Sell more products with SMS for e‑commerce

SMS marketing is simply using SMS text messages to promote products and services with the ultimate goal of selling. 

SMS are sent to customers in bulk with the goal to communicate time‑sensitive offers, or information the customers should not miss.

A typical SMS sent by a  marketer contains a  short copy and a  URL link. Because of its simplicity and clear next step, e‑commerce stores can spend little time crafting a  message that brings incredible results. With usually only one link included, it’s easy to follow through and proceed to the website for purchase. Because of that, the average conversion rate of SMS is 32 %.

While many businesses use SMS for communicating with their customers ‑ such as banks, transportation companies, and fulfillment companies ‑ not many of them utilize SMS for marketing, but rather notifications about a  purchase made.

E‑shops on the other hand have the opportunity to make sales easily through SMS.

SMS marketing is an ideal tool for an e‑commerce store looking to widen the variety of communication channels. It provides a  new and, for many companies, unexplored channel of communication with great results. In fact, only 35 %  of brands worldwide utilize SMS marketing. That leaves a  massive gap in the market and means using SMS gives you an advantage against your competitors. This factor also adds to the fact that most customers are not used to getting many selling SMS messages and therefore these messages are truly opened and read.

Compared to other channels, SMS get incredible open and click‑through rate. With average of 98 %  open rate and over 6 %  click rate, it is a  sure bet if you wish to engage your customers.

SMS are also made to help you grow revenue. A  staggering 96 %  of marketers report SMS helped them drive revenue. And on average, SMS marketing generates $71 for every $1 invested, which gives you over 7,000% ROI.

Short copy

SMS copy is usually limited to about 160 characters/message. This gives a  unique opportunity to communicate the offer simply and effectively. It also provides a  challenge for businesses, aiming to use just the right words to get the customer interested.

Single link

Due to the character limitations, usually only one link is added to the SMS. And with a  short copy and only one link, the chances are high that the link will be clicked through. As mentioned above, SMS has about a  19 %  click‑through rate. 

RODO in SMS marketing

Remember that SMS marketing also falls under RODO specifics. If you wish to send your customers SMS in bulk, you must first collect their consent for marketing communication.

This consent can be given either when a  customer is signing up for a  newsletter, registering on a  website, or making a  purchase. You can read more about RODO here.

SMS marketing is best utilized as an add‑on to email marketing activities.

They are a  great combination especially because you are still communicating with your subscribers or customers, yet the form of the message is different.

While email provides a  great platform to communicate details, provide product info, and sell with images, SMS is best combined with that as a  reminder of special sale. Together, they give you a  place to communicate clearly yet push customers to take your desired action.

What campaigns you can send?

• Last x  hours of sales

• Night shopping

• Sale reminder

• Black Friday messages

• Clearing warehouse

• Asking for review

• Invitation for loyalty club /  VIP club

Single‑product offer

Due to character limitations, SMS are best used when only adding one URL address to forward the customer to your website/product. 

That is why SMS should always promote only one offer at a  time. Whether it is one product or sale, remember to use only one link and utilize the rest of the characters available to write a  compelling case for your offer.

Time‑sensitive offer

SMS are amazing for communicating urgency and therefore last‑minute offers. 

With an incredible 98 %  open rate, it gives your business the best opportunity to remind the sale and will certainly get customers’ attention.

SMS marketing also has incredibly fast response time ‑ SMS is opened and read in approximately 90 seconds after being delivered. This gives you immediate reaction times and you can see right away if your campaign is working.

#TIP: Combine email and SMS

When combined with emails, you can create 2  campaigns ‑ one email campaign informing about sales and one SMS campaign as a  reminder of this sale and a  nudge to go shopping before the sales are up.

VIP offers 

For some businesses, sending SMS to the whole customer database is not ideal. Considering all the downsides and costs, it might work better to only send SMS to your VIP customers or loyalty club users. Sending SMS to only small group of your customers can work in your favour especially if you clearly communicate that they are special for you and this offer is only made for them.

Asking for review

SMS can be utilized well to collect customer reviews after a  purchase is finished. 

Asking for a  review can be easily done with just a  short copy and one link. Therefore, it’s the ideal content for SMS marketing.

Stand out from the crowd

As mentioned above, only 35 %  of brands worldwide use SMS for their marketing campaigns. This not only leaves a  great opportunity to reach customers at unexpected places, but is important especially in times like Black Friday or Christmas shopping, where all channels are flooded with adds and email inboxes are overflowing with promotional deals.

Reaching customers in new and unexplored channels helps you stand out from the crowd and increases your chances of selling more.

Keep it short and clear

SMS messages are limited to 160 characters per message. This leaves little space for long descriptions and, therefore, requires great copywriting.

Ensure your message is clear and you are pointing your customer in one direction.

Add links

The main benefit of SMS is surely that you can include URLs, and you can usually only fit one link into the message, which leaves a  clear path for the customer to follow.

Considering you want to include a  URL address in the message, remember to shorten your links if possible.

Personalize

If you have the option, personalize the message by adding customer’s name. A  little goes a  long way in this case and making the message appear custom‑made for each customer helps increase your results. 

Remember that each name can have a  different number of characters, so consider sending a  shorter message to provide additional space for longer names.

Provide promo code

Another great way of utilizing SMS is by providing a  special promo code. While adding the URL will go a  long way, sometimes adding a  promo code can help nudge customers to go and shop, for example, in your brick‑and-mortar shop. Promo codes can work great for restaurants, coffee shops, and businesses where clicking a  link won’t lead to a  purchase.

With SMS marketing, there are three things to consider.

Firstly, for some businesses, it is a  challenge collecting phone numbers from customers, as this is something you might not consider when creating sign‑up forms. We would recommend updating a  sign‑up form, or looking into your e‑commerce solution to see if they are collecting phone information when a  purchase is made.

Secondly, remember that SMS has a  limited character count. While this can be changed into an advantage, it’s important to consider this factor when writing up your SMS copy.

Lastly, compared to other marketing activities (especially email marketing), SMS marketing is considerably more expensive. If done correctly, the investment returns easily, however, you have to consider the first expense.

In Ecomail, sending SMS to Poland costs only 0,10 zł per SMS, which is the best price you can get for SMS marketing on the market. Reach out to customer support to get more info on SMS marketing and how to get started.