You have no doubt heard of the absolute explosion that’s occurring in the world of digital advertising as SMS marketing continues to grow at a rapid rate. More and more businesses are sending out text message promotions, and due to the nature of the cell phone as a platform, the results have been staggering.
This boom in SMS marketing is happening right alongside the surge of growth we’re seeing in the eCommerce sector. As a culture, we’re buying more things online than ever, and with advances in security, shipping, and other technology buying something on the web has never been easier or more secure.
So how can these two rapidly growing facets of digital marketing be joined to create an unstoppable marketing machine?
In this article, we’re going to explain to you why your eCommerce brand needs to be using SMS marketing, or you’re going to miss out on opportunity and revenue.
The Emergence of mCommerce
You read that correctly, mCommerce as in mobile. We’re all familiar with the concept of eCommerce, and with the consistent growth of software like Woo Commerce and Shopfiy, it continues to be one of the most popular and profitable online strategies around.
It’s also no secret that people are using their phones more than ever to do essentially everything online, including making eCommerce purchases. With the sheer volume of people using their mobile devices to buy products on eCommerce websites, a new term has been coined: mCommerce.
This is exactly what it sounds like– mobile commerce. And if you face statistics, marketers need to adapt to this emerging technology if they’re going to stay relevant and continue to make the revenues they’re used to. Email campaigns have been the most dominant staple of an eCommerce marketing strategy for many years. And while those will still play a role in well-rounded marketing plans, SMS marketing for eCommerce/mCommerce is rapidly gaining popularity and traction.
SMS messages continue to be one of the marketing channels that can cut through the noise and get staggering open rates and conversions. Text messages can reach people directly and almost instantly, and with a single link click, people can be taking action and purchasing from you.
Why SMS is Such an Important Part of Your Marketing
The digital landscape is more crowded than ever. As more and more people are trying to reach the same demographics and audiences, the market is becoming saturated and attention is at an all-time premium. People have so many notifications and recommendations on social media at any given moment that it’s expensive and challenging to capture someone’s attention long enough for them to click on your ad. Email is even worse. So many people have literally thousands of unread emails in their inboxes, and many of them are promotional. Break away from these stagnant pools and start fishing somewhere new.
SMS marketing campaigns somehow fly above the challenges of information overload that so many other platforms suffer from. People check their cell phones hundreds of times a day, and within minutes of receiving an SMS– and those statistics include promotional messages.
Studies show that 98% percent of people’s text messages are all read by the end of the day. There is no single other platform that can come close to this statistic. When one form of communication was compared to the other, the engagement rate of SMS messages was six to eight times higher than email engagement rates.
If you’re an eCommerce brand and you’re not using text message marketing, you’re missing out on an enormous amount of sales and revenue potential.
Why eCommerce Needs SMS Marketing
Because of the high open rates (which in turn lead to higher click-through rates), many savvy eCommerce companies are beginning to use much more SMS marketing than ever. Consumers have admitted in multiple surveys that they prefer text messaging as a form of communication when there’s an offer or sale that pertains to their interests.
Recent studies have shown that people are ready to receive text messages from eCommerce brands. More than 30% percent of consumers said they respond to promotional SMS offers from retailers, so it stands to reason that those stats would very likely apply to eCommerce as well. Additionally, nearly 50% percent of people polled said that they prefer SMS communication from companies they know more than email, direct mail, and other communications. Finally, 35% of people claimed they actually prefer to receive promotional codes and coupons from retailers (and again, very likely eCommerce as well).
The amount of eCommerce brands using SMS marketing is still such a low percentage that the market hasn’t reached the point of saturation yet. Think about it this way: it is much more difficult to start a successful Amazon store today than it was several years ago. That is exactly where we’re at with SMS marketing. If you wait too long, text message campaigns are going to be just a saturated as social media and email campaigns, and you’re going to be one eCommerce brand in the ocean of others.
eCommerce Marketing Tips and Tricks
When you’re adopting SMS marketing for your eCommerce campaigns, it’s important to keep the medium of the text message carefully in mind. Remember the incredible open rates and engagements, and consider using some of these tips and tricks for optimal results.
Personalization is a potent, secret sauce. Remember that you’re reaching this person on the device that they carry around with them everywhere and check more than one hundred times a day on average. A person’s cell phone is a very intimate thing– just look at how jumpy people get when someone else has their phone. The more you can customize and personalize your outreach, the better. You can do this by using customer names when possible with automation and also consider dividing up your text list into subcategories based on the information you have available about your customers.
Keep your SMS marketing messages as short as possible. Remember that you’re not writing an email or a social media post. People are expecting your messages to at least be close to matching the length of the rest of the text messages they receive all day. If your message even looks too long at a glance it can cause a potential buyer to back out of it immediately. Try to stick to a single call to action, say what you need to in as few words as possible, and remember that you never want to go above 160 characters (maximum).
Be sure you send great offers. Like we mentioned before, text message campaigns have tremendous open rates– don’t waste them. Be sure you’re sending a killer offer to your list or you’re missing opportunities and wasting some of your customer’s good graces. Consider sending great time-sensitive offers (like a percentage off all day), an offer that’s unique to the person you’re sending it to (like a complimentary product to something they own), or send out previews and early-bird messages for things like new releases.
Affiliate Marketers: We’re Talking to You Too
While this article is centered around eCommerce, the same facts, strategies, and mentalities can quickly and easily be applied to the world of affiliate marketing. To any affiliate marketer who isn’t using SMS messaging, you’re missing out on a tremendous amount of revenue. Let this article be the catalyst you needed to start using SMS messages today in conjunction with your offers.
Remember: people are using their phones more than ever to make purchases, so you want to be sure your offers are getting to people via SMS so you can experience increased open rates, conversions, and sales.
Get Some New SMS Marketing Campaign Ideas Today
Text message marketing is one of the most underutilized tools in digital advertising today– and one of the channels that has the highest overall potential for results and increased revenue.
You need our free-to-use Text-Calibur platform to start sending SMS marketing campaigns today.
If you don’t have text message marketing as a part of your sales strategy, you’re missing out on an essential piece of the puzzle, and have a gap in your advertising plan. Don’t suffer from this blind spot anymore.
If you’re an eCommerce or affiliate marketer, you’ve found the most important tool that you can add to your toolbox.
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