Half of European Marketers Using SMS



A Forrester survey has found that half of all European direct marketers now use SMS. Incredible as that rate of adoption is, however, the research firm predicted the medium will remain in growth mode for two more years, as usage increases by 50 percent and campaign spending doubles.



Conducted jointly with the Federation of European Direct Marketing, the online survey of direct marketers is the second of its kind -- the first having been taken 18 months ago. Comparing results of the two polls, the market researcher found that in addition to its dramatic rate of adoption, SMS has been picked up by new sectors. Whereas 94 percent of SMS marketers polled in the first study hailed from the telecom or media sectors, today their slice of the pie is only 39 percent.



Additionally, the size of firms deploying the technology is shrinking: Adopters employ 1,500 people on average, and Forrester predicts that future users of SMS will employ 1,100.