What is SMS Marketing and its Importance ?
SMS Marketing focuses on transactional, promotional, offers and updates to subscribers. These messages are automated and relevant text messages are sent accordingly. The messages are sent to subscriber segments without manual effort. This is done through martech platforms like Postscript, Klaviyo and Attentive. Automated SMS marketing delivers personalized and timely messages based on the trigger filter applied for a certain group or segment.
As data and technology keeps evolving it becomes even more important for ecommerce businesses to embrace automation to scale their DTC stores. It is an essential or must have for businesses to succeed over competition.
Key Benefits of SMS Marketing
a. Improvement of team productivity
b. Huge Reduction in potential error from manual efforts
c. An increase in customer engagement by sending timely messages
d. Support to other marketing channels such as email and social media
e. An opportunity to gather zero-party data via texts
A good automation strategy is one which is dynamically tweaked based on real time insights. One must not set up automations and forget about it. SMS strategy needs to be looked into ideally every quarter and changes should be made as per the data available about your subscribers. One must identify opportunities to enhance and optimize messaging communication depending on business goals and customer needs.
Let’s dive into the key SMS automations a DTC store must have and how DTC marketers can use them to their full potential to maximize revenue.
Key SMS Automations
1. The Welcome Series:
Not everyone who views your website will be prepared to make a purchase from your store. It is recommended to enable all channels and platforms of communication with your visitors as they consume media cross-platform and cross-device. Invite first time and repeat visitors to your website to sign up for text message notifications as they browse the pages.
Once they’ve signed up, an automated text message campaign can be enabled to welcome them to your brand and to incentivize them to make a purchase with a discount. As first impressions matter, this is your brand’s chance build trust and equity to win over these potential customers. SMS subscribers are most likely to unsubscribe within 30 days of subscription. It becomes imperative to make a lasting impression. The SMS welcome series should be solid to avoid opt outs.
Use this flow to introduce new subscribers to the value and character of your brand. Set expectations for what else they may expect from you via SMS, like early access to sales, product drops, exclusive SMS only discounts, VIP giveaways, or content that has been hand-picked by the staff, such recipes, DIY, product usage and how to’s.
Master the Welcome Series Email here
2. The Abandoned Cart Series:
The most common reason for revenue loss in ecommerce business is cart abandonment. The reasons for cart abandonment are various, from security reasons, shipping costs, no discount coupons etc. As we know giving a nudge and stepping in to remind customers is critical at this stage – else one can lose customers permanently.
It is recommended to create triggers for cart abandonment using SMS marketing automation so that they are sent whenever a customers leave their cart unattended. This message can motivate a consumer to complete their purchase by reminding them of the product in their shopping cart.
As a result, you will be able to make up for lost sales. According to Postscript’s 2022 SMS Benchmarks Report, with the exception of keyword opt-in replies, abandoned cart messages produced the highest clickthrough and conversion rates across all industries and product personas. Additionally, the report found that abandoned cart automations generate an average EPM of $4.36–$13.79.
A small nudge can convince a shopper to make that purchase, as these are shoppers with a high intent to buy.
To learn how to build a Powerful Abandoned Cart Series click here.
3. The Browse Abandonment Series:
Similar to cart abandonment, browse abandonment automation is an effective way to engage already interested shoppers. The difference being the receipt of this message would be shoppers who have merely visited your site and browsed your product portfolio. Browse abandonment occurs when they might have also added some products to the cart – and haven’t started the checkout process.
These set of shoppers are early in the stage of consideration. They may need an extra incentive to come back and shop as first-time shoppers. Browse abandonment messages are relatively high converting. They are a great testing ground for identifying which type of offers your subscribers respond to best. This is also one of the best messages to A/B test various offers.
4. The Post Purchase Series:
Repeat sales is the holy grail for ecommerce brands. A customer’s journey doesn’t end with their purchase. Post purchase engagement is crucial to maximise revenue for your DTC store. It’s easier to retain your customer and make the second third and fourth sale with them rather than scout for new customers and solely depend on new customer acquisition. Post purchase automations should be kept in mind to build loyalty and increase customer lifetime value. Some must have post purchase automations are:
a. The Post Purchase Loyalty Series:
It is good to have a loyalty and rewards program set up always. It helps bring back customers while also rewarding them while they spend with you. These programs should be enticing for your customers to want to come back. Shoppers familiar with your brand would know of these rewards, but newer customers may not necessarily know of your offers and perks.
It is essential to automate your SMS marketing strategy to let first time shoppers know the benefits of shopping with you again. Once a customer does become a VIP or loyalty rewards member, keep the SMS marketing communication flowing with a congratulatory message celebrating their status and making them feel even more special. And of course, a discount never hurts!
b. The Post-Purchase Cross-Sell:
If your customer liked a product and placed an order – it’s important to nurture this customer before making a sales pitch again. Most customers do not want to be marketed to immediately after they have made their first purchase. The solution to this could be to give some time until they have tried your product and take an educational approach to the next sales pitch. It would be a better idea to send automated sms marketing with links to a how to guide with a new product introduction. Using product and behavioral data to upsell is an apt way to use text services.
c. Transactional Post-Purchase Updates:
SMS marketing is an easy way to let customers keep a real time track of status of order. Klarna suggests using SKU-level data to personalize these texts with the product name and image.
d. Post-Purchase Review Requests:
Reviews are like the word of mouth in the digital world. It becomes imperative to have reviews on your products showcased as consumers like to read what others have to say about their experience with your brand, before making the final decision to buy.
SMS is an excellent way to garner reviews. It’s as simple as tapping into the review link sent to them. The best time to ask a customer for a review is when their great experience with your product is still fresh in their mind. Build a review request message into your post-purchase automation flow and watch the difference it makes.
e. Post Purchase UGC Requests:
Similar to review requests one can also automate user generated content i.e., UGC requests. Collecting UGC helps build trust with potential buyers, and it is also a very effective promotional material for the brand. People resonate more with social proof and a tried and tested result rather than an advertisement that speaks about the benefits of your product.
5. Win-Back SMS Automation:
If your DTC store has a segment in your SMS subscriber list that has not engaged or made a purchase in 30-90 days or more depending upon the purchase cycle, this segment needs to have a winback sms strategy implemented.
The important point to note here would be that they did buy from you at some point hence they would be easier to convert as they are familiar with your brand. The win-back automation becomes important as its easier to convert this segment with either a new product launch or a time bound discount.
6. Back in Stock Automation:
This automation if not implemented is losing money that’s already lying on the table! A customer agrees to subscribe to a back in stock message easily as they are keen on buying the product that they have found but was unavailable. When customers give their mobile numbers to be notified, they are letting you know that they are willing to make the purchase. These text messages if automated well can be highly converting.
It is challenging or next to impossible to manage SMS marketing efforts with limited resource and time. Your success or failure depends upon the choice of your right martech stack.
Concluding Thoughts
Simply put, if you’re not utilizing SMS automations, you’re losing out revenue on the table which can be garnered effortlessly at a lower cost. Start small with only one instance of each important automation discussed here in order to reap the benefits of even a tiny strategic investment down the road.
As your SMS program matures concentrate on fine-tuning and refining it, always keeping the customer at the center.. While sending automated SMS messages to your consumers might be effective, you must be thoughtful about what you say. To offer messages that are meaningful and pertinent to people, it’s critical that you comprehend their requirements, difficulties, and preferences and truly understand your customer segments, their unique need gaps and aim to address them. Reassess your SMS strategy at every stage and step of your business. Learn more about SMS Marketing Solutions here.
Learn more about how to scale DTC Growth with SMS marketing here.
