As an eCommerce business, you may be thinking that email is the best way to communicate with your customers. However, more and more people are shopping online straight from their phones. Plus, they carry their phones around with them everywhere, making it easy for them to act on any advertisements they may see. Therefore, a strong SMS marketing campaign has a role in boosting business for eCommerce retailers, just as it does for any business. Following are just a few tips to help implement your campaign to get the most out of all the lucrative benefits of the marketing medium.

Create a Coupon That Entices

SMS marketing provides a key way to send out coupons and other deals, but it takes more than just telling your customers about the deal to get them to take action. With a text message, you only have 160 characters, so you need to make them count. It is best to use strong, action verbs and motivating language to provide a sense of urgency.

In addition to working on the right verbiage, you also need to determine the right discount or offer to provide. It should be a balance between a deal for your clients and one that does not reduce your profit margin too much.

Integrate Your Campaigns

Although SMS marketing provides benefits even when used as a stand-alone marketing channel, you get even more of the benefits when used as part of an integrated marketing strategy. Text messages make for one of the best calls to action for any type pf advertisements, including print ads, flyers, billboards, television ads and radio spots. They also play a role in your digital ads, social media profiles, emails, and website. It does not take much to add a keyword and number to all your marketing collateral.

People carry their phones with them everywhere and rarely have them further than an arm's length away. As soon as they see the ad, they can take immediate action before they change their mind or forget. This strengthens the impact of your advertising campaign while barely increasing your expenditure.

Make It Easy to Shop

More and more people use their cell phones in lieu of a personal computer, and mobile commerce makes up 30 percent of eCommerce business in the U.S. Even those who spend a lot of time on a computer still use their mobile phones for online shopping. As an eCommerce business, you want to be sure that you make it easy for your customers to shop on all platforms, including mobile platforms. With SMS marketing, you can send out digital coupons and make it easy for your customers to redeem them. Within the message, include a link for redemption that sends customers to your mobile shopping site so they can buy your products right there and then.

Don't Target Smartphones Only

Although you want to make it easy for customers to shop directly from the text message, you do not want to only target smartphones. The number of people who own a smartphone continually increases, with the current saturation at about 64 percent. Those who own an SMS enabled cell phone is much higher, at over 90 percent of the American adult population. Therefore, you have a chance to target a much wider audience if you create a message that also appeals to those who might not have a smartphone or shop online. You can do this by including an easy to follow way to redeem the coupon online even if they do not click on the link.

Take Advantage of Immediate Open Rates

One of the most lucrative benefits of SMS marketing is its extremely high open rate, which is at about 98 percent. Almost all of those are read within just a few minutes of receipt. This works well for businesses that wish to send out time-sensitive texts and promotions. Leverage this by sending special and exclusive flash sales and limited-time offers that are only good for that day only. People will be more motivated to take immediate action because the deal expires soon.

Provide Enhanced Transactional Messages and Other Customer Service

Text messages are a versatile component for your eCommerce business to use. Not only do they work as a way to send out coupons or provide an easy CTA, but they also work as an avenue for transactional and other customer service messages. When someone buys an item, send the receipt through text rather than email. Do the same when the package is sent and delivered. Due to the previously mentioned high open rate, you can feel confident that your customers remain well aware of the status of their purchase.

SMS marketing works well for any business, including eCommerce retailers. When you develop your strategy, be sure to create messages that are unique to the medium and provide something of value to your subscribers to keep customers engaged and coming back for more.

Ready to see how SMS marketing can boost your eCommerce business? Start your campaign today and try ClubTexting for free.