E-commerce SMS

In an era where capturing attention is crucial, SMS marketing stands out as a powerful tool for businesses looking to enhance engagement and drive sales. With Ozeki SMS Gateway, you get access to high-performance, reliable software designed to optimize your SMS marketing strategy.

What Is SMS Marketing?

SMS marketing is used for sending digital promotional text messages about goods and services. SMS marketing helps businesses to boost up their sales and brand recognition. Sending offers and essential information in via SMS can enhance the click through rates and drive higher engagement. Almost 98% of text messages are read by the end of the day, compared to email marketing, which has a 20% open rate and a 2% clickthrough rate.

Why choose SMS to boost your Marketing?

In today's market competition, the hardest point is to stand out from the other participants. We need to offer such a great deal that grabs instantly our target audience's attention. Marketing tools like SMS Marketing can play a crucial role in this process. By delivering timely, personalized, and compelling offers directly to consumers' mobile phones, SMS marketing ensures that your message stands out from the crowd.

Relevance for Mobile Commerce
A research study found that nearly half of people report spending 5-6 hours a day looking at their mobile phone screens. This means that they check their device 80 times during the day. This highlights the importance for businesses to invest in mobile-friendly marketing. Fortunately, SMS messages are well-suited for this purpose, as they are specifically designed to be easily read on mobile screens.

High Engagement and Open Rates
SMS messages not only achieve high open rates but also enhances the audience's engagement. SMS messages receive high engagement globally, potentially leading to more repeat purchases and higher customer lifetime value.

Preferred Communication Method
SMS allows businesses to communicate in the ways they like and makes customers to feel valued and informed about offers, events or news.

The first steps in SMS Marketing

1. Set objectives: Determine what you want to achieve with your SMS marketing. Identify which aspects of your business could benefit most from SMS, such as promoting events or gathering customer feedback. Define specific success metrics, like increasing customer satisfaction or growing your SMS subscriber list, to track progress effectively. This will help you manage your list and automate messages.
2. Select a provider: Choose a provider that makes it easy to get started and is scalable enough to grow with you.
3. Build a contact list Create a list of SMS subscribers through your website or email campaigns. Use popups and keyword programs to gain more subscribers. This method often works better than simple opt-in forms.
4. Create your first SMS Campaign: Begin with a trial campaign to explore what works best. Make your SMS messages stand out from other communications. Focus on making your SMS messages stand out from other communications, ensuring they are engaging and relevant to your audience.
5. Keep Testing: Regularly analyse the results of your SMS campaigns and try different approaches. Continuously test different approaches and strategies to optimize performance and achieve your objectives.

Grow your SMS list

To gain more subscribers to your SMS contact list, focus on conversational texts, birthday or anniversary messages or reward program updates. Ensure that the SMS messages align with your brand and services.

• Add sign-up forms
• Offer exclusive content
• Promote across channels
• Segment your SMS list

E-commerce with SMS Marketing

With the use of e-commerce:

• attract new customers,
• drive repeat sales
• loyalty programs,
• share important updates such as new promotions, product launches
• updates on shipping and delivery

Ideas for SMS Marketing

To develop an effective SMS marketing strategy, it’s crucial to prioritize compliance and legal considerations. It's essential to update your privacy policy to clearly outline your communication practices and provide straightforward opt-out options.

When building your SMS strategy, start small by integrating SMS into key stages. Begin with transactional messages such as shipping updates or order confirmations.

Use website popups and post-purchase prompts to encourage sign-ups, potentially offering discounts to increase participation. Effective segmentation and list management are essential for SMS marketing.

Personalize your messages and set appropriate expectations for customers. Keep your communication brief and informal, using language that resonates with your audience.

Examples of Messages to Send:

• Welcome messages
• Order updates
• Automate reminders
• New arrivals notification
• Flash sales
• Content messages

SMS Types for SMS Marketing

1. Transactional SMS
2. Email-2-SMS
3. Voice SMS
4. Promotional SMS
5. 2-Way SMS
6. OTP SMS

How to run a successful SMS marketing campaign?

1. Use Trusted SMS Tools: Choose established SMS marketing platforms for reliable and effective messaging.
2. Keep SMS Messages Short: Write concise messages that get to the point, ideal for SMS communication.
3. Let Customers Know When to Expect a Reply: Use auto-replies to manage expectations about response times.
4. Respond at the Right Times: Reply to messages when customers are likely to read them, such as during lunch or in the evening.
5. Offer Special Deals: Provide exclusive deals to SMS subscribers to enhance engagement and value.
6. Always Reply: Ensure you respond to all SMS inquiries to maintain good customer relations.
7. Send Personalized Messages: Tailor your messages based on customer interests and behaviour for better engagement.

Best practices

• Avoid unnecessary spaces between words
• Ensure messages are S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Relevant, Timely)
• Use special characters (except "<>" symbols) and ensure variables are correctly formatted and used
• Keep messages within the 160-character limit, and remember that each variable can be up to 30 characters long
• Comply with SMS regulations

Start Your SMS Journey with Ozeki

Harness the power of SMS marketing with Ozeki SMS Gateway. Our advanced, reliable software is designed to enhance your campaigns, grow your contact list, and boost customer engagement.

Download Ozeki SMS Gateway for Free of Charge: Follow this link

Useful SMS Marketing Features of Ozeki SMS Gateway

Bulk SMS:

• Send SMS to large groups quickly.
• Support for multiple languages with Unicode.

Campaign Management:

• Create and use SMS templates.
• Schedule messages for timely delivery.

Reporting:

• Track message delivery status.
• Analyse campaign performance.

• Use REST API for easy system integration.
• Secure with basic and token-based authentication,

Two-Way Messaging:

• Receive and reply to customer messages.
• Automate responses with SMS keywords.

Voice Integration:

• Send voice broadcasts.
• Use IVR for automated voice interactions.

Group Management:

• Organize contacts into groups.
• Send messages to specific groups.

Security & Compliance:

• Secure data handling.
• Adhere to SMS marketing regulations.

User-Friendly:

• Easy-to-use dashboard.
• Customizable settings for marketing needs.

Support:

• Access detailed documentation.
• Get technical support when needed.

Conclusion

Harness the power of SMS marketing with Ozeki SMS Gateway. Our advanced, reliable software helps you reach your audience effectively, drive engagement, and boost sales.

Whether you're starting out or optimizing your strategy, our tools make it easy to manage campaigns, grow your contact list, and enhance customer communication.