You Up?

As you may have read in my earlier blog post ’Lifecycle Marketing? Run That Back’, SMS or text messaging marketing is a muscle you need to flex as a part of owned/lifecycle marketing strategy. As a common theme with marketing, continuing to evolve is key. Mix email with SMS and you’ll have a winning combo! Here’s why:

While email is still a great way to communicate and engage with your subscribers, it’s pretty common for your email to get lost in the sauce because people receive so many emails every day. It’s a crowded space. It’s common for brands to send one or more emails per day. According to Statisa, more than 347 billion emails are sent and received each day with there being 4 billion email users. 

For a more immediate impact, SMS (short messaging service) and MMS (multimedia messaging service) marketing is a shining star. Both are great because they tend to be more visible on someone’s phone as compared to email. And because the messages are short and sweet, there isn’t much time needed for someone to read the message.

Mix Email & SMS For a Winning Combo

Be sure to first make sure you follow legal guidance for soliciting SMS sign up and including a way to opt out. Violations can bring about steep fines; however, there are plenty of resources out there to help, like this one to get you started!

When you are planning a “Welcome” series (an automated flow that sends a series of emails to a new subscriber) be sure to look for ways to add SMS. Send a welcome text at the same time or shortly before your welcome email. Someone may just see your text, email or both, and can engage with the one that works best for them.

Within your “Abandon Cart” series, first try an email letting someone know they left something in their cart, if they don’t engage, send a text or vice versa.

Launching a major promotion? Be sure to send a text letting your subscribers know so they don’t miss out, especially if it’s time sensitive!

To summarize, SMS marketing is a tactic worth trying! Test SMS vs. MMS. Send an email first, then follow up with a text. Try a text only campaign. There’s so many possibilities but you have to get started! 

Already doing SMS? What have you found that works well? Share in the comments.