Planning your holiday promotional campaigns and want to make sure you get the best results? The solution is simple: send SMS messages that complement your e-commerce newsletter, social media campaigns or Google advertising. SMS marketing , even though it’s based on old technology, is more relevant than ever and a powerful platform helps you run campaigns quickly and efficiently.
In this article, we explain why it is a good idea to integrate SMS campaigns into your promotional mix and we also give you some ideas on how to do it successfully this winter.
Why send promotional SMS messages?
According to Statista, mobile phones have become united kingdom telegram indispensable for daily communication for more than half of the world's population. Although many other smart applications have emerged to facilitate communication, text messaging remains one of the most effective and widely used methods of promotion.
Here's what a new market study reveals:
9 out of 10 consumers prefer to receive text messages with offers and other information from businesses over other means of communication, instead of phone calls.
SMS is the preferred channel for receiving information about loyalty programs.
Most SMS campaigns are read within the first 90 seconds after being sent.
The open rate for SMS marketing is on average over 80% and the click-through rate is over 35% .
The conversion rate of SMS campaigns is also high, ranging from 17% (SEJ) to 45% (Salesforce). Different retailers mention 25% (Whisker Seeker) or even 200% (Toroe Eyewear).
As you can see, if you only send SMS messages to customers to provide them with payment or delivery information, you are missing the opportunity to increase the effectiveness of your communication campaigns and even sell more.
In the following section, we give you some ideas for SMS campaigns that can help increase conversions.
Holiday SMS Campaign Ideas
Winter holidays are a great time to text customers because they are already ready to buy gifts for their loved ones, but also for themselves.
Below are some of the most popular types of messages you can send:
Discount or exclusive offer. Show your subscribers that they benefit from the fact that they have given their consent to receive SMS from you, through a campaign dedicated exclusively to them.
send-sms-for-christmas
Are you stuck for Christmas gift ideas? We invite you to our shop and you will benefit from an exclusive 20% discount by clicking on this link until December 21st.
Promoting website content , whether it’s an article with seasonal ideas, an ebook with recipes for Christmas dinner, or a tutorial for ingenious lighting. Even if you’re not selling directly, quality content builds brand trust and increases the appetite for purchase.
Announce a contest with prizes. The SMS can include a link to a landing page where subscribers can enter a Christmas or New Year’s raffle. Offer a great prize, but also several smaller rewards (such as seasonal gifts from the store or 5% off coupons) to give more people the chance to take advantage.
sms-marketing-raffle
Enter the year 2023 with the right pair of shoes. Choose your favorite products until 30.12 and participate in the draw. The prize: a free shopping basket. Details and rules here: link
Reminder of an active in-store campaign. After an e-commerce newsletter with detailed information, send a short SMS to remind subscribers about the campaign. The timing of the send depends on how you designed the campaign, but make sure to deliver it strategically, such as a few hours before closing or when inventory becomes limited.
Abandoned cart SMS for people who added products to their cart but did not complete their order. It can be sent alone or some time after sending an abandoned cart email. Practice shows that both are very effective in completing transactions, and even more so when you keep them together.
abandoned-cart-sms-campaign
Message for “happy birthday” which can also contain a gift certificate.
SMS requesting feedback or order evaluation , a few days after its completion. Customer feedback not only helps you improve your products and services, but is also important for potential customers who visit your website.
As we've already mentioned, SMS campaigns are a great way to increase the effectiveness of other communication strategies, such as email marketing.
Possibilities to send SMS campaigns
Whether it's a text message with holiday greetings or you want to create a special campaign like the one pictured above, here are some highlights to celebrate in the coming weeks:
Christmas Eve – December 24
Christmas celebrations – December 25 and 26
Saint Stephan – December 27
New Year's Eve – January 1st and 2nd
Saint Basil – January 1st
Saint John – January 7th
Of course, you can send SMS messages on any day, depending on your store’s promotional campaign. Regardless of the timing, keep in mind the best practices below.
Best Practices for SMS Marketing
Here are some ways to ensure you're sending an effective SMS campaign:
Write short, compelling copy and add a link to your campaign's landing page or important page.
Focus on important and concrete information, such as the discount code, the expiration date of the offer or the limited stock of the promoted product.
Include a clear call to action in all messages: what you want the subscriber to do and… what are the next steps?
Try to put the information in one message. In this case, the length of the SMS should not exceed 153 characters, but you should also take into account links and other elements that can effectively reduce the text space.
Create a sense of urgency so the subscriber takes action immediately.
Include holiday-themed emoji or other engaging images. Send graphical text messages for added impact.
Provide a way to unsubscribe, so that anyone can choose to stop receiving messages at any time.
Choose strategically when you send SMS messages. Use them wisely to drive people to your site and convince them to buy, but be careful not to send messages too often, as you may have the opposite effect. Also consider holidays, when customers may want to get away from technology.
How to Create an SMS Marketing Campaign
Creating an SMS marketing campaign does not require advanced knowledge in the field, if you choose the appropriate technology.
With the NewsMAN email marketing platform, you get the same features as for email campaigns, but for SMS (import, list segmentation, message automation and reporting), and creating a campaign is quick and intuitive, as illustrated below:
create-mass-marketing-SMS-campaign
Similarly, for graphic SMS, you have at your disposal an interface where you can add elements by drag and drop, then customize them quickly.
create-sms-marketing-campaign
NewsMAN offers its customers ultra-fast SMS sending speed (over 7000 SMS per minute), so that all recipients receive messages within two minutes maximum, in any major network in the EU or worldwide.
Messages are sent from short codes, but you can also choose to customize the sender name to increase brand affinity.
Are you curious to discover more features and try creating your own campaign? Try NewsMAN for free and enjoy successful campaigns for the holidays, but also in 2023.
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