How text marketing can increase your e-commerce store’s web traffic

There are approximately 13.98 million e-commerce companies operating within the U.S. 

Translation? Your e-commerce store needs to stand out (but you didn’t need me to tell you that).

The very best way to do that is to supplement your ads and other marketing channels with texting. Call me biased, but between the 98% open rates and the fact that your texts will go directly to customers’ most personal inboxes, SMS is a surefire way to get your audience to pay attention.

Your first question might be, “How do I start?” or, “What does an e-commerce brand send in a text?”

The good news is, SimpleTexting has helped hundreds of e-commerce businesses design an SMS marketing plan that works, and getting started is as easy as putting these six texting tips to work.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Six Ways to Use Text Marketing To Drive Ecommerce Web Traffic
• Ecommerce Text Marketing Best Practices

6 ways to use text marketing to drive e-commerce web traffic

In most cases, the end goal of text marketing for e-commerce is to drive more traffic and sales. That’s precisely what these tips are designed to do. 

1. Send out links to your e-commerce store

Let me be clear: When I say you should send links to your e-commerce store in your texts, I don’t mean you should just send out a text that only contains your store’s URL. That’s ineffective and also terrifying.

That said, you should consider adding links to special offers, product launches, or big announcements in your text message campaigns. 

Adding links in your texts makes it easy for your SMS contacts to click through to your store while it’s still fresh in their minds. Links are also a handy way to see how your texts are performing if your texting service offers you the option to see your message click-through rates.

Want to know if it works in real life? Baby Tula, a top baby products brand, uses this strategy to inform their customers about new product drops — and they’ve managed to drive a 1,668% ROI in the process.

2. Use texting to upsell

Texting is a helpful tool for upselling and cross-selling, and let me explain why.

If you were to log into your email account right now and pull up the Promotions tab, how many of those messages are ads for products from brands? And how many of those messages just fade into the background?

Now, look at your text inbox. There’s a text from your partner, one from Grandma, and another from your dog walker. There might be a brand message or two, but your text inbox is full of personal, casual conversations.

Bottom line? Your customers will be much more likely to notice and be receptive to upselling offers that you send to their phones.

3. Bring customers with abandoned carts back

It’s always disappointing to see a customer come this close to making their purchase, only to vanish and abandon their cart. 

Not to worry, though. You can bring those customers back with a quick text to remind them to return and snag their items. This will help keep your brand top-of-mind for your customers and, as an extra incentive, you can add a special discount code or coupon.

4. Start a text reward or coupon club

Speaking of coupons, sending text-exclusive deals and perks can help your customers look forward to your next message and keep coming back to take advantage of the deals.

Shannon Green of Welstand Boutique is living proof of that. She sends her customers a 10% off coupon when they sign up to receive texts, and 50% of recipients redeem that coupon. 

5. Text out user-generated content

You have a lot of great things to tell customers about your e-commerce store, but those great things might mean more coming from other customers who’ve tried your products and loved them. 

Put the spotlight on positive testimonials and reviews you’ve received by sending them out in between special offer texts and announcements.

Pro tip: This is also a great time to use MMS messages to feature pictures of your happy customers with their favorite products.

6. Ask for ratings and reviews

Did you know that 84% of people trust online reviews just as much as personal recommendations? 

Reviews can leverage the customers you already have to help future customers choose your store for all their shopping needs. That’s the kind of momentum you’ll want to capitalize on, so text out a link to your favorite review site after customers make a purchase.

Just like the store link tip I mentioned earlier, links in your messages make leaving a rave review just a click away, meaning you’ll get plenty of them. 

E-commerce text marketing best practices

You’ve got a great head start on bringing more visitors and more sales to your e-commerce store, but before you hit “send,” there are a few key things to remember.

• Make sure you’re including strong CTAs in your texts so contacts know what actions to take.
• Personalize your texts with any details contacts have voluntarily shared with you to let customers know that you value them as individuals. 
• Follow up with texts after orders whenever possible for excellent customer satisfaction.
• Be sure you have express consent from your contacts before you text them. 
• Use a link shortener when you send out a link to save precious characters in your messages.

E-commerce store success is a text message away

The fact is that consumers will buy from the e-commerce store that best captures their attention. Make sure that’s you by sending customers carefully thought-out, targeted e-commerce text messages. 

These SMS tips will give you the inspiration you need to kick off an easy, effective text marketing campaign.