SMS Marketing in affiliate marketing. Is it worth it?

The average American reaches for the telephone 96 times a day. Is this fact a surprise to you? Well, it's not for us because we know that we are more dependent on our phones than ever. Our smartphones are now more than just a tool for communicating with other people. It is safe to say that a smartphone these days is just like portable computers that fit easily in our pocket or small purse. This loyalty to phones is good news for publishers looking to generate profit with bulk SMS sending. Why? More information about it can be found in this blog entry. 

How often do people around the world use the phone?

Nobody likes to part with their phone. According to a study by the Telegraph, one in five 16 to 24-year-olds spends up to seven hours a day on the Internet. That's the equivalent of more than two full 24-hour days a week. The data shows that most people use the telephone to text someone (88%),and the next most frequently performed activity is sending emails (70%).

SMS Marketing

As you can see, phones are now something without what we cannot imagine in everyday reality, and this is a very good prospect for the development of SMS marketing. Modern man is bombarded with many messages in various forms, and yet the SMS message's open rate is downright impressive and amounts to as much as 98%. You only need to look at this number to realize that this result is high, but another argument for the effectiveness of SMS marketing is juxtaposing it with email marketing. The open rate for emails reaches 20%. So SMS marketing wins.

What influences such a high open rate of SMS?

According to data collected by Instagiv, 90% of SMS messages will be read within 3 minutes. This is due to the fact that the vast majority of users do not part with their smartphones and the response time is very fast here. Besides, owners of mobile phones are used to exchanging SMS messages with their relatives, therefore reading messages is a reflex activity for them.

SMS marketing and affiliate marketing

Now think about what do you care most about when planning your marketing strategy? What probably first came to your mind is effectiveness. Efficiency, which in this case will be associated with profit. A high SMS open rate and a quick response indicate that this way of reaching the customer in affiliate marketing should be used. Thanks to short text messages, your offer will reach a wide audience who will not ignore what you offer them.

Why is it worth mixing SMS marketing and affiliate marketing?

1. Stay ahead of the competition

SEO activities, running your own blog, PPC - these are currently the most popular methods that are used by publishers to increase traffic. Publishers rarely use SMS marketing when promoting affiliate programs. This is good news for you because by reading this you learn a new way to reach a niche that will allow you to stand out from the competition and earn money.

2. Instant communication

As we emphasized before, SMS messages are read within 3 minutes of delivery. This is important mainly for offers that are somewhat limited in duration. Black Friday, Cyber ​​Monday, Valentine's Day - these days, publishers want their offer to reach the customer as soon as possible.

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3. High influence on purchasing decisions

Data published by Nielsen Polska indicate that SMS messages influence decisions about purchasing a product or service in as many as 48% of recipients. Make sure that the content of the message is attractive but unobtrusive and encourage the recipient to click on the affiliate link.

4. Time and day of dispatch

It is not possible to clearly determine the best day and time for sending SMS messages, as it largely depends on the type of offer. If you make money promoting adult affiliate programs, the best solution will be to set up mass sending in the evening hours - there is a high probability that your clients will have the right conditions to get to know your offer (e.g. they are already at home, finished work) and have time to watch what you offer them without hesitation. Most of the messages that promote other affiliate programs are sent in the morning.

How to build a contact database?

Collecting contacts for bulk SMS sending can be time-consuming. Of course, you can use an external database but the purchase cost is very high and the effectiveness is often low. So we will focus on building the contact base on our own. How to do it? It is not that difficult. You can ask the customer to provide a telephone number when selling a product; organizing a competition, survey, poll or offering discounts. You can also encourage customers to subscribe to your SMS newsletter through a simple widget on your website.

Each contact database requires periodic "review", so we remove all non-existent numbers from it. Many base owners skip this step, which is a mistake because they pay for each SMS that ends up in a "dead contact," which is one that doesn't exist. Next, incorrect and stationary numbers should also be removed from the database. You also need to get rid of contacts who have not consented to receive SMS messages - not doing so may have legal and financial consequences.

Are you wondering if you can use your SMS database, which you built up to 2018? The answer is YES, but on the condition that you built it in accordance with the Personal Data Protection Office and based on the principles of: legality, necessity and time limitation, substantive correctness and purposefulness. You do not need to collect consents in connection with the GDPR if your database meets all of the above-mentioned guidelines.

Which SMS sending platform should you use?

There’s many SMS sending platforms on the market. It’s important that you choose the one that operates in your country. If it comes to globally working platforms, we’d recommend BulkSMS. The company operates with the use of credits. You can buy the minimum of 200 credits for which you will be able to send 200 messages. 200 credits will cost you about €9.22. 

Another platform that you can use to implement SMS marketing is SendinBlue. With this website, you can purchase a plan with many advanced marketing options or simply go with just bulk SMS sending. You can choose how many messages you want to be sent and which country you will be focusing on, for example if you go for the USA, for sending 1000 messages, you will pay €10.

Affiliate and SMS marketing mixed together is a way to generate even more profit. It is worth using this form of reaching the customer because there's not a lot of publishers who use mass SMS sending. Don't wait too long. Apply SMS marketing when planning your marketing activities and earn big money!