As the UK continues along its ‘roadmap to freedom’, initial signs are positive. Retail sales and online job advertisements have returned to almost pre-pandemic levels, following an ‘online boom’ in sales and growing business confidence.
While many companies are busy welcoming customers back to their premises, it’s important businesses are honest about the difficulties ahead. 72% of consumers have changed stores, brands or the way that they shop since the onset of the pandemic, so for businesses hoping to successfully navigate recovery, it would be naive to think marketing strategies could simply be relaunched.
Consumer behaviour will continue to evolve, consequently, so must the marketing strategies businesses employ to support their recovery.
Why are drive-to-web strategies so important in the current climate?
Unsurprisingly consumers are spending more time online and according to data from Hootsuite, internet users in the UK are spending an additional day online per month. The average time spent online each day now totals 6 hours 26 minutes, compared to 5 hours 28 minutes in 2020.
Additionally, a recent report conducted by Adeo revealed that when shopping online, UK shoppers spend up to 5 times more than when shopping in-store. So, for marketers and business professionals, ensuring marketing strategies can support a smooth omnichannel customer experience is key. With this in mind, we’ve been exploring how simple SMS communications and campaigns can be used to support drive-to-web strategies in 2021.
Boost mobile traffic
When considering ways to boost online traffic, it’s crucial that brands think mobile first. After all, mobile accounts for 55% of all online traffic. Thankfully, even relatively straightforward campaigns using bulk SMS can prove effective. Following the implementation of SMS campaigns, some of our customers have experienced a 60-70% increase in website traffic and 100% increase in overall sales.
Support seamless customer experience
As technology advances and customer journeys continue to diversify, it becomes increasingly difficult for brands to create a seamless omnichannel experience. But with 89% of businesses competing mainly on customer experience, if done well, it can prove invaluable.
So, it’s important to consider ways you can leverage digital communications to support the customer journey and encourage that all important online conversion. For example, as 70% of consumers think SMS is a great way for businesses to get their attention, sending a follow-up text message to customers who might have left an item in their shopping cart at checkout could be worthwhile.
Many businesses are already successfully using SMS campaigns to build their mobile opt-in databases while also driving traffic online. For more details on how this might work for your brand, simply contact us at [email protected] or call 0845 122 1302.