Rising mobile data communication adoption will result in SMS being employed to increase productivity, reduce operating costs and grow businesses.
This is according to Pieter de Villiers, CEO of Clickatell, who believes that associated SMS traffic is projected to double from five trillion messages in 2009 to 10 trillion in 2013.
“The increase in data communication has led to a situation where almost 70% of the world's population has access to a mobile phone and can tap into the value of 'just-in-time' as well as contextually relevant [and] individualised mobile messaging,” he says.
He adds that the cumulative benefits of these cannot be replicated over any other media type.
De Villiers also explains that a simple text message has the ability to create closer customer engagement over a personal communication channel, as a mobile device is always in the possession of the owner.
Key benefits of personalised messaging he points to include mobility, simplicity, relevance, immediacy, versatility and offering actionable messaging. “SMS is more effective than other comparable media at maintaining relationships with existing customers.”
He also notes that mobile messaging has transformed over time from something originally considered an acquisition channel, to one which now occupies a niche in post-acquisition customer communication.
However, De Villiers points out that organisations in developed markets have many different options to choose from in terms of how they engage with their customers.
“The most recent being on social networks like Twitter and Facebook; it's so easy for organisations to get caught up in the media hype of the 'new' while being cautious to move budget away from the 'tried-and-tested' options.”
One example of this is penetration even in developed markets. SMS is capable of reaching 91% of the US population and is used by 63.5%, compared to 26% that use Twitter and 42% that use Facebook, says De Villiers.
He argues that SMS has a higher open rate than other platforms. “Text messaging has a higher direct response rate than telemarketing, e-mail and direct mail.
“It also has an inherent push-messaging capability that enables the receiver to get an immediate notification of message receipt, which is not possible on e-mail, Twitter or Facebook without a smartphone.”
In agreement, Dr Pieter Streicher, MD at BulkSMS, says despite the extended capabilities of smartphones, including cheaper communication options such as e-mail and mobile instant messaging, SMS volumes have not been dented nearly as much as predicted, and in some cases have even been boosted.
Early this year, ABI Research reported that there would be 4.2 billion users of SMS around the world in 2011.
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