Research : Brands must recognise SMS is still a popular channel amongst consumers says Textlocal

According to the Textlocal’s  new Mobile Customer Experience Report the British public are lukewarm when it comes to Facebook’s marketing overtures, with the report revealing only 5% of consumers (3.2 million) want brands to communicate with them via Facebook, compared to 27.9 million consumers that have opted-in to receive marketing communications from brands direct to their mobile device via SMS.

Almost two-thirds of businesses have, or are developing a Facebook strategy, which is comparable to the number of businesses with a mobile strategy; however, opt-in messaging is by far the most popular and efficient form of brand marketing with UK consumers.

London, July 2013: Textlocal, the industry leader in mobile messaging solutions in the UK, today unveils unique market insight into mobile marketing, revealing that brands and businesses should switch their marketing spend from Facebook to opt-in messaging if they are to maximise return on investment.

The Mobile Customer Experience Report reveals only 5% of consumers (3.2 million) want brands to communicate with them via Facebook, compared to 27.9 million consumers that have opted-in to receive marketing communications from brands direct to their mobile device. The white book is the must read for marketers and business owners alike highlighting quick-win opportunities to be adopted into any customer engagement model.

Almost two-thirds of businesses have, or are developing a Facebook strategy, which is comparable to the number of businesses with a mobile strategy; however, opt-in messaging is by far the most popular and efficient form of brand marketing with UK consumers.

The average click-through on a mobile banner advert is 0.1%; just compare this to SMS text marketing & alert services. To ensure 10,000 people open a text message, it would only need to be sent to around 10,010 recipients as on average, 99.9% of all messages will be read, and 95% read within three minutes.

Darren Daws, Textlocal.com’s Managing Director commented: “Facebook is excellent for communicating interesting and entertaining information but as the White Book shows, it is far from the most effective medium for pushing marketing or sales messages.

“The majority of businesses have been rather side-tracked over the last 12-18 months by jumping on the bandwagon to invest in a mobile Facebook strategy which the majority of consumers actually find intrusive.

Nick Lane, chief strategy analyst at Mobile Squared who conducted the research commented: “SMS open rates are typically now above 99% and response rates average above 30%, so why are marketeers and brands still focusing so heavily on email or Facebook initiatives? Even email typically only has open rates of 15% and CTR of 2%. So the question remains; why are brands still starting so far behind the curve?”

The report reveals that more women opt-in to receive marketing communications from brands; the biggest opt-in audience by age is the 35-44 age bracket (5.2 million); and that there are 16.7 million opt-ins on a smartphone and 11.2 million opt-ins on feature phones.

“Customers want to hear from businesses, provided it is on their terms and they feel in control; that’s where an efficient CRM platform comes in,” finished Daws.

Rob Townsend, Textlocal.com’s Marketing and Communications Director, added: “60% of UK consumers acknowledged that relevant mobile messaging would maintain their loyalty towards a brand, and an additional 14% said it would actually enhance loyalty.

“With findings like these it’s clear the data contained in our latest report is just the tip of the iceberg for UK companies looking to engage more with their customers.”