Black Friday is the time of year when everyone is trying to make the best out of the sky-high levels of consumer spending and maximize sales. Brands need to find a way to stand out from the crowd, and interact with their customers in the most engaging way possible to drive revenue. In 2020 it is expected that eCommerce shopping will break all-time records, since people are less likely to make their purchases at B&M stores.
As the most hectic eCommerce season is upon us, we’ll start with probably the best advice we can give you: Start Early! In order for your BFCM campaign to be a success you need to have a solid audience that you can later target with tailored offers and discounts. By investing some time and effort into growing your lists of subscribers, you will make sure you are well prepared for the busy months to come.
Following the ever-changing customer behavior, we've developed the most innovative subscriber collection tools, suitable for all parts of the customer journey. They will help you engage with your customers from the very first time they spot your brand on social media, all the way through their visit to your store and will grow your list at scale.
And to take away some of your Black Friday jitters, each of our tools comes with easy-to-navigate editor, set of templates to choose from, and as additional bonus: built-in verbiage that will make sure you remain in compliance with TCPA & GDPR guidelines.
So now, when the most important retail period is quickly approaching, it is time for merchants to start prepping and don’t miss the amazing opportunities to generate sales, and maximize value from each and every visitor.
Collect Subscribers on Your Website
Now that you have an eCommerce website that’s optimized for the ultimate buyer journey and conversions, let’s start growing your subscribers. Where to begin? Look no further and start by engaging your website visitors. Which makes sense, really… They are already on your website, looking for sweet deals. Grab their attention with an engaging pop-up, оr approach them at the moment of purchase. Make sure to leverage your website and have them subscribe while they are still scrolling.
Checkout Subscription
One of the easiest ways to start collecting subscribers is right at the checkout section of your store. When filling in their details at the moment of purchase, it is only natural for customers to provide their phone numbers as well, so they can further interact with your brand in the future. Why? Because they already got familiar with your store and your products, showed interest in your brand and have made the decision to trust you enough to hit the purchase button.
Our stats show that, if given the option, over 45% of your current customers will opt in for your text marketing service at checkout, presenting you with an amazing opportunity to quickly grow your list.
Checkout subscription is very easy to set up, highly effective and opens the door to repeat purchases for your brand. Enabling it is the quickest and most convenient way for you to start growing your list of subscribers.
Subscription Forms
Forms are some of the most popular features our merchants use to collect subscribers. They are a true attention grabber and apart from building your list, they may prevent visitors from leaving your site altogether.
You can choose between floating buttons, embedded forms and pop-ups.
All three are responsive and have many awesome features. Our editor allows you to fully customize your subscription form by uploading images or selecting fonts and colors to best match the style of your brand. Consider using some of our built-in templates, and insert a copy and call-to-action of your choosing. You can preview how your subscription form would look like on different devices at all times.
In order to attract the attention of your visitors make sure you use a captivating headline, appealing offer and clear call to action. Especially with popups, good timing and placement is crucial. For best results set your form to appear as an exit intent or after visitors have scrolled through 60% of your website. It can be displayed either on your home page or on a specific product or collection page. When crafting your form, remember to focus on one goal (in this case: make people opt in for your text marketing), keep it short and simple and combine all this with a corresponding design.
Forms are highly effective and can help you transform your website visitors into text marketing subscribers with a single click. But leveraging your website for more than just sales is only one way to generate a base of followers.
For a truly successful approach don’t just wait for your target audience to visit your online store but reach out to them at their preferred channels.
Collect Subscribers Everywhere
With the help of our omnichannel subscriber collection tools such as keywords, QR codes, and shareable subscribe links you’ll be able to approach your customers and prospects on all the channels in which they are present in – catching them where they are likely to engage with your brand.
Keywords
Keywords can be promoted across multiple marketing channels: Facebook Ads, Instagram Stories, email, and even print advertising.
They serve as an amazing tool to collect new subscribers, because they are short, memorable and extremely easy to set up and use. All shoppers need to do to become subscribers is text you the keyword. It’s that easy! For best results, give potential subscribers a special incentive they will receive after opting in, and prompt them to act on it with a strong call-to-action.
When choosing the right keyword for your next subscriber collection campaign, remember to make it easy to type and easy to remember, but also make sure it matches your brand identity, and last, but not least: attracts attention.
QR Codes
QR codes combine traditional and modern marketing to give consumers fun and engaging experiences with brands, which makes them an evergreen tool that is now starting to experience a complete resurgence.
QR codes are very easy to set up and highly customizable. You can use them to reach out to audiences and collect subscribers literally… everywhere. Businesses can include QR codes in their catalogs, brochures and other print materials. They can add them in their online forms of communication, like emails, website banners and even print them on products. Custom dynamic QR codes are also ideal for outdoor advertisement – think subway stations, bus stops, car stickers, store windows, etc. They are trackable and reusable QR codes that be used for multiple landing destinations like websites, social media channels, lead gen pages, etc.
To make your subscription offer more attractive, pair your QR code with an enticing incentive – use it in a giveaway or to grant exclusive access to early BFCM deals. Add a cool CTA and let your audience subscribe with just a scan.
Shareable Subscribe Link
The shareable subscribe link is the perfect tool for those of you who like to get creative and communicate with your potential customers via a wide variety of channels. And undoubtedly some of the best results come from the successful combination of shareable links and social media.
The shareable subscribe link is a great solution for any brand with a strong, established social media presence, that is also looking for ways to connect with the audience in a more targeted and direct way via SMS. You can create a unique link for each channel so you can track the effectiveness of each of your social media campaigns, but more importantly – segment subscribers based on where they came from: was it a Facebook giveaway, a witty Tweet or a truly engaging Instagram post. We’ve seen businesses taking it a step further, partnering with influencers and using their reach to engage with new communities.
All of these capabilities of the shareable subscribe link make it one of the best tools to engage with various audiences (even those that aren’t yet following you), collect subscribers in an interactive way, but also continue the relationship with targeted promotions.
Keywords, QR codes, and Shareable subscribe links form the perfect trinity of equally exciting and effective omnichannel tools for your upcoming Black Friday growth strategy!
Start Growing your Subscribers Lists for Black Friday
With our engaging subscriber collection tools you can reach potential subscribers no matter where they are – already scrolling on your website, going through your Facebook news feed, emails, reading a magazine. Don’t hesitate to experiment with different strategies and test different approaches. The upcoming weeks before Black Friday are the perfect opportunity to see what works best for your brand and your followers. Which brings us back to our advice #1 – Start growing your subscribers now! 🙂
This article originally appeared in the SMSbump blog and has been published here with permission.
