With the increasing use of smartphones, SMS marketing has garnered massive attention in the recent past. Let us look at some stats first.
- 23 billion text messages are sent each day worldwide.
- On average, people check their phones more than 80 times a day.
- SMS open rate is a whopping 98% as compared to only 20% open rates for emails.
- Contrary to what businesses believe, customers are more open to receiving SMS than emails (provided that they have opt-in for it).
Before I tell you how you can leverage SMS to increase your sales, let us first look at some of the advantages of using text messages.
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The Benefits of Using Text Messages
First of all, text messaging makes it possible to get quick feedback from your customers. They can quickly tap on the reply button or click on the link sent. It helps you create interactive content. Another noteworthy thing is that text messages have the best engagement rate amongst all other direct marketing channels.I can’t stress this enough. But emails can sit in your customer’s inbox for days, but 90% of SMS gets read in just 3 minutes of receiving it. Despite its benefits, only 39% of businesses are making use of text message marketing. Clearly, text message marketing is waiting for you to capitalize on it. But what are some of the great practices to send text messages?
The Best Text Message Marketing Tactics
Tip #1: Send Cart Abandonment Text
An ecommerce retailer understands the pain of abandoned carts. People while browsing online, they often get distracted and switch to another application or decide to wait for another time. Abandoned carts are quite frequent. But the bright side is that the product is clearly appealing to the shopper, and they have the intent to buy it. With the right tactic, you can convert abandoned carts into sales. You can send SMS reminders after an hour when a shopper adds products to their carts but leaves without finishing it. And if they still don’t respond, you can again send a reminder message for the next day. You can reduce cart abandonment rates by up to 60% bringing in more revenue for your business.
Tip #2: Send Customers Exclusive Deals
The chances of SMS-delivered coupons getting redeemed is much higher than other coupon types.However, it’s equally important that you don’t send them worthless offers. Send them exclusive offers to grab their attention. In a survey, it was found that 85% of customers would redeem a coupon sent via text within one week.This could be an excellent opportunity to retain your old customers. In case, a customer who hasn’t purchased for quite some time now, sending SMS with an exclusive discount or offer coupon can do the trick. You can use it for retargeting your already existing audiences as well as bring in new customers.
Tips #3: Add a Personalized Touch to the Text Message
Customers want to be valued. When you address a consumer by their first name, it communicates respect and friendliness. It shows them your company is customer-centric that often endears them to continue to buy from you.So next time if you send an SMS, avoid using, “Dear customer…” Instead, use their first name. This will see how your company is ready to go the extra length to gain their trust. You can also add phrases like, ‘Just for you.’ This personalized touch will go a long way to help build a community of loyal customers.
Tip #4: Run a Sweepstakes Contest
Sweepstake contests are marketing gimmicks to reward existing consumers and also draw attention to a product.Did you know that contests have a conversion rate of almost 34%? It is higher than other content types.You can have your customers sign up for the context by having them text a particular keyword. One good example is of Sterling Vineyards and Uber — Text. Ride. Win. They were giving free rides to Sterling’s customer base. Here, winners are selected randomly. You can then send them a text blast with your winning message. You can even give a small giveaway prize to every participant.
Tip #5: Conduct a Poll via Text Messages
Another great tactic is to use text message marketing to conduct a poll. Conducting polls is a great way to keep your customers engaged and gather your customer’s feedback. Most SMS services allow you to run polls and collect responses over a time period. It is as simple as customers texting different keywords to cast a vote. You can then graph the responses from your dashboard. Use this insight to improve your customer experience. It will directly impact their satisfaction level, which will bring in more revenue. In fact, you can then even share the poll results with your audiences via social media or blog posts. People who participated might be eager to share the results with their family and followers. It’s a win-win situation. You get to increase your brand awareness while keeping your audiences happy.
Automate Your SMS Process
Fortunately, we live in an era of technology. You can now choose to automate your text message marketing campaign through bulk whatsapp marketing software and focus on the big ideas. Rather than spending time on entering customers’ numbers and sending messages, you can automate these little tasks and invest time in designing a kick-ass campaign. There are both free and paid versions of text messaging software available.
Wrap Up
People stay attached to their phones all the time. When they wake up, the first thing they check is their phone. If you can get them to opt-in, you can keep them updated about your business offers, product launch, and others. Also, you need to be mindful of a few things before sending text messages to your audiences. First, don’t try to spam users every day. It might irritate them. And second, never send messages in the middle of the night. Now that you know all the necessary nuances of text message marketing, start growing your business today.