The B2B SaaS Marketing Blog

Google’s Click-to-Message Ads Lets Your Customers Send You Texts

by 

Michelle Berube

Last updated: November 11th, 2016

65% of surveyed consumers said that they’d consider using messaging to connect with a business to get information, or to schedule an appointment. Of course they would. They likely used their phone to their to find you, so why wouldn’t they want to take the next step?

Google recently announced their Adwords’ Click-to-Message ads would be rolling out over the next few weeks, and you will be able to access them by setting up a message extension.

“Tapping on the texting option launches a user’s SMS app with a pre-written message tailored to the product or service they’re interested in,” said Google in their blog.

“For example, if you’re a travel advertiser and someone messages you after searching for New York City hotels, they can send or edit your pre-written message text, ‘I’m interested in a reservation. Please text me back with more information.’”

Google has already tested the functionality with a number of businesses, including:

• TravelPASS Group (A marketplace for hotels, OTAs, travel agents, and travelers)
• AnyVan (Delivery, Removals, and Courier Services)
• Auto & General (Insurance)
• Global Industrial (Distributor of material handling equipment and office equipment)

“The results from click-to-message have been phenomenal and we’ve seen an 80% higher conversion rate when compared to other similar channels,” said Gavin Parker, Paid Search Manager of Auto & General.

“We can now tap into an important consumer base that prefers to use SMS to learn more about our insurance products. Besides giving users a new way to get in touch with us, we feel this is by far the fastest and most cost-effective way to connect with them.”

What Click-to-Message Ads Can Do for Your Business

We shouldn’t have to tell you that making yourself more accessible is never a bad thing. If your business has used, or is currently using, call extensions in your ads, you may be interested to learn that the text extension showed even better results, among the early adopters and testers.

Wordstream has tested ads with click-to-text and already seen some pretty remarkable results:

“Five separate WordStream Managed Services clients using this feature in beta saw CTR improvements from message extensions, averaging 50% higher CTR than the mobile ad alone! These message extensions even rivaled the success of call extensions.”

Want to know how to get the most from your AdWords campaign?

We can help you leverage click-to-text functionality into your Adwords, and send your ROI skyward.

Powered By Search is one of the most respected inbound marketing agencies in Canada, and we recently made PROFIT Magazine’s list of Canada’s Fastest-Growing Companies.

Let’s get started right now.