Shopping online is becoming increasingly common through the support of "e-tailers" like Amazon, but the convenience of this shopping website has its pitfalls. Unlike visiting a local shopping plaza or mall, consumers are not actively communicating with associates who may have better knowledge of the business' merchandise. Granted, these websites tend to provide product descriptions, but that may not be enough to convince a shopper to add it to their cart.
One way e-commerce businesses have enhanced the online shopping experience is through the use of SMS marketing. As long as the customer providers their phone number and consent to receive these messages, businesses can share promotions, personalized messages and customer service from this communication platform.
In the past, websites and e-tailers heavily relied on emails to spread the word, but now those messages have become so common that the effectiveness of this marketing strategy has decreased. Every day, inboxes are flooded with mail, so instead of opening these messages, they are more likely to enter the trash. Text messages however, have an over 94 percent open rate, and a majority of messages are read within three minutes of receiving them.
Econsultancy explained that while other industries have yet to get into the SMS service market, many e-commerce vendors have found great success doing so. They may be limited to sharing advertisements over the internet, but as more American and Canadian adults begin to own smartphones, sharing links to specials is a lot easier.
When short links are included in a text message, Econsultancy contributor Peter Tanham writes that this is "one of the most direct and engaging marketing channels available."
Customer engagement is a great way to build brand awareness, and text messaging is one of the most influential ways to do this. Swift SMS Gateway can help companies launch their own text message marketing initiatives.
