A recent quantitative research by a Nigerian University Scholar gives shocking revelations about the effects of SMS advertising on attitudes of Nigerian GSM phone users.
A Nigerian scholar recently carried out a quantitative analysis of the “Effect of SMS advertising on attitudes of Nigerian GSM Users.” The Researcher, Okwuchukwu Anyasor is a lecturer in the Department of Marketing, Anambra State University, Uli, Nigeria. The result of the study is published in the African Journal of Education, Science and Technology (Vol 3, No. 1) (ISSN 2309 – 9240).
The study used an experimental research methodology to examine the effect SMS advertising has on the cognitive, affective and conative attitude components of Nigerian GSM Phone users. Some of the revelations of the study were quite serendipitous and unexpected.
The following are key issues the study raised that can be useful to Nigerian digital marketers who rely on the use of bulk SMS to grow their businesses as well as future researchers interested in investigating the impact of the use of bulk SMS as a viable digital marketing mechanism in Nigeria:
- Myriad of studies revolving around SMS advertising on attitudes in the recent years appear to point the level of interest of the academia on the subject, especially in the developed countries. In apparent contrast, there is no accessible literature that focuses on the effect of SMS advertising on customer attitudes in Nigeria.
- The study revealed a projected 28.2 trillion SMS messages to be sent by the end of 2017 alone.
- Although spontaneous exposure of customer to SMS advertising touches his/her cognitive and belief system with the supply of information on the advertised product, the overall effect of SMS advertising in the three attitude components is not enough. SMS advertising is therefore not significant viable persuasive advertising medium, as a standalone. The study goes to strengthen the point that the use of bulk SMS in Nigeria for advertising should be complemented by other digital marketing media such as web, social media, etc.
- The study recommended that advertisers should be cautious about the information content of their ad messages so as to produce ads that contain sufficient, pleasant and valuable information needed to positively engage the cognition of their consumer.
- The study also recommended further studies on SMS advertising in Nigeria to determine the acceptability of the medium by consumers and so improve the quality of the strategy to avoid causing irritation.
