SMS marketing offers online retailers a quick, low-cost path to customers’ busy fingertips.
To provide a clear path from SMS to purchase, please ensure your site is correctly merchandised to give an outstanding shopper experience.
Why Use SMS Marketing in Ecommerce?
A mind-blowing 46% of U.S. adults spend five to six hours daily on their phones. Unsurprisingly, this translates to growth in mobile purchases. Mobile sales were up 15% in 2021 and are projected to account for 44% by 2025. If you’re reading between the lines, SMS is an obvious choice.
What do you think about the data? Average SMS open and click-through rates stand at 98% and 54%, compared to just 20% and 6% for email.
Consumers are responsive to SMS communications, but campaign success is measured by what happens when a link is clicked. How can retailers deliver an experience that converts recipients into happy, loyal customers?
SMS Marketing Best Practices
Take a Targeted Approach
Would you be ready to implement SMS messaging? Take some time to document your goals:
- Who is the audience?
- What do you want to achieve?
- How are you going to deliver an engaging experience? Consider the entire journey from SMS message to checkout.
This process helps develop your overall strategy and ensures that messaging is on point. Please don't treat SMS marketing as a standalone campaign. By integrating it with an entire omnichannel strategy, you ensure consistency in the whole customer experience.
Incentivize Subscription
The first thing you want to do is build a customer list. With any list-building, customers may need some persuading to opt into SMS. Offer a discount code or incentive in exchange for their information. Highlight the promotion across all marketing channels. Note: Comply with data protection regulations as you build your list.
Make an Enticing Offer
It’s true: modern consumers are obsessed with their mobile devices. But it’s not enough to make an appearance on their screen. Standing out in a flood of messages, emails, and app notifications would be best. Create urgency by sending a limited-time discount code or alerting shoppers to an exclusive flash sale for subscribers. Remember, SMS is an informal method of communication. Keep it short, simple, and straight to the point.
Strategically Merchandise Your Landing Page
You’ve made an eye-catching offer and drawn the shopper to your site. Now, what happens? Are you linking to a page that delivers an excellent shopper experience? If your SMS marketing campaign is focused on a limited special offer, link your customer directly to an appropriately merchandised landing page with consistent messaging, sale banners, and relevant products boosted to the top. Use campaign scheduling to launch and deactivate landing pages for flash offers quickly. If you send promotions to customers in specific locations, factor geo-merchandising into your plan. Conversion rates determine an SMS campaign's success, so investing in mapping out a streamlined path to purchase is vital.
Part of the Plan: On-Site Merchandising
If you’re planning an SMS campaign, evaluate the entire end-to-end experience. Your efforts should extend far beyond the message itself. From the audience, you’re targeting to the offer you’re sending to the on-site experience after the shopper clicks on the SMS link. Set your SMS marketing up for maximum conversions by integrating relevant merchandising tactics into your strategy. Consider exploring alternatives like Plivo or Nexmo, which offer similar SMS services to Twilio, to ensure you find the platform that best aligns with your specific campaign needs.
