Companies are testing different ways of getting as much bang for their buck from their marketing campaigns as possible, trying out various marketing channels. One of the best ways of optimizing your marketing budget is by using text messaging.
You get in direct contact with the person you want, sending them a message at exactly the time you want with the content that you selected.
Some of the main benefits of text messaging are:
- they are instantly received,
- they are personal,
- they contact the person directly,
- you can set who receives them and when.
How are text messages used in marketing?
Text messages are used in the same way emails are. You can automatically send an abandoned cart text message after an abandoned cart has been made. The message can be sent with a time delay after the cart abandonment and can also include various types of upselling methods like discounts and coupon codes. Sending multiple text messages over a span of a few days optimizes the number of recovered carts, just like with emails.
Another way of using text messages in marketing is by sending after-purchase upsell products and offers – the same way that it is done with emails. The difference is that with text messages you contact the customer directly on their phone and you can be almost certain that they will open the message.
One of the most common marketing strategies is to offer newsletter subscriptions, where website visitors get shown an option to sign up for website notifications and special offers, just like with email newsletters.
Why should you add text messages to your marketing campaigns?
Text messages offer a distinct advantage over other forms of online marketing. Because we always have our phones near us, 90% of text messages get opened in under 3 minutes from the time of receiving them. Sending a text message at the right time, for the right reason, can be very effective.
Sending an abandoned cart text message with a discount a few minutes after a cart has been abandoned can be far more effective than any other form of remarketing. To read more about abandoned cart text messages and their statistics, check out our article Abandoned cart text message statistics – we share an in-depth look into the results and use of these types of text messages.
Imagine a visitor at your online shop who abandoned their cart at the checkout. One way of trying to get them back to your site to complete their order is via social media. You never know when they will be back on one of the social media platforms and if they will even see the ad. Another option is to send abandoned cart emails – but emails have an open rate of only 15-20%.
Sending abandoned cart text messages offers a simple solution. They can be sent at a specific time, X minutes after a cart has been abandoned, have an open rate of 98%, and click-through rates as high as 46%.
Text messages can include links with built-in discounts, meaning that the coupon code does not need to be additionally typed in by the customer. This is similar to emails and other links on various marketing channels. However, the main difference is that customers redeem coupon codes 10-times more often from text messages than from any other marketing channel.
One interesting fact is that customers like receiving text messages – more than 54% of customers would like to get notifications via text messages and 70% of them claim it is a great way to attract attention. Not only is sending text messages a great way of upselling and recovering abandoned carts but it is also a way of standing out from the crowd and getting your brand noticed and remembered.
Are text messages really that useful?
We have been testing different types of text messages with our clients here at CartBoss.io. So far we have been testing abandoned cart text messages – the first text message gets sent 15 minutes after the cart has been abandoned and the second after 3 hours with a 20% discount (if the first text message did not convert).
On average, the click-through rate for abandoned cart text messages is between 25% and 55% which is noticeably better than in the global statistics mentioned above. We do need to take into account that these are specific and targeted text messages.
The first message does have a higher CTR than the second one but only for around 5%.
But what about ROI with text messages for online shops?
When using the CartBoss.io service, ROI (Return Of Investment) from text messages has been between 1400% and 4500% for the clients we tested it with. Although it depends on different factors, getting a return on the costs of sending text messages is a guarantee. Because the CartBoss.io service is so fast and easy to embed into any website/webshop you can see the results the same day.
Want to read more about text messages and various interesting statistical facts? Then we recommend this article: Interesting text message statistics for Ecommerce, where we go in-depth about what industries use text messages and profit the most from them!
