These days, modern marketing involves looking into a range of communication channels, such as social media, search ads, email, websites, and more. However, many brands and businesses miss out on one of the most important channels they can consider for growth—SMS marketing.
Think about it. Communicating through text messages is far easier, feels more personalized, and is more accessible to mobile consumers—both smartphone and non-smartphone users—since it’s a passively active channel. In comparison with social media ads, search ads, email, and website, your audience would need to be actively using these channels to get your message.
Mobile marketing is an excellent way to break through the noise and draws in your target audience’s attention quickly. Thought email brought it good ROI? Think again. Statistics show that SMS marketing campaigns perform up to 7x better than email marketing campaigns.
Still on the fence about it? Don’t fret.
We’ve gathered a few SMS marketing success stories that will inspire you to reconsider the benefits this channel can bring for your business.
The Proof is in the Pudding with SMS Marketing
Seattle Sun Tan
Seattle Sun Tan used SMS marketing to notify customers of offers and discounts. The amazing thing about their success is the fact that they didn’t have a database of customers’ mobile numbers before trying out a text marketing service. This means they built their database from scratch.
The team promoted their text campaign in-store, to their pre-existing email database, on their website, and other channels. Not long after, they were able to grow their SMS subscribers to exactly 4,774 in 30 days. Their initial SMS campaign offered new text subscribers $20 off their next purchase, and it saw a redemption rate of 57% and generated about $196,100 in sales. What’s more impressive is customers who claimed the SMS offer also spent $500 more than those who didn’t receive the text offers.
Offers, discounts, coupons, and other gift campaigns that attract impressive redemption rates are some of the best uses of text marketing. Thanks to the direct and immediate nature of text messaging, these time-sensitive messages are almost guaranteed to reach your customers and get read right away. By leveraging the power of SMS to offer irresistible deals and promotions, you can build stronger relationships with your customers, boost your sales, and grow your business.
Eu Natural
Eu Natural, a herbal supplement brand, used text messaging to draw in additional sales, retain customers after their initial purchase, and offer exclusive promos. Their initial campaign involved encouraging customers to text in an exclusive customer keyword to redeem a free bottle with their purchase. This free bottle promotion that ran for months permanently increased their customer base, as a large portion of them came back for more.
They also used SMS marketing for time-sensitive alerts, such as their Black Friday campaign, which registered a 563% ROI. SMS marketing has also helped Eu Natural to create their exclusive inner circle community, where VIP and loyal customers get to access special messages, be the first to find out about new products, and get exclusive discounts and freebies.
With text marketing, you can be sure that your customers will receive and read your messages right away, making it ideal for time-sensitive announcements like product launches, limited-time promos, sales offers, and coupons. By leveraging the power of text marketing, you can get your message out quickly and effectively, driving engagement and conversions with ease.
4theCultr
4theCultr is a relatively new superstore that helps bridge the gap between consumers and black-owned businesses. They used text marketing to connect with customers and provide the best experience possible, as it’s one of the brand’s primary missions.
They aim to make a positive impression from the first point of contact, which is when someone opt-ins to their SMS marketing. One of the ways to generate subscribers is through checkout, and it proves effective since 86% of their customers that have subscribed to their text marketing did so at checkout.
They also started to send abandoned cart notifications within 30 minutes of leaving their cart along with an acknowledgement of their current situation (i.e., difficult times brought by the pandemic). This first automation step pulled in an 18% CTR with a conversion rate of 100%. With the psychological touch-point and abandonment reminders through SMS, customers ended up pushing through with their order.
SMS marketing helps you realize the importance of communication from the moment they opt-in to post-purchase care. Being understanding of their situation and keeping them in the loop at every stage of their customer journey builds trust and loyalty that lasts for years to come, which can be better achieved with a personal channel like SMS at your disposal.
Dreamland Baby
Dreamland Baby was founded by a mother of four, who aimed to help other parents (and babies) out there get a more restful sleep with a weighted blanket. They used social media to drive traffic, but not a lot of visitors made it to checkout, so they enlisted the help of text marketing to encourage customers to check out their cart.
When Dreamland Baby started using text marketing and sent out its first SMS marketing campaign, their ROI was an astonishing 2000%, with their first month’s sales climbing up to 300%. Tara Williams, their founder, said the boost in numbers was possible due to customers being exposed to promotions from different channels, with text messaging as the final call-to-action personal approach that helps seal the deal.
Since 94% of Dreamland Baby’s audience were on mobile, SMS marketing made it easier and convenient to reach them instantly compared to email campaigns. With text messaging, customers get to see a personalized message along with a discount code immediately.
With the power of targeted, personalized SMS campaigns, you can re-engage even the most disengaged customers and bring them back into the fold. Whether it’s reminding them about an exclusive offer they might have missed or simply offering a friendly nudge to visit your website again, SMS campaigns are a powerful tool for rekindling customer relationships and driving long-term engagement.
Yesterday’s Books
Yesterday’s Books is the largest independent bookshop in California and has been around for decades. Instead of setting up an e-commerce store, they opted to have their landline number text-enabled to manage customer orders.
The bookstore started using SMS marketing to continue its operations during the pandemic in 2020. Initially, the store owner set up an online form where customers could place their book request. However, problems like customers missing the response and lags between the follow-up and customer’s response with the approach kept happening. Since their customers had known their landline for 40 years, they had it text-enabled.
This allowed the owner to follow up with book requests by SMS. The primary upside to shifting to text was the speed of response. Around 90% of their customers appreciated their text messaging. The convenience and speed of text make it easy to manage orders and minimize the unnecessary back-and-forth with customers.
The fast and direct nature of text messaging makes it a fantastic channel for delivering excellent customer service. You can even use SMS bots to address basic questions while directing complex and sensitive inquiries to your trained support team.
Ready to Reconsider SMS Marketing?
SMS marketing success stories, especially during recent times, prove that this channel is here to stay and it remains just as effective and efficient for boosting sales, improving the customer experience, and driving growth in support with other marketing channels. This indispensable medium’s targeted communication lets you have a 1-on-1 conversation with your customers like no other.
If you’re considering incorporating SMS into your marketing strategy, Semaphore can help you extend your reach without the complicated setup.
Ready to discover your success story with SMS marketing? Contact the SMS experts at Semaphore.
