First things first, What is SMS?

Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text messages. An intermediary service can facilitate a text-to-voice conversion to be sent to landlines..

SMS technology originated from radio telegraphy in radio memo pagers that used standardized phone protocols. These were defined in 1986 as part of the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) series of standards. The first SMS message was sent on 3 December 1992, when Neil Papworth, a test engineer for Sema Group, sent "Merry Christmas" to the Orbitel 901 phone of colleague Richard Jarvis. SMS rolled out commercially on many cellular networks that decade and became hugely popular worldwide as a method of text communication. By the end of 2010, SMS was the most widely used data application, with an estimated 3.5 billion active users, or about 80% of all mobile phone subscribers.

The service allows users to send and receive messages of up to 160 characters (when entirely alpha-numeric) to and from GSM mobiles. Although most SMS messages are sent from one mobile phone to another, support for the service has expanded to include other mobile technologies, such as CDMA networks and Digital AMPS.

Mobile marketing, a type of direct marketing, uses SMS. The global SMS messaging business was estimated to be worth over US$240 billion in 2013, accounting for almost half of all revenue generated by mobile messaging.

- Now, SMS advertising, How does it work?

Short message service (SMS) marketing is a form of marketing that businesses use to send promotions to customers via text messages. In other words, SMS marketing is the same thing as text marketing.

Like email marketing, SMS marketing is opt-in, which means customers need to sign up for it. However, unlike email marketing, SMS messages are much shorter (and more likely to be engaged with sooner than emails—more on that later).

- Is SMS advertising effective?

SMS marketing is effective when your messages are crafted thoughtfully and sent to the right customers—just like any marketing!

But is SMS advertising specifically effective enough for its effort to be worth your time? We think yes. Cell phone adoption is nearly universal, with 98% of US adults owning one. And they’re deeply engaged with their phones: a survey of business owners found that their customers were 4.5x more likely to reply to an SMS message than an email.

This isn’t to say SMS marketing should replace your emails—the longer text emails allow will always have a place—but SMS messages are a good supplement to a larger strategy, especially if you segment your customers carefully, such as by purchasing behavior or location.

- Benefits of SMS marketing

SMS marketing has several advantages over other forms of digital marketing.

1. It’s fast

First, Text message marketing is fast in more than one sense. Unlike social media or email marketing, you don’t need to design any images to go with your content. Text messages also have a low character limit, so you don’t need to write a ton, either. They’re quick and easy to produce and send.

Secondly, texts can reach your recipients faster than an Instagram post or email would. Your customers receive instant notifications on their phone when they get a text. Comparatively, they would need to take the additional step of opening a social media app or email client to see your other forms of marketing.

2. It has near-perfect open rates

If you want people to open your messages, sending them by text is the most effective way to get them to do so.

Marketing texts are opened a whopping 98% of the time, which is about as close as you can get to a full 100%. By comparison, a study by Mailchimp found that the average open rate for a retail marketing email is only 18.39%.

3. It gets high response rates

Since SMS open rates are high, its response rates are high as well. The average response rate for an SMS marketing message is 45%, whereas email click-through rates don’t normally break higher than 7%. Customers are significantly more likely to click on a link you send through text versus email.