As another way to communicate directly with your customers, SMS marketing complements your other marketing channels such as push notifications and email. It has also been gaining popularity in the ecommerce space over the last two years with easy-to-use platforms such as Attentive, Postscript, and more.

The reason why isn’t hard to find. According to RescueTime, people spend around 3 hours and 15 minutes per day on their phone. If we look at the US alone, that number goes up to 3 hours and 43 minutes.

And they’re not just spending their time on social media. eMarketer estimates that 70% of all ecommerce sales will be mobile by 2024. By adding SMS into their marketing mix, brands can share their message where customers are sure to see it.

Sure, people use apps and read emails on their phone, but text messages are the one thing we’ve all been reading and sending ever since mobile phones came out.

Ecommerce SMS marketing is still in its early days and if you want to get a headstart on your competitors, the time is now.

What is SMS Marketing for Ecommerce?

SMS stands for Short Message Service and SMS marketing campaigns consist of sending promotional messages as text messages. An example of SMS marketing would be sending a text message to your customers that says: “For 48 hours only: 50% off everything in store. Come shop and save!”

Just like with ecommerce email marketing, you need the receiver’s permission to be able to send them promotional SMS messages. And similar to email marketing, promotional SMS campaigns tend to be either triggered by user behavior or based on specific holidays, sales periods, and other events.

So why consider text message marketing for your ecommerce business? Let’s have a look at the benefits.

Benefits of Doing SMS Ecommerce

There are a lot of benefits to ecommerce SMS marketing such as the possibility to personalize your messaging, gather data about your audience, communicate directly with your subscribers, and more. Many of these benefits are valid for email marketing as well, but SMS marketing has a few extra things going for it:

No internet required

The first benefit of using SMS for ecommerce marketing is that text messages can be delivered straight to your customers’ phones without the need for an internet connection. As long as they have reception, you can land in their inbox.

High visibility

And while some people turn off their email notifications, most want to be alerted when they receive a new text message as text messages are more likely to come from friends and family. That means there’s a big chance your text message won’t only get seen, but it will get seen close to instantly.

Ideal for two-way communication

As most people keep their phone close throughout the day, SMS marketing is the ideal channel to start a conversation with your customers. Ask them about their sizes, what products they’re interested in, if they have any color preferences, and whether they are happy with their latest purchase.

If you’re wondering how to reply to all of these messages: you don’t always need to. You can set up triggered questions and responses so you can reply promptly. However, make sure you also have someone monitoring your SMS channel so that when customers have questions or comments that don’t fall into an automated workflow, you are there to engage with them, even if that means asking them to get in touch via email.

Less competition

Using SMS marketing for ecommerce is fairly new which means it can help you stand out, but you’ll need to act fast. While there is still less competition for subscribers’ attention in their SMS inbox than in their email inbox, text message marketing is becoming increasingly popular.

Get started now and figure out what works for your customers so they keep welcoming your texts as more brands add SMS into their marketing mix.

But what should you send them?

How to Build an SMS Marketing Calendar

Chances are that you already have an annual email marketing calendar that you can use as the base for your SMS marketing calendar. Make a note of all the important moments throughout the year on which you might want to get in touch with your customers, such as product launches, holidays, and season changes.

Don’t just copy over your email marketing calendar, though. It’s best to send SMS messages at a different time than your emails so you don’t overwhelm people who are subscribed to both. You can also consider creating exclusive SMS-only offers.

Lastly, it’s important to note that SMS marketing has some restrictions that email marketing doesn’t have due to carrier rules and regulations. Most SMS marketing tools, for example, charge per SMS sent, and some journey types have restrictions on how many messages you can send (i.e. Cart abandonment flows can only contain 1 message and that message must be sent within 48 hours of abandonment). That means you can’t just create the same multi-message sequences you send via email for your ecommerce SMS marketing.

Luckily, there is a lot that you can do…

Top Ecommerce SMS Sequences to Create

User-triggered SMS automations

User-triggered SMS automation (or transactional messages) are text messages or sequences of text messages that get sent automatically when a user performs a certain action. Below, you can find the most important automations to create when you’re using SMS for ecommerce marketing.

Welcome SMS campaigns

Welcome SMS campaigns are triggered when someone agrees to receive promotional text messages from you. They are a great way to engage subscribers from the start and to repeat the benefits they’ll get from signing up.

Abandoned cart SMS campaigns

When someone abandons their cart, you can automatically send them a text message to entice them to finish their purchase. While you may be tempted to message them several times, a lot of SMS marketing tools limit cart abandonment messages to just one per cart or one within a certain time period. Usually, they also make you send that message within 48 hours after the shopper has left your online store.

Note that these restrictions aren’t always chosen by your SMS tool. Oftentimes, they’re imposed by the mobile phone provider your tool relies on.

Post-purchase SMS review request

Set up an automated message that asks recent buyers to review their purchases. You can give them poll options to choose from, ask them for a star rating, or let them write an open-ended review. If you guide them to a website to collect their review, you can even ask them to upload a photo or video of them using your product and gather user-generated content at the same time.

SMS order status updates

Order status updates such as order confirmations and shipping notifications offer a great way to improve the customer experience but because you pay per message for your SMS marketing, you may want to consider only sending order updates via email.

That being said, some ecommerce platforms like Shopify automate the sending of SMS order status updates and even do so for free.

Marketing SMS messages can also be triggered by a text from a subscriber. Most companies ask subscribers to reply with a keyword so their system automatically knows what to send next. For example, a socks brand could ask subscribers to reply with “NEW SOCKS” to be alerted when a limited edition is released. In that case, “NEW SOCKS’ is a keyword.

SMS marketing campaigns

SMS campaigns are centered around an event that is not triggered by a user, such as a product release, a holiday, or a sales period.

Product launches

SMS marketing is great for product launches, especially when the product has been long-awaited. People tend to see text messages before emails and so texting them allows them to buy the new product before it sells out.

Back-in-stock alerts

The same goes for products that come back in stock. If someone has been waiting for a product to become available again, they’ll be grateful for your back in stock message. This works even better when you can personalize the message.

Sales text messages

Because text messages are so direct, they’re great for adding a sense of urgency to your sales offers. Use them to urge subscribers over to your store during holiday sales and seasonal promotions, but also pay attention to more personal moments, such as birthdays.

Reward program promotions

Not only can you use SMS marketing to ask subscribers to sign up to your loyalty program; you can also use them to inform members about their loyalty status, rewards they can take advantage of, or points they can earn on their next purchase.

Top Tools and SMS Marketing Platforms for Ecommerce

To get started with SMS marketing, you need a tool that allows you to build your SMS list, send messages, and track your performance. You can either opt for a multi-channel tool that allows you to centralize your ecommerce marketing in one place, or for an SMS-specific platform.

We’ve put together a quick selection of some of the best SMS tools in both categories.

Multi-channel tools

  1. Klaviyo is an email and SMS marketing platform trusted by more than 70,000 brands that comes with various opt-in functionalities and SMS performance tracking. It allows you to centralize your email and SMS data, attribute sales to the right channel, and create cross-channel as well as SMS-only personalized campaigns.
  2. Omnisend describes itself as an all-in-one ecommerce marketing platform. It integrates with major ecommerce platforms such as Shopify, WooCommere, and BigCommerce and allows you to combine email and SMS marketing into a single workflow. It also includes a range of list-building tools such as popups and landing pages and offers reports on how your SMS marketing is performing.
  3. Listrak claims its text messaging functionality can help you get a 30x+ ROI for your SMS marketing efforts. It helps you collect SMS subscribers through your website, social media channels, ecommerce platform, and even your physical store if you have one. Listrak also helps you set up cross-channel SMS and email campaigns, run welcome series, and create different types of offers.

 

SMS tools

If you’re happy with the marketing tools you’re already using but they don’t offer SMS functionality, consider one of these SMS platforms:

  1.  Postscript is an SMS marketing platform built specifically for Shopify stores that allows you to segment subscribers based on their interactions with your store. It comes with a variety of list-building features and lets you create both user-triggered automations and other SMS campaigns. You can also track your overall and per-message performance thanks to its built-in analytics.
  2. Attentive comes with an easy-to-use form builder that allows you to create a variety of signup forms. You can add incentives and set rules to determine when and how forms are displayed. Extensive data collection allows you to personalize your text message and send campaigns based on your customers’ behaviors. A/B testing and real-time reporting make it possible to improve your SMS marketing on an ongoing basis.
  3. SimpleTextin stands out because it allows you to send text messages of up to 300 characters, instead of the standard 160 characters. It comes with many functionalities, such as mass texting, autoresponders, recurring, triggered, and automated campaigns, list segmentation, and a form builder.
  4. MailCharts: your go-to place for faster SMS campaign planning Want to speed up strategic SMS planning for your team? Soon you’ll be able to study thousands of SMS campaigns from brands in your industry, find actionable insights and build SMS campaign plans quickly, right here at MailCharts! We’re expanding our database to include the SMS marketing campaigns of hundreds of ecommerce brands.

Sign up today and be one of the first to get access!

Long codes vs short codes

There are two types of numbers you can use for your SMS marketing: SMS short codes, which are 5 or 6-digit numbers, and standard telephone numbers. Both types of numbers can send and receive SMS and MMS.

So why choose one over the other?

The four main things to take into consideration when you decide between using long code versus short code are:

    1. flexibility.
    2. cost.
    3. impression.
    4. deliverability

 

Flexibility

When using standard phone numbers or long codes in the US, you’re limited to sending 200 SMS per day and 1 SMS per second. A way to get around this limitation is to use multiple phone numbers.

When using a short code, there are no daily limits. However, you need to pass an approval process to be able to use a short code.

Cost

Subscribers can generally receive text messages coming from a short code for free. However, sending text messages with a short code number tends to be more expensive than sending them from a long code. You also pay a monthly fee to have your own short code, which can range from a few hundred dollars for a general code to over $1000 for a vanity code.

Impression

When someone receives a message from a short code, it’s clearly an automated marketing text, whereas messages from long codes look like they’re coming from an actual person.

Deliverability

As wireless phone carriers pre-approve the content of text messages sent through short codes, these messages are less likely to get flagged as spam. They also tend to arrive in your customers SMS inbox faster than messages from long code numbers.

That’s because long code numbers can typically only send one message per second. If you have thousands of people on your SMS list, the last person on that list may receive your message hours later than the first person. When you’re running a last-minute promotion, such a delay is highly problematic.

Short codes, however, can send up to 100 messages per second. That makes them 100 faster and a better choice if you frequently run limited-time-only campaigns.

Our recommendation

The higher flexibility and deliverability of short codes make them a good choice, as long as your ROI remains positive. If you’re already doing SMS marketing with a long code number and your list is bigger than 10,000 subscribers, you may want to consider switching to short code.

What About International Users?

Even though it’s still rather new, using SMS marketing for ecommerce is becoming increasingly popular in the US with the rest of the world lagging behind a bit. This article focuses on the ecommerce SMS marketing to US-based customers, but we also briefly want to touch upon a few things to take into account if you want to take your text marketing across the border.

  1. The costs for sending SMS and MMS are different in every country.
  2. The regulations around SMS marketing are different around the world.
  3. There is often a delivery delay when sending text messages internationally.
  4. To be able to capture phone numbers from various countries, you need to use forms that allow users to select their country codes and that validate international numbers.

 

How to Capture Phone Numbers for A SMS Campaign

You can capture phone numbers on your website, on the check-out page of your ecommerce store, through your social media channels, via your emails, and even offline. Whichever channel you choose, here are some of the main ways to capture phone numbers:

1. Checkout forms

Ask customers whether they want to receive marketing messages via SMS the moment they enter their information to complete the purchasing process.

2. Tap-to-text

When users click a tap-to-text button on their mobile phone, it opens a pre-filled text message to your brand’s phone number so all the user needs to do to sign up, is hit “send”. Tap-to-text only works on mobile devices.

3. Text-to-join

An alternative to tap-to-text for people who are not visiting your site on their phones, is text-to-join. In this case, you invite someone to text a keyword (usually something like “SUBSCRIBE”) to your number in order to sign up for marketing messages.

Text-to-join works in email, on your social media channels, and even offline. If you have a brick-and-mortar store, for example, you can put up a CTA by your cash register.

4. Popups and sticky bars

Popups and website sticky bars don’t just work for capturing email addresses, you can use them to capture phone numbers as well. If you want to capture both, consider offering users an incentive like a discount or free shipping.

5. Email invitations

Invite your subscribers to sign up for SMS updates so you can reinforce your marketing message across different channels. In the example below, GAP offers a 25% discount as a signup incentive. The email also clearly states what subscribers can expect when they sign up for text alerts.

SMS for Ecommerce Best Practices

1. Follow the rules

Before you get started with SMS marketing, make sure you know what the regulations are, and which limits your mobile phone provider imposts. Some of the most important rules to follow:

  • Your phone number collection field needs to be accompanied by a consent message and it cannot be a required field.
  • Customers need to confirm they want to receive your promotional text messages via a double opt-in sent by text, and that message must make it clear that your SMS messages will include shopping cart reminders.
  • Your privacy policy must explain how you capture information to know when a cart is abandoned (cookies, plugins, etc.) and it must be linked to from your Terms & Conditions.
  • The first message you send someone after they’ve opted in to receive your text messages, needs to mention who you are, how often and/or why you’ll message, and that message and data rates may apply. It should also clearly mention how they can opt-out.

The good thing is that a lot of SMS marketing platforms already have built-in compliance and offer guidance on how to create text messages that follow the rules.

2. Don’t overdo it

As with anything, balance is key. You don’t want to annoy customers by sending too many messages, pushing them to unsubscribe.

A lot of SMS marketing platforms help you with this by enforcing “quiet hours”. These are periods during which you won’t be able to send text messages. Usually, these periods stretch from around 11 in the evening until 8 in the morning. Read more about when is the best time to send marketing SMS to customers.

3. Be careful with graphics

While a lot of SMS marketing platforms allow you to send both SMS and MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service: messages that are a mix of text and graphic content), not all mobile phones are great at displaying MMS messages.

MMS are also more expensive to send and so unless data tells you they work really well for your brand, SMS is likely to give you a better ROI.

4. Keep it short

A lot of mobile phone providers still charge people to receive commercial text messages so your subscribers won’t appreciate it when you send them three texts with a message that could have been shared within the 160-character limit of one SMS.

Keeping it short is also for your own benefit: it’s cheaper, and it forces you to get to the essence with punchy copy that’s more likely to retain your subscriber’s attention.

5. Get personal

If you’ve worked in marketing for a while, you know that personalization sells. Make it part of your SMS strategy to send personalized messages where possible. Addressing people by their first name, sending campaigns targeted to their buying behavior, and offering them a discount on their birthday are just a few things you can do to make your messages more personal.

6. Segment your audience

Gathering data on your audience doesn’t just allow you to send personalized messages, it also allows you to segment subscribers based on their demographics, their shopping behavior, how engaged they are with your SMS campaigns, their product interests, and more. By doing so, you’ll be able to send more targeted bulk SMS campaigns.

Measuring the Results of Your SMS Strategy

Like with any type of marketing channel, you need to track its performance to be able to improve and judge whether the ROI is worth it. Most SMS marketing platforms come with analytics that help you analyze how you’re doing.

Some of the most important SMS marketing KPIs to track are:

  • delivery rate
  • click-through rate.
  • conversion rate.
  • earnings per message
  • cost per subscriber
  • unsubscribe rate.
  • ROI

 

Create Your Ecommerce SMS Marketing Strategy

Ecommerce SMS marketing is on the rise because of its unique benefits, such as its high visibility. The channel offers an interesting way to reach your customers, keep them engaged, and get them back to your store. Rather than replace email marketing, text marketing is best used in combination with email campaigns.

This guide includes a lot of ideas on how you can target customers with SMS messages in an effective and compliant way. Soon, you’ll also be able to see exactly how your competitors are using SMS marketing to promote their stores. We’re collecting that data from hundreds of ecommerce brands as you’re reading this.

Sign up today and be one of the first to know when we launch our SMS database.