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
How to use SMS for Highly Targeted Marketing
While brevity might be one of the keys to good advertising, perhaps the most important is to make sure your message reaches the right people. The goal of targeted marketing is not to bombard so many people that some will inevitably listen, but rather to target and nail down your core demographic.
Technology And Text Messaging Support In-Store Shopping Experiences
Shoppers are very tech savvy. Even when they shop in store they are using their mobiles to do price comparisons, look up reviews or post on social media. And while your customers are busy using tech, your store needs to be using it too. SMS is one of those technologies that can really enhance the shopping experience whether your shoppers are in store, or not.
5 Reasons SMS Marketing is Ideal for Retailers
Top Three Things Retailers Should Do to Keep Customers on Their SMS Opt-In List
You've run a successful SMS opt-in campaign for your retail store. Now that you have your list, do you have a plan to keep them from opting out? Wait, you mean there's more to this than just sending out coupon codes? There is if you want to keep your customers from opting out.
How 2017 Will Change SMS Marketing
Setting New Year's resolutions for your business can be risky since it feels like you're only really setting yourself up to fail. It's much better instead to try and focus on one achievable goal and do everything to succeed and improve in that area. With its meteoric rise to popularity and outstanding success in 2016, businesses should be using 2017's welcome reprise to integrate SMS marketing into their business development strategy.
Why SMS Marketing is Like Facebook Marketing, But Better
Facebook is a popular place. According to Statista, they had 1.44 billion active users in the first quarter of 2015. It’s no wonder then that businesses are flocking to advertise there. But big isn’t always better. SMS marketing is similar in many respects to Facebook advertising, and for some uses it is actually better. Let me explain and see if you agree.
3 Reasons Why SMS Marketing Is Perfect for the Holiday Season
Everyone knows the holiday season is a peak time for making sales and marketing. Predictions are that the UK will spend £73B in retail stores before the season is over. Find out three reasons you’ll want to use SMS marketing to get those shoppers into your store.
How to Use SMS Marketing to Counter Retail Fatigue
Uncertain economic times and an ever-extending holiday retail season is apparently making Brits less excited about the “usual” sales. But don’t worry, find out how SMS marketing can help you boost sales even in the face of retail fatigue.
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.