January, the month-long linked with bad weather and dwindling bank balances, is almost over and pay day is within touching distance – so how can retailers make the most of this?
It’s a universal trend for consumers to tighten their belts at the start of a new year. With many companies paying employees earlier than usual to cover the excessive festive spending, the January pay day is a much-anticipated time for many across the country. It is an excellent opportunity for retailers to make the most of the population’s full bank balances with SMS.
Retail Goldmines
As the number of active mobile phones in circulation tops 80m for the first time in the UK, our State of SMS research found that the retail sector is set to see a 62% increase in customers opting to receive text messages from their preferred brands by the end of 2020 – a retail goldmine. These figures highlight the vast opportunities out there for businesses: well over half of consumers want to hear from retailers via SMS.
The sector is already leading the way in SMS opt ins – 13.6m people are already signed up to hear news, with 17% of these consumers indicating that they want to hear from retailers once a week, and 75% once a month or more. With such positive quantities backing the retail sector, it is pivotal to begin by building an opted-in database of mobile numbers to use for your campaign.
Timing is Everything
When payday’s coming up, it’s important to have a strategically-timed SMS marketing plan. Tap into payday excitement in the upcoming week by sending a selection of top picks for customers to browse – ensuring that your products are on their minds as earnings spends are planned. The next step is the most obvious – sending customers text communications on payday itself to highlight your business’ offerings.
Our research found that between noon and 3 o’clock in the afternoon was the most effective time to send a text message, which ties in well with payday offers as consumers are gearing up for the end of the working day and thoughts turn to leisure. Finally, it would be wise to send a ‘follow up’ message in the days following payday, incase customers had intentions of purchasing goods, but simply were not able to or forgot at the time.
It’s All About Offers
We have the timing in place for a payday retail SMS strategy, but what about content? Six out of ten users reported that their opinion of a retailer would be more positive if they received offers via their smartphones – so creating payday offers on certain products would seem a wise place to start. For an additional incentive, these offers could be exclusive to SMS opt ins and be limited-time only.
For those looking to go a step further, consider the impact of introductory SMS loyalty cards, with an exclusive bonus should users sign up and use (for example, double points for those downloading and purchasing over payday weekend). An incredible 77% of users interviewed stated that receiving surprise points or rewards would have a positive impact on their brand loyalty – payday strategies provide the ideal opportunity to introduce these to customers with consumers at their most likely to spend and brains craving the dopamine hit provided by shopping.
Interested in learning more about how a payday strategy could work for your business? Check out our case study for Simply Gym, or contact us to talk to a member of our team of experts.
