On average, a person receives around 40 SMS text messages in a day. Discounts and deals, new collection launch, order confirmations, feedback requests, order delivery updates… and the list goes on.
For eCommerce brands, SMS is one of the best methods to engage customers instantly and in real-time. However, with fierce competition all around, you need to come up with SMSes that cut through the noise.
In this blog, we’ll have a look at some of the best SMS marketing examples, and through them, run through the basics of SMS marketing and best practices, as well.
9 SMS Marketing Examples to inspire your Shopify SMS campaigns
1. Welcome SMS
One of the first SMSes you should send to your new customers is a welcome text. The one sent by PlantShop greets the customer to a pleasant image that exudes freshness through the green color.
Consider this statistic: 51% of customers are more likely to make purchases if the text message includes an image, a GIF or video.
A simple ‘Welcome’ lets customers know the purpose of the SMS. Then, soon enough, comes the most exciting part – information about a discount.
Keeping it straightforward, next in flow, the text message tells customers that their discount code will be automatically added to the checkout. This means, they don’t even need to bother about remembering or referring to the code at the time of the purchase.
It’s always wise to add a link to your site in the welcome SMS. It increases the chances of customers visiting your site again.
The next time you plan a welcome message for your Shopify SMS marketing, make sure you apply all these points, relevant to your brand.
Your welcome SMS can also be:
- An opt-in confirmation SMS
- A ‘thank you for signing up’ message
2. Order confirmation
When customers make purchases, they feel anxious. A quick message to confirm the order and regular updates of their order can help relieve their stress. It’s best to send it to them as soon as possible, and as soon as they place an order.
The above example from Urban Ladder gives a quick confirmation to the customer stating the order number and the amount. By mentioning the amount, the customer gets assurance of the price.
Further, the brand also tells the customer that the other details will be sent over email.
Keeping the focus on the order, the text message then tells the customer to log into their account on the site to track their order. To make this action easy for the customer, there’s a link to the website as well.
By sharing their customer support email address, the brand assures customers that they’re available for assistance. The SMS ends with a simple sign off and the name of the brand.
In this example, the brand keeps it simple and maintains the focus on the order that was just placed. With a clear purpose and simple language, it’s able to communicate all the important details to the customer.
An order confirmation text adds a layer of transparency and assurance, and helps build a sense of comfort between the brand and the customer.
3. New collection announcement
New collection launch time is exciting, not just for brands, but for customers as well. Your loyal customers would be eager to know about what’s new on your site. This is a good opportunity to build a buzz around your new collection and drive more sales.
Lifestyle brand Nicobar sends many messages to announce their new collection.
However short and simple each SMS is, every text message tries to give a little peek into the products in the new collection. This helps build excitement, as well as doesn’t come across as spamming the same message over and over again.
Moreover, giving sneak peeks into new collections is a great way to draw people in as you’re not revealing too much and at the same time creating curiosity.
Ending with a link that takes subscribers to the website, this SMS campaign works because the messaging is subtle and serves to enhance the customer experience.
4. Flash sale SMS
Flash sales are everyone’s favorite. Customers wait to hear about them from brands. And what better way than to announce it through SMS? Because flash sales are typically for a short duration and are announced at the last minute, SMS is the best way to get the message read and engage customers.
Here, we have an example of how cosmetics brand Bushbalm Skin Co. announced a flash sale. Why do we think it’s one of the best SMS marketing campaign examples and why eCommerce brands should use this as an inspiration? Here’s why:
- The SMS has an image that instantly grabs the readers’ eye
- Exclusivity – The message makes it clear the sale is for VIP customers only. Moreover, only for SMS subscribers, as the deals aren’t available on social media
- Emojis can go a long way in keeping the vibe fun and conversational
- The SMS ends with the two most important elements – the code to avail the discounts and the link to the site
- The copy is impactful
- The shortened URL keeps the message neat and tidy
All-in-all, this is a delightful example for flash sale SMS marketing. The above tactics can be used in creating other types of SMSes.
5. Abandoned cart recovery SMS
Shopify SMS marketing plans would be incomplete without an abandoned cart recovery strategy. Because at least 60% of shoppers abandon carts. And one of the most effective ways to bring them back to the site is through text messages.
Here’s an SMS marketing example of a cart abandonment recovery SMS from Suntime. The SMS shows the shopper an image of the product they left behind. What’s the purpose of that? This helps create a higher recall value. As shoppers might have looked at multiple sites and hundreds of products, and might have forgotten about the item they had liked on your site.
Keeping the message simple, the shopper is reminded about the item they left in the cart. Then, to entice them to take action, the brand offers a 20% discount.
Giving the message a casual and conversational tone, by saying ‘so you can start soaking up the sun’, the brand creates an image in the mind of the shopper of what their purchase could lead to.
Then, the SMS ends with the link to the cart. Short, personalized, valuable, and two-way – Suntime ticks all the boxes of a successful SMS marketing campaign example.
Now, many eCommerce marketers stay away from SMS for abandoned carts because they think it’s tedious, expensive and time consuming for the sheer scale of abandoned carts. But it’s not so. You only need the right kind of tool. Try TxtCart, one of the best SMS marketing apps to revive sales from abandoned carts.
Install TxtCart app on your Shopify store for abandoned cart recovery!
6. Important business update SMS
Another extremely important SMS Marketing Example – At times, eCommerce brands might have important announcements related to the business that might affect customers. At such times, it is ideal for brands to put out an announcement and keep customers informed.
These announcements could range from changes in policies of the business, or changes in pricing, the business shutting down, a short maintenance break, change of ownership, winning an award, etc.
The above example shows a simple message that informs customers of an important update – while their physical store won’t be operational, they provide options of placing orders through the website or opt for curbside pick up.
The plain text message ends with a link to the site where readers can find more information and place orders, and an option to opt-out.
Also Read: Everything you need to know about SMS Marketing Analytics and KPI measurement
7. SMS to complete sales
When shoppers shop online, they can get easily distracted by other brands, sites, and offers floating around on the internet. But brands that monitor shoppers’ moves on their site, have an advantage. They can use that data to share targeted promotions with these shoppers.
At times, shoppers abandon the site right at the last step of checkout. In such cases, you already have all the details of the shopper – their payment details, contact details, address, etc. And all you need to do is to push the shopper to complete the purchase.
SMS can help make it easy, as we see in this example.
The brand keeps the message conversational and casual. By mentioning the name of the product and sharing the image, the brand is able to personalize the message, improving chances of conversion.
Moreover, for speeding up the sales process, all that the shopper is required to do is respond to the text saying ‘Buy’. The brand instantly completes the purchase for the shopper.
8. Seasonal SMS
Festivals are one of the best times for eCommerce brands to boost sales and generate the most revenue. SMS is said to give a big push to sales and marketing goals of brands during shopping seasons such as Christmas, Holiday Season, New Year, etc.
In this SMS marketing example, the brand is cleverly able to combine a couple of messages in their Christmas text.
To help their subscribers shop in time for Christmas, the message takes a personal approach and keeps it conversations by simply saying – get your gifts in time.
Next, the brand informs the subscribers about the final shipping dates before they close for the season. This way, subscribers who are delaying their purchase decisions would be eager to complete their Christmas purchases so that they receive their products in time.
Further, the brand offers to send another reminder a day before the last shipping date. By doing so, they’re able to show subscribers how much they care and are willing to help – a good example of how to improve customer experience.
9. Text-to-win contests
Running contests is one of the best marketing tactics for eCommerce stores. Contests have a conversion rate of 34%.
As seen in the above example from Starbucks, the SMS text creates excitement through a message with the only focus to get readers to participate.
What we like best about this contest SMS marketing campaign example is that it is a two-way campaign. Instead of taking readers to another app or a site via a link, the campaign allows responses via SMS.
Why we like it: The two-way SMS strategy makes participation quick and easy. Readers can participate in the contest on the go, from wherever they are.
Once the participant responds, they receive an SMS with the correct answer. This helps keep participants engaged and the conversation going.
Next, the campaign is smartly designed to capture the participants’ interest in the brand. They are given options to subscribe to more alerts from the brand, get more help or stop receiving texts from the brand. This is one of the important SMS best practices that brands must follow.
Final thoughts
These are some of our favorite SMS marketing examples. We bet you’ve got some inspiration from our Shopify SMS marketing examples. Remember to follow the basic dos and don’ts when you run an SMS campaign. The idea is to create value through every SMS you send to your subscribers.
To help you manage your Shopify SMS marketing campaigns, install a smart app like TxtCart.
