We all want to see high conversion rates and even higher sales numbers. But when you get stuck in a rut and find your numbers stagnant month over a month you’re probably wondering how to improve your stats. Here’s the thing, it’s easier than you think! Implementing the right SMS messaging strategy will help you increase monthly conversion rates and ultimately sales numbers.
That might be a bold statement, but keep reading and you’ll understand why! But for those of you who might be on a time crunch, here’s the rundown for what’s ahead:
- What conversion rates are and why they matter to you
- How SMS messages can improve your conversion rates
- 3 tactics to improve your SMS conversion rates
- Know how to reach your customers
Conversion Rate: The Jackpot of Digital Marketing
Chances are good if you’ve landed on this article, you’re familiar with what a conversion rate is. But just in case you’re new to conversion rates and why they matter here’s a quick review of conversion rates 101.
To determine conversion rates, you simply compare the number of total page visitors and the number of people who have completed the final action. This action may have been to provide an email, complete a form, or even make a purchase.
A high conversion rate means that your marketing program was a success. And that’s why we’re talking about how to improve conversion rates with SMS messaging.
Looking at the high open and engagement rates that come with SMS messaging means that you could improve conversions and boost sales. We often think of SMS messages as a quick message to update or remind customers — but if we add a way to convert customers, we could be capturing a variety of additional leads.
Using SMS Messaging to Improve Conversion Rates
SMS messaging offers a unique conversion opportunity. That’s because you’re reaching your customers in a direct manner on a device that they are attached to. Take a look around, how many people around you right now are using their smartphones? Each and every one of those people could be a potential conversion waiting to happen.
There were over 7 BILLION active mobile subscriptions in 2014, fast forward to today just imagine how that number has grown! Reaching your customers through SMS messaging has never been easier, or more important. Image courtesy of Neil Patel.
If you play your cards right, a purchase could be as simple as the touch of a finger for these mobile users. With SMS messaging, you can send people directly to the action you want them to take right from their mobile device.
With 97% of SMS messages being opened within 3 minutes, it’s much more likely that customers will click through to this link, land on your offer page, and ultimately convert. Although email is a great option to improve conversion rates, it can also easily be overlooked, sent to spam, or easily forgotten — texting is the way people communicate with one another today, and they’re doing it all the time.
Here are some eye-opening stats around SMS messaging and mobile sales:
- 23% of eCommerce revenue comes from mobile devices
- Smartphone conversion rates are up 64% compared to the average desktop conversion rate
- SMS campaigns can generate ROI of up to 33x
- Customers who actively engage in SMS messages have a 30% higher lifetime value (LTV)
- 60 % of online shoppers use their smartphones to find a product first
3 Tactics to Improve Conversion Rates With SMS Messaging
There are a number of tactics that should be built into your SMS marketing strategy. One of those should focus solely on improving conversion rates and boosting mobile sales. Why should this be carved out in your SMS marketing plan? Well, because mobile simply isn’t going away, in fact, it continues to increase year over year.
1. Link Directly to the Conversion Page
This is the “let’s get straight to the point” approach to SMS messaging and improving conversion rates — and it makes sense! The end goal of all customer communication is to get someone to convert or even better, make a sale. If you send your customer down a long and windy road to get to your conversion page, you’re most likely going to lose them.
But — on the other hand, if you send them an SMS message with a link that sends them directly to the end goal (the page they can convert on) it eliminates the extra steps and gets them to the juicy stuff right away.
Now, bear in mind, you’re not going to want to send a brand new SMS subscriber right to the purchasing or conversion page minutes after they have opted-in. But, when the time is right, this can be the perfect way to convert prospects into users or bring your loyal customers back into the loop.
Here are a few examples of how this may play out:
- A customer receives a coupon code for a specific product, the link in the text sends them directly to that product
- You’re having a flash sale on your website, the link in the text sends them to your homepage to browse the products they choose
- There is a new loyalty program launching, the link in the text sends them directly to the sign-up page to start earning points
- You’ve just released a new product catalog or other valuable content, the link in the text sends them directly to the landing page for that offer
People ages 34 and younger are using SMS daily. That’s a huge age group that could be receiving content from your company via text messaging. Think of the benefits if you were able to link those messages directly to a specific product or landing page based on their interests — you’d likely see a large influx of conversions. Image courtesy of Tatango.
2. Send Relevant Coupon Codes
Coupons are one of the top reasons people initially subscribe to SMS messages. In fact, 55% of people who subscribe to SMS messages for the incentives and coupons that are offered. Are your coupon codes providing you with the most bang for your buck?
Regardless, coupon codes are likely to prompt sales. But have you ever thought about how you could improve this process? Maybe you know this customer likes a certain brand of shoe you carry or tends to purchase home appliances from your company — are you sending coupon codes that relate to their interests?
This topic brings up another big thing that you’ll want to hone in on for SMS messaging: segmentation — but we’ll dig into that a little later on.
Either way, you need to understand what your customers want from you to improve sales. Sending irrelevant coupon codes is a waste of your time and your users are very unlikely to convert from these. But, if you incentivize them with products you know they want and use predictive product recommendations to provide them with products they are likely to purchase in the future, you’ll likely see an increase in sales.
This example takes customers to a generic page on the Famous Footwear website. With the 15% offer, it’s most likely converting customers, but if you take the customer to a specific type of shoe they often search, you may see an increased conversion rate. Image courtesy of Tatango.
3. Sending SMS Messages Based on Proximity
Now this one may be more geared towards the more advanced SMS marketer, but it’s a huge opportunity. If you have the ability and funding to build out a proximity SMS strategy, it’ll help bring customers to your actual store.
This tactic focuses on getting people into your physical store rather than just to a mobile site (although it could technically do both). What we mean here, is that if someone at a mall, it’s possible to identify that location and send them an SMS message letting them know about a sale or coupon they can use — today only!
Ideally, this should encourage them to stop at your storefront while they are out shopping. It can also link them to your website to take advantage of the deal, just in case they ran out of time during their shopping trip to stop in.
These are examples of what could be sent to a customer when you know their proximity to your sore. Let think know that there is a store-wide sale happening or provide them with a coupon code to provide sales associates with to encourage them to visit your store. Image courtesy of Pocketstop.
Create a Killer SMS Messaging Strategy
These are a few ways to directly improve conversion rates with SMS messaging, but there are a few other things you should take into consideration. For example, you don’t want to send customers a product that doesn’t apply to their interests or send a message to them in the middle of the night. Here are a few extra tips to get your SMS messaging strategy on point.
Personalize SMS Messages
Personalization is a huge topic in the marketing world right now. Know your customers and personalize the content you serve them. Whether you simply address them by name or are advanced enough to provide specific content based on their previous behavior — it all count.
People want to see content that is relevant to them and that where personalization and understanding your audience really comes into play.
People find personalized ads as engaging, memorable, and relevant. All positive comments, and something you’d love to hear about your ads. Image courtesy of Ironpaper.
Know When to Reach Your Customers
Sending a text at the wrong time could mean your targeted user may not pay attention to the text, or they may even unsubscribe. This should be something you take into serious consideration and remember that some customers will be in a different time zone than you.
Saturdays tend to be the days of highest engagement, while Mondays often present the lowest response rate. In addition, you’ll want to avoid sending messages during times that people would be sleeping, commuting, or otherwise busy. Sending your messages around noon or shortly after tend to get you the highest engagement rates.
Knowing when the best time to reach your audience is important. Sending texts when people are asleep or at offtimes can result in low engagement and conversion rates. Image courtesy of Text Marketer.
Proper Segmentation is Key
We mentioned it earlier, but segmentation is a huge factor when it comes to reaching your SMS subscribers and serving them with the information they want and need. If you don’t understand your customer base, you’re likely sending messages to bulk groups of contacts blindly — this isn’t a best practice.
By using forms, surveys, and customer feedback you have the opportunity to learn A LOT about your customer base. Use dynamic forms and information to continue learning more and more as a customer and potential customers continue to convert. Then use this information to improve your SMS marketing program — actually, this tip should improve your marketing strategy as a whole.
The better you understand your customer, the better chance you have at turning them into a conversion.
Ready to start your SMS messaging strategy?
It might sound like a huge undertaking at first, but developing an SMS marketing strategy will pay off in the end. Scoring sales directly from SMS messages is a win-win and has the potential to improve conversion and sales drastically. If you’re ready to get to know your customers and start marketing directly to their smartphones — now’s the time to get started.
