Key Takeaways:
- With an astounding 98% open rate, SMS marketing emerges as a vital tool for businesses, particularly education institutions, seeking effective engagement strategies.
- SMS and messaging apps are essential for engaging international students, necessitating a diversified communication approach.
- Short messages and compelling calls to action effectively engage students with SMS marketing, ensuring quick responses and instilling a sense of urgency in the enrollment process.
Businesses are increasingly recognizing the potential of incorporating text message marketing into their strategies, driven by convincing statistics like the 85% of Americans who own smartphones and the 97% who own cell phones. According to a report by business.com, SMS boasts a remarkable 98% open rate, surpassing email’s 17% open rate.
Higher Education Marketing (HEM) highlights the effectiveness of using SMS texting as a means to connect with admissions advisors and showcases the benefits of texting for students who are considering their options for higher education. HEM offers insightful information on how to incorporate SMS texting into communication strategies, such as using marketing automation and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to improve efficiency.
Due to the complexity of international communication and the wide range of compliance laws, Infobip’s comprehensive summary of compliance laws suggests that teachers who want to reach international students should assign SMS messaging to trustworthy agents and local representatives.
The Role of Messaging Apps and Effective SMS Marketing
Social messaging tools, in addition to SMS messaging, are essential for international student engagement. According to an ICEF report, popular applications in 2023 include WeChat, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, Snapchat, and QQ. On the other hand, regional apps, such as LINE in Japan and Zalo in Vietnam, target certain markets.
Hootsuite provides advice on selecting the most effective messaging applications for marketing campaigns. According to SimilarWeb statistics, messaging apps will be the most popular in several global countries in 2023, underscoring the need to have a variety of communication channels.
Research shows that mobile users respond more favorably to calls to action than any other marketing channel. This supports the efficacy of short messages and calls to action in SMS marketing. SMS is proven to be the most effective method for announcing sales, scholarships, and application deadlines. It also allows for quicker responses from students and creates a sense of urgency.
SMS and Instant Messaging for Student Recruitment
Despite email marketing and cold calling being utilized, they do not yield the same level of engagement as SMS and instant messaging (IM). These two strategies have been proven to outperform email and phone calls in terms of engagement.
Consider open rates as an example. Email opens on average only account for 20% of the total, but SMS opens at 98%. That figure for WhatsApp is 99%. Furthermore, just 20% of individuals answer unforeseen calls, although it takes five seconds on average to read a text message.
Consider open rates as an example. Email opens on average only account for 20% of the total, but SMS opens at 98%. That figure for WhatsApp is 99%. Furthermore, just 20% of individuals answer unforeseen calls, although it takes five seconds on average to read a text message.
For these audiences, mobile friendliness is also essential. Prospective students can easily access these platforms as they are designed to be compatible with mobile devices, such as instant messaging applications and SMS.
Moving Forward
Text message marketing is emerging as a distinct way to enhance engagement and broaden outreach to potential international students in the field of international education marketing. As we continue to move forward, it is becoming increasingly important to highlight the intrinsic benefits of quick message delivery and high conversion rates.
The real-time aspect of SMS communication makes sure that overseas students quickly receive crucial information, such as scholarship opportunities and application deadlines. This promotes quicker responses and strengthens the effectiveness of recruitment activities. In addition, the high conversion rate lets schools help potential students with important tasks and encourage meaningful interaction by using short and clear calls to action.
Text message marketing is now an essential component of international education plans for organizations that wish to maintain global connections, establish long-lasting relationships, and promote their brand. Thanks to its affordability, user-friendliness, and customized approach, text message marketing has turned into a useful tool for universities to improve their recruitment efforts abroad. (RAGHWA GOPAL)
RAGHWA GOPAL
MSM CEO
Raghwa Gopal is a serial entrepreneur, academic, and software engineer by profession. Drawing from extensive business experience, Raghwa joined MSM from British Columbia’s Innovate BC, serving as president and CEO and helping companies start and scale to fuel technology development, commercialization, and adoption. As Accelerate Okanagan’s (AO) former CEO, he was a driving force in development of the tech sector, with a CA$1.6-billion economic contribution.
Raghwa studied at New Zealand’s Central Institute of Technology, Australia’s Collier MacMillan School, and the University of the South Pacific. He has strong ties to higher education as a former lecturer of business at UBC Okanagan, computer science at the School of Arts and Sciences, and entrepreneur-in-residence at Okanagan College School of Business.
His board memberships span across multiple organizations, such as the University of British Columbia, the India Canada Innovation Council, the Women’s Enterprise Centre, and the Province of British Columbia’s Emerging Economy Task Force.
Sources:
- A guide to SMS and instant messaging for student recruitment. (2023, August 25). Higher Education Marketing. Retrieved from https://www.higher-education-marketing.com/blog/guide-sms-instant-messaging-for-student-recruitment
- The importance of SMS and messaging for converting prospective international students. (2023, July 27). ICEF Monitor. Retrieved from https://monitor.icef.com/2023/07/the-importance-of-sms-and-messaging-for-converting-prospective-international-students/
- Skye Schooley. (2023, March 9). Why small businesses should use SMS marketing. Business.com. Retrieved from https://www.business.com/articles/6-reasons-brands-should-start-using-sms-marketing/