The Future of SMS Marketing Trends and Innovations

We believe expanding business in the future of SMS marketing is a priority for every marketer.

As you might be aware, SMS marketing has undergone significant changes in recent decades. 

For instance, you don’t need to send text messages to each customer manually or segment them based on their personal information. Also, there is no need to spend time checking the entire message for tiny mistakes causing the wrong result. Thanks to recent advancements in SMS marketing, you can now access the best metrics to track your campaigns and optimize performance.

Currently, e-commerce businesses use reliable third-party apps or plugins to schedule their SMS messages, customize messages, manage subscribers, and get daily/monthly reports. 

WP SMS Pro is the one you’re looking for! With this popular plugin, you can send numerous messages to your intended subscribers, all in one, without limitations.

All the items mentioned so far pertain to the present. Now, let’s explore your insights and envision the future of SMS marketing.

Build up your SMS campaigns, build up your future!

The Future Of SMS Marketing

Imagine going back to the 1990s and telling people they could send multiple messages to various recipients automatically – they wouldn’t believe you. Similarly, in the present, we may not know what the far future holds for SMS marketing, but we can predict the trends and innovations of its early future. Generally, knowing these trends can help you drive traffic with SMS marketing. Now, let’s check each of them one by one.

Conversational Messaging

If you put yourself as a customer and intend to buy a product, what would catch your attention at first? Opening an attractive message with compelling content. Conversational messaging is a rapidly growing trend that most businesses use. It helps create more personalized SMS for engagement and interact with customers in real-time through SMS messages. 

This approach is a direct way to communicate between businesses and customers on preferred channels. While customers are consistently bombarded with text messages, companies can discern when they become frustrated and may choose to mute these messages. In this case, you should shift to conversational messaging and look for safe platforms that people still use a lot, like Facebook Messenger, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others, to send text messages. 

Conversational messaging uses natural language processing (NLP) to build stronger connections and a more human-like experience for subscribers. It enables businesses to respond instantly to queries and offer personalized recommendations by understanding each customer’s requirements and preferences. 

RCS

Rich Communication Services ( RCS ) is a modified form of messaging that provides a host of functionality. It’s a great alternative to traditional SMS by offering more interactive and multimedia-rich experiences. If you’re curious about how it works, think of it as similar to Apple’s iMessage but for Google/Android users.

But there’s a key difference between SMS and RCS: you don’t need to use a cellular network to send SMS messages, but for RCS, you should use a stable connection to send text messages. 

Unlike SMS, where you are limited to 160 characters, rich communication services allow you to send up to 250,000 characters at once.

However, you can send high-quality pics, videos, gifs, and so more things through RCS and have live chats with your contacts. A significant advantage of RCS is its compatibility with every device, making it accessible to anyone. That’s why it’s introduced as the future of SMS marketing.

Note: Apple has announced that they currently do not support RCS on iOS but express hope for a potential change in 2024.

How Do I Run RCS On an Android Device?

To activate  rich communication services, follow the steps below:

1. First, make sure you have the latest version of Google Messages if you haven’t updated it from the Google Play Store.
2. Then open your Google Messages, go to “Settings,” and check the “Chat Features.”
3. Tap on the three-dot menu within the Messages app.
4. Afterward, look for “Chat features,” “RCS settings,” or similar option to select and enable.
5. To activate RCS, please verify your phone number to confirm or accept terms.
6. Once activated, a message confirming your active RCS status will appear on your screen. You can then access the available features.

Omnichannel Adoption

Omnichannel is a customer-centric approach that involves integrating various communication channels to reach customers and create a consistent customer experience. These channels could include SMS, social media, email, and more. Businesses emphasize the importance of sending consistent customer messages across different platforms to increase conversion rates through SMS marketing.

If you’re wondering why we consider it the future of SMS marketing, it’s because it aligns with modern consumer behavior. It means your customers can interact with your brand across several platforms as if you’re whispering it in their ears. Not only are you increasing the potential touchpoints and revenue, but you’re also expanding your e-commerce business over different sorts of platforms.

Artificial Intelligence

Honestly, Artificial Intelligence plays a crucial role in the future of SMS marketing. In fact, it’s reshaping the form of old SMS marketing and turning it into a more dynamic and efficient approach. AI has made major progress in this generation. It’s not over yet; let’s mention its advantages, including saving more time while interacting with customers, making engagement easier and more effective, and you won’t need to assess each approach individually.

According to AI’s algorithm, it can decide which context can fit the needs and preferences of customers. Additionally, it selects the optimal time when your customer is most active to send SMS. It customizes the content of your text messages based on your subscriber’s interests and behaviors by learning from their personal information. Surprising, right?

You can be quite hopeful that it increases the chance of driving better results for the business by ensuring the recipients receive relevant and valuable content. The usage of chatbots in SMS marketing is considerable, especially in responding to customer inquiries in real-time and providing useful information. That’s why 47% of brands intend to use AI in communications more.

Conclusion

There are over a million theories that you can propose to predict the future of SMS marketing. 

As we discussed, some of the pivotal ones include artificial intelligence, chatbots, RCS, and the application of omnichannel marketing. These elements have applied significant changes in SMS marketing, facilitating the process. But keep in mind not to overwhelm your SMS messages or campaigns by relying too heavily on chatbots. 

Human-written messages often convey a more authentic and personalized touch in engaging your audience. Up to this point, some third-party apps like WP SMS Pro help every business through this challenging way. No need to trouble yourself searching for intended customers and sending personalized text messages – WP SMS makes this task easy for you. Once you log in, you can connect your WordPress plugin to WP SMS Pro and then configure SMS notification.

FAQs

What Is The Future of SMS Marketing?

With this enormous progress in SMS Marketing, it appears the use of AI or chatbots is increasing over time.

Will There Be An Effective Way Of SMS Marketing In The Future?

Currently, these elements, including conversational marketing, RCS, chatbots, and omnichannel marketing, are effective in the present and early future. It seems AI will be one of the effective ways of SMS marketing in the future. 

Is SMS Marketing Growing?

Yes, indeed. Thanks to new AI tools, SMS marketing is becoming more effective. It is estimated to be worth $12.6 billion by 2025.