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Archives of Business Research – Vol. 9, No. 11
Publication Date: November 25, 2021
DOI:10.14738/abr.911.11273. Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business
Research, 9(11). 154-176.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on
Hierarchy of Effects Model
Professor Dr. Muhammad Ziaulhaq Mamun
Pro-Vice Chancellor, East West University, Bangladesh
Former Professor, Institute of Business Administration
University of Dhaka
ABSTRACT
The study explored the effectiveness of Short Message Service (SMS) advertising on
customers’ purchase decision focusing awareness, knowledge, liking, preference,
conviction, and purchase attributes of Hierarchy of Effects Model. A total of 180
mobile phone subscribers were surveyed adopting non-probability convenience
and judgmental sampling techniques through a structured questionnaire. It is
found that none of the attributes have positive impact on the subscribers’ behavior.
Purchase is found to be the most ineffective attribute followed by Conviction and
Liking. Awareness, Knowledge, and Preference are least ineffective ones. However,
SMS ad which explicitly mentions the company name and offers in the title,
somewhat gets subscribers’ attention. It is noted that the SMS ads do not provide
enough information, accessibility, and convenience. Brand loyalty and brand image
of the products advertised have weak positive impact on consumer preference. The
respondents view SMS ads mostly unconvincing and ineffective; but call rate
packages, internet purchases and product discount purchases fared not so poorly.
However, there are situations where SMS can be utilized effectively. As SMS
advertising do not really incur much additional cost for the telecom companies, it
can provide an avenue for information dissemination, as well as, to generate
revenue from offers they promote.
Key words: awareness, conviction, knowledge, liking, preference, purchase
BACKGROUND
Short Message Service (SMS) advertising has skyrocketed and gained prominence globally in
recent years (Wilkinson, 2021). Business-to-consumer (B2C) text messaging is growing rapidly.
Global mobile business messaging traffic hit 2.7 trillion in 2020, up 10% from 2019 (Goldman,
2021). Brands are using SMS in various customer communication applications, including
marketing messages, customer support, transactional messages, and more. Mobile phone users
are bombarded with daily promotions from telecom service operators and third-party service
providers (Hossan, Akter, & Ferdous, 2015; Watson, McCarthy, & Rowley, 2013). All telecom
operators frequently utilize SMS advertising as part of their market mix. Taking cue from
telecom service providers, several organizations have understood the potential of SMS
advertisements. Apart from telecom operators, retail stores, FMCG companies, Business to
Business (B-B) and Business to consumers (B-C) companies, hotels, restaurants, airlines, etc.,
have started utilizing SMS ads for promotion (Bert et al, 2015; Reddy, 2001).
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Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business Research, 9(11).
154-176.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.911.11273
As one of the fastest-growing tools in a marketer’s arsenal, SMS can be a highly effective
customer communication channel, but it also comes with its own set of challenges (Goldman,
2021). There are observations of widespread discontent of mobile phone users with daily
promotions through SMS advertisements not relevant to their needs (Hossan, et al., 2015; Khalil
et al., 2020). Hence, it is important to have insight into the attributes of SMS advertising that
are effective and thus making the ads more relevant to the consumers, consequently mitigating
their discontent to a significant extent, and further enabling the decision makers to manage
their marketing communication budgets accordingly. This will benefit the mobile operators and
third-party service providers (clothing stores, cafés & restaurants, etc.) who use SMS
advertising as part of their marketing communication mix. Information in this regard will allow
marketing managers to better target promotions using SMS to segments most likely to be
malleable to promotions through the medium.
The study of effectiveness of SMS ads in relation to the Bangladesh telecom market is of utmost
importance. The scope of SMS ads in Bangladesh can be wide and huge. Bangladesh has a
population of 167 million (BBS, 2020). As per mobile service providers, till July 2021,
Bangladesh has 90 million unique subscribers with 170 million mobile connections giving a
penetration rate of 54 percent (BTRC, 2021). Still about 47 percent of subscribers use 2G
connections and 25 per cent 3G connections. Huge growth in the telecom industry has insured
this many people in Bangladesh now use mobile phones as their most favored means of
communication and scope of SMS advertisement. Since SMS ads constitute a growing portion of
many organizations’ marketing budget, judging the effectiveness of SMS ads have become
increasingly important(Chowdhury, Islam, & Rana, 2016). Research on the effectiveness of SMS
ad is few and far between. Moreover, in Bangladesh the situation is direr and not much is known
about SMS advertisements especially in the Bangladeshi market context (Bose et al., 2010,
Khalil et al., 2020).
Considering above, this study attempts to shed light on the factors that constitute the
effectiveness of SMS advertisements using the Hierarchy of Effects Model, a cognitive
communication model that states that people perceive information in a process passing linearly
through the stages of awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase
(Lavidge & Steiner, 1961). These micro stages are broadly divided into three major stages: i)
the cognitive stage (awareness, knowledge), ii) the affective stage (liking, preference,
conviction), and iii) the behavioral stage (purchase). The study analyzes the impact of SMS ads
in each of the six stages. The findings of the study will shed light for companies to better design
their marketing communication strategies. This will not only save organizations their precious
funds but will also allow them to accurately tailor marketing communication to different
market segments.
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
The broad objective of the study is to determine the effectiveness of SMS advertising on
subscribers’ purchase behavior. Specifically, the study tried to i) identify ideal time for receiving
SMS ads, ii) ascertain the consumers’ liking for various services and offers, iii) find out the
attainment of the SMS ads focusing six factors of Hierarchy of Effects Model (awareness,
knowledge, liking, preference, conviction, and purchase), iv) determine the effectiveness of SMS
ads demographically, and v) provide recommendations for improving the effectiveness of SMS
advertising.
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METHODOLOGY
Research Design
This empirical study is exploratory in nature. The study includes both primary and secondary
data and pertinent literature review. Primary data was mainly collected using a structured
questionnaire. The secondary data is collected through literature review of journal articles,
books, conference proceedings, and research papers. A non-probability convenience and
judgmental sampling techniques are used to identify the respondents. The sample size of the
study is 180 mobile phone subscribers using different mobile services. The questionnaire was
designed after developing the coordination schema (Appendix 1). The schema identified 26
simple variables converging into six attributes to measure the parameter ‘effectiveness of SMS
advertisements focusing Hierarchy of Effects Model’. Effectiveness of SMS advertisements
might be related to other factors not included in the Hierarchy of Effects Models. The draft
questionnaire is pretested on five mobile phone users and adjusted accordingly.
Sample population of the study has been taken from the urban areas of Dhaka city, the capital
of Bangladesh. Dhaka being the cultural, economic, and political center of Bangladesh has
representation of people from all corners of the country, if not, true country representation.
Sample was taken from people between the ages of 18 and above having a minimum education
of Secondary School level. The study used face validity to identify the variables, implying that
the items chosen to measure a variable are logically related to it. The cronbach’s alpha value of
0.89 (>0.7) indicated that the data is highly reliable and internally consistent. Statistical tests
including index analysis, descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and ANOVA are used to
analyze the data.
The Objectivity of Hierarchy of Effects Model
Industry practitioners and social scientists throughout the world have long sought to determine
the effectiveness of advertising in this multi-billion-dollar industry. One suggested explanation
of how advertisements work is the hierarchy of effects - that body of literature theorizes that
audiences go through a variety of stages, namely cognitive (awareness, knowledge), affective
(liking, preference, conviction), and behavioral/conative (purchase), in responding to
advertising, and other persuasive marketing messages (Barry & Howard, 2015). So, the
hierarchy of effects model is in line with the objective of the study, i.e., to determine the
effectiveness, as well as attainment, of SMS advertising on subscribers’ purchase behavior.
Effectiveness of SMS ads depend on subscribers’ reaction to elements of each stage as the
"hierarchical" model posits that the number of consumers reduces while moving from one stage
to the next. There may be a lot of consumers that notice the product ad but not everyone will
make a purchase. It takes a lot of effort to take a consumer from awareness to the final stage of
purchase; so, companies need to give their best to get customers from conviction to complete
the purchase. Using the model, the study may understand the concerns of the transitions in
customers’ behavior from being unaware about product or brand to understanding and liking
it, and ultimately acting for purchase.
Hierarchy of effects model is an advanced strategy which approaches the sales of product via
properly designed and persuasive advertising messages (Wijaya, 2012). The instrument will
also help understand how effectively the messages created wide brand awareness over the time
and guide customers in their process of decision-making. But the scholars belonging to
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Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business Research, 9(11).
154-176.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.911.11273
cognitive psychology have argued that consumers are exposed to a large range of information
in real world which influence their final buying decision (Barry & Howard, 2015). They also
criticized the model for its feasibility to understand each stage of buying behaviors and its
ignorance of different advertising goals. Getting an idea about how the advertising message gets
processed at every stage in consumer mind becomes almost impossible due to extensive
background noise.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Mobile Advertising
Advertising is a method of marketing that provides information about goods, services, and
businesses. Goals of advertising are to build product image and to stimulate direct purchase.
Advertising has evolved with the emergence of new technologies (Goldman, 2021). Radio and
TV are still traditional mediums for advertisements; but internet and mobile networks have
emerged as new growing media for promotion (Watson et al., 2013). Mobile advertising is any
form of advertising that appears on mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets using
wireless connections. Companies advertise through text ads via SMS or through banner
advertisements that appear embedded on a mobile web site. Mobile advertising is defined as
the usage of interactive media (e.g., cell phones, pagers, PDAs, wireless networking, GPS based
location device and maps) to transmit promotional messages in the form of time and location
sensitive personalized information to market goods and services (Dix, 2009).
Mobile advertisements can be categorized into four major types: communication type,
presentation type, business type, and message type (Tasyurek, 2021). Push type direct
purchase advertising medium mainly consists of i) SMS (Short Message Service) and ii) MMS
(Multimedia Messaging Service). SMS advertisements consisting only of text are currently more
popular. MMS advertisements are more technologically complex consisting of sound,
animations on text messaging capabilities. It is highly likely that soon the MMS taking
precedence over SMS (Table 1). Advertising messages consist of different content according to
the needs of marketing. Promotional offers and coupons are used for immediate increase of
sales, whereas advertisements for building brand image and loyalty demand different approach
(Bart, Yakov, Stephen & Sarvary, 2014).
Table 1: Types of Mobile Advertisements
Communication Type Presentation Type Business Purpose Message Type
Push Message
(SMS/EMS/MMS)
Direct purchase Pure
advertisement
Pull Mobile banner Coupon/Promotion Attached
advertisement
Interactive Ring tone
Application
(Screen saver/ Wall
paper/ Mobile game)
Information
Transfer
Brand Imaging
Communicating/
Shared
Mobile advertising is a rapidly growing advertising format. In 2020, over $240 billion expected
to spend on mobile ads worldwide, with the United States seeing the lion's share
of expenditures and roughly 46 percent of the total mobile ad spend was attributed to retailers
(Statista, 2021). Surprisingly, according to a study, even with the rapid proliferation of smart
phone handsets in the market, low quality display advertising which is known for its limited
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information capability still commands most of the mobile advertising spending (Bart et al.,
2014). Low fidelity advertising has been shown to be effective for products that require further
thought and consideration and products that are high involvement and utilitarian - as opposed
to hedonic.
SMS Advertising
SMS ads provides interesting possibilities for marketers since it allows one to one
communication with the customer. Personalized information tailored to a specific individual
and aided by time and location sensitive information can provide value to both the consumer
and the producer (Binkley, 2012). SMS has been in use for more than two decades. However,
the marketing application of SMS was understood far later. Ubiquity, low cost, personalization,
high response rates are what makes short text message ads an interesting and potentially
lucrative marketing medium (Tasyurek, 2021).
Now-a-days mobile phone devices are extremely popular all over the world. The large potential
audience and the access to remote areas provided by mobile cellular phones made marketers
unprecedented access to a larger portion of the population than ever before. SMS allows people
to send short text messages with limited graphics capability at a very low cost. Bulk SMS
services allow corporations to send the same message to a large group of people. Information
tailored to a target market or even better an individual is key to the success of SMS advertising
(Grewal, Bart, & Spann, 2016).
There are many problems that might affect the growth of mobile advertisements, chief among
them are spam messages and privacy (Khalil, 2020). Researchers fear that spam messages
might deteriorate the quality of SMS advertisements as it has done with email messages. Since
SMS advertisements are seen as private forms of communication, consumer perceptions of
violations of privacy can easily be breached. This is especially true during location-based
marketing and consumer information gathering (Rau, Zhang, Shang, & Zhou, 2011).
Consumer Attitude towards SMS Advertising
Different companies, irrespective of brand, are increasingly turning to short text message
advertising to capture the customer attention. The Covid-19 scenario have made the firms
increasingly resorting to text messaging to conduct everyday social interactions (DMA, 2020).
Text messaging is seen as being spam free as opposed to email advertising (Binkley, 2012).
Teens, adults and even old are responding to SMS advertising with alacrity. Not only does SMS
advertising reaches more people, but it is also more effective in capturing their attention.
Culture also has a positive correlation with the use of SMS technology (Muk, 2007).
The SMS advertising has existed and implemented for quite a few years now. Majority of
consumers have responded positively to SMS advertisements if their preferences are taken in
account before receiving the messages (Grewal et al., 2016). Some respondents have reacted
negatively to SMS advertisements too. Individuals complain of receiving messages at
inconvenient times and are irritated of rampant texting invading their privacy. Some
respondents have even complained of spams. Several studies highlight the importance of
integrating permission-based strategies in SMS ads (Rau et al., 2011). Preferences of consumers
must be respected before sending SMS messages. This will not only garner greater acceptance
but also possibly increase sales. A study conducted in Bangladesh have shown that people have
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Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business Research, 9(11).
154-176.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.911.11273
an extremely positive perception of SMS advertising and its prospect (Khalil et al., 2020). The
study has shown that SMS advertisement has positive correlation with accessibility,
applicability, cost effectiveness, brand recall, generation of awareness and client growth.
Critical Review and Future Direction of SMS Advertising
SMS advertising is seen as a push form of wireless advertising. Furthermore, SMS advertising
is also seen as a direct form of communication that has been used in the marketing mix of
numerous companies, particularly in the FMCG category to target young consumers (Wilkinson,
2021). Researchers are unable to agree whether SMS advertising is effective advertising
medium, due to it being dependent on other factors such as product quality, content of the
advertising message, etc. Consumer acceptance of SMS advertisements were measured using
variables such as utility, context, irritation, and permission (Drossos, Giaglis, Viachos & Zamani,
2013). Culture also plays an important role in designing SMS ads (Muk, 2007).
According to research carried out in different countries, the key indicators that affected
consumer attitude towards SMS advertisements were found to be permission, wireless service
provider control, mobile advertising trust, perceived irritation, information, entertainment,
credibility, and delivery of message (Suher, 2009). Even then, gaps and contradictions in
findings in the field of mobile advertising caused confusion. A decade ago Dix (2009) felt the
need of further research in this field to get a thorough understanding of the subject.
Demographic Response to Mobile Advertising and Message Characteristics
The prospect of mobile advertising was predicted a decade back (Coursaris& Swierenga, 2010).
Market analysis support for the positive effects of mobile ads' message length on the perceived
information and entertainment of the mobile ad, which in turn positively influence both
attitudes toward the mobile ad and the mobile user's intention to click through it and learn
more about the advertised brand (Drossos et al., 2013). Gender effects regarding perceptions
of a mobile ad's information found women reporting higher levels for all dependent constructs
(i.e., information and entertainment of the mobile ads, attitude toward the ads, and intention to
click through and learn more). Age wise the older subscribers found to score lower values
regarding the mobile ad's value, their outlook toward the ads, and their likelihood to click
through than younger users (Coursaris & Swierenga, 2010).
Further, research results noted that women are more active than men in their responses to SMS
purchase ad campaigns. The results also indicated that mobile advertising is irrespective of age
and not concentrated only towards teenagers. Consumers in the 36-45 age group are most
likely to respond to SMS calls-to-action in a television program and participate in SMS lottery
and other competitions. The youngest consumers found most actively ordered mobile services
using SMS. Furthermore, it was found that employment status had a substantial impact on
consumers' SMS campaign activity (Leppäniemi & Karjaluoto, 2008).
Content Relevance and Delivery Time of SMS Advertising
The influence of content relevance and delivery time on Short Message Service (SMS)
advertising effect, which was measured in terms of attitude, purchase intention, and
involvement, was studied in detail by noting participants’ perception by sending advertisement
text messages at different times of a day and on different days of a week during course of the
study (Rau et al., 2011). Results indicated that higher content relevance is associated with
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Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business Research, 9(11).
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URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.911.11273
Table 3: Occupation Type
Occupation
Type Frequency (f)
Relative
frequency (%)
Cumulative relative
frequency (%)
a) Student 70 38.9 38.9
b) Businessperson 18 10.0 48.9
c) Private Job Holder 67 37.2 86.1
d) Public Job Holder 11 6.1 92.2
e) Homemaker 14 7.8 100.0
Total 180 100.0 -
Features of SMS Advertising
Ideal Time for Receiving SMS Ads
The study noted that the receiving time of SMS advertisements varied widely (Table 4).
Majority of the respondents (31%) are most amicable to receiving SMS advertisements in the
evening (4 pm - 8 pm). A significant portion of the respondents (25%) stated that they would
prefer to receive SMS advertisements at night (8 pm - 12 pm) and almost equal number (23%)
preferred to receive the SMS in the afternoon (12 pm - 4 pm). Whereas very few respondents
showed preference (7%) for receiving any form of SMS advertisements in the morning (8 am -
12 pm). About 14% preferred for ‘other’ timings. Very important to note that almost 90% of the
responses in ‘others’ was specified as ‘none’, implying that they are indifferent to receive SMS
advertisements in any time of the day.
Table 4: Preferred time for receiving SMS ads (Multiple options given)
Preferred time Frequency (f) Relative frequency (%)
a) Morning (8 am -12
pm) 15 7%
b) Afternoon (12 pm - 4
pm) 48 23%
c) Evening (4 pm – 8 pm) 64 31%
d) Night (8 pm -12 pm) 52 25%
e) Others 28 14%
Total 207 100%
Consumers’ Liking for Various Services and Offers
The study identified the respondents’ preference for specific services and offers promoted
through SMS ads. Better insight into consumer taste led to effective targeting of SMS
advertisements in services where consumers show high liking. Services and offers is divided
into two parts: i) utility service offers by mobile-operators themselves and ii) other
promotional offers by third parties in partnership with the mobile-operators.
Liking for utility service offers by mobile operator
Assuming respondents had varied tastes, they were allowed to select multiple utility services
when giving the choices (Table 5). Subscribers showed highest enthusiasm (18%) for receiving
traffic updates through short text messages. Sports update (16%), job news/finder (16%),
healthcare/beauty tips (16%), and music station (12%) services received double digit
affirmation from respondents surveyed. Celebrity news (6%) and horoscope type utility (7%)
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services received poor responses. About 10% of the respondents chose others, where majority
mentioned they want no specific service.
Table 5: Liking for utility services (Multiple options given)
Utility services Frequency (f) Relative frequency (%)
a) Sports update 51 16%
b) Celebrity news 20 6%
c) Horoscope 21 7%
d) Music station 37 12%
e) Job news/finder 51 16%
f) Health care/ beauty
tips
50 16%
g) Traffic update 56 18%
h) Others 31 10%
Total 317 100%
Liking for third-party service offers
Respondents showed strong preference for receiving third party service offers from cafes
(26%) and clothing and footwear stores (22%), which far outstripped preference for other
types of third-party service offers (Table 6). Coming at a distant third with 16% of the
preference is given to super stores. Third party service offers from jewelry (6%), beauty parlors
(7%), hotels (7%), airlines (9%) and others (6%) received single digit scores from respondents
indicating low preference for these.
Table 6: Liking for third-party offers (Multiple options given)
Third-party offers Frequency (f) Relative frequency (%)
a) Clothing & footwear 88 22%
b) Superstores 65 16%
c) Jewelry 26 6%
d) beauty parlors 30 7%
e) hotels 29 7%
f) cafes, restaurants 106 26%
g) airlines 37 9%
h) others 24 6%
Total 405 100%
Effectiveness of SMS Advertising Ads
Bangladeshi firms in recent years have ramped up promotions of products and services using
SMS texting. This section addresses the issues of effectiveness of SMS advertising focusing six
attributes of Hierarchy of Effects Model (awareness, knowledge, liking, preference, conviction,
and purchase) in a 5-point Likert scale (-2: strongly disagree, -1: disagree, 0: indifferent, +1:
strongly agree, +1: agree). Each respondent (mobile-phone subscriber) is given option to show
their agreement to the 26 simple variables used to measure the effectiveness of SMS advertising
based on the six attributes. All the variable statements in the questionnaire are drafted in a
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Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business Research, 9(11).
154-176.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.911.11273
positive tone favoring advertised product features. Any negative rating implicated the extent of
ineffectiveness, and any positive rating showed the extent of effectiveness of SMS advertising.
The findings are analyzed in the following sub-sections.
i) Awareness
The awareness attribute of SMS advertising has six simple variables which mainly focuses
noticing (reading) of the SMS ads (Table 7). It is noted that majority of the mobile-phone users
do not always read SMS ads when they receive them (-0.33); The frequency at which an SMS ad
is sent proves to be ineffective too (-0.63). The number in the title of the SMS found no influence
in reading the content (-0.94). Important to note that the respondents disagreed with the
statement that they never wanted to block SMS ads (-0.60). However, SMS ad which explicitly
mentions the company name (+0.33) and the offers in its title (+0.37), somewhat effectively
gets the attention of the subscribers. Overall, it can be said that the awareness attribute does
not effectively make the subscribers notice the text messages, i.e., mobile-operators text
messages are found somewhat ineffective in getting the attention of the subscribers. (-0.201).
Table 7: The effectiveness of awareness attribute
Awareness attribute variables
(Overall Mean = -0.201)
Sample size
(n)
Mean
(μ)
Std. Dev.
(σ)
Sig. (2-tailed)
(μ=0)
1) Always read SMS ads when received 180 -0.33 1.237 0.000
2) The company name mentioned in the title of
the SMS (e.g. Airtel/Diamond World)
influences to read the content
180 0.33 1.210 0.000
3) The offer mentioned in the title of the SMS
(e.g., 10% discount at Cream & Fudge!)
influences to read the content
179 0.37 1.254 0.000
4) The number in the title of the SMS (e.g.,
5858, 2222, etc.) influences to read the
content
180 -0.94 1.061 0.000
5) More likely to read an SMS ad if it is sent
more frequently
179 -0.63 1.222 0.000
6) Never wanted to block SMS ads that did not
interest you in the first place
179 -0.60 1.355 0.000
ii) Knowledge
As far as knowledge is concerned, the attribute has two variables: i) SMS ads provide enough
information about the offer and ii) Information is easily accessible if any clarification is needed
(Table 8). Both the variables came out to be somewhat ineffective as the respondents showed
equal disagreement with both the statements (-0.28). Overall, it can be said that the knowledge
attribute does not effectively make the subscribers inform through the text messages about the
products (-0.286). In fact, most of the SMS ad offers consumers receive seem to be conditional
and a bit “deceptive” as enough information on usage charges and validity is not customarily
given. And when information clarification is desired, consumers need to call the customer
helpline, which is not free of charge, and might have to wait for a while to get the appropriate
response.
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Mamun, M. Z. (2021). Effectiveness of Sms Advertising in Bangladesh: Drawing on Hierarchy of Effects Model. Archives of Business Research, 9(11).
154-176.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/abr.911.11273
Table 10: The effectiveness of preference attribute
Preference attribute variables
(overall Mean = 0.167)
Sample
size (n)
Mean
(μ)
Std. Dev.
(σ)
Sig. (2-tailed)
(μ=0)
1 The brand image of the product promoted is
most influential in purchase decision
180 0.12 1.211 0.198
2 Personal brand preference is most influential
in purchase decision
178 0.22 1.152 0.010
v) Conviction
The conviction attribute of SMS advertising has three variables which mainly focuses purchase
decision of the subscribers (Table 11). The respondents’ view regarding effectiveness of SMS
advertisements in convincing subscribers in purchase decision, showed mostly unconvincing
and ineffective (-0.68). Inclusion of the feature allowing respondents to opt-out from the
promoted offer seems slightly ineffective in purchase decision, but statistically insignificant (-
0.09). One interesting insight is that the frequency of SMS advertisement in this regard had
strong negative impact (-0.94). Overall, the conviction attribute does not effectively make the
subscribers inform through the text messages about the products (-0.567).
Table 11: The effectiveness of conviction attribute
Conviction attribute variables
(Overall Mean = -0.567)
Sample
size (n)
Mean
(μ)
Std. Dev.
(σ)
Sig. (2-tailed)
(μ=0)
1) The frequency of receiving the SMS ad is
most influential in purchase decision
179 -0.94 1.018 0.000
2) SMS ads can convince to make a
purchase decision
179 -0.68 1.042 0.000
3) SMS ads which give an option to opt-out
from the promoted service are more
likely to convince to make a purchase
decision
178 -0.09 1.091 0.273
vi) Purchase
The purchase attribute of SMS advertising has seven variables which mainly focuses product
purchase (Table 12). It is noted that all the purchase variables, except one, are significantly
ineffective. The responses regarding SMS advertising to make them ultimately buy promoted
products should come as no surprise after receiving proof of the ineffectiveness of SMS
advertising in positively impacting all the steps in hierarchy of effects model preceding
purchase action. The degree of ineffectiveness varied somewhat from product-to-product. SMS
advertisements are most ineffective in competition-based offers (-0.94), followed by utility
service purchases (-0.83) and prize-winning offers (-0.69). Other products did not fare so
poorly. Call rate packages (-0.39), and internet purchases (-0.19) are less ineffective. Product
discount purchases (-0.14) are found statistically insignificant (α=0.05). Overall, the purchase
attribute does not effectively make the subscribers inform through the text messages about the
products (-0.498).