The blog explores various SMS marketing strategies to convert subscribers into customers for online stores. It discusses tactics like offering welcome discounts, promoting flash sales, leveraging social proof, making shopping interactive, and allowing subscribers to choose their preferred communication channel. The blog emphasizes the importance of engaging subscribers in meaningful ways to nurture their interest and drive conversions.
As more online shoppers choose to subscribe for updates from brands on SMS, we’re sure your subscriber list has been growing. From willingly subscribing to receive order status notifications or new deals and discounts, online shoppers have opened a channel of communication between brands and them.
But how can a brand move the consumer from simply subscribing to updates to actually making a purchase from you?
Well, we have a few SMS marketing strategies that can convert subscribers into customers in no time!
Convert subscribers into customers with these SMS marketing strategies
While the SMS marketing strategies you use to convert subscribers into customers should be based on who your target audience is, what you sell and how or when they subscribed, here are some tactics that our customers absolutely love implementing with TxtCart:
1. Make welcome discounts available to everyone
Instead of simply sending welcome discounts to those who subscribe is like leaving money on the table. Even if a customer has just purchased from your online store and subscribed to receive order notifications, they have still opted in to the SMS list for the first time. Ensure you send out a welcome discount to them as well.
You can though segment the subscribers on the basis of where they subscribed from to evaluate the value of discount you offer to welcome them. For example, an existing customer is 5X more likely to purchase from you again, giving them a smaller discount as well can re-engage their interest and drive a repeat purchase. But a shopper who hasn’t bought from you before is going to need a bigger reason to convert – hence, giving them a slightly higher welcome discount can work in your favor.
2. Target subscribers-only shoppers with first-purchase discounts
If you have a segmented SMS list of subscribers who opted in for updates from your brand but haven’t purchased from your store yet, this strategy can be a great way to jumpstart your relationship with them.
A first-time discount can encourage subscribers to take the first step to buying from your brand without having to spend too much – the idea of being able to try a new brand at a discounted cost always works wonders to convert subscribers into customers.
3. Promote a flash sale or lightning deal
Creating a sense of urgency or FOMO has been time and again proven to be an effective marketing strategy. With more than 60% of our choices being driven by the fear of missing out on something popular or good, bringing the same psychology to SMS campaigns can help convert subscribers to customers.
This is why another great idea to nudge inactive SMS subscribers to make a purchase is to promote a flash deal or a lightning deal that is available only for a very short period of time. Think about how Amazon gives you 24-hour deals on different products every day, making you take an impulse purchase decision.
4. Use social proof to your advantage
More than 90% of consumers trust testimonials, product reviews and ratings from existing customers to form an opinion about a brand. Even then, most businesses stick to using social proof as an added widget on their online store alone for conversion rate optimization. But we think social proof makes for a great addition to SMS marketing campaigns as well!
If someone has subscribed but not purchased from you yet, it could be that they’re concerned about the quality of the products your brand offers. Reach out to SMS subscribers with social proof – it doesn’t have to be about a specific product; it can simply talk about the number of products you have sold, an average of the product ratings you have received and a few testimonials that talk about a great experience shopping with your brand. Your user generated content could work wonders as well!
Also Read: Best SMS Marketing Examples To Supercharge Your Marketing Campaigns
5. Make shopping interactive
Another reason why most marketing campaigns fall short in converting subscribers into customers is due to the lack of interaction or engagement. Most campaigns follow a one-way push to encourage subscribers into taking an action. But what if you could implement the same strategy as that of in-store sales representatives to make the shopping experience more interactive?
With Shopify SMS marketing apps like TxtCart, brands can set up two-way SMS marketing campaigns. These campaigns are targeted at starting a conversation with subscribers instead of expecting them to click through a link immediately. They are best suited for reaching out to understand what they are looking for and guiding them to the right range of products, up until they make the purchase.
On TxtCart, we enable this with the help of intelligent marketing automations and a team of trained live agents to handle customer queries. You can learn more about it here.
6. Include media in SMS campaigns
Think about all the other channels brands are using to communicate with their customers. Be it email, WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, social media or other channels, interactive content is what keeps consumers engaged in a meaningful way. Most of our online purchases are driven by the visual content we consume on the internet – so why should your SMS marketing campaigns be devoid of any visuals?
With Shopify SMS marketing apps like TxtCart, you can send MMS and GIFs in your campaigns to make them more engaging. When strategized and created in the right way, they can be used to give a glimpse into your new range of products, discounts, sales, upcoming collections and more.
7. Offer channel preference
Another reason your SMS subscribers have not been converting into customers could be simply because they do not use text messages as proactively. For all you know, they may have been missing out on all the product deals, discounts and offers you have been sending!
This is why we also recommend sending out an SMS marketing campaign that targets seeking their preferred channel of communication. Let them choose where they’d like to receive notifications from your brand – but be absolutely clear about your intent and what is in it for them. You also get brownie points for making it simpler for the SMS subscribers to opt-in for updates on the other channels!
Also Read: Best SMS Marketing Discount Campaigns for you to copy
Get more sales from your subscribers!
We see brands focusing a lot on acquiring new customers through marketing and advertising campaigns.
We also now see them focusing on customer retention to drive in repeat sales.
But the one untapped opportunity that most often miss out on is reaching out to subscribers and getting them to convert.
Subscribers are online shoppers who have indicated an interest in what your brand has to offer. Even if they don’t have a clear intent of what they want to purchase yet, they can be nurtured into finding it on your online store. That’s where the key to converting subscribers into customers lies!
The idea is to encourage SMS subscribers to visit your website. Having them browse through your site and engage with your brand helps build their interest and intent further, that can be used to then send targeted SMS marketing campaigns using Shopify apps like TxtCart.
Struggling to convert SMS subscribers into customers?
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