How frequently have you received a text message from a brand you like? If you said “none,” you should venture outside more. We can’t help but open text messages because they are so alluring. And for eCommerce businesses, text messages are an incredibly effective marketing channel because of this.
Around 98% of text messages are opened on average. 48.7 million customers are anticipated to have chosen to receive SMS messages from businesses. Additionally, SMS response rates outperform phone call response rates by 295 per cent.
We discuss some of the best SMS marketing techniques and resources in this manual to assist you in expanding your company.
Let’s begin!
What is SMS marketing?
Email to SMS is a type of direct marketing that involves sending customers text messages with promotional offers, news, and updates. Because of its relative speed and favourable reception, it is a simple and practical method of communicating with customers.
To share promotions, reminders, time-sensitive updates, personalised discounts, and order delivery updates, businesses use SMS marketing. Using these SMS text campaigns makes it possible to advertise products while fostering positive customer relationships.
The Best SMS Marketing Practices.
1. Ask for permission
Text messaging will always be an effective marketing tool, but only if you ask for permission first. You might run into legal issues if a potential client or customer objects to your texting them. Additionally, sending unsolicited texts has the feeling of spam, which is bad for business.
Do not manually enter a contact or phone number list and begin sending messages.You must first obtain their consent. Make sure you keep track of opt-in agreements because people frequently forget to do so.
2. Mention your Business
Your SMS recipients ought to be able to identify you right away. If you don’t, they won’t understand the context of your message, which will increase their likelihood of unsubscribing.
Add your company name, the name of your customer service representative, or a brief description of what you do in every message to customers to identify yourself.
3. Make it easy to opt-out
SMS marketing more than any other channel necessitates customer confidence. To achieve this, make it simple for customers to join and leave your SMS list.
Although you’ll probably lose some subscribers as a result, those who stay on your list do so because they genuinely want to hear what you have to say, not because it’s difficult to unsubscribe. Having your customers text your company first to join is another way to give them control.
4. Use SMS to automate customer communications
You need a list of subscribers before you can send any text message campaigns.
Because your customers want (and expect) to hear from you after the purchase, it’s simpler to do with eCommerce than it is with other types of businesses.
Customers anticipate getting:
- An order confirmation
- A shipping notification with a tracking number
- A delivery notification
- A reminder to leave a review 2-3 weeks after purchase
Customers adore receiving these standard touchpoints on their mobile devices, such as notifications or text messages, from any eCommerce store.
Therefore, when the customer is checking out, you should ask for their phone number and explain why you need it (the above-mentioned touchpoints).
5. Narrow and clarify your objectives.
Make sure you start with a goal in mind and decide precisely what you want to accomplish with this new channel, just like with most marketing initiatives.
With SMS, there are virtually endless possibilities, which can quickly become overwhelming. Many businesses want to participate in the “mobile channel,” but they are unsure of the “why” and “how.” Launch with a single main objective, concentrate on quick wins, and then expand on your strengths.
For instance, lowering cart abandonment and customer support calls are two objectives you can start with. Then you can customise your SMS text messages to inform customers when they’ve forgotten to check out or to send them order confirmations after they’ve made a purchase.
6. Work on Growing Your Subscriber Base.
It’s time to start growing your subscriber list after selecting your new SMS marketing platform.
Through a form on your website, an email flow, or by including a checkbox in the checkout process on any significant e-commerce platform, you can gather SMS subscribers. A phone number and a signup keyword may also be provided so that people may text their consent.
Of course, compliance is among the most crucial considerations when using SMS. Since SMS marketing is a permission-based channel, it is crucial to make sure all aspects of your programme, especially growing your list, are carried out in a very compliant manner.
7. Make it Conversational (sometimes)
The wonderful thing about SMS is that it is naturally conversational. SMS is all about communication back and forth, and SMS marketing is no different.
SMS is a fantastic way to get reviews and product feedback from your customers directly as a result. In our company, we’ll text customers to get their feedback on potential product lines. They become enthused by your texts because of this kind of interaction. Both a strong pull channel and a push channel are possible with SMS.
8. Launch an SMS Giveaway
Conducting a giveaway is another excellent way to expand your SMS list.
Posting about it on your various social media platforms with the invitation to enter the giveaway by texting you or entering their number on your landing page are two options.
An excellent illustration of this is a text-based promotion that Chipotle started in 2014. Since then, the company has had a tonne of success using SMS marketing, and they still find it to be an effective medium for reaching consumers.
The Conclusion
Starting an SMS marketing campaign is simple. Decide what your message is and why you want to send it, then find an SMS messaging service and ask people if you can send them messages.
Then, start communicating with your customers. Don’t overstay your welcome by calling people’s cellphones every day; keep them brief and pertinent.
Guni, one of the most well-known SMS service provider in Australia, is a fantastic, reasonably priced tool for all teams, big and small. They have a few distinctive features that help customer service teams respond and tag clients more effectively.
The more often you use SMS messaging and analyse your results to determine what to change going forward, the more effective this marketing tool will be.
