Let’s face it: It’s always a little stressful when anyone asks you to put your “money where your mouth is.”

Most marketing leaders know that tracking and justifying your marketing spend is something of a begrudging necessity — after all, no one wants to devote months of effort developing a marketing campaign just to throw your spend into a black hole. Without thorough analysis, your team could burn through months of resources and other opportunity costs only to produce a campaign that proves little-to-no ROI.

And if you aren’t tweaking your campaigns based on your findings as you go along, you’re almost certainly missing out. Even if your metrics are seemingly knocking it out of the park, for thorough marketers, that nagging question never really goes away: are you really getting the most out of your marketing spend?

The Fear Is Real

It’s no wonder why these fears are at the forefront of so many marketers’ minds: Combined with economic headwinds like inflation and a possible looming recession, pressure to do more with less will likely become increasingly important in the coming years — and preparation will be key. One recent survey found that 43% of respondents were planning to cut their marketing budgets in 2023.¹

In fact, when asked directly about the digital marketing challenges that “kept them up at night,” a number of marketers we surveyed were quick to express their fears surrounding how to ensure a positive ROI.² For example:

“[I’m] worrying whether the digital budget is used effectively, and how I can be further optimizing my campaigns.”

“Making sure all bases are covered, and [that] all customers are being reached effectively.”

“Trying to ensure my marketing campaigns are reaching the right audience.”

The key words from these responses, “effective” and “optimized”, paint a clear picture. Marketers need to know that their investment is worth the effort, with key metrics to prove it. As researchers categorized these marketer’s answers by topic, they were able to identify the top three “categories” or types of fears expressed:

1. Revenue (23%)
2. Marketing effectiveness (16%)
3. Targeting capabilities or reaching the correct audience (15%)

While each category is different, it’s worth noting that the three fears do share a common underlying anxiety: That one’s campaigns and marketing efforts are not providing a solid return, and your team’s investments — in capital, time, and effort — might have been better spent on a more valuable tool or channel.

How Business Messaging Can Help

Of course, we all want to position our campaigns for maximum success. And for marketers to get a good night's sleep!

Thankfully, business messaging can provide scalable solutions that are not only effective at engaging and converting customers, but can help save costs and provide tangible points of value for your business — something you’ll be able to point to the next time you’re called into the corner office.

Meta-commissioned research found that about 56% of marketers surveyed said they’ve used a business messaging solution in the past 12 months as part of their company’s marketing communication strategy.³ Among those, 81% said they expect a positive ROI. The popularity of business messaging has even surpassed traditional mainstays like OOH and TV.⁴

So why are so many marketing leaders embracing business messaging as a scalable, performant marketing channel? We’ll outline some of these key reasons below.

The Engaging Nature of Messaging Can Help Increase Open and Conversion Rates

Messaging Nurture Campaigns Can Lead To Repeat Purchases, Higher Average Order Value, and Reduced Churn

Thanks to both its high open/engagement rates and conversational nature, business messaging can be enormously effective in providing personalized upsell pitches to your customers — especially if the platform is armed with helpful first-party data like past purchases, subscriptions, and other history.

Informational messages about new products, availability, promotions, and other benefits can pack quite a punch when it comes to driving revenue. As an added value, if a shopper has abandoned their cart, or a recurring customer suddenly disappears, a friendly hello (and perhaps a promotional coupon) via business messaging channels is often a quick-and-easy way to bring them back to the fold. In fact, one report found that click through rates for cart abandonment messages via SMS messaging performed over eleven times better than email (36% vs. 3.2%)⁷

Remember: Since you’re meeting customers where they’re comfortable, at a cadence they prefer, they won’t mind the friendly suggestions — and will often reward you for making them.