More advertisers turn to SMS as medium proves its worth

by Ben Bold, brandrepublic.com, 25 October 2005, 12:00AM

LONDON - The majority of small- and medium-sized companies using text messaging as a marketing tool increased their turnover by 10% or more, according to UK and US research.

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The survey, which was conducted by SMS marketing specialist Textalert, found that 72% of SMEs using text messaging reported a rise in turnover of over 10%. It also revealed that 36% of SMEs said that they were intending to use SMS to reach their customers in the next 12 months.

However, Textalert also pointed out that businesses using SMS messaging found that their customers' biggest concern when signing up to a text-alert service was the fear of mobile spam.

Tim Hatton, Textalert spokesman, said: "Businesses are finding that SMS can give them a significant competitive advantage for very little outlay. Compared to other forms of direct marketing, text messaging is cheap, very effective and enjoys the highest recall rate of any advertising channel."

The survey also claimed that 79% of businesses that used SMS said it was more effective than other marketing channels or loyalty tools.

The release of the research marks the launch of Textalert's free guide to SMS marketing (available at www.textalert.com). The survey was conducted in the UK and US. Textalert was set up in 2004 and has offices in London and Boston.

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