Remember when your cell phone felt sacred? A private little world in the palm of your hand. You only gave your number to your inner circle of friends and family.
Times have changed, though. Yes, you get robocalls, but your inner circle now includes the brands you love. You welcome them into your world until they abuse your invitation. They mean well but often come off more like a friend who wants you to know what they're doing every second of every day.
Maybe unlike your friend, there’s still hope for brands. If used and not abused, SMS can be lucrative for brands and valuable for customers.
Here is some SMS automation inspiration to get things rolling, build trust with your customers, and most importantly, maintain a spot in their contact list.
- Welcome Series: When someone joins your list, send them something to say thanks. Reinforce your story or mission, value prop, and/or hook them up with an exclusive offer.
- Order Confirmation: Give customers peace of mind with an order confirmation, letting them know they're good to go. Don't try to sell them more stuff.
- Abandoned Cart: Remind customers about what they were interested in but left behind. Send one within an hour of abandonment. Depending on the brand, you might follow up with a discount or alternative product later via email if the abandoned cart message doesn't do the trick.
- Upcoming Subscription Order: Let customers know they'll be charged for another order. Some brands shy away from this, worried it will create churn. It actually does the opposite. Give customers a chance to make changes like delaying or pausing. You'll gain their trust, and they'll stick around longer.
- Order Tracking: Don't make customers search through their email to find their order status. Use a tool like Wonderment to keep them up to speed throughout the entire post-purchase experience.
- Order Delivered: Once the order is delivered, help customers get the most out of their purchase with how-to videos. Or make them feel good with content about how it was made or something similar.
- Cross-Sell: I don't recommend asking customers to buy more immediately after their purchase unless it's discounted and/or complementary. Otherwise, wait a few days before you suggest they buy again.
One more thing. Yes, most people love a good discount, but not every. single. day!!! If you want to let SMS subscribers in on exclusive promos or give them early access to new releases, that’s fine. But please, stay chill. Let them miss you.
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This post originally appeared in Edition No. 160 of my newsletter. Subscribe here.
Monday, October 2, 2023
