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Just because we are living a fast-paced life does not mean that old technologies are obsolete. A 2016 Gartner study revealed that SMS has a 98% open rate. That said, you might want to consider using SMS marketing to boost your e-commerce sales. Here’s are six ways how:
How SMS Marketing can Drive E-commerce Sales
Sending SMS to your customers may sound old school. However, it still has some unique characteristics that make it relevant in this digital age.
For instance, people tend to open an SMS as soon as they receive it. This explains why it has a high open-rate compared to email. And because of its immediate nature, you can effectively use SMS to promote your e-commerce site.
The best part? You are sure that your subscribers will receive your message whether they own a smartphone or not.
Now that you know how SMS marketing can drive e-commerce sales, here six ways you can use it for your online business:
Provide Exclusive Offers
Sending an SMS alone, saying that there is an ongoing sale on your online store, will not boost your sales. If you want to compel your customers, consider offering something valuable.
Providing exclusive offers, for instance, can improve customer engagement and drive action.
It can be as simple as sending coupons to your SMS subscribers or exclusive offers based on past purchases. Here are some examples:
- Save 10% on December 20 – 26 when you use the code “SMS” upon checkout.
- Get a free 50-gram coffee refill on your next purchase of 250-gram coffee.
Run Limited Offers
If you want your customers to take immediate action, you might want to run limited offers. And luckily, you can leverage SMS marketing in this kind of campaign.
Mind you; some e-commerce businesses will take advantage of holidays to boost their sales for a short period.
Say you sell Sterling silver jewelry online, and Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. If you want to run limited offers via SMS, you can send the following message to your subscribers:
Receive discounts when you buy a pair of rings this Valentine’s Day! Send “COUPLE” to 12345 upon checkout.
Send Upcoming Sale Alerts
If you do not see a boost in e-commerce sales despite providing discounts and limited offers, it can be because your customers lack preparation. This is where sending upcoming sales alerts could come in handy.
What happens is that you inform your customers first of any upcoming sales in your online store. That way, your customers can anticipate and save enough for the forthcoming sale.
Sending a sale alert can be as simple as saying that you will offer a 25% discount for select items next week.
However, this SMS marketing tactic is ideal if you already have a list of subscribers.
Send Personalized Messages
If you can collect added information about your customers, consider using SMS to send personalized messages. But how can that help boost your e-commerce sales?
The key is hooking an offer.
For instance, you can send a birthday message to your customer. Together with the birthday message can be a discount code. Doing so will entice them to take action.
Using our Sterling silver store example, here a sample of SMS marketing message that you can send:
Happy birthday! Treat yourself to a free toe ring for every purchase of Sterling jewelry set. Order today!
Upsell Relevant Products
Upselling is when you recommend an upgraded version of your product.
Say a customer added a silver necklace to her wish list or bought one a few months back. Consider offering a set of jewelry that goes well with the necklace.
But keep in mind that upselling can be challenging if you lack negotiating skills. Hence, it would be best to use the necessary e-commerce tools that allows you to do the following:
- Monitor your customers’ purchasing behavior.
- Integrate SMS marketing with your e-commerce marketing platform.
Drive Website Traffic
Just because you have an online store does not mean you can use non-internet methods to drive website traffic. And all the tips we mentioned above will be useless without the help of an actionable call-to-action.
Imagine this: You could send discount offers to your SMS subscribers, and one of them would like to avail of your products. Where and how can they do it?
This is where CTAs can be useful. In the case of SMS marketing, you can send a shortened URL that can redirect a subscriber to your online store.
Pro tip: Use a tracking code so you can monitor whether the online traffic came from one of your SMS marketing campaigns.
It may be old school, but SMS can still come in handy in making your online business grow. That said, we suggest that you follow one or two tips from this post and see how it can boost your e-commerce sales.
