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Retailers Turn to Texting for Simpler, More Personalized Marketing
Text messaging has become the latest strategy for direct marketing, as companies look for simpler ways to connect in real time with customers in the pandemic age. SMS is not new, but retailers are starting to find that these quick, direct messages are effective in improving engagement. This trend has compelled retailers to move away from email-based marketing, which has long been the standard for customer communication. And not only are these messages able to reach customers directly, the cost is lower than email marketing, making texts a much more cost-effective way to go.
Jeremy Goldman, principal analyst of eMarketer (News - Alert), publicly addressed the growth of SMS marketing, is also aware of this new shift, stating that many brands are moving towards text messaging and away from email. Goldman said about SMS, “It is one of the best ways to reach customers.”
From a retail perspective, email can be an excellent tool for sending promotional items on a large scale. It’s common practice for companies to send discount coupons or links to new products that invite customers back to their website. The problem is that almost every company follows this procedure, and customers have become numb to the experience of digging through a flooded inbox of advertisements. The pace of the retail world accelerates every year, and customers want fast and clear information to make purchasing decisions. Texting allows companies to send straightforward information, without becoming lost amongst the competition.
Uncommon Goods, an online craft marketplace, has found success in this approach by sending personalized texts to customers that notify them when products are back in stock.
“SMS has helped us engage a different segment of our most loyal shoppers.” said Brian Hashemi, head of marketing & analytics at Uncommon Goods. “We’ve been pleasantly surprised at how quickly we’ve been able to scale our program – we got to 100,000 subscribers much faster than we anticipated.”
Another company has reported immediate success with a text campaign. TULA skincare, which specializes in direct-to-consumer beauty products, said it increased revenue by 250% after investing in digital marketing for their organic/natural product line. TULA shoppers use mobile devices for roughly 70% of all transactions and accounts for 80% of all traffic, making texting one of the most logical steps for marketing.
Vice president digital and e-commerce of TULA skincare Zack Abbell commented on the new strategy. “We launched our SMS program at the beginning of this year and have seen dramatic growth out of the gate.” He also added, “The ROI has been strong across all programs and we're seeing that our most loyal customers are our first adopters of the SMS program, so it's provided another cost-effective outreach channel for us to drive engagement.”
As competition continues to grow in the business world, companies must do whatever they can to make sure their brand has an edge to stay in play. SMS could be the antidote for marketing fatigue, giving companies an inexpensive, more direct way of reaching customers that can almost guarantee a greater chance of engagement.
Edited by Maurice Nagle