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.
Though you don’t want your customers opting out, it’s the law to make sure every SMS message includes a way to do so. That makes it really easy for a customer to get off your list – that’s a good and a bad thing. If you have a high opt out rate then you’re probably doing something wrong. Here’s a short list of what that might be:
- Your messages are too frequent
- You’re sending irrelevant offers or information
- The messages arrive at odd hours, or “after” hours
- You didn’t have permission after all, or the person forgot they opted in
It’s easy though, to avoid losing customers for these reasons (except for the last one. Scrub your list and make sure you have valid opt ins for everyone!). Here are three easy ways to keep people on your list.
- Always tell customers how often you’ll send messages – and stick to it! In mobile, it’s hard to find something more annoying than too many text messages. And though you might not tell them when the messages will be sent, always set it up so messages arrive during appropriate hours.
- Make the offers you send valuable. Everyone wants a deal, especially younger generations where price has shown to be the dominating factor in what and where they decide to purchase. Use email for less valuable, or less immediate, sale messages and announcements. Save your SMS opt-in list for when it counts most.
- Provide a way to let the customer set preferences for what messages to receive. You can do this using reply codes or integrate your messaging with a user profile on your website. User profiles let customers get very specific about what messages they want, which means they’ll probably stay on your list longer. It also is a way for you to gather more information on your customers so you can make sure what you send is relevant to them.
A little planning for long term opt in list management can go a long way towards maximising sales and minimising opt outs. Do you have any other suggestions for retailers to keep their customers from opting out?
Related Articles
Get Your Health Food Business Off To A Healthy Start with SMS Marketing
A Checklist for Your First SMS Marketing Campaign
This year SMS marketing is predicted to become an even bigger piece of the mobile marketing pie. Businesses of every size will be launching their first ever campaigns. If you’re one of them, take a look at our handy SMS marketing checklist below to help you do it right from the very beginning.
4 Tips for SMS Marketing Success
SMS marketing is one of the most effective and efficient marketing channels currently available, enabling businesses to directly communicate with their target customers. If you're considering building your first SMS marketing campaign, or you have already ran a campaign but achieved limited success, read on to see how you can build an effective SMS marketing campaign to achieve your business objectives.
Enhancing Two-Way SMS Messaging with Autoresponders
SMS messaging can be a one-way, or a two-way affair. Sending coupons, sale notifications, or event announcements are all one-way messaging. The recipient doesn’t need to reply in order to use the information sent. In two-way messaging though, recipients can reply to your messages. And that makes it much more interesting, engaging, and potentially a lot more work to manage.
Two Companies Using SMS in Surprising Ways
In many ways, SMS messaging is so commonplace people don’t think about it. They just do it. For example, using SMS for mobile marketing in retail is a fairly standard use case whether you’re a company or the consumer. But there are always exceptions – those who innovate when it seems there’s nothing new to be had. Here are two examples of companies from the US using SMS in ways no one else is – yet.
SMS Marketing for Home Shopping in the Mobile Age
SMS Remarketing: What It’s All About
You’ve seen or heard about remarketing online. But did you know you can use SMS to remarket to visitors who abandon their cart in your ecommerce store? According to one study, using it can double your conversion rates. Check out the blog to see the details.
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.
What Your Customers Want From SMS Marketing
Mobile marketing offers an unprecedented access to your customers virtually any time, anywhere. This is particularly true for SMS marketing because it is “always on”. Customers don’t have to be surfing the web, or using an app to receive messages. Instead, they see the marketing messages right alongside ones from their friends and family.