How should you use SMS Marketing intelligently?

The now indispensable mobile phone has rapidly become a multifunctional object in our daily lives and plays a major role in the way we consume.
According to a study conducted by eMarketer, mobile commerce – also known as m-commerce – is expected to account for 54% of total online sales in 2021.

With Black Friday, Christmas and the winter sales period approaching, SMS is the ideal tool to complement your digital marketing strategy and significantly boost your sales.

Focus on this leading e-commerce marketing channel!

Why use SMS Marketing?

A powerful channel for unbeatable ROI

In France, 99% of the population has a mobile phone (source: comarketing-news.fr), which represents 64.8 million people, in other words almost all French people!

In addition to the widespread use of mobile, it is important to note that SMS marketing has a record opening rate close to 98%.

In comparison, email marketing has an average opening rate of 20%.

SMS is a powerful channel which, when used correctly, can prove to be an excellent tool for customer conversion and loyalty, as it is a very local channel at the heart of everyone’s daily life.
Of course, SMS is also a tool that allows you to increase traffic to your merchant site.

Even if SMS marketing is not one of the most attractive communication channels, its ROI (return on investment) is particularly appealing.

Technical and functional assets

The main technical advantage of SMS lies in the simplicity of its implementation. An SMS campaign is not at all time-consuming, and can be completed in just a few minutes.
This channel allows you to complement existing e-commerce strategies and boost their effects.

Finally, unlike email marketing, which can encounter deliverability problems with the various email providers (Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc.), SMS is not prone to any reception problems apart from the occasional general outages of the main telephony operators.

When to use SMS marketing?

Bulk SMS

The number one usage of SMS marketing is ‘bulk’ use. As the name suggests, these are large-scale SMS messages.
This type of bulk campaign can be carried out for specific events such as Black Friday, Christmas, Winter Sales or as part of a special promotional operation (clearance sale for example).

The Bulk SMS campaign is designed to reach all your contacts without differentiation by segmentation.

Automation

You also have the option of using SMS as part of automated e-commerce campaigns active throughout the year (e.g. “customer birthday” campaigns).

SMS can finally be used as an information tool, which we refer to as transactional SMS. It is possible to use them alongside a welcome email (after the creation of a customer account) or to confirm the dispatch of an order.
In this case, SMS will enable you to build loyalty with your customers & prospects and create a unique and close relationship with them.

Unlike “bulk” SMS, the automated SMS will be sent to a segment of your database that meets the criteria defined during the creation of your overall automated scenario.

The rules for sending SMS marketing

We have listed some golden rules for designing effective SMS campaigns and achieving the performance you hope for:

Content of your SMS Marketing

Always send your marketing SMS messages with a clearly identifiable sender(preferably the name of your shop).

Write short and punchy messages and make sure you don’t exceed 160 characters as over that number will involve sending more than 1 SMS. 1 SMS is enough to be fully effective!
Just as when you are writing your marketing emails, rely on the sense of urgency and immediacy by encouraging your customers & prospects to click on your links.
Finally, personalize your SMS messages by addressing your contacts directly using the “firstname” variable.

Mistakes to avoid

To maximize your chances of success and avoid ruining your reputation, there are certain rules to observe:

Take into account the days and time slots for authorized message sending

Unlike sending commercial emails, sending SMS marketing is strictly regulated.
You are not allowed to send text messages on weekdays between 20:00 and 10:00, on Sundays or on public holidays.

Include the words “STOP SMS” in all your messages.

The phrase “STOP SMS” is a compulsory legal notice equivalent to the unsubscribe link in emails.
It allows your contacts to unsubscribe if they wish and should therefore always be included in your SMS marketing mailings.

Boycott SMS contact lists purchased online

As with sending emails, we would strongly discourage you from buying SMS contact lists online.
The use of unverified contacts will have the result of a large number of unsubscriptions.
Of course, this will have no impact on your deliverability (unlike email), note however that SMS is much more regulated than email.
If you are reported by users too regularly, you risk attracting the wrath of the CNIL. In the worst case scenario, you could incur financial penalties that could be substantial (source: l’explicite.fr).

Conclusion

As we have seen, SMS enables a smart complement to your e-marketing strategies and benefits from an unrivalled ROI.
For the Black Friday, New Year’s Eve and Winter Sales periods, it’s the ideal tool to communicate on a mass scale about your offers and encourage your customers & prospects to place orders now.

Of course, for your strategies to succeed, you need to offer a responsive, user-friendly design and user-friendly merchant site to optimize your visitors’ browsing experience.

Convinced about using SMS marketing?
Contact us for a demonstration of our tool!

It’s up to you!