SMS promotional strategy

 

 

Influence of Promotional SMS on Consumer Behaviour

The essence of mobile technology and information communication technology has become an integral part of human life. The entry of smartphones has acted as a game changer in most aspects of human lives. The functionality of these phone influences the human experience. Similarly, it also affects the extent to which people make decisions concerning the vital issues affecting their lives. Contemporarily, many people believe that phones are used for functions such as calling and texting.

Nonetheless, the establishment of smartphones has widened the scope of the applications and use of mobile technology. For this reason, the widening range for the use of mobile technology has immensely affected the manner in which people go about their daily lives. The usage of mobile technology extends to offer applications such as photography, social networking, recording videos, emailing, shopping, internet applications and listening to music. Some applications of mobile technology are essential when it comes to market services. The essence of smartphones has become ubiquitous in the daily life of a human being. Therefore, this paper intends to examine the extent to which promotional approaches to marketing use the SMS to influence the consumer purchasing behavior.

The scope of the Short Message Service Promotional Strategy

The technological aspect of cell phones enable the consumers to establish effective communications which help to understand wants and needs of the consumers. The approach to communication allows the marketers to develop a structural approach which capitalizes on the features and benefits of their products in meeting the identified needs and wants of targeted consumers(Hassan et al., 2017). Primarily, the cell phone aspects not only strengthen the relationship of consumers and companies, but it also enables the company to identify the dynamic information about the perception of the customers, purchasing patterns, buying behavior, and consumption patterns. Instrumentally, it can be concluded that the adoption of cell phone technology plays an essential role in changing the relationship between the firms, marketers, and consumers. Therefore, the cell phone technology defined the scope of a positive relationship among three factions to establish a stable relationship with a mutual understanding.

According to Drossos et al. (2013); Kumar et al. (2016); Muk (2007), firms have incorporated the effective use of the Short message service (SMS) to widen their scope of marketing. The step critically affects the purchasing pattern consumers. The SMS promotional strategy takes marketing steps ahead of the traditional marketing approaches. Essentially, the use of SMS enables the marketing firms to approach the targeted consumers all at the same time irrespective of time, place, and space boundaries. Traditionally, the efforts of the firms were restricted to time and place(Varshney and Joy, 2015). Indeed, the firms had difficulties accessing the target segment of the market. However, the establishment of the SMS promotional strategy offered support to the one-to-one marketing strategy which fosters a better understanding of the prospective consumers. One the same note, the SMSs proportional strategy helps firms to communicate their brand equity to the consumers thereby influencing their behavior and buying patterns. In a greater extent, the mobile promotional strategies are implemented by the mobile operator in conjunction with the marketing firms to propagate news concerning featured products and services.

Technically, this aspect of mobile marketing essentially helps the marketing firms to reach a more considerable extent of the target market(Duzgun and Yamamoto, 2017). Even though the promotional strategy looks expensive, it offers a marketing company an opportunity to present a personally convincing communication to the consumers. Even though many people perceive the use of SMS as an opportunity to address a large mass of people at the same time, the use of these strategies creates a platform to instigate a one-on-one communication with the targeted consumer. Most importantly, the use of short message services helps the marketing firms to address the broad range of issues influencing the target market and the potential customers. Comparatively, the SMSs promotional strategy is likened to the mobile marketing strategy.

Moreover, the short message service strategy compliments realms of the mobile marketing strategies. As opposed to sending promotional information to a broader audience, the SMS strategy enables the marketing firms to disseminate information precisely to the customers confined within a particular location at a specified time. Therefore, it is essential to note that this promotional strategy provides a better measure to reach targeted consumers. Additionally, the strategy offers an opportunity to track consumer responses at a lower cost of communication.

The importance of understanding and appreciating personality is essential for most organizations offering products and services to consumers. Andrews et al. (2016) observed that the scope of the SMS promotional strategy helps such organizations to take advantage of the aspect of personality when conducting their promotional activities. The firms taking this approach often initiate an effective marketing approach which influences the behavior and purchasing patterns associated with the consumers (Andrews et al., 2016; Drossos et al., 2013; Lin and Chen, 2015). Nonetheless, the appreciation of individual customized communication establishes precedence for competition. Arguably, the precedence essentially translates to effective campaigns soliciting customer retentions. Besides, the strategy continuously attracts the target market making them change their attitude towards companies’ product and services. Most importantly, the firms must be conscious of the fact that mobile marketing has an imminent influence on the ability of the consumers to decide on certain products in the market.

Most importantly, the marketers should opt for the lessons associated with the theory of reasoned action when indulging in the use of the SMS promotional strategies. In this case, the marketers should associate the SMS promotional strategies with the positive outcomes. The anticipated result must be specific. Consequently, the marketing firm must establish a link between its product and the target market conclusively. For successful influencing choices and preferences of the consumers, the firms ought to strategize how to move the consumer through the pipeline with the help of effective SMS promotional strategies(Kumar et al., 2016; Shareef et al., 2015; Varshney and Joy, 2015). Similarly, it is the primary duty of the marketers to establish a well-constituted communication seeking to change the perception and choice of the consumers. Instrumentally, the SMS promotional strategies should create an impression on the consumers by giving them room to contemplate purchase choices and preferences.

Furthermore, the SMS promotional strategy features informativeness. The scope of the promotional strategy strategically informs the consumers of the product alternatives yielding the same satisfaction. Nonetheless, the quality of information embedded in the SMS promotional strategy should produce a direct influence on the perception and decision-making ability of the consumer. In such a case, the firm carrying out promotion stands an opportunity to capture the market targeted in the promotional services. In order to establish resourceful and informative product in a promotional drive, the firm must convey the information directly to the target consumers.

Additionally, the information disseminated through the short message services should reflect the qualitative features, usefulness, and timelines to the targeted consumers. Equally important, the firms promoting their products ought to consider the fact that the contemporary markets rely on quick information to make decisions which influence the behavior and purchasing patterns. Therefore, the firms are obliged to deliver automatic communication to the consumers. The preference for quick access to information plays a necessary role enabling the consumers to fulfill the unlimited needs and wants. Consequently, the SMS promotional strategy establishes a potential two-way communication which fosters the mutual relationship between the entities carrying out marketing and consumers. Notwithstanding the importance of the SMS aspect of mobile technology, the firms must tailor their communication to meet the interest and needs of the consumers. Therefore, it can be concluded that to create an impression on the consumers, the information supplied must be considered valuable to enable the consumers to react positively.

The effects of the SMS promotion on the Consumers Choices and Behaviour

SMS-based marketing is a bundle with potential benefits since the advertisements are time and location-based. Duzgun and Yamamoto (2017) believed that the aspect inherently fosters the aspect of one-on-one communication which is essential for influencing the scope of consumer behavior important in marketing. Even though people repulsed the ideation behind the SMS-based marketing, the larger population is coming to terms with the fact that SMS promotional strategy advances the scope of product marketing. As people begin to understand the scope of SMS-based promotions, several challenges affecting the efforts of the marketers have been surfacing. The significant challenges include issues to do with the security, authenticity, privacy, and annoyance which result from the messages which people receive from the promotional desks. These aspects may instrumentally affect the effectiveness of the use of the SMS in promotion to carry out marketing.

The SMS marketing applies the use and gratification theory to influence the perspective of the consumers. The marketing aspect of the SMS prominently executes psychological and behavioral utility to control consumer behavior. In this case, the methodology employs the use of mass communication to establish motivation and need-fulfilling information intended to change the perception of the clients. In order to leverage the goals of promotional strategies, the SMS advertising use entertainment, irritation, and informativeness as the ultimate dimension to influence the perception of the consumers. Nonetheless, the use and gratification theory continually stepped up the motivation of the consumers. The aspects such as informativeness, irritation, entertainment determine consumer reaction upon the receipt of the intended promotional information. Therefore, it is formidable to assume that the SMS advertisement and promotional strategies are extensions of the use and gratification.

Similarly, the concept of SMS advertising employs a strategic model which exploits the scope of the theory of planned behavior. In this case, the SMS advertisement seeks to influence the attitude, belief, and intentions of the target market. Ordinarily, the consumers have a set of beliefs and attitude which determine their response towards a particular product in the market (Drossos et al., 2013; Duzgun and Yamamoto, 2017; Lin and Chen, 2015; Varshney and Joy, 2015). This fundamental idea behind the short message also resonates as with the context of the theory of reasoned action. The framework of the SMS advertising conceptualizes the consumers’ attitude as consequences of the beliefs of the individual consumers within the target markets. However, it is the responsibility of the marketers to seek the ways through which they purposely address the subjective norms which profoundly impacts the behavior of the individuals.

For this reason, many marketers have used short message services to impact positively on the behavior of the consumers. The scope of the advertisement uses perceived behavioral control and individual’s intentions to assess the impact of the SMS promotional strategies on the target market (Andrews et al., 2016). According to the theory of planned behavior, the behavior of an individual is influenced by his belief, subjective norms, and attitude together with other controllable factors. Therefore, the SMS promotional strategies often change the individual perception through the invocation of attitude, beliefs, subjective norms and other factors which can be controlled.

The marketing patterns have shown that the attitude of individuals determines the behavioral intentions when it comes to marketing. Nonetheless, the marketing patterns also exhibit a positive correlation between the attitude of an individual and the intention to purchase products advertised. On the other hand, the aspect of the subjective roles helps the marketers to formulate SMS communications which invoke the subjective norms which otherwise determines the intentions of an individual to consume particular products. According to Andrews et al. (2016), the scope of the SMS-based marketing uses mobile technology to influence the intentions of people thus making them rethink their decisions concerning the product under the influence of marketing promotion. Therefore, the scope of the theory planned behavior provides a context through which the SMS-based marketing can influence the fundamental aspects of humanity such as subjective norms, attitudes, and behavioral controls whose impacts affect the individual’s intention to purchase particular products.

The consumer perception to make a decision is an essential element which most of the marketing strategies target. Mostly, the regulatory focus theory addresses the importance of consumers’ perception in making decisions. It is worth appreciating the fact that the ability of the consumer to make a decision stems from different motives. According to the theory, the short message service inspires motivation in two ways. The SMS-based marketing purposes to achieve its desired aspiration through proper communication of the desired goal concisely and precisely (Hassan et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2016; Shareef et al., 2015). Correspondingly, the SMS-based marketing instrumentally seeks to address the perceptions which may lead to the achievement of the negative results. The theoretical framework of consumer behavior makes use of the regulatory focus defining the extent to which consumers regulate their consumption decisions.

On the other hand, the SMS-based marketing adopts two strategic dimensions to influence the consumer response to their products. The approach to marketing applies both the prevention and promotional focus which is essential for maintaining and increasing the consumer market share. The promotional focus is a motivational approach inspiring the target market to incline towards product and services of the marketer. The SMS-based marketing strategies encourage the target market to try out the new products and services to get the desired outcomes(Hassan et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2016; Shareef et al., 2015; Varshney and Joy, 2015). During such scenarios, the effect of the SMS market is best seen when the targeted consumers portray self-regulations. Consequently, the majority of the consumers strive to maximize the chances of obtaining a desired positive outcome. The prevention focus of the SMS-based marketing strategy inspires consumers by ensuring that they don’t experience any loss at the moment of making their consumption decisions. The SMS promotional approach instigates precautionary step to reduce the chances of an adverse outcome occurring. In as much as the regulatory focus of the consumer seems long-termed, the effect of the SMS-based promotional approach often inspire temporary motivation which changes the way in which the target market responds to the marketing campaign drives.

The SMS marketing ensure advertising credibility. Generally, consumers are sensitive concerning the perception of truth and believability concerning the promotional strategies used by most of the marketing firms. For this reason, the SMS marketing strategy influences the behavior of the consumer through the application of the two fundamental aspects namely credibility of the advertiser and that of the advertisement itself. The two components are essential for casting away the probable doubt which may cloud the mind of the prospective consumers. The advertiser’s credibility addresses the company as a credible source of information and responsible for the consequences of the information put across. On the other hand, the credibility of advertisement validates the content presented to the consumers. It is important to note that the credibility of the SMS marketing strategies instrumentally determines the response of the target market. According to (Hassan et al., 2017; Kumar et al., 2016; Lin and Chen, 2015)The aspect of credibility bears significant influence on the perception of the consumers regarding the information conveyed through SMS promotional approaches to marketing. Correspondingly, the customers can validate the credibility of the information transmitted through the media or the channel used. According to this assertion, people tend to perceive the Short message services as more credible than the printed sources of information. Credibility is a necessary component of marketing. Nonetheless, the SMS-based marketing strategies employ the aspect of credibility to establish a positive influence which has realized several changes in the behaviors of the consumers.

The consumers often receive the personalized SMS more positively compared to the mass communication messages. This aspect insinuates that the use of customized SMS promotional strategies leaves a favorable impression of on the target market. (Hassan et al. (2017); Kumar et al. (2016); Lin and Chen (2015); Varshney and Joy (2015), the SMS promotional strategies enabled marketers to create customer loyalty through the establishment of one-to-one communication which has a positive impact on the target market. The application of this form of one-to-one communication emanates from an understanding of the individual needs of the consumers thereby helping to solve those needs empathetically. Following the volume of the messages which the consumers receive, they can be perceived as intrusive. In order to dispel the adverse effect, the customizations of the messages act as a possible solution. The approach makes the consumers believe that marketers understand the plight and needs of the targeted consumers. Besides, the personalization of the messages grants the marketers an opportunity to target a particular segment of the market accurately and address their preferences directly. For this reason, it can be concluded that marketing strategies are employing the use of the knowledge of the consumers’ histories, profiles, interest, and needs to influence the consumer decisions and responses successfully. Therefore, the scope of the SMS-based promotional strategies impacts positively on the perception and behavior of the consumers.

In conclusion, the essence of the SMS promotional approach marketing enable the consumers to establish effective communications which help to understand wants and needs of the consumers. Besides, firms incorporate effective use of the Short message service to widen their scope of marketing. Marketing associates the SMS promotional strategies with positive outcomes. However, the promoters must ensure the information disseminated through the short message services should reflect the qualitative features, usefulness, and timelines to the targeted consumers. By doing this, the SMS promotional strategy would inherently foster the aspect of one-on-one communication which is essential for influencing the scope of the consumer behavior important in marketing. Essentially, SMS advertisement seeks to influence the attitude, belief, and intentions of the target market. The SMS promotional strategy adopts two strategic dimensions to influence the consumer response to their products namely prevention and promotional focus. Similarly, the media affects the behavior of the consumer through the application of the two fundamental aspects namely credibility of the advertiser and that of the advertisement itself. Therefore, the approach is essential for changing the attitude and perception of the client concerning the products and services in the markets.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Andrews, M., Goehring, J., Hui, S., Pancras, J., Thornswood, L., 2016. Mobile promotions: A framework and research priorities. J. Interact. Mark. 34, 15–24.

Drossos, D.A., Giaglis, G.M., Vlachos, P.A., Zamani, E.D., Lekakos, G., 2013. Consumer responses to SMS advertising: Antecedents and consequences. Int. J. Electron. Commer. 18, 105–136.

Duzgun, F., Yamamoto, G.T., 2017. SMS Promotion Effects on Consumer Behaviour: A Turkish Case. Int J Econ Manag Sci 6, 2.

Hassan, M.U., Iqbal, A., Malik, M., Iqbal, Z., 2017. The rise of SMS marketing: key drivers, acceptance, and intention to receive advertising SMS in Pakistan. Int. J. Bus. Forecast. Mark. Intell. 3, 337–364.

Kumar, V., Akhter Shareef, M., Kumar, U., Persaud, A., 2016. Promotional marketing through mobile phone SMS: a cross-cultural examination of consumer acceptance. Transnatl. Corp. Rev. 8, 1–16.

Lin, H., Chen, Z., 2015. Influence of SMS advertising on consumer behavioral intention. J. Organ. End User Comput. JOEUC 27, 25–42.

Muk, A., 2007. Consumers’ intentions to opt into SMS advertising: a cross-national study of young Americans and Koreans. Int. J. Advert. 26, 177–198.

Shareef, M.A., Dwivedi, Y.K., Rana, N.P., 2015. Consumer behavior in the context of SMS-based marketing. Mark. Rev. 15, 135–160.

Varshney, S., Joy, J., 2015. Consumer attitudes toward mobile marketing and its impact on customers. Int. J. Inf. Bus. Manag. 7, 44.