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95% of SMS an average smartphone user receives are read and replied to within the first 3 minutes.
According to research, SMS has a higher click-through rate (approximately 19%) compared to email marketing (4%). D2C brands know how efficient and impactful SMS marketing is. That’s why they are leveraging it to expand their business, all while building long-lasting customer relationships.
But how are D2C brands using SMS marketing to their advantage? This is exactly what we'll explore today. Keep reading to discover some undervalued details about SMS marketing that'll give your business impressive returns!
SMS marketing is a marketing practice where businesses deliver campaigns to potential customers in the form of text messages. Those messages could communicate anything, ranging from promotions and news to updates and new releases. So basically, you can convey anything you want the customers to know about.
Did You Know?
SMS marketing has a 98% open/success rate compared to emails.
SMS is an abbreviation for 'Short Message Service' that D2C businesses use to interact with customers on a personal level. This marketing approach has numerous early adopters, including the internet’s favourite entrepreneur, Gary Vaynerchuk.
“This is the most powerful sh*t I’ve seen since early email.” - Gary Vaynerchuk
He has been so blown away by the results that he just can't stop praising this marketing type. “From somebody who has hundreds of thousands of people on text, I’m getting 98% open and 90% engagement”, says Gary. Besides Gary, countless D2C brands are getting impressive results from this marketing.
But why are brands using SMS marketing? What's so special about it? Scroll down for the answer!
As an entrepreneur, have you ever invested in any marketing tool or approach without considering if it actually works? We bet your answer is NO. This is the same reason why D2C brands use SMS marketing - because it works well!
Moreover, it's also among the best and most-effective marketing channels that not just target customers but convert them too. Following are some crucial aspects of a business that SMS marketing works best for.
According to SMSMODE,SMS has an excellent conversion rate of 29%. SMS marketing makes it easy for brands to convert target customers into potential payees using a personal level connection.
A total of 32% of consumers say that they respond to promotional text messages. (Source: Webex) With a high engagement rate, target customers are more likely to become paying clients.
SMS marketing campaigns can include CTA like "Text-to-Buy" or direct links to your eCommerce websites. It helps you convert engagement into sales, which is the end goal of the marketing practice.
Offering customers the facility to use the same number to engage with your brand, shop from your store, and ask for assistance is incredibly powerful. It's an effective tactic to improve customer experience.
Now that we know why D2Cbrands use SMS marketing, another crucial question comes to light is - ‘how do they do so?’ Below is an in-depth explanation of how businesses use this type of marketing to grow.
According to a survey done by MediaPost, 75% of millennials would rather prefer to lose their speaking ability than lose their ability to send SMSs or texts.
SMS is your target audience's favourite mode of communication. By using SMS marketing, you can engage with them better, improving the conversion rate.
Here are the top six successful methods of using SMS marketing for your brand. Many D2C brands leverage SMS marketing via these methods.
If they can do that, so can you!
Post-purchase follow-up SMSs are great for collecting feedback on your customer's purchase. Moreover, such texts also help businesses learn more about their customers for personalised future communications. If you are opting for post-purchase follow-up texts, it would be ideal to include valuable details or information links to product/service guides.
“Generation Z does not use emails, and text messaging is their most preferred and favourite medium to interact with their friends.”– says Lauren Tracy, Co-founder of Blue Fever.
When creating post-purchase follow-up texts, make sure they sound more human and less like bots. Don't hesitate to go out of the box if needed to build personal customer relationships through texts.
Another efficient way to improve customer experience is by offering them shipping alerts and notifications via SMS. It's an amazing approach for adding value to the customer experience virtually without any upfront cost. Keeping them in the loop throughout the shopping process is the best tactic to win their hearts.
Fun Fact:
48% of customers find delivery or shipping updates most valuable when offered in text form.
Getting one-time customers isn’t much hassle compared to gaining loyal customers. This method helps you gain loyal customers who’ll stick with your brand for a long time. If you have a tracking feature on your website, make sure its link is present in your texts.
SMS can be quite effective for Upselling. Once your customers receive their orders, you can send them a feedback text. Now you might say - ‘we're already sending a follow-up text in the first point. So what's the need for this?’.
The difference here is that your text doesn't end with feedback.
Instead, it will educate them about special offers or deals on accessories of the product they have ordered. Pitch them for other products that might interest them and provide respective links to those alongside. Keep 10% of your text promotional because you don't want them to have any other idea than that 'you genuinely care about them'.
For subscription-based D2C brands, text messaging is a great partner. For your subscription holders, personalised texts related to renewals, new offers and updates can be shared via SMS. You need to make them feel more valued because they have opted for the subscription than those who haven't. This method can be helpful in making them feel so.
Moreover, you can send your target audience promotional texts containing the benefits of your subscriptions. This will create an impressive image of your product/service in their mind. If you make them feel that personalised SMS is an extra benefit of having your subscription - they will be more likely to get it.
Getting new customers can become easier if you follow this method of SMS marketing. Text messaging is undoubtedly effective against new customer acquisition by establishing a personal connection.
According to Attentive Mobile Consumer Report, more than 69% of clients prefer interacting with businesses through text. This offers a surety that your text would be read by your customers. Now it completely depends upon how engaging and convincing the text is for customers to reply. It's all the game of those first few replies. Once you get them to engage with your website, half of the job of converting them is already done.
SMS marketing is still a relatively untapped type of marketing. Therefore, this wonderful marketing approach gives you a really good opportunity to stand out from other D2Cbrands.
Also, don't forget to consider the above methods when using SMS marketing; they will help you get the most out of it!
