Bulk SMS marketing for e-commerce brands – what to know

Do you prefer calling businesses? Most likely not. Pretty much everyone dislikes it. No one would like to take time out of their busy schedules to call up a business, wait for them to connect to an agent, and so many other complications. It is a waste of time for the business, and for the customers as well. Though a business must provide the customers with the choice to select between e-mail, call, text and other modes of communication, one of these might prove to be highly efficient than others. We are talking about using bulk SMS as a preferred mode of communication for an e-commerce business.

Bulk SMS Marketing for e-commerce is effective with text messaging ranked as the #1 channel consumers need to use to engage with businesses in most of the regions surveyed. The investigation tracked down that more than eight out of ten (85%) consumers might want to reply to a message from businesses or engage in conversation. 

There are heaps of methods of driving traffic besides utilising PPC, one of the best is texting. Your customers and billions of other people use SMS. It’s where customers are and therefore bulk SMS is where businesses need to be. 

Why use Bulk SMS Marketing for e-commerce? 

• Wide-range: Bulk SMS is pervasive and has an expansive reach. Most smartphone users (92%) still text despite access to other messaging applications. 
• Engaging: Texting is an incredible open door for customer engagement. Bulk SMS has 98% open rates, 90% within 3 minutes. That is far superior to the 30% open rates for email. Texting is personal. It seems like communicating with a friend. The straightforward nature of texting is the thing that keeps it authentic and appealing. 
• Efficient: Texting reduces the number of customer service calls. On average we see a reduction of 10-17% in the number of phone calls. Bulk SMS responses are shorter and require less time to compose and send than emails. Customers can send a speedy text whenever is convenient for them. Businesses can respond in real-time or a few minutes or hours later – without needing all day, everyday support staff. You can begin a text conversation and shift to a call just if necessary. Conversely, texting provides real contact information. Customers are consistently accessible through their mobile phone. 
• Mobile-Friendly: As indicated by information released by Shopify in April ’17, 58% of orders on Shopify come via mobile phones. 60% of Google search traffic is currently mobile (2016).
• Millennials Text: Bulk SMS is the best method to get to millennials who spend most of their time with their phones. The details are conclusive. 91% of teens with cell phones actively text and 58% of teens use texts as the fundamental way they communicate. Adults send and receive over 128 texts every day; as indicated by a study, Millennials choose to message over email as the preferred method of engaging with a business. 
• Creates Trust: When purchasing from a new source, customers feel uncertain. Uncertainty leads to questions and inaction. This is where our bulk SMS provider answers. Texting helps online-based businesses defeat the virtual barrier with their user base. Customers feel listened to and respected. The entirety of this will extend the trust required to close an exchange. 

Among consumers 18-44 years old, bulk SMS messaging is the preferred specialised method.

The three types of bulk SMS with customers via our versatile bulk SMS

1. Bulk SMS to a large set of audience
2. Personalised updates related to the brand
3. Two-way conversations with the customers 

E-Commerce Use Cases and Benefits with our bulk SMS provider

With our reliable texting solutions in your e-commerce business, you can expect the accompanying benefits: 

• Improve the value of potential traffic by sending SMS with attached links
• Reduce cart abandonments via reminder and follow-up SMS
• Receive reviews and feedback by conducting surveys, polls and requesting feedbacks
• Build a text marketing subscribers base with keyword campaigns
• Save money and time on customer support as it is effective and efficient
• Enhance customer fulfilment by providing them with required updates, offers, etc.
• Automate customer conversations with a chatbot 

In an examination on 994 Shopify customers, it was tracked down that 35.5% of customer messages were from shoppers who hadn’t yet added anything to their cart and another 15.5% were from shoppers stuck at checkout. This means over half of messages were from customers who hadn’t yet made a purchase and needed a speedy and easy approach to reach out. These “nearly conversions” represent critical potential revenue for any e-commerce business. 

The overall advantages of using text messaging for your e-commerce business are additionally evident by high customer fulfilment. Over half of shoppers rate their SMS conversation experience a perfect 10.

Instructions to get started with our feature-rich bulk SMS provider

1. Settle on your use cases. You don’t have to use a wide range of texting from the outset. The easiest place to begin is conversion backing and customer support on your website. 
2. Define your success metrics. Similarly as with any project, set objectives, for example, increase customer fulfilment, help X number of customers in the customer journey, fabricate a rundown of X customers. 
3. Fix engagement channels and plan its strategy. Texting is universal yet it depends on your audience base. Additionally, determine how customers might think about conversing with your brand via SMS.
4. Set your team up for success. Select a device for text messaging that provides employees with capabilities to reply to texts at scale, and takes care of compliance issues, impeding spammers, computerisation and rundown management. 

In conclusion, start little and develop. Through your journey to success, our bulk SMS provider is here for you. There are numerous opportunities. One step at a time is better than spending months designing A-Z strategy and afterwards failing.

We offer top-notch solutions including promotional and transactional SMS, long code and shortcode SMS, and more. Whatever your business needs might be, we can customise our SMS solutions to help you achieve your organization aims and targets. To know more, contact our bulk SMS team.