Category: SMS Strategies for eCommerce

In the last topic, we focused heavily on sms, but what about mms messages?

When paired with an actionable message and strategically timed, these messages can provide a fun engaging experience. MMS messages can be used for: 

• Previewing new arrivals
• Sharing coupons to drive in-store sales
• Inviting subscribers to your in-store events
• Early access to sales
• Sending birthday or anniversary messages 

These are some common use cases but the same rules apply – make your message actionable and add a link! 

Pro tip: Image formats, sizes, and aspect ratios can be tricky so be sure to reach out to your SMS platform provider for guidance or best practice when using MMS messages in your mobile campaigns.  

So what are SMS segments and why should I use them?

Segments are essentially subgroups created from your subscriber list. Segments are dynamic depending on the rules/attributes. A collection of subscribers from your SMS list may be looped into a segment based upon one or more common traits. In return, you can then use these segments to better target/market to those people within the segment when promoting your campaigns. 

Many SMS platforms offer ways to better segment your audience. Whether that’s leveraging their default segments out of the box or creating your own custom segments –  a good platform will provide this functionality to leverage. After all, “knowing is half the battle” (excuse the G.I. Joe pun). But all jokes aside, your campaign’s content is only as good as its relevance to your audience. You’ll find that leveraging analytics and taking the time to understand who in your list is more likely to engage, interact, and purchase from your campaign will yield a better return on investment (ROI) when sending out your outbound campaigns.

Here are 4 helpful tips to keep in mind when brainstorming on creative way to help grow your list of SMS subscribers for SMS / Text Marketing: 

Give SMS subscribers VIP access

Incentivizing your audience to join your text club with an exclusive deal, promo code, VIP, or early access goes a long way in building your list. Folks that run into the issue of limited stock can leverage this situation to their benefit by offering an early access notification as an incentive for customers to join your text club.

Opt-in SMS subscribers with a magic keyword

Creativity is key and why not make that opt-in process simpler. A lot of SMS platforms offer text-in methods to help build your list. Using a keyword, customers are able to text-in to and join your subscription list. Same rule applies as above – that is, to incentivize them.

Convert email subscribers to SMS subscribers

If you’re considering SMS marketing or already leveraging SMS marketing as a channel, chances are you also leverage email marketing. Converting your email subscribers by offering incentives and providing the advantages of why one should join your SMS list (e.g., early access notice) is fast and convenient way to grow your list. For starters, your email subscribers aIready know what you’re selling and what typical updates to expect from your store. So that leads one to ask, why should I opt-in to a text messaging if I’m already subscribed to email. I find that those that are able to create or build upon a sense of urgency have better grounding in persuading one to join. 

Use a website pop-up to invite SMS opt-ins.

So taking the understanding from above, many sms platforms have started making it easier for shops to capture opt-ins easier. As people are already familiar with email popups, the same rule would apply for these pop ups when soliciting folks to join your text club.

The trick here is to find a platform that offers a popup that does both email/sms. After all, why not build both your email and sms list at once if you can.