Last year’s holiday season was eye opening for digital marketers. SMS outperformed email sales by 21%. It dwarfed email open rate by 592%, and SMS’ sent out on Wednesday before Thanksgiving had a 150% higher order rate than email. SMS is a welcome channel to break through the digital marketing clutter.
With COVID-19 peaking and more shoppers staying home, this holiday shopping landscape is full of opportunities for retailers using SMS. From promotional opportunities to logistics, messaging is primed to play a key role in this year’s holiday season.
- Special Flash Promotions
Drive online sales with time-sensitive promotions that are available exclusively to members of your mobile messaging distribution lists. These messages can be coupons that expire in two hours, a sale that ends at midnight, or a bundle that’s only available to the first 25 people who buy it.
- Offer Personalization
Retailers are increasingly integrating loyalty program data into their messaging campaigns. They are creating personalized offers, based on previous shopping history, interests, or other data, and provisioning them through SMS
As you move through the holiday season, leveraging existing sales data is a powerful tool that you can use to motivate buyers. They’ll appreciate receiving offers on merchandise that they want, which further reinforces loyalty and contributes to the lifetime value of the customer.
- Click and Pick Coordination
Fewer customers are expected to walk into stores this year, and retailers are gearing up for online orders with curbside, contactless pickup. SMS is a key component in coordinating the logistics of curbside pickup.
After placing an order, customers receive an email asking them to pick a time slot that they can be at the store for pickup. They select their time, and once they arrive, they text the store with their car type, color, and license plate number. After receiving the message, the retailer’s delivery team brings the package out to the car.
- Abandoned Shopping Cart Recovery
Retailers are using SMS and other messaging applications to reach out to customers who abandoned carts. While many retailers have been using email for years, text messaging is significantly more effective in bringing the customer back to site to finish shopping.
- Customer Satisfaction
Retailers are building loyalty and getting valuable feedback on their service through mobile surveys. The surveys typically are limited to 1-3 questions, all with easy responses Yes/No or 1-5 Star responses.
The results of the survey help retailers improve their service, and consumers feel a stronger connection to the retail outlet.
Holiday Season is Almost Here
With the holiday shopping season almost here, time is running out to get your SMS marketing in place. Contact our experienced and knowledgeable team to see how you can implement SMS in time for the holidays.
