Illustration of a woman holding a phone, receiving an SMS about her order update, along with content featuring a guide to Bulk SMS Marketing benefits and use cases.

The SMS marketing industry is projected to hit approximately $38.4 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 21.26%. It is an effective marketing strategy to ensure a successful outreach. Bulk SMS messaging is where a large number of SMS is sent simultaneously to numerous recipients.

Suggested Read: 20 Fascinating SMS Marketing Statistics and Trends for 2024

As a business, if you are still wondering whether to choose this marketing channel, this guide will help you make an informed decision.

Here, we navigate why to send bulk SMS, how bulk SMS marketing works, what benefits companies can expect, and what use cases they can adapt.

Understanding Bulk SMS Marketing For Businesses

What Is Bulk SMS Marketing?

The distribution of a large number of text messages to targeted users’ mobile phones for promotional or marketing purposes is called bulk SMS marketing.

Bulk SMS boasts an average of 98% open rates, the highest among all the communication channels. Also, 90% of mobile phone users open the text within 3 minutes.

Image of a man using a phone, with a message stating that SMS has an average 98% open rate, making it the most effective channel.

This makes SMS one of the most effective and fastest communication channels. It offers a higher chance of reaching out to a user.

Not only are you leveraging SMS’s fast deliverability, high open rates, and reliability, but you are also multiplying the impact through bulk messaging.

25% of organisations are choosing SMS marketing primarily due to its effectiveness and efficiency.

Image highlighting why SMS is one of the most effective and efficient channels, with 25% of businesses now choosing SMS over other channels.

Also Read: 10 Best SMS Marketing Practises For Businesses

Benefits Of Bulk SMS Marketing

Image highlighting the benefits of bulk SMS marketing, featuring a phone displaying an SMS message.

Instant Messaging

Bulk SMS marketing allows you to send notifications, alerts, and messages, offering instant messaging. Since most recipients read SMS within 3 minutes of delivery, it allows businesses to reach out to their audience instantly.

High Open Rates

SMS Marketing tends to witness the highest open rates. The reliability and immediacy of text messages ensure direct communication and getting quick customer attention.

Personalisation

Personalised messages are the 33% contributor that increases the likelihood of a user subscribing to an SMS campaign.

SMS marketing campaigns allow the enterprise to personalise their SMS through specific targeting, segmentation, and other tools based on demographics, buyer intent, past purchasing behaviour, location, age, and more.

Due to this, a large number of personalised messages are sent simultaneously, utilising automation for improved results in terms of customer engagement and conversion rates.

High Conversion Rate

SMS marketing is one of the most lucrative marketing strategies, boasting high response rates of as high as 45%.

This results in a high conversion rate regarding reach, engagement, and even purchases. In fact, 72% of people purchased after receiving a text from a business.

Cost-Effective

According to Attentive Mobile, an SMS marketing company, their customers from retail and ecommerce industries generate an average of $71 for every dollar spent on SMS marketing campaigns.

Bulk SMS marketing offers one of the highest ROIs ever and, through automation, saves a lot of effort, resources, and costs.

High Engagement

With high open rates and average click-through rates of 19%, bulk SMS marketing ensures high engagement with the audience.

This is simply due to the ultimate convenience of accessing SMS, the direct and short messaging format, and its inherent high relevance, even before personalisation.

Track, Analyze, and Monitor Campaign

Bulk SMS service providers like Route Mobile’s A2P messaging and 2-way messaging, along with SMI API, allow businesses to track, analyse, and monitor campaigns using a comprehensive range of features and tools.

Compliance & Data Privacy

For businesses, data privacy and security compliance are critical. The same goes for marketing practices, including sending bulk SMS, which must also adhere to regulations. Brands must ensure that expressed consent is obtained from the recipient, along with an option to opt out.

To enjoy these bulk SMS marketing benefits, businesses need high efficiency and performance in sending bulk messages. For that, businesses require an infrastructure with advanced tools and features to automate, manage and distribute SMS on a large scale.

Choosing a service provider like Route Mobile with an impressive maximum throughput capacity of over 10,000 messages per second. Due to this, they are able to efficiently send billions of messages without breaking a sweat.

Must Read: The Role of A2P Messaging In Cart Abandonment Recovery And Conversion Rate Optimization

Use Cases Of Bulk SMS Marketing

Here are multiple use cases of bulk SMS marketing, followed by examples.

Transactional SMS

Image illustrating two use cases of transactional SMS: SMS OTP verification and order confirmation.

  • Order Confirmation: Sending the SMS, including order details, invoice, delivery date, tracking link for delivery status, etc, to customers as they make a purchase.
  • SMS OTP verification: Sending One-Time Password (OTP) SMS to customers while purchasing, signing up or requesting a password change to verify the user identity.

Text updates & notifications

  • Delivery Update: Sending SMS to update customers on the delivery status of the product they ordered.
  • Appointment Reminder: Send an SMS regarding the reminder for doctor appointments scheduled for the user, including details like time duration, video call link, or address.

Promo codes

Image illustrating two use cases of Promo Codes: Welcome Offer & Sale Announcement

  • Welcome offer: Sending a newly joined customer a special discount for first-time customers to get them started.
  • Sale Announcement: Sending SMS informing customers about upcoming flash sales.

Abandoned cart recovery

  • Abandoned cart reminder: Sending SMS to customers reminding them about the products they left in their online shopping cart, along with a link to complete their purchase.

Special offers

Image illustrating two use cases of Special Offers: Loyalty Rewards & Birthday Special Discount

  • Loyalty Rewards: Send an SMS notifying the customers that they have earned or accumulated enough loyalty points for a reward to get a special offer.
  • Birthday Special Discount: Send a special offer or discount through SMS on the customer’s birthday wishing and encouraging them to purchase.

Text Drip Campaigns

  • Educating On New Product: Sending a series or sequence of SMS to customers who recently bought a product about step-by-step information to help them utilise it in the best way possible.

Back-in-Stock Notification

  • Re-stock Alert: Send those customers SMS who have previously shown interest in an out-of-stock product, informing them about its availability and encouraging them to buy.
  • Limited Edition: Send an SMS notifying them about a limited edition product release with a time-sensitive offer.

New product updates

  • New Product Collection: Send an SMS announcing the launch of a new product collection with features and other details, as well as a link to buy or register for pre-bookings/early interest.

Two-way messaging

  • Sales Inquiries: Allow customers to ask queries about the product directly to the sales team about the product or services.
  • Customer Support: Enable customers to initiate SMS conversations with the support team.

Feedback Survey

  • Post-Purchase Survey: Send customers an SMS right after they make a purchase, asking about their feedback on their customer experience and how it can be improved.

Conclusion

Bulk SMS campaigns are undoubtedly an effective marketing and communication strategy for businesses. The massive open rates with SMS, convenience, ease of use, and direct messaging aspects of SMS and other contributors make them an unparalleled marketing practice to grow business exponentially.

With all the benefits and use cases featured in this article, enterprises can utilise bulk sms marketing. For the best outcomes, collaborate with bulk SMS marketing services like Route Mobile, which offers a broad spectrum of services like SMS API, A2P messaging, and more. Contact our experts to get started today!

FAQs

How To Craft Highly Effective SMS For Customers?

Here are some tips for crafting highly effective SMS for marketing campaigns:

  • Keep it short, concise, and to the point
  • Use a clear and compelling subject line
  • Maintain professionalism, respect, and courtesy
  • Personalise the messages as per customer’s needs and preferences
  • Add an action-oriented call to action

What Is The Difference Between Personalization And Segmentation?

Segmentation allows businesses to craft messages specific to the customer group, whereas personalisation is more about customising the messaging relevant to all prospects.

What Are The Primary Benefits Of Bulk SMS Marketing?

The primary benefits of bulk SMS marketing include high open rates, personalization, instant delivery, high customer engagement, and a cost-effective marketing strategy.