SMS Marketing Guide: Suggestions, Examples and Tools (2024)

SMS marketing is one of the vital effective ways to speak with customers, boasting high engagement and conversion rates. It’s also more cost-efficient and private than many other marketing channels, nurturing stronger customer relationships without draining your budget.

This blog post will guide you thru the fundamentals of SMS marketing, with some best practices and examples to aid you construct an efficient SMS marketing program.

What’s SMS marketing?

Short message service (SMS) marketing uses text messages to construct relationships with customers and communicate promotional information. The goals of SMS marketing include generating leads, persuading recipients to click a link, and sharing details about a customer’s order or profile.

SMS marketing messages often contain copywriting, emojis, eye-catching images, links, and other easy options for making a purchase order. They’re typically sent to large lists of subscribers.

How SMS marketing works

Strategically, email and SMS marketing are similar. The goal of SMS marketing, like email marketing, is to sell, educate, or construct loyalty. SMS is an owned marketing channel—the sender fully controls the list of phone numbers and distribution—and businesses can send one-to-one or one-to-many messages, depending on their goals.

Identical to email marketing, it is best to make sure you’re capturing consent from customers before sending a marketing message via SMS.

Shopify makes it easy to gather SMS consent during checkout. To show this feature on, follow these steps.

When you get permission from a subscriber, you’ll be able to test different SMS marketing campaigns:

• Latest product announcements 
• Special offers like limited-time sales and free shipping
• Subscriber-exclusive offers 
• Flash sales
• Text-to-win competitions
• Loyalty programs
• Product drop alerts

SMS marketing requires a shortcode, the SMS equivalent of an organization email address. A shortcode is an abbreviated, easy-to-remember phone variety of 5 – 6 digits.

To opt into receiving your SMS messages, buyers text a keyword (like HOTSAUCE) to this shortcode. Because subscribing to SMS messages requires this deliberate act, it’s a superb option to construct a high-intent subscriber list with few bogus numbers: 

Before you begin sending promotional messages in a mobile marketing campaign, you’ll need to construct an inventory of phone numbers with opt-in consent to send. 

Typically, this list is gathered from prospects and customers, so in the event you aren’t generating traffic to your website, it might be too early to think about SMS marketing. First, invest your time in constructing a contact list.

Here’s an example of how athleisure brand Alo Yoga builds its SMS subscriber list, by offering latest website visitors a reduction:

SMS marketing works well during peak shopping seasons when email spam is high, paid promoting is dear, and consumer attention is strained. It’s also a fantastic option to automate your customer communications. Write a text and arrange a trigger, then let your marketing tool send out texts at the right moment.

9 examples of excellent SMS marketing messages

Let’s have a look at some examples to encourage your SMS marketing strategy. 

1. The flash sale message

A brief and snappy SMS is a fantastic option to promote one-off flash sales or major promotions. Since you’re communicating with voluntary subscribers, there’s a superb likelihood that the majority recipients will probably be responsive.

Line breaks, emojis, and product images make certain the promotion could be easily understood.

2. The hype-up text

Don’t launch a flash sale without some hype. A few promotional text messages, sent a number of days before the event, can assist with conversion. Many individuals wish to take into consideration their purchases ahead of time, so it’s smart to offer your favorite customers a heads-up before your sale goes live.

3. The feedback message

SMS is an appropriate format for conversational commerce, making it an efficient option to increase interactions with customers.

For instance, when developing latest product ideas, you would send an SMS to customers asking their opinion. In the event that they reply, there’s a possibility for a useful 1:1 discussion that brings them behind the scenes and makes them more more likely to make a purchase order.

4. The back-in-stock message

This message informs customers concerning the availability of sold-out inventory. It’s a mild yet effective option to re-engage past visitors. Encourage engagement by combining it with a free shipping offer or choice to pre-order a product. Transactional messages are impactful and easy to automate. 

5. The giveaway message

If you desire to get more leads out of your SMS marketing efforts, host a text-to-win giveaway or contest. A majority of these lead generation strategies expand your customer base with minimal effort in your part.

Some studies suggest that as much as 46% of contestants will share contests with none extra incentive, but you’ll be able to increase organic sharing of your giveaway by offering a reward, equivalent to additional entries.

You possibly can arrange a giveaway quickly across your current marketing channels. Just add your shortcode to any of the next:

• Ads (print and digital)
• Social media accounts
• Product packages
• Webinars
• Blogs or feature articles
• Landing pages in your website
• In-store signage 

When a user signs up in your giveaway, they robotically turn into a subscriber whom you’ll be able to reach with future campaigns.

6. The BFCM message

Schedule messages around popular shopping dates and events, equivalent to Black Friday shopping season. Time-sensitive campaigns jump on the thrill surrounding an event and encourage recipients to act fast before the sale is over.

7. The welcome message

Each time someone signs up in your list, you’ll be able to send them a series of welcome messages. Use short, concise language to inform them about your products, provide links to further content or popular products, and provides them a coupon.

Access to discounts and coupons rank amongst probably the most common reasons to join marketing text messages. Data suggests that a ten% discount is a sufficient incentive to capture most subscribers.

8. The abandoned cart message

An abandoned cart SMS is distributed to individuals who added products to their cart but didn’t complete the acquisition.

You should use SMS or email to follow up with abandoners and encourage sales. Nonetheless, since persons are more more likely to see an SMS push notification than notice an email in a crowded inbox, abandoned cart SMS messages may lead to higher results. 

9. The cross/upsell message

Strategic upselling and cross-selling can improve your average order value and customer lifetime value. It involves sending recommendations to customers based on their past purchases, a standard tactic in email marketing you’ll be able to replicate through texts.

SMS marketing best practices

Get permission

If a prospect or customer doesn’t offer you consent to text them, you would face legal problems. SMS text marketing is regulated under US law and marketers must follow codes of practice enacted under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and CAN-SPAM Act. Furthermore, texting without permission feels spammy—not a superb look in your company.

People often forget once they enroll for mailing lists, so make certain you retain a record of opt-in agreements. 

Make it easy to opt out

Greater than every other channel, SMS marketing requires buyer trust. This trust could be built by making it easy for patrons to opt out and in of your SMS list. 

While accessible unsubscribe options can reduce your variety of recipients, additionally they be certain that those that remain are genuinely keen on your offerings. This results in a more engaged audience and, ultimately, higher conversion rates.

Seek to tell, not (at all times) to advertise

Because it’s easy to opt out of promotional SMS messages, it pays to be considerate of your buyers’ patience. Most of your messages needs to be informational—related to orders and noteworthy dates or events. Promotional messages needs to be few and much between, ideally not more than once per week.

Keep context in mind

When designing SMS marketing campaigns, resist the urge to send random messages to subscribers. Contextually relevant texts usually tend to generate clicks without draining subscribers’ goodwill.

For instance, if you’ve got a promoted event on Friday night, send a text on Friday afternoon. If you desire to run a bar special, send your message at 3 or 4 p.m. on a workday. Keep it easy—you’ll avoid getting pinged as spam, and also you’ll see higher results.

Personalize

Many SMS marketing tools harness the information you collect about your customers to segment your SMS list and personalize messaging. Segmentation could be based on past purchases, browsing behavior, location, and even the time a customer normally shops. By segmenting your list, you’ll be able to send more personalized messages which can be more likely to lead to higher engagement and conversion rates.

If you happen to run a clothing store and know that a gaggle of loyal customers previously bought summer dresses, you would send them a text when your latest summer collection arrives. Or, if you’ve got a gaggle of consumers who normally shop within the evenings, you would schedule your texts containing promo codes to send once they’re more likely to be browsing.

SMS marketing vs. email marketing

Email and SMS marketing are each powerful tools in your marketing arsenal, but they serve different purposes and are effective in numerous scenarios.

When to make use of email

Email is a flexible medium that permits for wealthy content, including text, images, and links. It’s ideal for sharing detailed or extensive content, equivalent to:

Depending in your audience’s preferences, chances are you’ll want to incorporate this content in the e-mail body for immediate consumption and mobile accessibility. For a more streamlined experience, nevertheless, use the e-mail to present an summary and include a link to the complete content in your website.

Furthermore, email is great for nurturing leads over time. You possibly can create a series of emails that guide a possible customer through the buying process, providing them with incr easingly promotional information at each stage.

Email also allows for more branding and design elements than SMS, helping to bolster your brand identity.

When to make use of SMS

Text messages are typically read inside minutes of being received, making SMS perfect for time-sensitive communications. As an example, you would use SMS to send flash sale alerts, appointment reminders, or delivery updates.

SMS can also be optimal for sending short, impactful messages that require a response, equivalent to a one-day discount code.

As well as, SMS marketing could be more personal and interactive. Customers can easily reply to your messages, making a two-way conversation that may turn a prospect right into a sales lead. While replies are possible with email, it’s not standard practice and should feel less natural to your subscribers.

Each email and SMS marketing have their strengths. The secret is to make use of each channel strategically, based in your goals and your audience’s preferences.

SMS marketing software

For Shopify store owners, getting began with SMS marketing is easy, because of a variety of purpose-built apps.

All direct marketing apps available on the Shopify App Store have built-in compliance features. Listed here are 4 popular options:

• Postscript. Use Postscript to construct automated and personalized mass SMS messages. Pricing varies by usage. 
• Klaviyo. Send SMS texts to audience segments with Klaviyo’s triggers that use historical and real-time data.
• Attentive. Big brands with tons of of 1000’s of subscribers use Attentive, including Sephora, Coach, and Williams-Sonoma.
• Yotpo. With pay-as-you-go pricing, Yotpo is a well-liked SMS marketing app.

4 advantages of SMS marketing 

1. High engagement rates

Across marketing channels, SMS has a number of the most forgiving open rates and click-through rates. Since SMS marketing requires customers to opt in, your list will only include customers who wantto hear from you.

Shopify merchant Bushbalm has been using SMS marketing for years to generate engagement. Its automated series of welcome messages recurrently sees click-through rates of greater than 50%.

As compared, the brand typically achieves 25% open rates with marketing emails, and only 2% click-through rates.

2. Easy to write down

Anyone who’s written a mass email to customers knows the painstaking effort required, whether to craft the right subject line or the fitting copy that gets people clicking. 

With such a small SMS window on mobile devices, there’s only room for a few lines, and maybe a picture. Design and brand elements are replaced with emojis and GIFs—easy!

3. Strengthen customer relationships

SMS marketing helps construct more personal, loyal relationships with customers. Texts are inherently easier to reply to, encouraging real dialogue. Marketing SMS messages have an average response rate of 45%, which is again and again higher than email.

Messaging is not any longer a one-way street. Your customers expect to listen to back from you quickly and need the choice to interact in conversation. This two-way conversation goes far beyond traditional customer support. Use a chat support app to:

• Learn more about customers to recommend relevant products
• Upsell and cross-sell to extend average order value
• Guide customers to related products if one is out of stock
• Help customers make a payment

4. Customers prefer SMS communication

The instantaneous and private feel of SMS marketing makes it attractive for giant and small businesses—and customers. After email, SMS and other sorts of smartphone messages are the preferred option to hear from businesses.

Using text message marketing in your ecommerce store

Many online marketers steer away from SMS marketing because they assume it’s expensive and intrusive. Not so. If you happen to apply the principles above, you’ll cut through the noise, increase your conversion rates, and improve customer loyalty in the method.

Illustration by Pete Ryan