Launching a new marketing channel can be overwhelming. Marketers already wear more hats than they can balance, and adding one more can seem like a big task. But, if it’s a channel that fits right in with all your other marketing efforts, it just might be easier than you think.
To help you decide whether or not SMS is a valuable channel for your brand, we’ve put together a checklist. If you answer “yes” to any of the following statements, then we recommend you give SMS marketing a try.
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Email isn’t going anywhere (and we don’t want it to!), but using SMS alongside it can breathe new life into your email efforts and bolster your SMS channel from the get-go. Leverage them together to drive better engagement with every message.
“SMS and email are two separate channels that complement each other. We look at email as the news story and SMS as the news bulletin, the headline.”
— Kristina Garcia, eCommerce Manager, United By Blue
Customer acquisition costs are steadily increasing, and Apple’s new privacy updates, including stricter limitations on targeted ads, data sharing, and reporting capabilities for app users, mean brands will have to shift their advertising tactics to connect with their customers.
If every new customer costs more, brands need to increase their lifetime value to mitigate the expense. Brands like Alkaline Herb Shop learn about their shoppers via text conversations, and now they drive 20% MoM revenue growth from SMS marketing alone.
It costs 5x more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing loyal customer, making brand loyalty an essential component of any healthy eCommerce strategy. Plus, according to a Yotpo consumer survey, over 76% of loyalty program members prefer to communicate with their favorite brand through SMS. Texting is a great way to remind loyalty program members about unredeemed points, upcoming rewards, and more.
“I was skeptical about SMS, but if you’re on the fence, I recommend going for it. Your customers are waiting for you to engage them. Don’t waste your time not meeting them where they already are.”
— Suhail Rivera, Co-Founder, Alkaline Herb Shop
On average, over 67% of customers abandon their carts on an eCommerce website. That’s lost revenue, and a shopper might just need that extra push to bring them back. More than 19% of carts are recovered with abandoned cart-specific SMS messages.
SMS is booming. Your consumers are on mobile, and over 48% of them have already signed up to receive texts from a brand — meaning your competitors are already engaging them via text. Don’t lose out to the competition on revenue you could be driving.
Consumers want to be able to have conversations with their favorite brands, and brands benefit from learning more about their customers’ preferences via 1:1 chats.
SMS has a 209% higher response rate than email, phone, or Facebook messages. And, the more personalized you can get in your outreach, the better. Over 54% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if the messages they receive are personalized.
“Customers expect texts from us now. They’re not going to reply to a marketing email, but they will interact with an SMS message. They feel our brand voice in a more immediate and engaging way.”
— Kristina Garcia, eCommerce Manager, United By Blue
We get it, no one wants spam. Since shoppers have to opt in, SMS is significantly less likely to be a spammy channel. Already, over half of consumers today want to receive texts from their favorite brands.
SMS marketing is actually a massively impactful channel for every member of your audience. While it may seem like SMS is especially impactful for younger generations, like Millennials and Gen Z, the channel is also extremely popular with later generations as well, because, simply put, everyone is texting all the time.
Younger generations typically communicate via multiple channels all at once; they text, but they also use Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, Clubhouse, and more. Older generations may use fewer channels, but they still rely on texting as a primary way to connect with people and brands. No matter the age, texting is a part of life, making SMS marketing the ideal tool to reach every shopper.
“We were hesitant to get started with SMS marketing because we thought our demographic was older and the channel wouldn’t resonate, or they wouldn’t want to engage. But, in reality, SMS is for all ages — everyone texts. Our primary demographic loves texting with us, and now we’re also attracting a new, younger audience as well. It’s been a win-win.”
— Loulou Mulligan, Customer Experience Coordinator, Evelyn & Bobbie
Fast-growing companies need solutions that work with them to maximize that growth. SMS campaigns, like new product launches, limited time offers, cross-sell initiatives, and more can help your brand spread the word and drive conversion. On average, SMS messages have a 40% click-through rate.
“We’ve been able to launch so many new campaigns with SMS. If we launch a campaign for a new product, not only are we seeing almost immediate revenue via SMS, but our customers also respond directly, thanking us for the update. It’s these types of messages that we want to receive — it shows us that we’re really engaging with them on the channel they prefer.”
— Anthony Ridley, Head of Marketing, Til You Collapse
As marketers, we’re often doing multiple things at once, and throwing in an additional platform to manage doesn’t exactly sound appealing. But, SMS marketing solutions (like Yotpo SMS & Email!) enable both automation and personalization, so brands can trigger the right messages to the right customers at the right time without the need for daily manual effort.
It’s easy, and it integrates with the rest of your tech stack to boot — no clunky experiences. If you’re strapped for resources, consider a platform with a dedicated client success team to help manage your set-up and strategy.
What are my results?
If any of the items on this checklist sound familiar, now’s the time to get started with SMS as a marketing channel.
SMS is a key channel to connect with customers to maximize sales and communicate on a personal level. As changing privacy regulations shift advertising strategies, SMS remains a strong channel to drive revenue when it matters most. Already, SMS marketing provides a staggering 20% of revenue for our eCommerce brands — and that number is growing fast.
“Once you get started with the channel and see you will continue to have growth in other channels simultaneously proves you can continue to invest in SMS. We started small and saw immediate return, so we layered on cart abandonment. Just getting started, even with a small budget, can yield results.”
— Kristina Garcia, eCommerce Manager, United By Blue
Yotpo is the only company to offer a single-platform approach to eCommerce marketing, providing integrated solutions for SMS marketing, loyalty, reviews, and visual UGC all in one place. Yotpo SMS & Email gives brands the unique ability to engage customers with personalized, higher-converting experiences for each and every shopper.
To learn more, request a demo.
