Growing Your SMS List With Van Oakes

Last week Van Oakes joined the DTC+ workshop to break down specific tactics for growing revenue through Snapchat ads. Van has spent close to $10M on Snapchat and won Snap Star of the year in both 2019 and 2020. 

In case you’re unfamiliar with Snapchat, here’s a rundown:

• 300 million active daily users
• 22% of social media users are on the platform 
• 61% female demographic
• 60% of snap users consume with sound on 
• 33% will open snaps from brands they’ve never heard of 
• Users open their app 30+ times a day 

A feature that’s extremely undervalued within Snapchat is the SMS tool and its ability to help grow your list. Van has grown his list to 700K people within 2 years because of the feature. 

How it works: 

‍

Within Snapchat there’s a type of ad that allows users to “Swipe Up” and learn more. It usually leads to a website, landing page, or product page.  

Instead of directing to a website or landing page, there’s an option to populate a predetermined text for users to send. It’s perfect for any type of promotion or giveaway. 

Here’s an example of the user experience: 

• Step 1: Users receive your Snapchat ad and are encouraged to swipe up.
• Step 2: They swipe up and are presented with “I want a coupon for $20 off.” The message automatically populates within their text message app.
• Step 3: The users hit send and receive a coupon code for $20 off.

Here’s how to set it up:  

1. Within “select your objective,” click “engagement.” 
2. Then click “single image or video,” and select “text” as well. 
3. Next, enter your targeting information.
4. Then, enter all your creative. 
5. On the same page as creative, select “text” for your “attachment” and “CTA.”  
6. The final step is entering a phone number. Check out different SMS platforms here. 
7. And finally, you’ll enter the message you want users to send (“I want a coupon for $20 off”). 

Growing your SMS list creates further ownership of your audience. With text message open rates at 95% and with users rarely changing their phone number, it makes a lot of sense to invest in this strategy. 

Check out the whole course (and all our other course content) for just $1!