The busiest shopping season of the year is almost here, and it presents a major opportunity for eCommerce retailers. Ahead of this year’s Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) events, consumers will undoubtedly be planning ahead to seek out the best offers.
Communicating with customers about the when and what of your Christmas promotions is essential to a successful sales season. But with every company trying to push promotions into consumers’ inboxes, how can you ensure yours get noticed?
To ensure your festive discounts are working as hard as they can for your business and your customers, we’ve put together this handy list of top SMS marketing tips and tricks. BFCM sales can have a lasting effect on your bottom line, so it’s essential to make the most out of these crucial periods.
With open rates of up to 98% and almost 60% of consumers reading a text message within 5 minutes, SMS is the clear choice to stand out against your competition this Black Friday.
1. Build your subscriber list early
Allow your contacts to opt-in to be the first to know about key promotions. Add SMS opt-in to checkout pages, social posts, and website popups to make it even easier for customers to stay in the know.
2. Get your message in front of your customers early
Build up excitement about your upcoming deals and offers ahead of time to make sure customers don’t miss out. Retailers can give their opted-in customers an early insight into which lines will be discounted along with information about exclusive deals and access.
3. Increase your conversion rates by personalising your message
Use your subscriber’s name to tailor messages. Shopping habits and preferences are another great way to better tailor your Black Friday messages. Offering this level of personalisation adds real value to the customer journey and can have a dramatic impact on retention levels.
4. Attach images, GIFs, or videos to make your message visually appealing
Utilise our attachment tool to share videos and PDFs to give customers a view of buying guides for varied budgets or a preview of a new festive collection. Whatever your offer might be, providing customers with a visual of a promotion within the message can really increase engagement.
5. Use an eye-catching CTA
Make it quick and easy for customers to act on your offers. For example, using SMS Short Codes e.g., ‘Text BF2022 to receive 25% off’ provides fast access to discount codes. Including a tracked short link in an auto-response also means users can view their code and access your website all in one place.
6. Send or automate follow-up texts
Abandoned basket alerts and sale reminders enable customers to pick up where they left off or simply let them know when key sale lines are running low.
Create a sense of urgency in your messages, using phrases like:
- Offer valid until midnight, use code GET50
- {subscriber name}, your basket expires in 10 minutes, check out now…
- Hurry! Only 5 items left in stock
- 1 hour left to get 50% off your {company name} order!
The potential of SMS encompasses online and offline retailers, helping to add value to the customer experience. To start building your Black Friday SMS campaigns, sign up for your free Textlocal Messenger account today.
