Introduction
Are you a retail business owner looking forward to some insights into marketing your store? Well, maintaining brand loyalty and rising up to the customers’ expectations amid the current digital disruption can prove to be challenging for you as a business owner. It can be tough to engage customers and boost sales in a world where competition is high. It is important for you to stand apart from your competitors and establish your retail store as one of a kind. If you want to reach out to your customers in the most effective way possible, then SMS is what you need. Did you know that 91% of business owners have witnessed higher conversion rates upon implementing SMS into their marketing strategy?
That’s the power of SMS. You need to put on your marketing hat and utilize SMS to meaningfully communicate and engage with your customers. Retail SMS marketing will help you build your customer base and accomplish your revenue targets. If you’re a beginner and don’t know where to start, keep reading this blog for some interesting insights. We assure you that by the end of this read, you will have made up your mind with regards to what you need to do to scale your business. Keep reading!
What Is Retail SMS Marketing?
Retail text message marketing is a digital form of marketing that allows you to drive foot traffic and improve customer loyalty through SMS. From customer acquisition to retention and reactivation; SMS for retail can help you a great deal. Retail SMS marketing is highly cost-effective, doesn’t take too much time, and is a great way to reach out and connect with your customers.
Gone are the days when you’d distribute flyers in your neighborhood or print ads in newspapers to get the attention of potential customers. SMS has proven to be quite an effective, accessible, and quick medium to get your message across to the right set of audience.
Why Should You Care About SMS Marketing For Your Retail Business?
SMS for retail is the best course forward if you wish to reach out to your customers in an accessible yet non-intrusive manner. Here are some benefits of text marketing for retail stores:
Attract customer attention
Retail SMS marketing helps you communicate with your customers on channels that they prefer. SMS is a great channel for you to implement your marketing efforts as SMS has an open rate of 98% and a response rate of 45%. Connecting with leads through SMS will simplify instant communication, which will further trigger immediate action and increase foot traffic at your retail store.
Increase operational efficiency
Retail SMS marketing is way more effective and easy than any marketing done through phone calls and emails. While calling will take up a huge chunk of your time, emails will not give you the desired responses. SMS helps you launch marketing campaigns with utter ease, which will save you and your team a lot of effort. With this channel of communication, you will be able to streamline operations for your retail store.
Improve customer outcomes
If you wish to scale faster and improve customer experience at your retail store, you need to adapt to the changing landscape of how businesses communicate with their customers. With SMS for retail, you will be able to understand what your customers want, connect with them at each stage of the customer journey, and build customer loyalty. Once you tap into this channel encompassing ample opportunities for you to engage with your customers, you will build customer loyalty and hence improve customer outcomes.
Engage with potential leads
Whether you run a clothing store, a gift shop, a boutique, or any other retail outlet; SMS for retail will help you communicate with your potential customers in a personalized and time-sensitive manner; which will garner responses.
Reduce cost and time
Why spend thousands of dollars on Facebook Ads or Google Ads or flyers when you can utilize SMS to market your retail business? For example, if you want to market your business to 1000 customers through SMS and want to share details about an upcoming sale at your store, then you can simply send a bulk text message that will reach your customers in a matter of seconds! Also, you’ll be charged per SMS which will be quite nominal. There you go! You’ve saved hours worth of time and a significant amount of money, both of which you can direct towards other important things.
Use Cases Of Text Marketing For Retail Stores
Provide customer service
Retailers can use SMS to address customer queries and offer instant support. When you offer immediate and personalized customer service through texting, you’ll see a considerable improvement in customer satisfaction and experience, further boosting your revenue.
Send transactional messages
Whether you wish to send order updates, organize a pickup, share product restock alerts, or any other transactional message; you can easily rely on retail SMS marketing. You can even automate these kinds of text messages and even schedule them for later.
Send promotional offers
Want to launch a sale, a special discount offer valid for a day, launch a new product, or any other promotional messages, SMS for retail is exactly what you need. Just get your list of contacts that you wish to communicate the promotional offers to, and add an SMS keyword. When a customer texts that keyword to you, they will have subscribed to receiving communications from you and you’ll be able to send all great deals along their way.
Gather feedback
Retail SMS is a great way to gather customer feedback promptly. Whenever a customer makes a purchase, just drop them a text message that asks them to leave a review about your store and their overall experience. You can easily automate these messages if you sign up with an SMS marketing platform and integrate it with your existing tools.
Acquire new customers
If you want to build your customer base quickly for your retail store, then you need more and more people to sign up to receive communications from your business. Retail SMS marketing will help you get those sign-ups and expand your business.
Retain existing customers
With Retail SMS marketing, you can run loyalty programs, share personalized content, and run campaigns to re-engage people. Doing so will encourage repeat purchases and will further boost sales.
Templates for Retail SMS Marketing
Looking forward to getting started with some templates for retail text message marketing? Check these out!
Sale launch
Hey {{First name}}, Flash Sale Alert! We are offering flat 20% off on our entire winter collection. Visit our store and grab your favourites. The sale ends on Friday! Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Promote events
Are you ready for a happening night this Christmas Eve? Come out to shop for the best deals and party to the latest hits. RSVP to us by responding YES, and we’ll be waiting for you! Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
New product
Hey {{First name}}, we are thrilled to announce our latest collection of fragrances just for you! Visit our store and get a special discount by sending FRAGRANCE to this number. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Order pickup
Hey {{First name}}, your order {{Order number}} is ready for pickup! Please stop by our store and bring your order receipt.
Customer service
Hey {{First name}}, thanks for reaching out! Please share your query in detail and we’ll help you out.
Loyalty program
Dear member, it is a delight to have you as our valued customer. As a token of thanks, we would like to give you early access to our Black Friday Sale. Type SALE to this number to avail the access. Thank you! Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Product updates
Dear {{First name}}, this is to inform you that your wristwatch has been repaired and is ready for pickup between tomorrow 9 am – 6 pm. Thank you for choosing {{business name}}!
Restock alerts
Dear {{First name}}, we are thrilled to announce that your favourite bomber jackets are back in stock! Visit our store and grab them before they’re gone! Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Coupons
Hey {{First name}}, summer is here and we can’t keep calm coz it’s a B1G1 sale! Send B1G1 to this number and get your coupon! Limited time offer! Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Seasonal offers
Hey {{First name}}, enjoy a flat 20% off on our entire collection throughout your birthday month! Type BIRTHDAY to this number and get your discount coupon. Reply STOP to unsubscribe.
Best Practices For Retail SMS Marketing
Top 5 Retail SMS Marketing Platforms To Kickstart Your Marketing Campaigns
Are you ready to make the most of retail SMS marketing in order to boost sales and stand apart from the competition? Well, you need a retail marketing platform that will help streamline workflows and ensure seamless customer communication and engagement. Here are the top 5 retail SMS marketing platforms that you must compare:
- Emitrr
- Textline
- SimpleTexting
- EZ Texting
- Textedly
Let’s dive deeper into the capabilities of these platforms for retail SMS marketing:
Emitrr
Emitrr is the best retail SMS marketing platform for your retail business, as it allows you to easily communicate with your customers and launch marketing campaigns. The software is easy to use, has no binding contracts, and no hidden charges. Whether you need to launch campaigns or track their performance, Emitrr’s capabilities will help you achieve your marketing goals.
Features of Emitrr
- Send thousands of text messages at once
- Import contacts in a single click
- Create segmented lists for muti-touch text messaging campaigns
- Sync data automatically from your existing tools
- Send personalized messages to customers at scale
- Follow up with customers through drip campaigns
- Track the performance of your retail marketing campaigns
- Track metrics like delivery rate and response rate
- Send automated text messages
- Send surveys to customers via text
- Use text keywords to drive engagement for your retail store
- Get your existing landline number ported for texting
Textline
Textline offers text marketing for retail to help boost operational efficiency and engagement with customers.
Features of Textline
- Send bulk text messages to customers
- Automate text messages
- Share surveys via SMS
- Engage in one-on one communication
- Utilize text keywords to grow your contact list
SimpleTexting
SimpleTexting offers SMS marketing solutions to retailers to help improve their sales and expand their reach.
Features of SimpleTexting
- Send mass text messages to customers
- Utilize autoresponders to streamline communications
- Resolve customer queries via text
- Utilize text keywords to grow your contact list
- Keep all communications in one centralized dashboard
EZ Texting
EZ Texting is another good platform for retail SMS marketing, that allows retailers to utilize SMS effectively to drive revenue and improve efficiency.
Features of EZ Texting
- Send personalized messages at scale
- Utilize text keywords to grow your contact list
- Use SMS templates for follow-ups
- Utilize autoresponders to streamline communications
- Track the performance of your retail marketing campaigns
Textedly
Textedly is another platform that offers retail text message marketing to help them scale their outreach efforts with ease and stand apart from the competition.
Features of Textedly
- Send mass text messages to customers
- Text enable your business number
- Engage in one-on-one conversations
- Utilize text keywords to grow your contact list
Start Sending Retail SMS Marketing Campaigns With Emitrr
If you intend to kickstart SMS marketing for your retail business, now is the time because the results you get from this form of marketing will be more cost-effective, time-saving, and rewarding for you. Emitrr can help you launch retail SMS marketing campaigns with utter ease. All you need to do is follow these steps:
Step-1: Sign up with Emitrr. You can also opt for a free trial
Step-2: Create your marketing campaign
Go to Campaigns > Text Campaigns > Create Campaign
Add a name to your campaign and decide whether you wish to send it immediately or schedule it for later.
Step-3: Compose your message
Type your message or choose from a range of available templates based on your use case.
You can also choose it you want to include a confirmation text message or an opt out message. If you also want to stop follow up messages once the customer responds, then make sure to check the box.
Step-4: Now upload your contacts or select an existing list in the Emitrr database.
You can also assign replies to a particular team member if required.
Step-5: Schedule your campaign
Once you have successfully uploaded your contacts, click on ‘Next’ and then click on ‘Confirm & Schedule’
That’s it! Your retail text message marketing campaign is ready to launch! If you face any difficulty while creating your campaign, you can always connect with the support team in real time for the same.
Retail Text Message Marketing FAQs
Yes, it is legal to send marketing messages to your customers for your retail business, as long as you follow the TCPA guidelines for texting. Make sure to get the consent of your customers before sending them marketing messages.
Retailers can use SMS marketing to send promotional messages, transactional messages, seasonal greetings, review requests, and even engage in one-on-one conversations with their customers.
Retail SMS marketing is a powerful way of customer outreach as it improves sales, drives more foot traffic to your retail store, and improves customer loyalty. Since SMS has great open rates and response rates, it is only fitting that you utilize it to send marketing campaigns.
Pick a retail text message marketing platform that offers key features like two-way texting, bulk texting, group texting, autoresponders, SMS review requests, pre-saved templates, opt-in/opt-out management, integration, analytics, and contact management.
Conclusion
If you want to experience a surge in your sales numbers, have more and more customers at your retail store, streamline your workflows and refine customer engagement; then retail text message marketing is the way forward. Curious to explore how Emitrr can help you achieve your marketing goals? Book a demo here to get answers!
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