Why Should Ecommerce Stores Use SMS Marketing?
Did you know that up to 5 billion people worldwide send and receive SMS regularly?
That’s about 65% of the world’s population actively texting. So if your customers are texting a lot, why aren’t you?
According to Attentive Mobile, about 66% of marketers not using SMS marketing were likely to start using it in 2021. So far, ecommerce SMS marketing has seen a better ROI, six times more engagement than email, and a 29% conversion rate.
With a 98% open rate, you can see why text messaging is so hard to forget and why eCommerce stores should start texting as early as now.
Wondering how SMS can serve your eCommerce business this year? This article uncovers 5 cutting-edge ways to use texts to reach outstanding marketing outcomes with your eCommerce stores.
What Is SMS Marketing for E-commerce Websites?
Instead of burning lots of cash on social media advertising and email marketing, your eCommerce business could use text messages and still get better results. That’s what SMS marketing eCommerce is all about. For instance, did you know that 91% of your customers are willing to sign up to receive texts from you? If you aren’t texting, start now.
Some Use Cases of SMS for Ecommerce Stores
Action speaks louder than words. Here are a few use cases for e-commerce SMS to help you get started:
Toroe Performance Eyewear
After spending months designing the perfect sunglasses for their customers, Toroe performance eyewear faced the challenge of marketing. More trouble came when the company began to record a significant decrease in the output of its email campaigns.
This was a general problem, as the average open rate of emails decreased by 8% around 2019, compared to 2018.
The company saw a potential solution in SMS for ecommerce. So they placed a mobile signup widget on their website, which helped them grow their subscriber list. Then, they set up an eCommerce mobile SMS campaign in which they gave small purchasing discounts to customers. This boosted the revenue to over $7000 of store revenue in just 30 days.
While customers took advantage of the special discount to purchase their favorite sunglasses, the company enjoyed a 156x return on its text marketing channel.
Whisker Seeker Tackle
Whisker Seeker Tackle is a low-based company solving the high demand for catfish in the U.S. The company predominantly used email to communicate with its customers. But that was until their CEO became aware of the high SMS open rates and conversion rates.
Whisker Seeker Tackle created a monthly SMS campaign where they sent out at least one MegaDeals promotion every month. Customers seemed to be anxiously waiting for the texts, given that click-through rates were at an all-time high of 47%-52%.
Whisker Seeker Tackle’s SMS campaign saw a conversion rate of 25% per text. That’s more than the company had witnessed for any other channel.
Supergoop!
Supergoop is a protective skincare brand with a wide audience of mobile-first shoppers. When you have mobile-first shoppers for an audience, you just have to figure out how to communicate with them directly — to increase brand awareness and drive sales.
This was a problem for Supergoop!
The solution? Text messaging marketing. First off, Supergoop! grew its phone number and email lists simultaneously by driving opt-ins through “two-tap” signup on its website. Next, they rewarded VIP customers with special offers and first access to new products. They also shared limited time-offers and seasonal messages.
Supergoop! received a 29x ROI, averaging an 11.5% conversion rate for its messages.
What Are the Advantages of Using Bulk Text Messaging for Ecom?
Bulk text messaging allows you to send mass texts to customers. Here are some more benefits of bulk SMS for retail stores:
- Cost-effective
SMS marketing is one of the cheapest forms of marketing, especially when done in bulk. Bulk texting allows you to send thousands of messages to multiple customers at lower costs.
- Personalization
It doesn’t matter whether you’re sending a thousand messages every day, every month, or not. Personalization is possible with bulk messaging. With a tool like BSG, it’s easy to personalize your SMS, so customers feel that you care. This significantly increases engagement and conversion rates.
- Do more with less
Bulk SMS marketing lets you send text messages with the same promotional messages to thousands of customers at the same time. A single piece of content creates such a big impact, making your work super easy. You only have to do the thoughtful crafting once for each group of customers.
- Reach a wider audience
Many bulk messaging service providers like us allow for an unlimited number of text messages at a time. This means with bulk SMS, the audience you can reach is endless. This brings an opportunity to communicate important messages to a wide present and future customer base.
Top 5 Reasons for Ecommerce Stores to Send Text Messages
Businesses looking to increase their online sales should consider using text messages as a way to reach out to potential customers.
Text messages have been shown to be an effective way to connect with customers and encourage them to make a purchase. Here are the top five reasons why ecommerce stores should send text messages:
1. Recover Abandoned Shopping Cart Sales
In 2021, the cart abandonment rate stood at 59.22%, according to Fresh Relevance. Unfortunately, the number grows by the day and is becoming quite a headache for E-commerce stores and marketers.
SMS marketing for retail can help solve the cart abandonment problem that stores have to deal with. All it takes is a text to a customer, reminding them of the items in their cart and urging them to complete their purchases.
With our multichannel marketing platform, you can combine email and SMS to combat cart abandonment.
2. Order Status SMS
When creating SMS campaigns, you have two options: Shortcodes or Long codes. Long codes are the regular 10-digit phone numbers and are handy for keeping customers up-to-date on their order status through eCommerce SMS notifications The long codes tell the customer that they’re communicating with a person and not a robot as might be the case with emails.
So while you automate order status messages, the customers feel that they’re talking to an actual delivery guy. This is important for customer relationships.
3. New Product Arrivals
What customer doesn’t enjoy news about the latest arrivals for their favorite brands in their inboxes? 91% of customers say they’d want to be contacted by brands via SMS.
Depending on the size of your subscriber list, a single text message could potentially inform a few or thousands of customers about your store’s latest arrivals. However, make sure your lists are cleaned up with a phone number check to avoid numbers that don’t exist. SMS service for eCommerce is best for keeping customers up-to-date with the latest arrivals.
4. Sales and Discounts
Customers love to benefit from discounts and flash sales opportunities from their favorite stores. Do you have any new special offers to share with your customers?
You can use SMS to send personalized offers to special customers or inactive customers. 51% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if they receive a text message with images and media.
5. Build Loyalty
Customers are loyal to a business when they feel important and cared for. Ecommerce stores can use SMS to connect with customers on a more personal level.
58% of consumers believe text messages are the most effective way for brands to communicate. This explains why customers tend to be more loyal to brands that text them with more relevant offers.
SMS through the help of Shortcodes can also be used to add two-factor authentication to your website.
Conclusion
Consumers are overwhelmed with content on social media. Their inboxes are already overwhelmed with hundreds of emails from stores like yours. Yet customers say they want to receive text messages, and they’re anxious to interact with your brand.
Want marketing success in 2022? You’ve seen more than enough reasons why you should start texting! Get in touch with BSG for more insights.
