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You’ve heard how powerful SMS marketing can be for your eCommerce business. Over half of US retailers planned to increase their investment in SMS marketing.
And it makes sense. Deeper customer relationships, more touch-points, and real-time customer support?
I mean, who wouldn’t want to hop on the SMS train? Connecting with your subscribers via text takes your customer interactions to another level.
But maybe you’re wondering how to get started with SMS. What type of texts do you send, and why?
Lucky for you, we’ve already answered this for you! In this article, we’ll show you five SMS marketing examples and how they help fellow eCommerce businesses increase brand loyalty and revenue. Also, you may check out some Shopify SMS marketing strategies for more inspiration for your eCommerce.
1. Nurture new subscribers with a welcome message
Introductory messages build rapport and connect your subscribers with your business. And you know what they say—a first impression means everything!
When someone signs up for your SMS campaign, send them a friendly welcome message.
Doesn’t this text message feel like something you’d get from a friend? That’s why we love this welcome message from SkinTe.
Bassima, the founder of SkinTe, takes a personable approach and says the subscriber’s name, why she believes in her brand, and adds a friendly image of herself. The discount is just the cherry on top.
Case in point: The best welcome messages build connection and trust from the get-go.
Here are three ways to add personality to your texts:
- Add images of your team, brand, or product
- Say their name
- Integrate your brand’s personality, whether that’s witty humor, empathy, or grit
And you don’t have to build your welcome campaign from scratch. Now that Sendlane offers SMS messaging, you can integrate chunks of your welcome email content with SMS!
2. Promote your brand with time-sensitive offers
Most people keep their phones attached to their hip from sunup to sundown. In fact, 70% of Americans check their phones within five minutes of getting a notification!
Take advantage and update your customers about time-sensitive offers—sales, product launches, and events—via text.
Subscribers who sign up for Corkcicle’s SMS campaign get exclusive access to product launches and sales.
VIP members get even more perks. Amanda Nelson, the vice president of eCommerce at Corkcicle, shares their success using VIP messages in eMarketer’s subscription-only newsletter.
“We’ve been doing text messaging for about two years. We use it for our VIP customers; we talk to them a bit differently over text than we do over emails, and we use it to send them special offers. I’d advise brands to lean into text and really make it its own channel.”
Sending exclusive messages to VIP members is a smart move, mainly because this audience is more likely to take action.
For you, this type of audience might be:
- Your reward’s club members
- High lifetime value customers
- Customers who open your messages frequently
Pro tip: Use your segmented email lists to send personalized updates about your brand’s updates! For example, send your referral program a promo about sharing your new product with friends.
If you want to uplevel your messaging even further, then ditch the salesy language and promote your special events like you would with a friend.
Tone It Up’s text is friendly, direct and prompts their Instagram Live workouts without pushing it.
Follow their formula and:
- Follow up with your subscribers - “How are you?” Or “Just checking in!”
- Add a short call to action - “We’ve just released (new product)”
- Send a URL for easy access
Keep it short and sweet!
//[inject:ad-sms-demo]
3. Build trust and highlight special events
How great would it be if you received a text like this?
Blume, a skincare brand, is nowhere near the coffee industry. And yet, they send their customers a free Starbucks coffee, just because!
Blume started this campaign to help its customers throughout the pandemic. Bunny, the founder of Blume, explains the brains behind this strategy.
“That’s one way we use SMS to build brand loyalty and to give people a reason to be interested in the brand beyond the products we sell. The Starbucks SMS program is our way to give back to customers, whether they’re purchasing or not.”
Highlighting a special event, like a birthday, fosters those “fuzzy feelings” and deepens the trust between you and your audience.
“It was the most heartwarming experience to see people picking up their coffees and telling us what they ordered,” Bunny shares.
Sending special event texts can be as easy as blasting a Thanksgiving or New Year’s email.
But with Sendlane, you can get specific:
- Wish each customer a happy birthday
- Highlight first-order anniversaries
- Celebrate when a customer spends a certain amount of money
- Thank your most loyal customers
Whatever you choose, make sure to send something your audience will actually appreciate. Don’t choose something as standard as free shipping—go for something special, like a gift set.
And while you’re at it, use our two-way conversation feature and allow your subscribers to respond to you! Invite them to tell you about their product experience or to even ask for customer support.
4. Keep customers in the loop with a two-way reply
Customer support is a crucial element of the online store experience. SMS can support your customer service needs, whether it’s answering questions, providing recommendations, or sending notifications.
Four of our favorite ways to keep customers in the loop are:
- Offering real-time customer support, as mentioned in six effortless ways to grow your SMS list
- Updating subscriptions in real-time
- Product updates (see below)
- Altering orders
Sound, an organic beverage brand, takes it a step further and allows its customers to modify or cancel their tea subscriptions over text.
Modifying your order through text is way easier than logging into your computer or app. And besides, Gartner predicts that 80% of customer service organizations will abandon native apps for SMS messaging by 2025!
One last way to support customers is by sending educational content.
Resourceful messages give users a break from the constant discount and promo texts. Plus, tying education to your products gives users a better reason to buy!
Starting an education campaign is simple.
Repurpose your blog posts, podcasts, Instagram captions, etc., into digestible text messages. Keep it interesting with images, links, and GIFs!
Then, advertise your SMS campaign and segment whoever signs up to a separate list.
There are countless ways to support your audience with SMS marketing. The key is to choose something they will value the most.
Look through your social media channels and jot down your audience’s most asked questions. Do they revolve around educational resources? Shipping? Subscriptions? Create an SMS campaign out of it!
Once you’ve mastered the two-way reply, cement your customer relationships and ask for feedback. Check out these 5 SMS Marketing Strategies for Flawless Customer Service to get some others ideas!
5. Improve your eCommerce store with feedback
Feedback has evolved from a Google Forms survey to interactive questionnaires, one-on-one calls, and yes—SMS messaging!
Maev, an online dog brand, doesn’t beat around the bush. Their text explains why they’re asking for feedback and a link to participate—that’s all you need!
Here are three more ideas to spruce up your feedback SMS campaign:
- Speed up the process and ask subscribers to send a rating (1-10) about their experience with you
- Create a conversation and allow customers to text you back with their feedback
- Add an incentive, like a discount, free sample, or exclusive access to a new product, when users participate
Interested in automating your feedback campaign? Use Sendlane to send a feedback message as soon as someone purchases a product!
The possibilities of SMS marketing are endless
You must be buzzing with inspiration after reading these examples for your eCommerce SMS marketing campaign. From gifting free coffees to educating users, you can take advantage of text messages in some form. Check out these creative SMS marketing campaigns and take note of some other great ideas for your eCommerce.
Do you want to know the best part?
You don’t have to start at the bottom. With Sendlane, you can integrate your email marketing strategy with SMS and create powerful customer relationships right now. Learn more about Sendlane’s SMS/MMS Marketing in this article.
On top of that, take advantage of our two-way response feature and never leave your customers on read.
So what are you waiting for? Take Sendlane for a 60-day test drive and see how SMS marketing can strengthen your eCommerce strategy.
But before you leave, do not miss out on these 22 SMS marketing trends you must try in 2023.
