Consumers prefer SMS Marketing for Loyalty Messaging yet only 21% of Brands use it

Removing friction from mobile loyalty applications will become a top 2017 priority for marketers, says a study from 3CInteractive. And it seems SMS marketing is the answer to loyalty success.

The results revealed that 70% of consumers fail to sign up to loyalty programs due to the inconvenience and time required to complete registration. Meanwhile 72% of consumers said they would be more likely to sign up for a loyalty programme if the process was simplified by text message.

SMS is also the channel of choice once consumers enter a loyalty program, with text messaging (48%) ranking twice as high as email (22%) and apps (20%) when consumers were asked how they’d like to receive loyalty messaging.

Benefits of SMS Marketing for Loyalty

1. Customers are already loyal
A telephone number is seen to have more value than an email address and customers don’t give their number out to just anyone. If a customer opts-in to your loyalty program it means they don’t want to miss any deals.

Text messages are only sent to customers that are willing to receive them and the opt-out rates for text message marketing are very low. And SMS is the channel where your messages are most likely to be received and read.

2. Instant gratification
91 percent of adults always have their smartphone within arm’s reach, so 90 percent of text messages get read within 3 minutes of delivery (LoyaltyMarketing.com). There’s no spam filter and coupon codes or links are also exceptionally easy to redeem via SMS.

3. It’s easy and can be used with other channels
SMS marketing is surprisingly easy to set up. With a loyalty solutions platform you can use your CRM system to provide relevant individual or grouped promotions to reward scheme members, then utilise SMS, email & push notifications to encourage action.

Want to get started with SMS promotions? Engage your customers when they’re most responsive with Eagle Eye Engage, our SMS marketing software. Build mobile applications for your customers to browse promotions, reward schemes and gift vouchers, then send the right messages at the right time via SMS, push notifications or email.

Find out more about SMS marketing from Eagle Eye, including automated SMS campaigns, smart messaging and dialogue to improve response and conversion rate.