SMS over other channels… a new drift in the modern world but how it can be an ideal investment for eCommerce?
The widespread adoption of mobile devices and the surge in mobile web traffic have made SMS marketing a must for all eCommerce brands.
For consumers, a smartphone can be a handy shopping companion. It can provide an on-the-go review of the brand, product details, budget comparisons, and access to instant offers and digital deals.
Why is SMS Marketing a must-have?
Nearly 90% of the audience who own smartphones would give up all of those other screens before giving up their phones. On the average audience look at their phone 150+ each day, and rely heavily on them.
According to a recent study, 90% of shoppers have used their phones while shopping in stores. Thereby, more than 42% of all e-commerce purchases are made from mobile devices.
For savvy marketers in the eCommerce industry, SMS marketing is an exceptional technique to bridge the gap amongst all the channels (email, social media), increase customer engagement, uplift sales, and drive traffic.
Consider the below facts to understand why SMS marketing is an effective platform:
- Unlike Emails, over 95% of all texts are read within 3 minutes.
- Everyone reads incoming texts as 82% of the audience keep SMS notifications turned on.
- 70% of the audience prefers to receive offers and deals on the text.
- SMS marketing campaign on the average conversion rate is 45%.
SMS marketing facilitates brands to stimulate immediate buying, make shopping easier, enrich the brand experience for the audience. It allows marketers to provide consumers with information, incentives, and choices at the moment they are expressing an interest or when they are most likely to make a buying choice.
The basic components of SMS marketing are keywords and shortcodes.
For Example, Taco Bell uses SMS marketing to reach consumers at what it calls mobile “moments that matter”. To promote their SMS campaign, users were encouraged to text “TBMM to 225500”. After a user opt-in to the campaign, they would receive a text message with a discount promotional offer. With this campaign, more than 13,000 users were gained as SMS subscribers within a few weeks.
Here,
“TBMM” is the unique keyword that gets placed in the body of the message.
“225500” is the shortcode that gets put in the consumer box.
SMS Marketing is an Asset in the eCommerce Industry
SMS marketing has a huge potential in the eCommerce industry as they are easy, convenient, inexpensive, and profitable and thus helps in reaching the targeted audience and converting leads into customers.
Take into account the below benefits of SMS marketing:
SMS Marketing is a Cost-effective and Time-saving Partner
Unlike other marketing channels, SMS marketing channels are low-priced and one of the most effective channels to communicate with customers.
A well-designed and executed bulk SMS campaign can help eCommerce brands to stay ahead of their competitors by sending a message to the targeted audience at a single time, which will be cost-effective and time-saving.
SMS marketing is a highly responsive and low-cost investment, therefore marketers prefer sharing SMS for sale alerts, promotional, transactional, OTP, all the messages.
Instant Delivery
Unlike other channels, SMS delivery is pretty fast and quick, and it’s also proficient in taking only seconds to reach a large audience. You don’t have to wait after sharing your promotional message to the audience. Once you click the send SMS button, a large targeted audience will receive your message hassle-free and instantly.
With 160 characters option, you can share your urgent alerts or promotional offers and can expect prompt responses from the audience on your messages.
Scale Down Cart Abandonment Rates
Compared to any other channel, SMS marketing is a highly responsive channel for abandoned cart recovery. It shares reminder messages with the audience about the items they have abandoned in the cart and encourages them to revisit the checkout section.
For a quick response, you can include URL links in the message to direct the consumer to the cart to complete the purchase.
Example: “Hey!! Looks like you forgot something in Cart. Buy it before it’s sold out”
Reach a Broad Demographic
As 90% of the people have phones, your customer demographic can be widened through the SMS marketing strategy. Instead of emphasizing only one marketing channel that might only reach one section of your demographic, including SMS marketing to immediately reach the audience globally.
As long as the audience has smartphones that can receive texts, your promotional messages or sale alerts can be easily read by them and which can benefit your business growth.
Support and Integrate with other Channels
For effective marketing, it is necessary to integrate one channel that can support other channels and heighten brand awareness and promotional activities of the brand.
SMS marketing is complimentary for all channels such as email, social media, and help in brand reinforcement.
Social media pages of brands on Facebook or Twitter can be easily promoted by incentivizing the audience and sharing direct links on SMS.
Email and SMS marketing can be a two-fold plan where your SMS marketing campaigns can be used to increase your email subscribers, while email campaigns can be used to boost your mobile subscribers.
Future Market Trend
SMS marketing is a popular channel among all the marketers for its hassle-free reach to the audience, incredible customer engagement, and dynamic conversion rate which ultimately profit the business.
According to a study, 75% of millennials would rather text than talk on the phone as the phone calls are time-consuming. Unlike other channels, SMS is a better and flexible platform to provide orders related to ongoing sale updates to millennials as they are never without their phone. The response rate of the Millennials on sales and discounts on messages is always higher and that boosts the business revenue of the eCommerce brand.
If personalized messages are shared with the audiences of all generations (GEN X – GEN Z) and are satisfied with the services and customer support of a brand then it increases customer acceptance towards future SMS for the same business which gives a better opportunity to the brand for exceptional future marketing.
How to Generate More Revenue from SMS Marketing?
As modern marketers, you need to constantly think about new advanced and innovative ways to engage the audience and parallelly design perfect SMS marketing campaigns to ensure good results.
Consider the below strategies to drive more revenue:
Exclusivity is a Primary Key
Contemporary audiences usually face a broad array of products and services that might satisfy a given need.
How marketers can stand out in the competition?
To build a customer-driven marketing strategy, Exclusive deals are the prime key for personalized SMS campaigns as 92% of the audience prefers to use discount coupons, thereby companies offering exclusive discounts coupons and vouchers to the audience provide a reason to them for a long-term subscription with the brand.
For higher customer conversion, you should provide constant value to the customer by offering exclusive personalized offers or vouchers to them and grant them a chance to feel a unique connection with your brand and to differentiate between your communication and other thousand brands.
Example: “Use the code “HAPPYME” at the checkout for 20% off on your shopping”.
Implementing SMS Customer Support
SMS marketing is the easiest and yet the powerful channel to conduct two – way conversation between brand and audience.
Lately, audiences are choosing texts over phone conversations for customer support to save their time, thus implementing SMS customer support for the audience will be more profitable for the eCommerce brand. It can help the customer to get a prompt response on their query, as text messaging has a reputation for being more accurate and instant than a call or email.
SMS customer support enhances your relationship with customers by being available on their preferred channel (SMS) which increases customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Giveaway Contest
A well-thought giveaway SMS campaign can draw the attention of the audience and leave a lasting impression on them. The main goal of the giveaway contest is to drive traffic to the company site and captivate the large SMS audience to generate more revenue.
From free coffee vouchers to buy 1 and get 1 free coupon, audiences love the opportunities to win something and SMS marketing has the ability to do this and can make it more lively through simple texting.
Example: “Text SING to 252525 and win 2 FREE Friday musical night vouchers”. Once the audience replies with “SING”, an automated response will be shared “Congrats, you have been entered to win!”
Time-sensitive Offers
The key to success is to create a sense of urgency that gives the audience a reason to act instantly. It is necessary to boost them with a good discount, which expires soon. In such cases, time-sensitive phrases such as “limited period offer”, “only one day left”, “offer expire tomorrow” play a significant part in seeking attention. Audiences with FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) will not afford to miss something of their interest and will act accordingly.
Example: “Grab it before it’s sold out. Last chance for 20% off on accessories. Offer expires tomorrow.”
Birthday or Anniversary Greetings to make them Feel Special
A simple marketing strategy to reward your loyal customers is by sending special birthday messages to them on their birthday to make them feel you care.
You can also include a special offer or coupon that the customer can redeem as a birthday gift. Offering special birthday offers is a great way to encourage signups and boost engagement.
Share the message with an expiry date to show the sense of urgency on the birthday offer.
Example: “Hey Maya! Happy Birthday. As a birthday treat, we are offering 30% off on your next apparel purchase. Use the code “MY BIRTHDAY” at checkout. Valid till 30th May”
SMS Marketing Automation
When it comes to creating customer value and building strong customer relationships, today’s marketers know they need to look for better strategies for time management and economic growth.
SMS marketing automation is an effective tool to help brands establish and manage subscriber lists, send mass text campaigns, and automate customer engagement.
For better results in SMS marketing, design and execute automated personalization campaigns to convert leads into loyal customers.
Final Thoughts
To triumph in the eCommerce market, a company must provide higher customer value and satisfaction than its competitors do. Thus, companies must implement innovative strategies rather than simply adapting to the needs of target consumers. SMS marketing is an effective tool for modern marketers to excel in the eCommerce industry and position themselves superior in the minds of consumers.
A well-planned SMS campaign is the best solution for the marketers to nurture their relationship with existing customers by notifying customers about upcoming promotions, product launches, events, and sales of their interest to drive traffic and revenue.
For an exceptional automated experience for the targeted audience and to generate more business, Try Wigzo’s SMS Automation Suite today.
