Struggling to find SMS marketing inspiration this holiday period? Use these holiday SMS tips to attract new customers, increase revenue and build a loyal subscriber following.
The holiday season is the busiest time of year for marketers. Within weeks, we have Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Hannukah, Kwanzaa, Christmas and more to celebrate — and encourage purchasing.
To put this into perspective, on Black Friday 2021 alone, over 6.9 billion emails were sent.
Where do you begin if you want to cut through the noise and reach your audience? That kind of competition is no joke.
Unsurprisingly, we suggest introducing SMS marketing to your marketing channels this holiday season. From its 98% open rates to the personal nature of marketing through your cell phone, SMS click-through rates are over 414% higher than email.
Whether you’re new to SMS marketing, or are looking for new ways to use it over the holiday period, here’s how you can build a strong SMS holiday marketing campaign.
We’ve talked about the high open rate and click-through rates, but why is SMS so successful?
To begin with, when you use SMS you’re cutting through the noise of overcrowded email inboxes. Not to mention beating the spam filter (think of all the untouched emails in your junk folder.)
In 2020, mobile shopping increased by over 41% during the holiday period. The prediction is that by 2025, ‘mcommerce’ as it’s known, will account for almost half of all retail e-commerce sales in the U.S.
With click-through links and Apple and Google Pay all on our mobile devices, purchasing from your cell phone has never been easier. With emojis and MMS, you can also appeal to your audience visually as well as through promos.
There’s nothing a text message can’t do that an email can, and you have the added advantage of your subscribers actually opening it.
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Tap into your subscribers and increase your revenue with these tips.
If you use a business texting platform, you’ll be able to schedule text messages in advance.
This useful tool enables you to concentrate on other pressing matters over the busy holiday period, while knowing your text messages are being sent out at the right time to the right audience.
By using application to phone (A2P) software, you can schedule thousands of messages at once, all to go out within seconds.
Did you know nearly 70% of customers abandon their cart before purchasing? As an e-commerce store, there’s nothing more infuriating than realizing just how close you’ve come to securing a sale.
Sometimes all it takes is an extra push. You can create cart abandonment text messages that will be sent out automatically to subscribers who abandon their cart.
Remind them of what they’re missing out on, or even include an exclusive discount to incentivize them.
The two primary sides to customer engagement are acquisition and retention.
Once a new customer has signed up and made a purchase, you need to ensure they keep coming back for more.
By creating a three or four post-purchase text message campaign, you can follow up on customer activity: ask them for a review, check-in with their order, and send them offers and discounts.
‘Tis the season to stand out from the crowd when it comes to holiday campaigns. By using text message, you’re already cutting through the noise of thousands of emails.
However, to make an impression sometimes you need to be the squeaky wheel.
During the holidays, the one thing on everyone’s mind happens to be the upcoming holiday — and you can use this to your advantage as a marketer.
Use GIFs, send out wishlist inspiration, and use your contact list to inspire purchases rather than just pushing out discount codes.
We all know that person who leaves shopping to the last minute. The likelihood is, a one-off promotion could be the deciding factor in where they make a purchase.
With little time and fewer options, the holiday season is the perfect time to capture last-minute shoppers rushed off their feet.
One of the most effective ways to secure new SMS opt-ins is by creating an incentive.
Give people a reason to receive your updates by sharing a discount code upon signup. The holidays are an incredibly expensive time of year, and many customers will be on the lookout for deals and offers to ease the impact on their pockets.
Building customer loyalty relies on the rapport you have with your customers. Showing your value outside of sales-driven content lets prospective customers know you also care about their interests and purchasing habits.
Whether it’s a fun quote to start the day or a link to a new blog on how to dress this fall, there are plenty of ways you can create engaging content that shows your customers you care beyond sales.
Use this content as a lead magnet when it comes to attracting new customers, by showing value beyond what they can buy from you.
We all want an easy life — and keywords were built to make subscribing to lists as easy as possible.
An SMS keyword is a short word or phrase which, when sent to your assigned phone number, will trigger an SMS marketing campaign to begin.
For instance, if you are a florist looking to advertise and sell more wreaths this Christmas, your keyword could ‘XMASWREATHS’.
When customers text this to your number, they automatically join a list of subscribers receiving text updates on Christmas Wreaths for the holiday season.
You can set up this marketing campaign in advance and choose the frequency and contents of the text messages.
SMS marketing and social media go hand in hand. Simply put, if you have a social audience that you’re not accessing with SMS marketing, you’re doing it wrong.
While we always recommend advertising your keyword across all types of content, including social media, another easy way to get new signups is by building a landing page.
Create an easy signup form on a landing page for engaged social media users to receive SMS updates.
Then, you can either add the link directly to your social media bio or you can add it to a page such as Linktree, a core landing page that contains several links to different sites.
Looking for simple, ongoing methods to get more text marketing contacts? Look no further than these three opt-in strategies. READ MORE
No matter how many texts, emails and banners you create alerting customers to delivery deadlines for the holiday season, people always manage to miss it.
For those people, why not create an e-gift card for them to send to a friend or family. You can use text message marketing both for alerting customers to the option of gift cards, and as the primary method of delivering an e-gift card (should we say m-gift card?).
Good or bad, asking for post-purchase reviews tells customers you care about their experience. Sometimes things don’t go to plan, but asking customers to fill out a review form or survey shows you’re working to do better and will more likely result in return customers.
If you’re one of the lucky e-commerce stores that had a smooth holiday period, even better! Positive reviews and feedback from customers will increase team morale and naturally make customers want to purchase from you again.
Finally, your trump card is that you can make your SMS subscribers feel special. Everyone loves a deal, and if you share exclusive, SMS-only offers with your subscribers (and let others know they’re missing out) you’ll have people signing up in no time.
Combine an SMS-only offer with a keyword, and you’ll have new subscribers ready and waiting to use your offer code in no time.
We’ve shared our favorite ways to incentivize holiday purchases with SMS this year, but how do you actually go about writing an effective text message?
There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to SMS marketing. However, we recommend the following tips to keep your customers engaged and click-through rates high:
You don’t need to write a paragraph on why you’re the best retailer in the world. Get to the point of your text message, and if it’s an offer, let them know how long it’s redeemable for.
Your text message needs to be skimmable to be effective. ‘We wnt 2 giv u a sik offer’ is never going to cut it. Not to mention, it looks unprofessional.
Instead, text as you talk, and remember to keep it short and sweet where possible.
SMS doesn’t need to be boring. In fact, there’s a whole realm of MMS available for you to use. Whether you share a GIF or create a #relatable meme, your text messages can still be aesthetically pleasing.
There’s a chance your subscriber is receiving more than one SMS marketing campaign. And, even if they aren’t, they may also simply have forgotten who they’ve subscribed to. Remember to sign off or introduce yourself whenever you send a text message.
The world is your oyster when it comes to SMS marketing. Without the competition of 400 other email marketing campaigns hitting your subscribers’ inbox, you can rely on text message to reach your customers this holiday.
If you’re looking for a business text messaging service to reach your customers and increase revenue, SimpleTexting offers a no-risk two-week free trial. Sign up today with no credit card required and join thousands of businesses cutting through the noise this Fall.
Alice is a copywriter at SimpleTexting. When not teaching the world about the benefits of business texting, you can find her feeding family, friends and strangers with her latest baking experiment.
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