5 Tips for SMS Marketing for Your eCommerce Store

SMS marketing can be rather efficient but it often gets marginalized in favor of email marketing. This oversight can lead to businesses losing clients left and right! Contrary to popular belief, some people actually prefer being contacted via an SMS to being contacted via email.

In fact, the open rate for SMS stands at 98%! Compare that to push notifications (3.10%) and Facebook ads (2%).

The first obvious benefit of SMS marketing campaigns is that your message won’t end up in a spam folder. That, however, doesn’t mean that your business can up and send away spam SMS to random people.

SMS opt-in and opt-out elements are crucial!

The first message you should send to a customer after having received their permission is an SMS opt-in text. Make sure that it’s professional and include all of the following:

• Company name
• Info on SMS message frequency
• Info on carrier costs (if any)
• Opt-out info (a sign-up offer is optional)

It is essential to do things right from the first step!

Did you know that eMarketer estimates that 70% of all eCommerce sales will be mobile by 2024?

The next benefit of SMS for eCommerce marketing is that recipients don’t need to have internet access. As long as they have reception, your SMS will arrive safely.

Further out, most people don’t part with their mobile phones even when they’re taking a shower, so your messages are highly likely to be read in a timely manner.

Tips for a Successful SMS Campaign

SMS may be efficient but keep in mind that not everyone is interested in your offer. Stick to the same rule that applies to email marketing: don’t buy lists! The second tip, in order of importance, is: don’t stalk people.

Define Target Audience(s)

All marketing efforts should start with this step. Sending your offer at random won’t help your business grow — the trick is to reach interested parties.

Audience fragmentation may be complex at first but it is absolutely crucial.

Meet Customer Expectations

Another thing to keep in mind here is that people’s expectations have increased. The widespread digitalization is changing the way people communicate, with trends favoring mobile devices.

Multi-device media consumption has changed the rules of the game. The majority of people read even emails on their mobile devices simply because it is convenient to have the freedom to access incoming emails on the go.

It saves time, which is why your SMS should be concise and catchy. On that note, all of your marketing campaigns should be optimized and easy on the bandwidth.

This applies to your business website as well.

Start a Conversation

SMS marketing is ideal for direct communication with prospective customers. Don’t shy away from asking recipients about specifics. E.g., if you’re selling clothes, ask them about the size they wear, their color preferences, and so on.

It is perfectly legitimate to inquire about the products the recipient may be interested in. As an added bonus, ask the customer who has previously purchased a product from you for feedback. “Just checking in to see whether you’re satisfied with the purchase” is as good a prompt as any.

Timely SMS Responses

This may sound like a hassle if your recipient list is long but only if you’re new to SMS marketing. Automation can do wonders as it can send pre-composed messages when a pre-defined word has been triggered.

For personal or specific inquiries, you may either respond manually or refer the customer to email communication.

There are numerous eCommerce SMS marketing resources to deploy!

Stay up to Date With Your SMS Campaigns by Performing Competitor Analysis

Competitor analysis will give you some ideas about the competition, potential gaps and industry tips.

First of all, if you manage to identify gaps in the market (specific geo-location, pricing, product offering, audiences, etc.), you’ll be able to fill the gap and profit from it.

I.e., if your main competitor is targeting younger audiences, you may offer the products to older generations (provided your products fit the description).

Next on, you’ll be able to identify new personnel your competitors are employing.

How is this helpful?

It is extremely important as it can pinpoint to industry changes and market shifts, both of which businesses need to navigate smoothly to avoid losses.

Finally, make sure to compare offers, promotions, costs, and do keep up!

Keep in mind that not all successful businesses operating in your niche are necessarily competition. Focus on successful firms that target the same audience as you and offer the same or similar products.

Key Takeaways

As you can see, there’s more to SMS marketing than meets the eye! And new trends are popping up every day, such as voice SMS.

For starters, it has a huge potential merely due to its high open rates. Another benefit is that it deepens communication and allows for high levels of automation.

Test your approaches a bit when starting out and fine-tune your SMS campaigns based on the insights.