As an increasing number of people rely on mobile devices as their primary way to access the Internet, online sales are rising. Retailers can take advantage of this by using SMS marketing to help drive even more traffic to their online sales portals. Here are three steps to do so:
1. Make Your Website Mobile Friendly
Before you even start your text message marketing campaign, it's imperative to ensure that your website looks and performs well on mobile devices. Many newer websites are designed to look and function the same no matter what device a customer uses. They'll look a certain way on desktops and laptops and then scale down automatically when accessed through mobile browsers.
Regardless of aesthetics, there's two main factors to focus on: load times and the shopping cart. As a rule of thumb, a website should take no longer than 3 seconds to load on a mobile device over Wi-Fi or LTE. Also, if there are technical glitches with shopping carts, the Huffington Post reports that a third of customers will just walk away from the purchase.
With a text message marketing campaign geared around online sales, impulse purchases will likely make or break it's success. A strong website needs to feel effortless to use in order to capitalize on these types of purchases.
2. Promote the Campaign
Your website is a great tool to use in promoting your campaign as well, but it shouldn't be the only way you reach customers. If the goal of the SMS marketing push is to drive people to the website, only promoting your campaign on the website will not attract any new customers. Use a keyword and short code for the campaign and advertise it on social media, in-store and other channels.
3. Design Text Messages to Attract Impulse Shoppers
One of the most powerful features of SMS is its immediacy. That, combined with near perfect open rates, can provide you with an online sales bump in minutes if done correctly. To spur impulse buyers to action, use strong calls to action to create urgency. Include a direct link to your website, highlighting the products or services you're promoting in the message. This will quickly guide the customers through the sales process and help you drive online sales.
For companies looking to implement a comprehensive SMS marketing strategy, a robust SMS gateway will provide you with the tools you need.
