a new ad for the arena dis-
play offering a free pizza to anyone who texted “49ER”
to 313131. They received the following response:
To get FREE pizza join our Facebook group
at UNCCDominos.com once you join post a
message (I GOT A TEXT) & you will get FREE
pizza code Reply STOP 49ER 2 Optout
Success Stories
Dominos

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Success Stories - Dominos
This resulted in close to 600 opt-ins and 350 students
joining the Facebook group within 24 hours. A huge
percentage redeemed the offer. Following this fantastic
conversion rate, the franchise offered different deals
such as discounted pizzas at every subsequent game.
Each time an ad ran, they saw between 100 and 200
opt-ins. Almost all of them also joined the Facebook
group to get the deal. By the end of the year the
Facebook group had gained close to 2,000 fans.
They had also added over 850 students to their
SMS marketing list.
SMS Marketing was the perfect way to accomplish
the franchise’s two main goals: growing their
Facebook group and selling more pizza.

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Success Stories - Water Is Basic
This is a non-profit organisation dedicated to
empowering the local leadership in Southern Sudan
to bring clean water to their own people. Their goal
was to easily show people who donate money to
the organisation the results of their efforts.
This was difficult for an international non-profit
organisation because they often had to rely on
end-of-year mailers to keep their patrons updated.
The US Coordinator for Water is Basic, wanted to
alert their donors each time a new well was built.
To do this, he sent emails and notated a Google
map on their website.
However, he was looking for an instantaneous and
more convenient method of getting their attention.
When a community church used text messaging for
its youth group, Water is Basic took notice. As they
began digging and completing their first wells in
Sudan in the summer of 2008, they quickly put out a
campaign inviting current and past donors to
“Text WATER to 313131 to hear where
your money is going!”
They also posted a widget on their website for people
to opt-in to the SMS marketing list online.
Within 4 months, approximately 150 donors had signed
up for Water is Basic’s SMS messaging list. For a non-
profit in its early stages with about 600 donors and
counting, this is an astounding response rate of 25%.
Water Is Basic still uses SMS messaging to update
their donors and supporters every time a new well
is drilled in Sudan. This not only conveys information
about the cause, but is also a weekly reminder that
donated money is saving lives on a daily basis. This
encourages people to donate more frequently, and
to pass information onto their friends and family
members. Many people appreciate the updates and
even respond back to the messages with words of
encouragement.
Water Is Basic

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Success Stories - Barclays PLC
Banking giant Barclays has 15 million customers in
the UK alone. With the customer-base growing
rapidly, it became apparent that maintaining a two-way
dialogue was a potential obstacle to customer
satisfaction in 2005/6.
The difficulty with banking is that security is para-
mount and urgent messages are often genuinely
very urgent. The question then was how to engage
customers in a way where urgency could be added
without broadcasting personal details in unsecure
places. Email had previously been used to notify
customers but spam filters often complicated matters
and many times the customer would not check their
emails often enough.
Due to its unique qualities, SMS was quickly identified
as a viable option; faster than sending a letter, more
permanent and persistent than a phone call and
harder to miss or ignore than an email. Text messages
are difficult to miss, as phones are checked much
more often than email accounts and all texts are
visible to the user.
The solution was to create a range of messages that
identified an issue or urgent warning followed by a
call-to-action requesting that the customer either call
the customer service team or login to their online
banking account.
Customer benefits included notifications of going
overdrawn and potential fraudulent activity warnings.
This massively increased the customers’
confidence in the brand, placing Barclays in
the number one slot on many customer
satisfaction surveys.
Furthermore, suspicious activity was identified and
acted upon much faster, helping both the customer
and the bank to avoid expensive mishaps.
Barclays PLC

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Boil it Down
Boil it Down
SMS has gained a harsh reputation - particularly in years gone by - and some of the stigma has remained.
However, the evidence is stacked in favour of SMS marketing and customer service; even more so than for email
marketing. As a regulated and transparent technology which has been identified as preferable by consumers, it
is undeniably deserving of a central role in both inbound and outbound marketing efforts.
SMS marketing is the most cost effective way to
reach a highly targeted audience
SMS marketing is the most cost effective way to reach a highly targeted audience
with an amazing response rate. It encourages positive relationships
with current customers and clients while easily promoting
your brand to a wider audience. SMS marketing can
be used successfully on its own or can be easily
incorporated into multi-channel marketing
strategies to maximise your reach and
market penetration while, if used correctly,
being unobtrusive.
Clearly SMS marketing creates a
win-win situation for marketers
and customers alike.
What next?
If you’re ready to start sending
SMS or you want more information
before you decide,
give us a call on 0800 652 3461
we’re looking forward to
hearing from you.

14. Questions about our Products and Services?
Feel free to give us a call on 0800 652 3461, or send us an email to interested@packetmedia.co.uk