302. How to Leverage SMS to Amplify Your Q4 Sales

While strong holiday email marketing is one of the most important facets of your Q4 strategy, we can’t ignore email’s cooler cousin… SMS.

While it’s still technically in its infancy compared to other marketing strategies, over the last few years SMS marketing has become much more widely accepted by consumers and not just the younger generation.

If you want to amplify your eCommerce sales this holiday season – keep reading.

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Why SMS Matters for eCommerce Sales

While I will never stop advocating for email, it’s hard to ignore the impact of SMS. Studies show that 98% of SMS messages are opening and 90% of those are read within the first 3 minutes. 

While those numbers are insanely high, it’s really not surprising considering most of us will have some sort of persistent notification on our phone until we read that message. So, it’s pretty safe to say that open rates of SMS messages aren’t telling the full story. 

That said…

They also boast a 29% click-through rate. When you’ve got someone who engaged with what you have to say, it means you have a better chance of them taking action – especially when you’re talking about time-sensitive offers that have a defined expiration date. 

SMS can be a great way to break through the noise of Black Friday weekend and make sure your best customers don’t miss out on your promo offers. 

How to Stay Compliant with SMS Marketing

The downside of SMS is that it’s much more intrusive than email, and with that comes stricter rules and regulations that you have to follow. 

For example, SMS does not have implied consent like email does in the US, which means your customers need to explicitly opt-in to receive text messages from you. You’re also required to recognize quiet hours. Quiet hours typically fall between 9 PM and 8 AM in the customer’s local time zone. That means you can’t send SMS messages during this time without risking potential fines. 

How Often to Send SMS Messages During a Sale

Aside from avoiding potential legal issues, you want to make sure you’re also being considerate of your customers. While I will often recommend sending 2 emails per day during your big holiday promotions, I wouldn’t make that same recommendation for SMS. 

While emails are easily swallowed into the black hole of someone’s inbox, those text messages will create notifications and live in the same thread on someone’s phone. It’s gonna be really obvious and obnoxious if you blow their phone up multiple times per day. 

When it comes to your SMS frequency for your Black Friday weekend promotion, I recommend a launch, reminder, and last-chance text message – with all your other messages being limited to email. 

If you’re using SMS as your early access list, then you can get away with a couple of additional pre-launch messages to remind them that their early access is coming soon and get them excited but try not to go overboard. 

Using SMS in Automated eCommerce Emails

While your campaign messages are likely to have a big impact on your holiday sales success, using SMS in your automations is also a must-do. 

You have to be strategic about how you implement these for time-sensitive flows such as browse and checkout abandonment though. 

If you have customers who tend to shop in the evening and let’s say they abandoned their cart at 7:30 PM. By the time the abandoned checkout notification is scheduled to go out an hour later, now it’s 8:30 PM and during SMS quiet hours. 

I’m not 100% sure how every platform handles this, but Klaviyo will pause that subscriber in the flow until quiet hours are over and then send the SMS message as soon as it’s allowed, likely 8 AM the next morning. 

To make sure subscribers are always getting timely abandoned checkout reminders, I tend to use it as a backup to email. 

For example, I’ll send the traditional abandoned checkout email as usual. Then I’ll set a time delay of 30-ish minutes, and check to see if they’ve engaged with that email. If they haven’t, then I’ll send the follow-up SMS message. 

Sure, that SMS message might still fall into quiet hours, but at least I know the email was prioritized and sent anyway, giving me an additional chance to capture the sale.   

How to Grow Your eCommerce SMS Marketing List

This is also why I generally will focus on growing both your email and SMS list at the same time. 

The easiest way to do this is through a 2-step form. Have them fill out their email first and then you can ask for their phone number on a separate page. 

This way, you can prioritize each channel when it makes sense to do so. 

If you haven’t started growing your SMS list yet, you’ve still got plenty of time between now and peak holiday shopping. I recommend just passively adding it to your existing forms and see how many people show an interest. 

If you want to speed up the growth of your SMS list, you could always offer an extra incentive for being on the SMS list as part of your holiday pre-launch campaign. 

Some brands only offer early access through SMS, but I wouldn’t do that until you’ve grown your list and proven your customers are interested. Not all customers like SMS. 

Whatever you do to grow your SMS list, don’t forget to invite your existing email subscribers to join too. In addition to inviting your existing subscribers to join your SMS list through an email, I would create a sign-up form that is targeted specifically to them. Because they’re already on your list they won’t see your regular form, so you’ll need to create a separate form that targets email subscribers that are not also SMS subscribers. 

How to Segment Your SMS Subscribers

If you’ve already been growing your SMS subscriber list, consider taking your strategy a step further with some smart segmentation. This will allow you to create more relevant, personalized messages. 

Unengaged Subscribers

For example, you can target Inactive Customers or holiday-only shoppers with their own version of early access to your holiday sale. That could look like extra-early access or an all-around better discount if your margin can afford it. 

It doesn’t necessarily have to be an offer though. It could just be a gentle reminder that you have something special coming up and they might want to start paying attention to you again. You can ask them to join the early access list through this re-engagement SMS so they make that micro-conversion and raise their hand to say yes, I want to hear more about this. 

First-Time Buyers

You can also use SMS to target customers who have only ever purchased from you one time. To turn them into a repeat customer you can send them a unique limited-time offer ahead of your Black Friday deals. This will work similarly to re-engage them with your brand so they’re primed and ready to go during peak shopping season.

Tips & Tricks for Writing SMS Messages that Convert

However you decide to implement SMS into your marketing strategy, here are a few tips and tricks for writing great text marketing messages. 

Keep it short & sweet

Attention spans are short, especially for subscribers who prefer SMS. You’ve also got a limitation on the number of characters that will fit in one message. 

If your messages are too long, that might force your message to come through in multiple messages and that can be super frustrating as a customer. You’ll want the message to be max 160 characters. 

Keep in mind that links, even though they can be shortened by your SMS provider will use some of that up, and most emojis count for multiple characters. 

Your SMS marketing platform should count the characters for you and let you know when you’ve spilled over into multiple messages. 

Ultimately, SMS is a notification channel – not a details channel, so don’t try and stuff every last detail about the deal or product in your SMS message. Let your website fill in the blanks for you.

Be Intentional About the First Few Words

The first few words in your message are going to act similarly to a subject line, potentially showing as part of the preview in their notifications. Make sure that you’re catching attention by calling out their name or using power words. 

Use Line Breaks When Necessary

Depending on how much you have to say, don’t forget to add spacing to make it easier for your subscribers to read the message. A block of text is tough on the eyes, especially in a tiny text bubble on a mobile phone. 

Use Visuals – Intentionally

Adding static images and gifs is a great way to make your message stand out – but keep in mind that will add to the total cost of sending those messages. Stick to one image that’s square or portrait-oriented so they take up more visual space to grab attention. 

Double-check with your SMS marketing platform on the maximum size an image can be, it usually ranges between 500 and 600 KB.

Use Timely Language & Dates

Remember, people are likely going to be on the go when they get your messages so make sure any deadlines are clearly communicated so they know it’s time to take action. 

Include a Call to Action

Like every piece of marketing material, don’t forget to include a call to action. Tell your customers what you want them to do and provide a link to the product or collection you want them to see.

Don’t Overthink It

You don’t have to be a clever wordsmith to write a great SMS marketing message. The main goal of the SMS message is to get the customer to take action. Typically, the simpler the message – the one that makes you think… “this can’t quite be good enough” – it’s probably good enough. 

Your Next Steps

So, what are your next steps? First, if you’re not already collecting phone numbers, start doing that ASAP. If you can work it into your BFCM pre-launch, awesome. If that feels too heavy. Don’t worry about it. Just get it on your existing signup forms and see how it goes organically first. 

Then, work it into your Black Friday weekend promotion. Keep it simple with a launch message, a reminder over the weekend, and a last chance a few hours before the sale ends. Send the last chance early enough so it isn’t scheduled during quiet hours. 

Once you’ve got that nailed down, if you can update your automations abandonment flows to include an SMS backup, do it. Every extra click helps. 

This shouldn’t take you more than a couple of hours to get everything set up. Keep it super simple for now and you can revisit your overall SMS strategy in the new year. 

Listen to the Episode

Resources & Episodes Mentioned

• 301. How to Make Your Q4 Emails Stand Out in the Inbox
• 298. How to Use Scarcity & Urgency in Your Holiday Marketing
• Database of All Podcast Episodes

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