Last week we posted about how you can drive more efficiency in sales with SMS with some helpful tips on how to move prospects quickly through the sales cycle and ultimately get a better speed to lead. Keeping all that in mind, we’ll now introduce what quick communication with SMS can lead to in terms of a return on investment.

The ROI of SMS: How Sellers Can Close More Deals with Text Messaging

Utilizing SMS in the sales funnel has a profound impact on lead conversion rates. Text messaging allows sellers to engage leads at critical stages along the buyer journey. For instance, after a potential customer has expressed interest in your product or service, an SMS can be swiftly dispatched to keep the momentum going and move the lead further down the funnel.SMS communication is more personal and immediate, which fosters a stronger connection with the lead. This form of communication also enables salespeople to quickly answer questions or provide additional information that could be crucial in swaying the decision-making process in short order.In contrast to other communication channels, the high open and response rates of SMS mean that your messages are more likely to be seen and acted upon quickly. This leads to a higher conversion rate, effectively boosting your sales pipeline.TextUs data demonstrates conversion lift at various stages of the sales funnel, proving the case for SMS as a key driver for pipeline creation and increased sales opportunities. In our own sales process, those leads that opt-in to engage with sellers via SMS see a greater reply rate from the start. We already know that cold emails get a reply rate of 5% on the high end. TextUs data shows that SMS campaigns generate a reply rate of 8%.

As prospects continue down the funnel, we see material conversion lift as leads move to the SQL and qualified opportunity stages. In fact, opportunities that had SMS as part of the sales process saw a 10% conversion lift from lead to SQL. Furthermore, those SQLs move to qualified opportunities at a 10.5% greater rate. Lastly, our data illustrates a 23% lift in opportunity to closed won, with those deals that utilize SMS closing at a 31% win rate.Let's illustrate the average sales sales funnel given these conversion improvements.

Given the improvements in conversion, let's take a scenario where your initial marketing-led outreach drives 500 contacts into the sales funnel. With the conversion lift that SMS has proven to show through the full sales funnel, this seller would stand to close 50% more deals utilizing text messaging properly throughout the buyer journey.

Interested in learning more about how SMS drives more pipeline and see examples? Download our eGuide, The SMS Advantage: A Guide to Driving More Pipeline and Accelerating Sales, now or stay tuned next week for Part 3: 12 Text Message Examples of How to Generate More Pipeline With SMS.