As marketers compete for consumers’ hearts and minds in an overcrowded omnichannel world , short messaging service (SMS) has become a popular channel. But advertised low SMS marketing costs and off-the-chart metrics can mislead marketing teams that only understand the benefits of SMS.

Why Do Marketers Use SMS?
Businesses can use SMS messages for everything from appointment reminders and surveys to personalized promotions or sales and remarketing.

It’s easy to see why marketers are excited about leveraging SMS marketing: Consumers are overwhelmed by offers via email and social media ads, but a simple text message Ghana Phone Number List can cut through the noise in a way that feels more personal.

Many people view SMS as an alternative to email marketing, and the numbers seem to reflect that. SMS marketing beats email marketing on key metrics , such as:

Average email open rates (28-33%) vs. average SMS open rates (97% within 15 minutes of sending)
Average email click-through rate (6-7%) vs. average SMS click-through rate (36%)
Despite some eye-popping numbers, SMS is not a panacea for marketing. For efficient, data-driven marketing teams that deliver app-based experiences to their customers, the seemingly outrageous cost of SMS marketing compared to in-app messaging often doesn’t pay off.

7 pitfalls of SMS marketing costs
It’s important to understand the realities behind the rapid growth of SMS marketing. While legitimate businesses are leveraging the power of text messaging to communicate with their customers, less legitimate businesses are also joining in .

Americans received nearly 17 spam text messages per month; a year later, consumers received as many as 41 spam text messages per month. For context, 2020 was the first year that Americans received more spam text messages than the much-maligned spam calls .

As consumers’ text inboxes slowly morph into their email inboxes, your brand could soon be left behind along with many others.

Still, you might think that for the price per segment delivered (perhaps a few cents or fractions of a cent), it's worth diving headfirst into SMS marketing. But the real story of SMS marketing costs goes beyond the price per message.

Let’s dive into the seven pitfalls of SMS marketing costs that you need to know about before sending.