Retailers Can Use SMS Marketing For More Than Just Coupons
Discount codes, limited time sales, special exclusive pricing…you may have seen, or used, all of these in a text message campaign. For retailers, it is the most obvious and direct use of SMS marketing. It works and it’s cost effective. But are there other ways you can put your SMS channel to work for you? Yes, there are. Let’s take a look at three of them.
Your Order Is On The Way!
Who doesn’t like to get messages like that? Whether it is a simple order confirmation, or a shipping confirmation, everyone likes to know their order was received and successfully processed. A simple message like that can help reduce calls to customer service to check on order status, and ultimately improve customer relations while potentially saving you money.
I Think You Forgot Something...
Abandoned shopping carts are the bane of online retailers. It depends who you ask, but abandonment rates average between 60-70% industry wide. If you can recover even a small percentage of those sales, then your profits will skyrocket. To do this, you’d need to integrate your shopping cart or back end with an SMS service (or have some very detail oriented staff to do it all manually). You’d also need rules to define at what point in the shopping cart process a text message would be triggered. If someone quit at the last screen, perhaps they had a problem but really wanted the buy. Offer them another chance or offer to help. Someone who just put stuff in their cart but didn’t go any farther in the process might just be window shopping. A text reminder would be annoying and unhelpful to them.
Come Back! It's Here For You.
Some retailers offer the option to receive email notification when an out of stock item is back in the store. Adding the option for someone to request a text message instead offers yet another way to bring visitors back into your store. And given the personal nature of text messages, if someone provides their mobile number to receive updates they must really want the item. Hopefully a text message from you will help complete the sale in your store before they buy it somewhere else.
These are three great ways that SMS marketing helps you to keep in touch with your customers. But before you dive in, just remember to ensure you have them properly opted in for these messages. And always offer a way to opt out in each text message. If you do that, SMS messaging can make for very happy retailers and customers.
Related Articles
Attention! The mCommerce Summit is Happening Now
Mobile Marketer is holding the mCommerce Summit: State of Mobile Commerce 2016 today in New York City. And you'll get to find out what happens when I get back and write about it next week. But today, I'm going to give you a sneak peak at what I'm seeing in New York at this moment. Before I do though, be sure to check our fastsms Twitter feed throughout the day. I'll be sharing the best tidbits as they come up in each session as they happen.
Insights Into The Best SMS Marketing
It’s been said that to be successful at something, you need to find someone that’s already done what you want to do, then emulate them. You don’t need to create or rewrite the rulebook every time. This is true of marketing too. While it’s a creative field, there are tried and true examples of what works. This is why case studies are so important to helping you understand how something like SMS marketing can work for you.
SMS Marketing: Don’t Forget About Print!
The focus for advertising campaigns today is often mobile, web, or digital. It’s certainly true that more and more people are using technology for just about everything. But with all that technology, it’s easy to overlook another, more traditional form: Print!
Is Your SMS Marketing Keeping Customers Loyal by Being Fun?
When you think about your SMS marketing campaigns would you label them as fun? Is there any aspect of your SMS marketing or loyalty program that you think customers would call fun? If so, you're going to love what you read in this blog. If not, then you need to read this blog. It turns out that a little bit of fun and games can keep your customers more engaged – and more loyal.
What Makes a Great Call to Action in an SMS Message?
Marketing messages, whether in print or electronic have many parts to them. In the beginning there’s the hook that entices someone to continue reading, and near the end is the call to action. That’s where you make it clear what you want someone to do after reading the message. There are many parts in between these two, but these are, arguably, the two most important.
SMS Marketing for Artisan Food Producers
Growing Your Business with SMS Messaging
5 Ideas for Awesome SMS Marketing Campaigns
Growing a Business Around Your Family Life? Here’s Why Mumpreneurs Need SMS Marketing
Mums are natural entrepreneurs. And now they're turning that entrepreneurial spirit towards running a business, using their organisational skills to turn a profit from franchises and hobbies, fundraisers and baking. Mumpreneurs are on the march and they need smart marketing strategies like SMS that fit around their busy lives.
How SMS Messaging Can Help Get Buyers Back
E-commerce businesses have a huge problem. Consumers fill up their shopping carts, then rudely abandon them before completing a purchase. Of course, they don't mean to be rude, they have their reasons for leaving a full cart behind. But what if it were possible to get some of those sales back?