Running a business is no joke, especially in an overly competitive industry like yours.
Although technology makes processing orders easier, marketing and customer satisfaction remain major challenges.
So how do you mitigate these? Please don’t say emails.
In this article, we’ll show you the benefits of bulk SMS in retail marketing and e-commerce. By the end, you’ll see how other brands use SMS to attract customers.
You’ll also know how to give your customers an excellent end-to-end shopping experience.
So that you can increase your sales and get a huge chunk of that USD $13trn eCommerce Market share.
| SMSCountry is the best bulk SMS service for selling and serving your e-commerce and retail customers. Get started or schedule a demo to see how it works. |
Why is SMS a must-have tool for your retail or e-commerce business?
With 4.2 billion users worldwide, 62% of the world’s population has access to a mobile phone.
This makes it the most penetrated product on the face of the planet.
This is combined with the fact that an average user checks their phone 344 times a day, spending almost 4 to 6 hours browsing their phone.
As you can see, this opens up a phenomenal opportunity for retail and e-commerce business strategists.
Because:
- 95% of people still use SMS even though they have access to internet messaging applications.
- 75% of customers want to be communicated via SMS.
- 92% of people are more likely to purchase a product if they see it on their phones.
These statistics point to the fact that SMS is not just important, but is a must-have tool for retailers and eCommerce store owners.
Now let’s have a look at some of the amazing benefits of bulk SMS in Retail Marketing.
7 key benefits of bulk SMS in the retail marketing and the eCommerce industry
Statistics say that 97% of companies find SMS to be a beneficial communication channel for their daily operations.
It allows them to communicate internally with their team to streamline operations and communicate with their customers who are the heart of their business.
If you’re still on the fence about implementing SMS solutions in your business, this section will definitely help you make up your mind.
Let’s get started with the first benefit.
1. No barriers to delivery
The highest loss that marketers face right now is that their sales messages are not being seen by an adequate number of people.
It costs a fortune to design ads, pass them through compliance laws and run a campaign.
But even if you do everything right, you are just competing with ten other competitors doing the same thing.
Similarly, an alternative channel is an email that gives you direct access to a prospect.
But the problem with emails is that they mostly get tagged as spam or promotion and never actually land in the prospect’s inbox.
Unlike all these channels, SMS has no spam filters and no barriers to delivery.
They get delivered to your prospect’s inbox, giving a fast and direct channel to reach your potential customers.
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2. Makes an instant impact on your prospect/customer
Text messages are short, precise, and punchy.
They deliver the most valuable information about your products or services in just a few words.
They also give users the most critical information they need to make a decision without having to indulge in unnecessary details.
According to statistics, 78% of customers say that the fastest way to reach them is via SMS.
This statistic is actually supported by the fact that an SMS gets delivered in less than 10 seconds.
This offers you the quickest way to make an instant impact on your customers both efficiently and effectively.
3. Easy to create and cost-effective
One of the key benefits of SMS that almost no other channel can match is its simplicity.
You can use a single template over and over.
Best of all is that it will continuously generate results that are otherwise harder to generate even after hundreds of tests, and trial and error on other mediums.
This is in addition to the fact that 98% of text messages are actually read.
With most of the customers being exposed to the offers via SMS, the likelihood of conversions increases significantly making it a truly cost-effective solution for every store owner.
4. Fastest method to market new products
Whenever you need to launch a new product, there’s this uncertainty of how well it is going to be accepted by your audience.
Along with that comes the problem of how to get the sales up and running, keeping in mind that there are no existing customers of the product.
This is where SMS stands as the best medium to market your product.
Through SMS, you can market the new product to your existing customers who are more likely to accept the new product as they are already aware of your brand.
Another big advantage of SMS is that you can market the new product almost instantly.
It isn’t like other mediums such as social media where you have to create a design, write a promo, and set up ads before you can actually get some customers.
As competition becomes fierce and traditional marketing channels like social media and email become saturated, the use of SMS is on the rise and growing consistently as brands are becoming aware of the benefits it offers.
But, as things stand now, SMS is still an unsaturated channel which provides a huge opportunity for brands.
You can take the first-mover advantage right now and establish your presence on the channel before a competitor does the same.
6. Enhances your customer’s brand experience
A customer’s brand experience is dependent on how fast and how often you communicate with them.
With SMS, you can send birthday wishes, and new year celebration messages or even send special offers on festive occasions to make events more special.
These kinds of special messages enhance a customer’s brand experience substantially and they are highly likely to suggest to their friends to buy from you.
| See the top bulk SMS service providers to send transactional and promotional SMS. Check out the top OTP service providers to send fast and secure OTPs. |
7. The easiest way to build customer loyalty
Keeping your customers engaged is the key to making sure that they stay loyal to your brand.
When you send SMS with different offers to your customers, they are highly likely to check out your offers on your website or social media pages.
This way, SMS helps you keep your customers engaged with your brand and imprints your brand name in their memory, so they become your loyal buyers.
Want to delight your e-commerce and retail customers with the best SMS experience? Get started with SMSCountry.
Use of SMS in retail marketing – Explained with the help of 4 examples
Now we know the benefits of bulk SMS in retail marketing, but what other uses are there?
Along with its internal and external communication uses, SMS is now a key part of the marketing strategy for e-commerce and retail stores.
95% of companies say that the use of SMS in retail marketing made a positive impact on their overall returns.
With that in mind, here’s how you can utilize your SMS tool for e-commerce or retail stores to grow your business.
1. Sending discount codes and coupons
Let’s take an example scenario.
Emma is a 26-year-old female who is scrolling through her Instagram on a Sunday afternoon at 12 pm. As she scrolls past a number of posts, a certain post catches her attention.
As she stops scrolling, her eyes get locked on the stunning pictures of a friend who’s rocking a brand new summer dress and showing it off from different angles.
As Emma keeps staring at the amazing dress, a desire builds up inside her, with her inner voice muttering, “I wish I had that dress”.
Right at that moment, Emma receives a text message from Peach Mode, an ethnic wear eCommerce store, with text written as follows:
Emma instantly hops onto the Peach Mode online store and discovers that the same dress that she had just seen on her friend is available at a discount. Of course, she buys the dress instantly.
2. Getting abandoned carts checked out
According to studies, the average number of abandoned carts of customers is almost 70%.
The abandoned cart individuals are your hottest leads, prospects, or repeat customers.
These are people who were highly likely to buy a product but abandoned it at the last second due to some distraction, interruption, or change of mind.
You can set up automated texts that get triggered any time a user visits the cart page on your website.
For instance, if an eCommerce store like peach mode wants to generate some sales from abandoned carts, it can send a text that looks something like this:
3. Product launches
Launching a new product has never been easier than it is with SMS.
You just need to type a single text and press send, and that’s it!
You’ll have your customers looking at the new product with anticipating eyes, eager to buy the product as soon as you launch it.
Here’s how Peach Mode does its product launches via SMS:
4. Brand marketing
Text messages are an easy way to market your brand to a new audience.
You can get a shortcode from your SMS provider — display shortcodes on your website, social media, and other marketing channels — and let customers opt-in to receive your brand offers.
Then you need to choose a reasonable SMS provider that can help you launch your SMS campaigns effectively and easily.
Choose a text messaging service for your e-commerce business
Now that you know the power of bulk SMS and all that it can do for your business, take the next step.
Choose a bulk SMS service provider that is fast, secure, reliable, scalable, and fairly priced.
As a pioneer SMS service provider that has served 60,000+ brands for 20+ years, SMSCountry will grow your retail or e-commerce business.
You can request a free demo today to see how easy it is to get started.
