7 SMS Marketing Best Practices For E-commerce

In today’s digital age, businesses are looking for new and creative ways to connect with customers. SMS marketing has come out as a powerful tool in the E-commerce industry, allowing companies to reach out directly to their target audiences through text messages. It’s no wonder that many E-commerce businesses are going for SMS marketing as a way to increase their sales and drive customer loyalty. E-commerce businesses can use SMS marketing as a powerful tool to connect with their customers on their mobile devices. But, it’s important to follow some best practices while using SMS marketing to make sure that your messages are effective and well-received by your audience. Here in this blog, we will discuss the best 7 SMS marketing practices for E-commerce,

SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is a form of mobile marketing that includes sending promotional messages to customers through SMS (Short Message Service). It’s a direct way for businesses to connect with their customers and build relationships. Unlike other forms of digital marketing like email or social media, SMS has a higher open rate, making it an effective way to reach customers in real-time. Research shows that 90% of text messages are read by customers within the first three minutes after sending them.

We can use SMS marketing for a variety of purposes such as

• promoting new products or services,
• announcing sales or discounts,
• providing customer support,
• sending reminders about upcoming appointments or events, and so on.

For E-commerce businesses, SMS can be particularly powerful because it allows them to send personalized product recommendations based on past purchase history. This kind of targeted messaging helps increase customer engagement and loyalty.

However, businesses need to obtain proper consent from customers before starting any SMS campaign in order to avoid spamming complaints that could damage brand reputation.

Importance Of 7 SMS Marketing Practices:-

SMS marketing has become an important tool for e-commerce businesses to reach their customers quickly and effectively.

• SMS marketing is a cost-effective way to promote your products and services compared to traditional advertising methods such as billboards or television ads. This means that small e-commerce businesses can also compete with larger ones.
• SMS marketing allows you to segment your audience by demographics and behavior, which helps in targeting specific groups with personalized offers based on their interests, purchase history, or location data. This level of personalization increases the likelihood of conversion rates significantly.
• Another significant advantage of SMS marketing is its immediacy: it’s perfect for promoting flash sales, time-sensitive deals, or limited stock items where timing matters. Customers can act on these promotions instantly from their mobile devices without having to wait until they get home.
• SMS marketing provides e-commerce businesses with an efficient channel for reaching out to customers directly through their mobile devices while offering personalization and immediate action ability at a relatively low cost compared to other traditional advertising methods.

Best Practices For 7 :SMS Marketing:-

Here are some best practices for SMS marketing one needs to follow:-

1. Obtain Consent: Always get permission from your customers before sending them text messages. This can be done through opt-in forms on your website or during the checkout process.
   
2. Personalize Messages: Use customer data like name, purchase history, and location to customize each message you send out. This will make the message more relevant and engaging for the recipient. There is a lot of data present in the customer’s history that you can use to make your SMS look more appealing and customized. For example, you can customize messages on one’s birthday or anniversary.
   
3. Keep it Short: Text messages have character limits, so keep your messages short and sweet. Stick to one main idea per message. When you are sending any message make sure to keep it brief and concise.
   
4. Make it memorable: One should make sure to have simple and memorable language while sending the SMS to their customers. Also, make sure to use memorable coupon codes that are specific for the particular event/time.
   
5. Schedule Properly: Consider what time of day is better for sending messages based on your target audience’s lifestyle and habits.
   
6. Provide Value: Give exclusive discounts, promotions, or other benefits in exchange for opting into receiving text communications from you.
   
7. Make it attractive: A study showed that the average attention span for people was 8.25 seconds. It means that the message should be short enough to catch the user’s eyes in a few seconds of reading.
   
8. Track Results: Use an analytics tool or platform that tracks open rates, click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, etc. This way you’ll know if there was a success in any particular campaign.
   
9. Measure your growth: Measure the growth of your marketing campaigns to know what is working and what is not.
   
10. Be Responsive & Interactive: Encourage feedback about products/services via text messaging. This allows consumers to feel heard while driving sales at the same time.
    
11. Add a disclaimer when needed: One should always add a disclaimer while sending promotional messages to their customers when needed. Such as – Terms and Conditions applied, which may include data charges, etc.
    
12. Added CTA: Call to action is considered the foundation of many promotional message practices. One should always put a CTA at the end of your message to give the right meaning to your message.
    
13. Option for opting out of the text: By adding text like ‘Stop here’ if the customer doesn’t want to receive the message is really a worthwhile task.

How To Start With SMS Marketing?

Getting started with SMS marketing for your e-commerce business is easier than you might think. Here are a few steps to help you get started:-

1. First, determine the goal of your SMS campaign. Do you want to increase sales, promote a new product or service, or engage with customers in a specific way? This will help guide the content and timing of your messages.
2. Second, make sure that you have permission from your customers to send them text messages. This can be obtained through opt-in forms on your website. Or by having customers text a keyword to sign up for updates.
3. Once you have permission, it’s time to start crafting compelling messages. Keep them short and sweet, focusing on one clear call-to-action per message.
4. Third, Consider using personalized messaging based on customer behavior and preferences. For example, if they’ve recently abandoned their cart, send them a reminder with an offer code.
5. Track and analyze the results of your campaigns so that you can continually improve upon them over time.

Final Words

By following these practices, E-commerce businesses can maximize the potential of SMS marketing. From crafting engaging messages to timing them just right, every aspect of an SMS campaign should be carefully considered and optimized.

Remember that while SMS marketing can be highly effective, it’s important not to inundate your audience with too many messages or irrelevant content. Always prioritize delivering value to your subscribers and building strong relationships with them over time.

If you’re new to SMS marketing, take the time to research and experiment with different strategies until you find what works best for your business. By staying up-to-date on industry trends and constantly refining your approach, you’ll be able to leverage this channel effectively for years to come.