eCommerce is a fast-growing market with a lot of potential, but that can also be a negative thing for your business. You’ll be up against a significant amount of competition, so you need to find a way to stand out from the crowd. Text message marketing is both unique and effective.
What is SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing is the act of sending promotional messages by text. It’s a great tool to use if you want to communicate offers and other information to your audience. SMS marketing is often compared to email marketing, as both provide startups with a direct channel to their customers.
Why Use SMS Marketing?
Getting your product or service in front of your target audience is one of marketing’s biggest challenges. Your customers may already have inbox fatigue if they’re subscribed to a large number of businesses. However, your customer’s text message inbox is often less crowded.
Because of this, opening rates on text messages are significantly high on mobile, leading to more opportunities for engagement. Since text is your customer’s most preferred communication channel, they’ll spend more time on their phones and see your more text message notification.
How Can I Get Started Using SMS Marketing?
Before starting your SMS marketing campaigns, you should define your goals and areas you need to improve. For instance, if you want to reduce cart abandonment, you can use SMS to send a text message when your customers leave your website without buying a product.
Next, find a great SMS channel vendor. SMS channel vendors often come with a texting app for your computer, which can make your next marketing project go off without a hitch.
You should ask for your customers’ phone number when they want to subscribe to your email list, create an account, or after they purchase a product. That way, you can launch your first campaign successfully. Be sure to review the results of your campaigns to continue to improve.
3 eCommerce SMS Marketing Campaign Best Practices
Now that you’re ready for your first SMS marketing campaign, you can start experimenting with a few strategies.
Here are a few eCommerce SMS marketing campaign best practices.
1. Keep Your Messages Short and Sweet
Even though SMS marketing is often compared to email marketing, you can’t send an email message as a text message. Email messages are often 434.48 words on average, whereas the average text message is only 7 words long, so don’t write a novel for your text subscribers.
Try to include the most relevant information in your text. It’s good practice to include the eye-catching part ($50 OFF) at the front of the message so it shows up in the text preview.
2. Personalize Your Text Messages
Your customers are unique in their own way and prefer to be addressed as individuals. When speaking to your customers, personalize your messages with their name, past purchases, or suggestions. This will make sure you’re targeting the right leads for your campaigns.
Most SMS channel vendors will let you separate your customers into groups based on shopping data. If you offer a wide range of products, this feature can be helpful. Keep in mind that these same SMS channel vendors can also automate most of the personalization process with tags.
3. Write Valuable Marketing Copy
Don’t just text your customers to say hi, or they’ll quickly unsubscribe. Instead, only contact them when you have something valuable to offer them. That way, they’ll keep this marketing channel open for new deals, delivery notifications, and information about new products.
Every text message campaign should include a special offer, a time-sensitive deal, info that’s necessary for the customer to know, or introductions to something they may be interested in.
Founder Dinis Guarda
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