6 tips to get the most from your retail SMS solution

Tips, tricks & hacks 3 min read

By
Mar 2021

As a retailer, it’s increasingly challenging to maintain an edge. Find out how to maximise your business messaging with our tips for the best value and impact.

From years of experience at MessageMedia, we have come to understand the communication challenges for retailers: incredibly large customer databases, a myriad of sales and promotions to talk about, opt-out management, and support requests. That’s before you even consider your internal communications with an ever-evolving casual staff roster and the management of multiple wholesalers.

As we understand your pain points we have put together some tips to help you ensure that, as a retailer, you get the most out of your business messaging.

SMS retail solution use cases

However, before we dive in – have you considered all the different ways you can use SMS for retail?

• Sales – Promote exclusive offers to drive traffic
• Stock alerts – Don’t keep those wanting, waiting!
• Event notifications – Invite and update customers
• Customer support – Be there when it counts
• Logistics – Send updates on returns and refunds
• Surveys – Improve services with customer feedback
• Competitions – Engage new prospects to grow your base
• Abandoned cart reminders – Encourage those close to closing
• Deliveries – Use purchase and delivery notifications
• Confirmations – Acknowledge customer purchases

With a 98 percent open rate, SMS is an effective and versatile direct marketing channel to drive in-store foot traffic and online sales. If you are thinking that any of the above SMS use cases could help you in your retail business, then read on for our tips and you will be an SMS marketing pro in no time.

6 SMS solutions for retail tips

Here’s how to make the most of your SMS retail messaging:

1. Create relevant and effective offers

Are you segmenting your database to make sure only relevant offers are going to your customers? Did you know you can execute your market research to create relevant offers using SMS?

2. Timing is key

 Factor in time zones, optimise for the best performing part of the day, and make sure your provider can deliver large bulk SMS sends without delay.

3. Less is more

Keep messages to 160 characters so you don’t incur bill shock. Alternatively, work with a provider with the tools to manage this for you.

4. Abide by the law

Marketing messages must include an opt-out so work with an SMS specialist who ticks all the boxes when it comes to legal requirements, and can guide through marketing the right way from day one.

5. Measure everything

Include links, coupons and codes in your text messages so that you can track and measure your return on investment. A/B test everything, such as differing content and times of the day so that you can track and improve your engagement over time.

6. Get personal

Always include your recipient’s name and your business name, or use an alpha tag so it’s your business name in the sender field rather than a random mobile number. That way recipients know it’s you before they even open your message. This is great for brand awareness and will assist you in building trust with your customers.

Final thoughts, future reading

As a retailer you can leverage SMS to nurture and grow your customer base. If you need a helping hand along the way, MessageMedia is here 24/7. Talk to us now!

Make sure to also check out:

• How to choose a retail partner for your SMS solution
• 10 ways SMS can accelerate your retail and ecommerce business ebook
• How to start sending SMS in 30 minutes webinar for retailers

• Retail
• SMS