Successful SMS Marketing Campaigns by D2C and B2C Brands

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It’s no longer news that SMS marketing has an insane open rate of 98%, not to mention that 90% of customers read the SMSs they receive within three minutes.

And yes, some of these juicy, sweet numbers all rely on the fact that it takes less than 90 seconds for the average person to read their text messages.

That said, the true beauty of an SMS marketing campaign is that it takes the usual brand-customer relationship to a deeper, more personal level, making it possible for business-to-consumer (B2C) and direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands to reach customers at any time through their phones, which are always on them.

And with Google’s plan to phase out third-party cookies in 2023⁴—an update that already came in iOS 14—every B2C and DTC brand must understand SMS marketing and create successful SMS marketing campaigns to put their brand front and center to their target customers.

Why is Running SMS Marketing Campaigns Ideal for D2C and B2C Brands?

E-commerce has made it possible for B2C and DTC brands like Nike, Dollar Shave Club, Airbnb, Warby Parker, and even your online store to sell directly to their customers, bypassing middlemen like Walmart and Amazon.

Considering that 91% of the world’s population owns a smartphone and that mobile devices already command over 54% of online shopping, your business is better positioned to directly shape its potential by embracing SMS marketing because:

• SMS boasts a conversion rate of over 45%.
• 32% of customers actively respond to text messages from brands.
• SMS marketing has an eight times higher response rate than email marketing.
• 76% of customers in loyalty programs prefer to communicate with their brands through SMS.

Successful SMS Marketing Campaigns Used by D2C and B2C Brands

1. Welcome Messages

Welcome messages are perhaps the most important messages to send to your customers. A great welcome message would help you introduce your business to customers and create a stunning first impression in their minds.

The goal of your welcome messages is to position your brand as open, friendly, lovable, and caring. Achieving this objective will make it easier to create a deep sense of connection with your customers.

Welcome messages are a great way to show—in practice—the essential elements of your brand’s personality and set the tone for all future interactions you’ll have with your customers.

Ensure you kick-start your SMS welcome series within 24 hours of your customers signing up or purchasing your product. The best way to collect client phone numbers is to ask them for them while they’re creating an account with your website, joining your service, or subscribing to any of your offers.

2. Special Offers to Customers

Offering value to your customers remains the basis for any long-term and sustainable success your business hopes to achieve. The highest value you can offer your customers is ensuring your product or service is high-quality and among the best in the market.

That said, your endeavor is to keep your customers up-to-date with your brand’s exciting offers, like exclusive discounts, early access, pre-order sales, or any creative bonus content your brand has in store.

The idea is to use your SMS marketing campaigns to reward your customers’ loyalty and encourage them to return for more. A great example of this was Abercrombie Text to Win contests, where customers could text “surprise” to 98995 and be rewarded with a gift card or coupon worth up to $500.

3. Thank You Messages  

Consumers love being appreciated, and customers aren’t any different. So, ensure you extend gratitude to your customers on regular occasions. You can do this periodically or after they complete a purchase. 

Feel free to take it a notch higher by including coupons or special offers in your thank-you messages. Trust us; if there’s one thing customers love more than a hearty ‘thank-you’ message, it’s a ‘thank-you-plus-free coupon’ message.

4. Business Launch and Product Launch Campaigns

Another strategic use of SMS is sending product launch messages that will help you build the relevant hype and momentum for launching a successful product. To get outstanding results from your SMS product launch campaigns, make sure to roll it out in a pre-launch, launch, and post-launch stages.

IKEA uses SMS to promote new and existing products. IKEA started its SMS program back in 2009 and has sent over 2 million messages to customers annually.

But before you start blasting SMSs to your customers, you must understand that people only purchase from brands they trust. Any business looking to build trust with its customers must ensure that it prepares a solid foundation by getting a short, catchy, and exciting brand name.

Your brand name sets the tone of your brand, communicates your identity and personality, and influences how your target audience will bond with your business. Businesses with captivating brand names like Rent the Runway and Beardbrand do an excellent job of instantly communicating who they are to customers and what they do.

In our highly competitive market, the best way you can quickly find a captivating brand name your customers can connect with is by using a business name generator, brainstorming, or leveraging the expertise of a naming agency.

5. Seasonal Campaigns

Holidays are the most memorable times of the year when people connect with families and loved ones, and a perfect time for B2C  and DTC brands to send their love and goodwill to customers.

Some of the best ways to carry out an SMS campaign during holidays are to advertise products ideal for the season and invite or give free tickets to special seasonal events. Also, you could get creative and mix your anniversary, customer service week, or even your product launch with your holiday SMS campaigns.

Focus on sending your seasonal SMS campaigns before, during, and shortly after any of the holidays below.

• New Year’s Eve
• Valentine’s Day
• Saint Patrick’s Day
• Easter
• Independence day
• Halloween
• Black Friday
• Cyber Monday
• Thanksgiving
• Christmas

Doing this will help you raise your brand-customer engagement and boost your sales.

6. Cart Abandoned Flows

Every business needs a compelling abandoned cart SMS flow. Your abandoned cart flow should kick in whenever your customer adds an item to their shopping cart while shopping on your platform but doesn’t complete the purchase.

While sending your abandoned cart SMS, feel free to include a discount code to encourage customers to proceed with their purchase. Using text messages to remind customers of their abandoned carts will yield better results because SMS has a higher open rate.

We took a look at a study by Baymard Institute, and it may surprise you that the average cart abandonment rate among e-commerce brands stands at a painful 70%.

The study further shows that the key reasons why customers abandoned their cart were because shipping and tax were high, product delivery was slow, or the e-commerce site wanted customers to create an account with them.

So, ensure you provide a pleasant checkout experience for your customers because it can help boost your site’s conversion by over 35%. And you can do that with an appealing cart abandoned SMS flow.

7. SMS Review Campaigns

Customers will often choose to buy from a business that they feel personally invested in. One way your customers can get invested in your business is to conduct surveys and get feedback that’d help you improve your business.

You can also use your SMS to ask customers to leave reviews on sites like Google, Facebook, Yelp, and Trustpilot. And also use them in conducting surveys and polls. And this works well because text messages have a personal touch that can barely be replicated by any other means of communication.

8. Member and VIP Campaigns

Ensure you prepare an SMS campaign specially targeted at your most loyal, high-paying, and long-term committed customers. SMS can help you reward your VIP customers by offering them early access to the best deals and products your business has to offer.

Tons of brands use VIP SMS campaigns to drive sales during major events like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Although Amazon didn’t follow the VIP campaign path with the treasure truck, they did manage to offer customers trending, exclusive, and highly discounted products via text.

9. Conservational Campaigns

You can use your SMS marketing campaigns to start and encourage communication between your customers and your DTC or B2C brand. You can focus this SMS campaign on upcoming events, new products, or services.

You can also make it more engaging and personal by providing some behind-the-scenes updates like product updates and new features being developed. Doing this makes your customers feel a unique connection to your brand and creates an air of transparency.

Arby’s child hunger campaign successfully applied this strategy when they asked customers to text ‘Food’ to 877877 to get locations where they can get free meals.

Combine Your SMS Marketing Campaigns With Other Channels

SMS marketing has a powerful reach and a near-perfect open rate, so ensure you leverage your SMSs to boost the performance of your brand’s other marketing channels. Sending SMS notifications for important emails, social media updates, and the online events you’re hosting will improve their success as more consumers will know about the event and check them out.