SMS Marketing – Eight Reasons Why You Need SMS Marketing While Dropshipping

1. SMS Marketing – Eight Reasons Why You Need SMS Marketing While Dropshipping It is no surprise that nurturing relationships with customers demand time and effort. Businesses that want to reach their customers can’t sit idle and wait for them to come. You have to act proactive and reach out to them wherever they are. No, we don’t want you to start knocking on your customer’s doors. But there is one thing you could do to get the best results. TEXT THEM… SMS marketing is an integral element of your digital marketing strategy. It is an affordable means of communication that enables dropshipping store owners to reach new customers and retain existing ones without breaking their bank. As an online seller, your ultimate objective is to have great ROI and conversions. Even if you’re getting a lot of traffic on your store, you still need to implement the best digital marketing strategies to increase conversions. SMS marketing for Shopify is a foolproof marketing tactic that allows store owners to create a loyal customer base that can contribute to the long-term growth and success of your online business. According to research conducted by Twilio, SMS marketing makes it possible for drop shippers to engage with their current and potential customers. Today, almost all brands, whether big or small, are leveraging the real power of text messaging to communicate with their target audience. In this post, we’ll have a quick look at the top reasons why you need SMS marketing while dropshipping. Also, we’ll help you understand some of the best SMS marketing practices you must implement for your dropshipping store to break through the noise while building long-lasting relationships. SMS Marketing For Dropshipping… Explained!

2. SMS Marketing for dropshipping revolves around sending promotional or transactional messages to customers for marketing objectives. These messages are usually sent to communicate deals, time- sensitive promotional offers, delivery notifications, and updates. Dropshippers can only send these text messages to people who have subscribed to their SMS list. How Does SMS Marketing For Dropshipping Work? SMS marketing texts are generally sent using short or long codes. There are 2 types of messages you can send with SMS marketing – Campaign Messages and Transactional Messages. Campaign messages are bulk text messages generally sent to promote an offer or provide information. Transactional texts, on the other hand, are personalized messages that are triggered by a certain event. For instance, order confirmation texts, delivery updates, etc. Eight Reasons Why You Need SMS Marketing While Dropshipping 1. Get A Higher Open Rate According to Mobile Marketing Watch, SMS open rates are as high as 98%. It takes customers not more than 90-seconds to respond to a text and more than 90-minutes to respond to an email. Unlike emails, SMS does not go through filters and ad blockers either. Recipients read these messages most of the time as they’re more personal. Brands using traditional Text messaging platforms benefit from dynamic phone number allocation that depends on your customer’s location. That is why customers feel more confident replying to messages that come from a local number. That goes without saying that a higher open rate leads to more conversions and sales. 2. Wider Reach And Better Response Rates Did you know more than 92% of mobile phone users still prefer to send text messages instead of using any IM app?

3. Millennials especially spend most of their time using smartphones. From placing food delivery orders to confirming their shipment address, these people leverage SMS to connect with the brands. In addition to that, SMS is also used by many present-day brands to maintain customer engagement. This medium is not only cost-effective but also personalized and result-driven. Getting a customer to open your text message is one thing. But getting them to respond to that message isn’t as easy as it may sound. The average person’s attention span is only 8-seconds, meaning you have only 8-seconds to persuade your potential customers to read a message and respond. The 160-character limit of SMS makes it one of the best digital marketing tools that are perfect for sending short, concise, and attention- snapping texts. 3. Integrate With Other Marketing Campaigns The biggest benefit of SMS marketing is the potential it has when you use it with your other marketing campaigns. For example, you can integrate your SMS campaign with your social media marketing campaigns or even email marketing to further push an effort to reach your buyers on time. Compared with other marketing mediums (which are expensive and not as result-driven and effective as SMS marketing), SMS campaigns are affordable and more manageable. SMS marketing is specifically beneficial for newly-launched dropshipping businesses that may not have a big budget for promotional activities. 4. Builds Trust Many customers do not trust dropshipping stores because they feel their deals and offers are just too good to be true. SMS marketing is personalized. With SMS campaigns, you can help your buyers know that your brand is worthy of their time and money. In other words, building trust will become much easier with SMS marketing than any other form of digital marketing. SMS marketing enables dropshipping communication with their customers that helps build trust and motivate buyers to complete the checkout process without any difficulty. businesses to maintain constant 5. Improved Cart Recovery Understanding why many customers abandon their carts is crucial to improving the overall customer experience, recovering more carts, and establishing long-lasting relationships with the buyers. While website design is the main reason why buyers abandon their carts, brands can get those confused customers back by adding a more personalized touch to their customer engagement strategy. SMS marketing enables them to keep in touch with their buyers, answer all of their questions, and help them complete the checkout process with a good discount or a cashback offer. 6. Enables Buyers To Opt-In or Opt-Out

4. The biggest perk of using SMS marketing is that it allows your buyers to easily opt-in or opt-out. While it may seem like a bad idea at first glance, you’ll end up only having those customers on your list who are genuinely interested in your deals and offers. Make sure you provide your subscribers an option to unsubscribe from further text messages. According to data protection laws, the person should be able to unsubscribe using a text medium when approached through text. 7. Less Competition Even though SMS marketing is growing at a massive rate, many dropshipping stores are still not leveraging the true potential of this channel. The recent statistics suggest that only 14% of businesses use SMS marketing to reach their target customers. Another research highlights that more than 64% of customers think that online businesses aren’t contacting them using text messages as much as they should. But, it’s not all bad news. We’ve observed a colossal rise in SMS marketing by 92% and 197% for B2C and B2B companies from 2015 to 2017. After all, with SMS marketing, buyers don’t need to wait for email responses or wait in a queue for live agents to be online. Businesses can reach their customers instantly and that too at their convenience. Just imagine what will happen if none of your competitors are using SMS marketing to engage their customers? What if only your brand is offering this solution to connect with your customers? Needless to say, you’ll have a competitive advantage over your rivals, and you’ll remain a step ahead of the competition. 8. Lowest Unsubscription Rates Unlike other marketing mediums, the unsubscription rates for text messages are the lowest recorded so far. Here, the key is to pick the right message sending schedule with perfect content so that your customers wouldn’t ignore your messages. SMS Marketing Best Practices Now that it’s pretty clear that SMS marketing is the next big way to acquire new customers and retain existing ones, we’re now ready to have a look at some of the best SMS marketing practices you must implement now for your dropshipping business. Send Welcome SMS To Increase Brand Awareness

5. If you already have an active automated email campaign, then you can integrate it with your SMS marketing campaign to drive more conversions. You can send a welcome SMS to those customers who have just subscribed to your email list. Send Order Updates While more than 3.5-billion people have smartphones, not all of them use their phones to read an email or a message received on their Facebook messenger. But, they all use the SMS feature on their mobile phones. Send text message updates regarding the order status, expected date and day of shipment, and expected delays to keep your customers informed. Send New Arrivals Update Inform your existing and potential customers about your best-sellers and new arrivals using short and concise sales-driven messages. SMS and emails are two prominent digital marketing channels that often go hand in hand. While emails are a better option for detailed messages, you must choose text messages to inform your customers about time-sensitive deals and news about new arrivals or the latest product launches. Promote Flash Sales That Trigger Urgency You can also support your email marketing campaigns and newsletters by sending a follow-up text message to inform your customers about ongoing flash sales and time-sensitive offers. This strategy is specifically useful to nudge buyers who have purchased from your before. All you need to do now is to send an interesting text to help them return and repeat their order. Leverage The Best Content Marketing Practices For Better Conversions Present-day customers are more informed than ever before. They expect highly-engaging content from their favorite brands online. More than 84% of consumers want online sellers and dropshipping stores to produce content that is not only relevant and informative but also engaging and value-driven. Creating a foolproof content marketing strategy improves your chances of getting more store traffic and conversions than brands that do not take this thing seriously. Send Reminders With SMS marketing campaigns, you can remind those customers who have added products to their carts but didn’t complete the checkout process due to some unknown reason. Send Alerts Informed customers are happy customers. SMS marketing campaigns allow drop shippers to keep their buyers informed about any expected situation or a delay arising from a political or technical disturbance. Send Seasonal Updates

6. Use SMS marketing to send seasonal updates and holiday sales notifications to your current and potential customers. Use Text Messaging To Earn Referrals One of the biggest perks of having loyal customers is that these customers will eventually become your brand advocates. You can then get help from them to convert new customers. Things To Consider Before Creating An SMS Campaign Do Not SPAM It may be tempting to send text messages to as many people as you could, you must not spam people. SMS marketing is based on the concept of permission-based marketing. This means that you should ask for their consent first before you start sending them messages. It saves you time and makes your marketing efforts more targeted and result-driven. Choose The Best SMS Marketing Tool You can not write hundreds of messages by hand and send them manually by using your mobile phone. Instead, choose an SMS blast service that can seamlessly streamline the entire process for you. There are hundreds of options available online. Make sure you pick a service that is reliable, cost- effective, and has good reviews. Offer Value When you reach out, just ensure you have something valuable to offer to your customers. Whether it’s a unique promotional offer, discount, a cashback deal, or a piece of information, it should be worthy of your customer’s time and money. Keep It Simple, Short, And Sweet

7. With SMS marketing, you only have 160-characters to convey your message. So make sure you use those words in the best possible manner. Personalize Your Campaigns Instead of sending generic messages, send personalized text messages to make your customers feel special. You can also add people’s names in your messages to make them feel even more valued. Last but not least, make sure your message is consistent with your brand voice. We hope this post has cleared some of your doubts about this effective yet often overlooked marketing channel.