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It's no secret that an omnichannel approach to marketing your Shopify store can increase customer lifetime value and your overall brand presence.
Maybe you've considered adding paid advertising or SEO to your toolbox. While those strategies are effective, neither promote one-on-one communication between you and your customers.
Here's a thought... why not try SMS marketing for Shopify?
In case you didn't know, SMS marketing is coming in hot. 41.3% of businesses have seen an increase in opt-in rates over the past year!
Plus, you can easily integrate SMS communication with eCommerce's beloved email marketing! All it takes to get started is a few best practices and SMS campaigns to start.
Get ready to learn…
- Three best practices to preparing your Shopify store for SMS marketing
- Four SMS campaigns to try with subscribers
Before you start an SMS campaign on Shopify
As exciting as launching a new marketing campaign is, there are a few ways to prepare your Shopify store for the most success.
1. Learn about SMS marketing policies
The first step to sending SMS messages is complying with SMS opt-in policies and data protection rules. These policies make sure your subscribers consent to your text messages and data policies.
We recommend speaking to your lawyer for the appropriate details, but three general SMS opt-in rules are as follows:
1. You must ask for consent before you send SMS messages. This is where opt-in forms come in handy!
2. A link to your terms and conditions and privacy policy appear in your opt-in or welcome text message.
3. SMS subscribers can opt-0ut of your messages whenever they want. A well-known way to unsubscribe is by responding to your texts with STOP.
Look through these rules now, so you don't get in trouble later!
2. Download an SMS Shopify app
Shopify SMS apps help you create dynamic SMS marketing campaigns, retarget users, and identify abandoned cart recovery opportunities... all while tracking clicks, opens, and unread messages. The best part is that you can execute all of these tasks straight from your Shopify store.
So which SMS marketing apps should you try out?
In our humble opinion, we love Sendlane's Shopify app! This app gives you access to all of Sendlane's features, including:
- Targeted pop-ups
- Intuitive customer segmentation
- Deep-data analytics and insights
- Email marketing and SMS marketing integration
And speaking of email and SMS marketing integration...
//[inject:ad-shopify]
3. Integrate SMS messages with email marketing
You’ve probably seen the statistic that SMS alerts are read in just under 3 minutes, while emails aren't read for another 90 minutes. But this doesn’t mean you should kick email marketing to the curb. In fact, email and SMS marketing are amazing partners!
Kevin Abblitt, the Account Manager at Sendlane, agrees, "If you’re looking to grow your brand, improve your bottom line and develop a deeper relationship with your audience, fewer strategies work better than email/SMS."
He goes on, "Having a strong email and SMS strategy gives you an omnichannel approach and delivers a consistent experience across your communications. Plus, it lets your customers decide how they want to interact with your brand. What’s more powerful than that?"
Inside Sendlane, you can send personalized SMS marketing campaigns within your email funnels. This way, customers connect with your brand through multiple channels. And you don’t have to put in the extra work! Check out this article about Sendlane’s SMS/MMS Marketing for more information.
You can also rep email and SMS by adding a two-in-one opt-in form to your online store.
A few strategies to test with your opt-in forms include:
- A/B testing to analyze how well your forms work and how to improve.
- Hiding your opt-in form from current subscribers and revealing other pop-ups they'd relate to instead.
- Wow-ing new subscribers with targeted emails based on their purchase history, product preferences, and interests.
Take all of these strategies for a spin with our custom opt-in form integration with Justuno.
4 SMS marketing campaigns to try with your Shopify customers
You've prepped for SMS marketing using the tips above and our additional six tips to grow your SMS list. You're now ready to launch some targeted text marketing campaigns on Shopify!
But you might be wondering what type of messages to send... Not to worry! We've compiled four different SMS marketing efforts to try with your SMS subscriber list today. Also, you can check out these SMS marketing examples and these 22 SMS marketing trends you must try in 2023.
1. The welcome text
There's no better way to kick off your SMS marketing campaign than with a good ol' welcome text.
Funboy welcomes new subscribers with a welcome discount—it's short and sweet! Other tips to sending a memorable welcome message include:
- Thanking new sign-ups with some goodies: Include a discount, free sample, exclusive access to a product line or content, etc.
- Attaching an image: Use images of your products, brand, or reaction GIFs.
- Following up with additional welcome messages: Turn your welcome text into a welcome series and introduce educational content, product recommendations, and additional freebies.
2. The discount text
As a Shopify store owner, you must be well acquainted with incentives, especially discounts.
Just because discount campaigns are popular doesn't mean they always convert. It's not as easy as adding 10% off and hitting send. You have to make sure they aren't spammy!
Here are three strategies to engage with users via discount SMS text messages:
1. Avoid long URLs and random hyperlinks: Nothing screams “Spam!” more than a bunch of links. Instead, send one separate text message to your store's homepage. Notice how Lulu's URL text links directly to their online store.
2. End your text messages with a go-to signature: A simple signature like "xoxo" strengthens your brand identity and lets subscribers know it's really you.
3. Allow users to opt-out at any time: Whether it's texting STOP or adding an opt-out link, SMS subscribers should never feel trapped in your SMS alerts.
Before hitting send, make sure your customers are interested in your offer with segmentation!
It’s simple: Use an SMS software like Sendlane and divide your subscribers by their favorite incentives. Then, track their click-through rates and make sure they’re engaging with your discounts.
3. The recommendation text
If text marketing is known for its short response times, why not take advantage and encourage buyers to head straight to your Shopify store via product recommendations?
Product recommendations take endless scrolling away and send subscribers directly to their favorite products.
And get this: 71 percent of consumers expect companies to deliver personalized interactions, and 76 percent of the same buyers get frustrated when it doesn't happen.
It's about time we sent more hyper-personalized texts and email campaigns, don’t you agree?
Best of all, it's easier than ever to personalize your SMS campaign. With Sendlane's deep-data feature, you can:
- Track each buyer's product preferences and customer lifetime value
- Identify users' most clicked forms, pop-ups, emails, and texts
- Find the time of the day when customers open their devices the most
//[inject:ad-ebook-sms-marketing]
4. The abandoned cart text
Email marketing is famous for delivering abandoned cart reminders. But have you considered sending cart recovery SMS notifications?
Now is your chance to take advantage of SMS’ quick-response times. Send an abandoned text soon after someone leaves their online cart and watch your conversion rates grow.
See how Brooklinen doesn't entice users to come back with a discount? This might come off as strange, but you don't always need to include a discount in your abandoned cart campaign.
Take advantage of your customer data and decide if a discount, no discount, or something else (e.g., free shipping), will do the trick.
Other elements you can add to your cart abandoned SMS alerts are:
- An image of the product they abandoned
- A direct link back to their cart
- Asking users to respond with questions or comments
As you dip your toes into different SMS campaigns, remember that the best text messages are two-way conversations.
Invite subscribers to text you back with:
- Customer support questions
- Subscription refill requests
- Suggestions to improving your shop
And don't forget to respond back directly using Sendlane!
Uplevel your SMS messages on Shopify
See how effective SMS marketing can be? Now, you can…
- Build one-on-one relationships with your audience
- Diversify your customer touchpoints with omnichannel marketing
- Update subscribers with speedy notifications
And now that you’ve learned about four savvy text campaigns, there’s nothing stopping you from launching your SMS marketing on Shopify! Check out these 11 Easy Ways to Make Your SMS Marketing More Powerful for other great ideas and recommendations.
In fact, why not start a free trial of Sendlane and start today?
We'll sharpen your SMS marketing efforts and give your audience what they really want... customized messaging.
Take Sendlane’s email & SMS marketing tools for a 60-day test drive here! Also, check out these creative SMS marketing campaigns to inspire yourself, and take note of some other great ideas for your eCommerce.
