Top SMS Marketing Strategies for E-Commerce Brands
April 15, 2022
Do you use SMS as part of your e-commerce brand’s marketing strategies? How can SMS serve you even better than social media ads? What is the best kind of content to share with your subscribers through SMS for increasing engagement?
In this article, we’ll discuss the best SMS marketing strategies for e-commerce brands. Let’s dig into the benefits of SMS and email marketing, the best content to send to your SMS subscribers, and how to effectively implement an SMS strategy for your brand.
How to Navigate Frequent Privacy Changes in Different Online Channels
In the current e-commerce environment, most of the brands that go out of business tend to be the ones that don’t adapt to change. Marketing strategies are constantly evolving, and what worked in the past may not work now.
For marketers, expecting to increase awareness and grow sales for a brand based solely on social media marketing is not going to work. Changes in privacy terms have made it difficult to create high-converting ads, and relying on third-party platforms is risky because they can pull down your ads anytime.
The solution is to invest in fans, repeat customers, and referrals. This is what leads to long-term customers and repeat sales—and helps increase conversion rates, grow sales, and deepen relationships.
If you’ve been spending time and money on social media advertising without any success, you should leverage the use of one-on-one communication strategies like SMS and email marketing. These improve your overall profitability and help you grow faster compared to using ads.
The Benefits of Using Email and SMS Marketing
A big advantage of collecting your subscribers’ email addresses and phone numbers is that you get to own that information forever. With this data, you can reach out to your users and learn more about them, their tastes and preferences, and their needs. Owning those details also means that your posts and products are highly targeted and have a better potential for increased engagement.
Owned marketing allows you to easily communicate with your subscribers without invading their privacy. This strategy also protects your business from the frequent changes that happen in different online channels, and it’s a guaranteed way to maintain communication with your consumers—no algorithm attached.
In addition, using SMS and email marketing is essential for a successful seasonal sales period like Black Friday. The holidays and special events are characterized by a highly competitive atmosphere for sellers. Email and SMS marketing give you the opportunity to start reaching out to your audience early to stay ahead of the competition and make more sales.
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Factors to Consider While Building Your SMS Strategy
Although email and SMS offer great marketing opportunities for e-commerce brands, it is important that you play your cards right. If you don’t do it the right way, you could face some serious issues and even suffer financial loss.
For starters, you need to pay close attention to the kind of language you use in your messages and emails. Make sure that you have sign-up or opt-in forms on your e-commerce website, and ensure that your subscribers know what information will be sent to them and at what frequency. Although it may seem like a lot of work, all of this will help protect you from being reported for spamming.
You should also think about your local regulations, which vary from state to state and country to country. Some U.S. carriers make changes to their services based on changes in federal regulations to protect themselves and their clients from penalties and legal action.
What Is the Best Content to Send to SMS Subscribers?
Although many brands now use SMS for marketing purposes, there’s a common mistake they make: exclusively sending promotional messages. Many users find this annoying and end up unsubscribing.
To avoid this, brands should consider diversifying the type of content they send to their subscribers. A good strategy is to mix promotional messages with personal texts, company updates, fun contests, notes from the founder, GIFs, and images. The more variety you use, the more engagement you will get.
You could also use SMS as a way to let your subscribers know more about the history of your company, ask for their opinions of new products, or teach them about the benefits of your products. This also means that your subscribers will be less likely to unsubscribe.
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About the author
Ryan O’Connor was formerly SmartBug’s Director of E-commerce Growth, product manager, and sales director. He enjoys helping readers learn how to solve big business challenges through consumer psychology within the constantly evolving e-commerce landscape. Over the past 10 years, Ryan has helped 1000s of DTC brands navigate challenges to grow fast through intelligent marketing. He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty, having launched his own e-commerce stores from the ground up. Read more articles by Ryan O’Connor.