Text message marketing is powerful, but you can get quite creative in the ways you can use it to connect with your potential customers.
In fact, text message marketing generates response rates as high as 45 percent. And about two-thirds of consumers have signed up to receive text messages from more brands in the past year.
Check out the six things to know before starting your first text message campaign.
Beyond the typical sales and discount alerts, the following are eight surprising ways you can use text message marketing to engage with your target audience.
Promote new content
If you’re publishing a blog as part of your content marketing, consider notifying your text subscribers about new posts.
This is a great way to promote the reach of your content to the consumers who are most likely to find value in it.
Check out our 19 tips to drive traffic to your new blog.
Announce new products or services
If you have a new product or service that you’re launching, text message marketing is a great way to get the word out.
To make the text stand out, you can include a photo or emojis. But if you want to make sure text subscribers feel special, you can offer exclusive pre-orders, for example.
Remind customers about abandoned carts
With the average shopping cart abandonment at about 70 percent, distraction is at an all-time high that often beats out initial desire to purchase.
In that sense, your text message marketing should include automation that texts a reminder for any abandoned shopping carts (where you have the consumer’s contact information). Remind them of what they are missing out on with a thoughtful message. You can even throw in a discount code to make it that much more compelling to complete the purchase.
Notify when products are back in stock
If you’re an ecommerce company, then you’re used to the idea of items being in stock and out of stock. Ideally, you should offer the ability for consumers to sign up for back-in-stock notifications not just through email or text messages.
Consumers do check their text messages more frequently than email, so by texting them that an item they’re interested in is back in stock, you are more efficiently reaching them. That way, they can act quicker on the purchase. Make it as easy as possible by including a link to the product in question.
Request customer feedback
Customer reviews offer social proof that helps your brand build credibility and trust, which is critical for any business. When you ask customers for feedback, you collect not just reviews but also valuable insight that can help improve your brand in a number of ways moving forward.
You can make it easier than ever for customers to give you feedback by making the request through text message. You can include a link as well and, if necessary, an incentive to give the customer even more of a reason to share their experience with you (for better or worse).
Check out our 11 tips to best respond to negative reviews.
Share online, in-person events
If your company hosts webinars, Instagram or Facebook Lives or in-person events, consider lettering your text message marketing subscribers know.
Depending on your CRM (customer relationship management) platform, you likely can get pretty granular with your text invites leading up to the event itself.
Check out our seven tips to plan a successful virtual event, as well as our eight tips to improve your event marketing.
Connect with customers who’ve gone MIA
Text message marketing is a great way to reconnect with customers who’ve purchased from you in the past but haven’t done so lately.
This could be an appointment reminder at a time that’s important for your customer to book again. (In fact, about 64 percent of consumers say that appointment reminders are the most valuable form of business text messaging.) It could be a “we miss you” message to customers who haven’t purchased in three months. The sky is the limit here, but think through who you want to reconnect with to decide the best approach with your text message marketing.
Just remember that these reconnections are a great way to encourage more purchases, especially when you’re catching the customer at a time when they’re about to run out of an item that they may need to buy again.
Thank your customers
You can never be too appreciative of your customers. Because texting can feel more personal than email, a “thank you” text after a purchase or appointment can build your customer relationships in a more meaningful way.
Of course, your “thank you” also can include a discount that can be used on the customer’s next purchase. It just depends on your goals.
In conclusion
There is no limit to the ways that you can leverage your text message marketing to engage with consumers and help grow your business. Consider who your target audience is, what they need and what your goals are. By experimenting with what’s possible, you’ll learn what works best along the way.
Check out our eight tips to maximize your SMS marketing strategy.
While you’re getting creative with the ways you can use text message marketing for your business, think about your digital marketing process. Is it everything you want it to be? DailyStory features automation, audience segmentation, text message marketing, email marketing and more. Schedule your free demo with us today.