In 2024, a staggering 15 million text messages fly every minute, with nearly 70% of individuals opening a new message within five minutes of receiving it. These remarkable figures underscore the vast opportunities businesses have to engage their target audience through SMS.

SMS, or 'Short Message Service,' facilitates the exchange of text messages on mobile devices. It allows users to send concise messages, typically limited to 160 characters, to individuals or groups instantly. Alongside SMS, 'Multimedia Message Service' (MMS) enables users to share multimedia content like images, videos, audio files, and formatted text.

SMS marketing empowers businesses to connect with their audience through personalized and timely text messages, leveraging the ubiquity and convenience of mobile phones. By integrating SMS marketing with email and social media strategies, businesses can achieve an optimal balance in message timing and frequency.

Building on trends from 2023, SMS marketing remains indispensable for businesses in 2024. A remarkable 86% of business owners and marketing managers have adopted SMS marketing in the past year, indicating its integration into marketing strategies. Moreover, 71% of those utilizing SMS marketing reported an increase in their 2023 SMS opt-in rates, highlighting its efficacy in engaging diverse audiences across industries.

Contrary to popular belief, the unsubscribe rate for SMS subscribers stands at less than 5%, showcasing robust engagement and satisfaction levels. This stands in stark contrast to email marketing, where approximately 20% of subscribers churn annually. Additionally, augmenting emails with SMS followups enhances open rates by 20-30%, demonstrating the effectiveness of a multi-channel approach. Notably, SMS advertising boasts an exceptional return on investment (ROI) of approximately $71 for every dollar spent, outperforming email marketing's estimated ROI of $36 per dollar invested.

Gone are the days of laborious message crafting. AI-powered tools enable businesses to swiftly generate personalized and impactful messages that resonate with their audience. By harnessing AI capabilities, businesses can leverage customer data and insights to craft tailored SMS campaigns that drive engagement.

Editor's Note: While we reference HubSpot's tools for clarity, the following guidance is universally applicable. While HubSpot's SMS tools may not be universally accessible, the insights shared herein are pertinent to other regional channels like WhatsApp, boasting over 2 billion monthly active users globally.

Success in SMS marketing hinges on effective planning. Before launching your first SMS campaign, define the use case driving your messages. By aligning your SMS strategy with different stages of the buyer's journey, you gain clarity on each message's purpose and its contribution to audience needs and business objectives.

Building a robust and compliant consent process is paramount to campaign success. Ensure compliance and maximize results by gathering explicit consent, utilizing opt-in terminology, providing value in exchange for consent, managing contact consent status, and always offering opt-out options.

Before sending SMS messages, register your business with your SMS service provider. This typically involves registering your business, providing SMS details, and obtaining an SMS number.

Compile a list of contacts who have explicitly consented to receive SMS messages. Craft actionable SMS copy tailored to recipients' buyer journey stages.

Initiate sending your messages and monitor key performance indicators like click-through rate and ROI to measure campaign success and make data-driven adjustments as needed.

- Send a welcome message to new contacts, clearly stating your identity and purpose.

- Effectively manage subscriber lists and segment different groups for targeted messaging.

- Keep messages concise, relevant, and actionable.

- Avoid overuse of SMS for deeply personalized or urgent messages due to its higher cost.

- Personalize messages and incorporate AI tools for efficiency and effectiveness.

- Adhere to regulations and always offer opt-out options.