Over two years ago, Bethany and her partner Noah started ecommerce business Thank Tommi out of their bedroom. Both growing up as acne sufferers, they sought a perfect solution and settled on a green clay mask. This singular green mask, which is cruelty-free and has vegan ingredients, has helped them become a cult skincare brand.

COVID came along, and everyone was online shopping. The self-care space became really big — looking after yourself at home — so we saw a lot of success based off the back of that, and then we sustained that growth.

Bethany, Co-founder, Thank Tommi

Sales have ramped up through COVID, with one mask selling every four minutes and revenue jumping 733%.

Strengthening your marketing in beauty products with diversification

With a strong community of advocates on Instagram and Facebook, Thank Tommi wasn’t necessarily looking to acquire new customers but strengthen re-engagement with existing ones. Having received various offers through SMS marketing on her phone, Bethany began to investigate adding text messaging to their marketing efforts.

Thank Tommi’s email marketing was driving moderate results for the business with 25% open rates and 0.4% fulfilled orders from a single campaign. The shop also used abandoned carts emails to recoup lost sales, with click-through rates of 8% and fulfilled orders averaging 4% recovery.

As their growth has taken off, Thank Tommi looked to diversify their offering and explore new ways to reach customers through the Shopify platform.

Why text messaging can improve your skincare marketing strategy

For any ecommerce seller, making sure your marketing offers are easy to redeem and fast to deliver is essential for success these days.

Text messaging can easily uplift click-throughs and orders given the growing demand for one-click experiences direct from our phones. With email becoming more cluttered and easy to ignore, text messaging is a way to cut through when sale results are sluggish.

Additionally, text messaging reaches customers faster and prompts them to act. While a customer might open an email later, most text messages are opened within 90 seconds of receipt. This can ensure customers act with their abandoned order still top of mind instead of days later when they’ve lost interest.

How SMS delivered for their beauty marketing campaigns

SMS is pretty easy, especially automated text messages. It’s just set and forget and you optimise as you go.

Bethany, Co-founder, Thank Tommi

Abandoned cart

Example text message — SMS abandoned cart copy

Hey {first name}!
Enjoy 10% off your first order with code ‘WELCOME10’
Expires at midnight.
Your cart: {cart url}

Txt STOP to opt-out

Bethany automated text message reminders to go out one hour after a customer abandoned their Thank Tommi order. According to our Shopify abandoned cart text messaging research, this is the optimal time to send to recoup most sales. The reminder also contained a 10% discount to encourage customers to act quickly before their personalised discount expired.

Using abandoned cart text reminders instead of email uplifted completed orders by 150% for Thank Tommi.

Marketing campaigns

Example text message

Hey! Get your skin ready for winter!
15% OFF STOREWIDE, Ends tonight
Code: WINTER15
Shop: www.tommiskin.co

Txt STOP to opt-out

 

For their first text message marketing campaign, the Thank Tommi team decided to do an end-of-month sale with 15% off. One simple SMS marketing campaign delivered to 10,000 customers earned 2.5x more completed orders than email, 300% ROI, and AUD $4K in sales.

Future use: SMS in direct marketing skincare

Bethany is considering using SMS for back-in-stock notifications and win-backs on Thank Tommi’s Shopify store. Both features currently available in MessageMedia: SMS Marketing for Shopify.

Make sure also to check out:

• Want to know everything about SMS Marketing in Shopify?
• CASE STUDY: Combine two-way text and abandoned cart SMS reminders to drive 40% more orders in Shopify
• Why MessageMedia: SMS Marketing will supercharge your marketing