This year is going to be a big year for Black Friday and holiday sales in general. With the cost of living on the rise, more people than ever are looking to stock up and grab deals to help them through the holiday season. At the same time, a frugal mentality has crept in so there is a fine balance to be found. How is your business going to maximise its revenue this Black Friday?
Get ahead, use SMS marketing. There has been a dramatic shift in the way consumers prefer to be contacted. These days, it’s all about convenience and being present. We know that 84% of Brits own a mobile phone and we are obsessed with them. Walk down any street in the UK and you will see people walking along looking at their mobile devices. This is why SMS messages have an open rate of 97% and are read within minutes. With the rise in popularity of smartwatches, we don’t even need to be on our phones to receive text messages. So any promotions you send out to your subscribers have a guaranteed reach.
77% of consumers say businesses offering SMS marketing and SMS services in general have a more positive image. This figure is hard to ignore. Consumers are driving brands to communicate on their terms and this year, that will be more vital than ever.
If you are new to SMS or already using SMS marketing campaigns, follow our step-by-step guide to maximising sales with SMS:
Start preparing early
To quote Benjamin Franklin “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail”. With any campaign, the interaction with customers only works when people are listening. How many people are on your current subscriber list? Enough to make an impact?
1. Grow your database
You already have a customer base, but it’s time to convert your customers to SMS subscribers. Simply find ways to invite engagers to subscribe. Once you have caught their attention, they can opt-in to receive SMS messaging from you. Because SMS works with opt-ins, you know that subscribers want to hear from you. Here are some ways you can make those conversions:
- Add SMS subscription options to your existing website – Your customers are already visiting you; use promotions to catch their attention and invite them to sign up.
- Explore other channels – You are most likely to be using social media and email marketing to promote your brand already. Use incentives to encourage subscribers to take their communication to the next level.
- Checking out – Add a subscription tick box to sign up customers at check out. Customers often see the value in signing up at this stage as they can benefit from purchase updates.
- Offline – More traditional methods that don’t include your online retail activity include: Signing up in a brick-and-mortar store, a leaflet drop, posters, and physical ads. Again, an incentive helps to add value to opting in.
2. Incentivise SMS subscribers
Discount codes are always a popular incentive to increase opt-ins but, with Black Friday, retailers are already looking to discount items. Give your SMS subscribers an advantage over the non-subscribers and allow early access to the Black Friday deals when they sign up to receive SMS messages from you.
3. Build excitement
Prepare your subscribers for what is to come. You may have already lured them in with the promise of an exclusive first look at Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals, now it’s time to grow the anticipation.
Here are some ways to interact with your subscriber in the lead-up to Black Friday:
- Send out SMS reminders.
- Use SMS to countdown to the big day: “Only 4 more days to go! Click the link to take a sneaky peek at some of our Black Friday items”.
- Invite them to book a VIP slot.
- Send out a link to a gift guide
Engage in two-way SMS to gather more information about your subscribers ahead of the big day. For example: “Text back to tell us what you would most like to see in our Black Friday sales” or “Where will you be logging in to view our Black Friday sales? Text and let us know for an extra 10% off your sales items”.
4. Automated Texts
Triggered texts or automated SMS can be used throughout the lifecycle of your customer relationship and save a lot of work for you and your team. Set your triggered text messages to be sent out at various points of your Black Friday process. Retailers use these text messages for:
- The welcome series – when your subscribers have just joined they should be set to receive a planned number of SMS messages to settle them in such as a welcome voucher, an introduction, or “what you can expect from being a subscriber” text.
- Abandoned cart reminder
- Low stock alert
- Back-in-stock alert
Personalisation is great for automated texts and it allows you to set more SMS marketing messages to be sent that the customer will thank you for. You can send out texts on birthdays, for special occasions, or, for special interests.
5. Segmentation
For a more targeted approach SMS marketing allows you to separate your subscribers into categories based on a number of chosen factors such as, demographics, browsing history, age, etc. You can take a different approach with your marketing to match your potential customers. For example, a clothing retailer could separate into those who usually buy men’s clothes or children’s etc. The customer won’t receive unnecessary texts from your brand and will feel valued and understood. Receiving texts they are interested in will keep them engaged.
6. Bonus deals for subscribers
Just because Black Friday falls on a certain day of the year, it doesn’t mean that you can’t jump the gun. Lots of retailers drop bargains before the big day to try and catch a bigger share of the sales. Whilst building the anticipation, take advantage of the captive audience and sneak out one or two early deals – only available to your SMS subscribers of course. This is a great trick for boosting your subscribers. Once your customers start to talk about their early access to deals, you may see a surge in SMS sign-ups.
Track your Black Friday Campaign
SMS marketing campaigns are trackable so you will know if you are hitting the right note with your subscribers at every step of the way. At TextAnywhere, our platform can offer you tracking reports based on SMS interaction, promotional codes, click-through links, opt-in and opt-out rates.
What to do after Black Friday?
The big day finally arrived and your SMS marketing efforts paid off. To turn new and existing customers into loyal ones, be sure to implement the following strategies:
- Make sure your e-commerce can handle the additional traffic. There is nothing more frustrating or off-putting than being frozen out of your favourite website and missing out on a deal.
- Have your customer services team on standby. When you are fielding enquiries via SMS, automated SMS will handle your most frequently asked questions and then your customer service staff could take up the reins and complete the interaction. This mitigates any more specific issues.
- Set your platform to follow up with abandoned carts and browser reminders for customers who leave without purchasing.
A recap on our top tips for your Black Friday SMS campaign
- Use personalisation to appeal to your subscribers. Address them by name or mention the products you know they love.
- Segment your audience to ensure that you only send relevant communication via SMS. Bombarding them with text messages that don’t interest them may increase your opt-out level.
- Your call-to-action should be clear and visible. It’s a wasted effort if your customers can’t see how to access your deals quickly.
- Use a Virtual Number to ensure that your brand is instantly identifiable to the customer. This will add a level of trust to your SMS campaigns.
- Enlist a reputable SMS marketing company such as TextAnywhere to execute the perfect campaign.
Make Black Friday 2022 the year you reach more people than ever
Starting from just 3.5p per text for our bulk sms messaging service, creating an SMS marketing campaign could not be easier. TextAnywhere is experienced in delivering sms marketing messages and has experts on standby to guide you through. Here is a rundown of what you can expect when you choose us for your sms marketing needs.
- Studio two-way chat for conversational commerce.
- Advanced analytics on campaign performance using studio tracking open rates, conversions, and more.
- 99.9% uptime.
- Enterprise-level support for companies of all sizes via phone and email.
- Professional API to integrate with your software.
- Bulk segmented SMS campaigns that can be sent using our platform.