Is SMS Marketing Dead in 2023?

SMS marketing may sound like a blast from the past, but it's actually a cutting-edge strategy in ecommerce. With the power to reach customers instantly, SMS marketing is a surefire way to capture your audience's attention.

But that's not all. The best SMS marketing platforms offer a level of personalization and immediacy that other marketing channels simply can't match. When you send customized messages based on customer preferences and purchase history, you can build deeper relationships with your customers and keep them coming back for more.

Core Marketing leverages the potential of SMS marketing service in boosting sales and engaging with customers on a more personal level.

With the help of our platform, you can create compelling messaging and tap into the power of SMS marketing for your ecommerce business.

Table of Contents

• What Is SMS Marketing?
• What Are the Benefits of SMS Marketing?
• SMS Marketing Best Practices and How to Use Them
• 6 Best SMS Marketing Strategies to Try
• Getting Started with the Best Email and SMS Marketing Software

What Is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing is a promotional strategy that involves sending targeted marketing messages to customers' mobile phones via SMS (Short Message Service). It’s a direct and efficient way to reach customers, as almost everyone carries a mobile phone, and text messages are typically read within minutes of being received.

In mobile SMS marketing, businesses can send various types of messages, such as promotional offers, discounts, new product announcements, event invitations, appointment reminders, order confirmations, and more.

These messages can be personalized based on customer preferences, previous purchases, or demographics, allowing businesses to tailor their communications and make them more relevant to individual recipients.

3 Types of SMS Marketing

SMS marketing is categorized into three types of communications:

1. Promotional SMS Marketing

This type of SMS marketing involves sending messages to increase sales, promote products, and build brand awareness. It includes campaigns or automated texts triggered by specific actions, such as abandoned cart reminders or new product launches.

Promotional SMS messages can inform customers about special sales, company announcements, branded events, and provide tips on product usage.

2. Transactional SMS Marketing

Transactional SMS are sent to customers to provide information about their orders. These messages include order confirmations, shipping updates, delivery confirmations, and shipping delay notifications.

This type of SMS is primarily focused on customer service and keeping customers informed about their purchases. It requires explicit consent from customers, and unsubscribing from transactional SMS implies an unsubscribe from promotional messages as well.

3. Conversational SMS Marketing

Conversational SMS involves two-way communication where businesses use natural language processing and automated technology to carry on digital conversations with customers.

Conversational SMS systems can enhance customer service by combining automated text technology and AI-generated content with human customer service agents when necessary. This type of SMS marketing aims to improve customer retention, satisfaction, and overall customer lifetime value.

What Are the Benefits of SMS Marketing?

Since most people use SMS every day, it's a vital component of any successful marketing strategy and gives you compelling advantages.

The most important benefits are:

1. High Open and Engagement Rates

SMS marketing statistics show that messages have an impressive open rate of 98%, according to TextSanity, with the majority of messages read within three minutes of receipt. This high open rate ensures that your ecommerce marketing messages have a high chance of reaching and engaging with your audience.

2. Immediate and Direct Communication

SMS marketing boasts an average click-through rate of 20-35%, based on Attentive data This high click-through rate indicates that customers are actively engaging with the content and taking desired actions.

Your messages are delivered promptly and have a higher likelihood of being seen and acted upon by your customers.

3. Enhanced Customer Loyalty and Engagement

With SMS marketing, you can create personalized and targeted messages, leading to increased customer engagement and customer loyalty.

Personalized SMS marketing messages have a response rate of 45% (as quoted by Luisa Zhou), compared to 6% for non-personalized messages (according to Messente).

You can build stronger relationships with your customers and drive repeat business with tailored messages.

4. Effective for Time-Sensitive Offers and Reminders

SMS marketing is highly effective for ecommerce websites with time-sensitive offers, flash sales, and event reminders. SMS campaigns for limited-time offers have redemption rates of 29% or more, based on Xtremepush data.

Implementing text appointment reminders results in a significant reduction in no-show rates, transforming potential lost revenue into gained revenue.

There’s a 61% increase in appointment confirmations and approximately $120,000 in added revenue per year, according to OhMD.

5. Complementary to Multi-Channel Marketing Efforts

Combining SMS and email marketing allows for cross-channel ecommerce marketing, and even potentially omnichannel marketing, leveraging multiple touchpoints to move potential customers along the sales funnel.

For example, sending text announcements before detailed emails creates additional brand recognition and strengthens customer relationships.

Generating excitement through texts can also increase email open rates, making it effective for blog updates, newsletters, and time-sensitive promotions.

SMS Marketing Best Practices and How to Use Them

Given the strong attachment people have to their phones, you need to ensure that your SMS messages are carefully crafted and impactful from the very beginning.

Here are a few proven best practices that you can use to enhance your campaigns;

1. Obtain proper consent.

Ensure you have explicit consent from customers before sending them SMS messages. Provide clear opt-in options and obtain permission to send promotional or transactional texts.

For example, brands like Starbucks ask customers to opt in for SMS promotions by sending a keyword to a specific number.

2. Personalize and segment.

Tailor your SMS messages to individual customer preferences and segment your audience based on demographics, purchase history, or engagement.

Clothing retailer ASOS sends personalized SMS messages based on customers' browsing behavior and preferences, providing product recommendations and exclusive offers.

3. Keep messages short and clear.

Craft concise and straightforward messages that deliver value quickly. Stick to the 160-character limit and use clear language.

Take a look at how Domino's Pizza effectively communicates order status and delivery updates in short and informative SMS messages.

4. Consider the timing and frequency.

Consider the timing and frequency of your SMS messages to avoid overwhelming your customers. Be mindful of different time zones and send messages at appropriate times.

Sephora sends SMS alerts about limited-time promotions during peak shopping hours to create a sense of urgency and maximize engagement.

5. Provide clear opt-out options.

Include clear opt-out instructions in every SMS message and respect customers' preferences if they choose to unsubscribe.

Make it easy for them to opt out by allowing them to reply with a specific keyword or providing an unsubscribe link.

Brands like Lyft include an opt-out option at the end of their SMS messages, respecting users' choices.

6 Best SMS Marketing Strategies to Try

SMS marketing helps you interact with your clients more broadly. Any text messaging program's success depends on effective strategies for building a strong subscriber base.

Check out these 6 strategies for your brand:

1. Use SMS alongside your marketing tools.

SMS marketing involves integrating it with your preferred tools such as CRM or support ecommerce apps or software. This integration allows you to send personalized and targeted texts using customer contact information and behavioral data.

It also enables you to have SMS marketing automations. Track their performance in real-time, synchronize contact data with other tools for seamless information updates, automate subscriptions and unsubscribes, and trigger follow-ups based on customer behavior.

SMS with your marketing tools provides the added benefits of receiving notifications for critical events, better calendar organization, automatic assignment of new contacts to sales agents in your CRM, and sending reminders for open deals or cold leads.

2. Add a personal touch to your messages.

SMS tools enable you to send personalized messages at scale, reaching hundreds or thousands of recipients simultaneously. Segment lists based on shared interests or behavior target specific groups and improve your overall marketing efficiency.

Incorporate custom fields in your messages. These fields can include standard information like the recipient's name or birthday, or you can create custom fields specific to your SMS marketing campaigns.

Leverage customer-centric approaches in your communications to demonstrate that you value each individual customer and foster a stronger connection between your brand and the recipients of your SMS messages.

3. Engage your existing customers.

Your current customer base is already familiar with your brand and has shown interest in your products or services. Focus on sending timely and personalized messages.

Provide relevant and time-sensitive information, such as exclusive offers, product updates, or loyalty rewards. Grab loyal customers’ attention and encourage them to take action. Introduce new products or services that align with their preferences or offer incentives to make their purchase or interaction more enticing.

This ecommerce personalization tactic helps to create a sense of value and exclusivity for your existing customers.

4. Create autoresponders for common inquiries.

Pre-designed responses to specific keywords or triggers can instantly provide customers with information without manual intervention. This ensures a prompt and consistent customer service experience, improving customer satisfaction and saving your team valuable time.

5. Schedule your messages in advance.

Plan your SMS marketing campaigns and schedule messages to be sent at specific dates and times. Make sure that your audience receives your messages at the right time.

This helps optimize engagement rates and increases the likelihood of your messages being read and acted upon.

6. Research on SMS text marketing laws.

SMS marketing is subject to various legal regulations and guidelines that aim to protect consumer privacy and prevent unsolicited messaging. Familiarizing yourself with these laws and adhering to best practices is essential before engaging in SMS marketing activities.

Understand the specific text messaging laws that apply to your country or region. Different countries may have different regulations regarding consent, opt-in requirements, message content, and data protection.

Research and familiarize yourself with the legal requirements and guidelines set forth by regulatory bodies or authorities in your jurisdiction to ensure compliance.

Consent is a key principle in SMS marketing. Before sending any promotional messages, it is essential to obtain the explicit consent of your recipients.

This consent can be obtained through opt-in mechanisms such as online forms, checkboxes, or text-based keywords. Make sure that recipients have willingly provided their contact information and expressed their consent to receive marketing messages from your business.

Getting Started with the Best Email and SMS Marketing Software

SMS marketing offers a unique opportunity for consistent customer communication with higher message read rates compared to email or social media. This makes SMS the perfect companion to your advertising campaigns.

SMS text message marketing also allows for immediate and direct communication with customers, ensuring high open and read rates. It complements other marketing channels such as email and social media, enabling you to engage customers effectively through multiple touchpoints.

Personalization, automation, and integration with favorite tools further enhance its effectiveness. Businesses can build stronger brands, generate demand, and establish meaningful relationships with their customers.

Core Marketing assists businesses in harnessing the power of the best SMS marketing services to achieve their goals.

Start your SMS marketing journey today with Core Marketing.