Keeping your customers engaged should be top of your list as a business owner. Customers will likely spend more on your products and services if you hire them regularly. Like you, most businesses are keenly aware of the benefits of messaging. Top brands like Facebook, Reebok, and IKEA used SMS messages to grow their businesses. Despite the early successes of SMS messages, it is important to note that they can be intrusive.
We understand that, as a merchant, you want to remain at the top of your customers’ minds by engaging them through constant messages. While SMS can be helpful, customers are increasingly concerned about their privacy and safety. This begs the question: Are SMS messages becoming unwanted noise? This article will dive into the essence of messaging your customers and how SMS might affect customer engagement and loyalty.
Understanding the essence of messaging
In a mobile-first world, messaging is more important than ever. It’s the primary way people communicate. And it will only become more valuable in the years to come.
eCommerce businesses have to be extra careful when crafting their messaging. Merchants often focus on bringing more people to their mobile apps without considering how to retain them. It would help if you started with quality messaging to build lasting customer relationships.
Before deciding what to say to your customers, you need to understand them and what they want, and secondly, you need to be clear and concise in your communication. There’s no point in sending a message if it’s not going to resonate with your audience. And if your message is unwanted, you’re not going to get the desired results.
So how do you craft quality messages that will resonate with your customers? Start by segmenting your audience and tailoring your messages to them. Take the time to understand what they want and what they care about, and then deliver messages that are relevant to their needs. And always keep your communication clear and concise – the more focused your message is, the more likely it is to resonate with your audience.
Most people only read a small percentage of the messages they receive
In today’s world, brands bombard us with messages. There is a never-ending stream of text, images, and videos vying for our attention in our inboxes, social media feeds, and pockets. As a result, most of us only read a small percentage of the messages we receive. For some people, this is no big deal. But for others, it’s a scary thought. What if you’re one of the messages that get ignored? The best way to avoid becoming part of the forgotten majority is to ensure your message stands out. How can you do that? By keeping it short, sweet, and to the point. When you make your message easy to consume and relevant to your audience, you increase the chances that it will be read and remembered.
Why You Shouldn’t Depend on SMS Messages
While SMS messages can be a convenient way to communicate with customers, here are some of the reasons why you need to stop sending SMS messages:
- SMS messages are often intrusive, and customers may view them as spam. This can lead to customers opting out of SMS messages, which reduces the potential reach of your marketing efforts.
- SMS messages are limited in terms of how much information you can convey.
- SMS messages can be expensive to send on a large scale, making them less viable for brands with limited marketing budgets.
While SMS messages can be a valuable tool for businesses, you should consider the potential drawbacks before using this channel for marketing purposes.
What’s the actual cost of SMS marketing?
More often, when you send bulk SMS, you fail to calculate the cost of each message. The base fee of sending each message is called Expense per Message (EPM), which can wreck your return on investment. Your SMS provider primarily determines the cost. According to Blake Imperl, if you spend $2,250 + carrier fees for an SMS campaign to 45,000 subscribers, you will need to generate at least $2,400 to break even. But let’s take it further. You drive $7,200 from the campaign, which might look like a significant return on investment. You may have generated a major loss considering the average unsubscribe rate of 1-4% and the cost of lost subscribers.
SMS campaigns can be costly and hurt your return on investment if your EPM is left unchecked. Push notifications are intent-based and automated to reach your customers’ personal needs. You can avoid overspending on unqualified leads through personalized push notifications.
Watch as our Head of Partnerships, Zachary Elias, talks about how eCommerce’s marketing landscape is changing, highlighting if SMS and email will be relevant in the near future.
Better ways of communicating with your customers
A successful omnichannel strategy should be designed to connect various customer touchpoints seamlessly, providing a cohesive and consistent brand experience regardless of how or where customers interact with your business. To achieve this, it’s important to carefully map out what messages will be delivered and when, using data-driven insights to determine the best frequency, channel, and timing for each message. By doing so, you can ensure that your messages are timely and relevant, creating a positive customer experience that will result in increased engagement and conversions. Omnichannel marketing, done right, can be a powerful tool for driving growth.
As part of your strategy, you need to add push notifications as an alternative to SMS messages. SMS opt-in rates are much lower than mobile app push notification rates. You can only reach a limited number of your customers through SMS campaigns because they have to opt-in to receive messages from you.
Stay Competitive with Push Notifications
A well-rounded marketing strategy is more important than ever in today’s competitive marketplace. Push notifications are a powerful way to reach customers and keep your brand in mind. They are also an excellent way to drive traffic to your website or app. When used effectively, push notifications can help to increase brand awareness, boost sales, and build customer loyalty. Suppose you are looking for a way to take your marketing mix to the next level. In that case, an effective push notification campaign could be the answer.
Why Push Notifications Are Better Than SMS Messages
Unlike SMS messages, Push notifications are more effective when you want to reach an audience at their convenience. Here are a few reasons why push notifications are better than SMS messages:
Push notifications enable you to segment your audience
Mobile app push notifications also offer several advantages over other forms of marketing, such as the ability to segment your audience and personalize your messages. In addition, push notifications are typically less intrusive than other forms of marketing, making them more likely to be seen and acted upon.
Push notifications have a higher open rate than SMS messages.
They’re delivered instantly and don’t get stuck in a queue as SMS messages can. Mobile app push notifications are one of the most effective ways to reach your audience. With an opt-in rate of 30%, they are nearly 3x as practical as SMS and 15x as effective as email. This is because people are generally more engaged with their mobile devices than with other forms of communication.
Push notifications are more interactive.
Push notifications are more interactive than other forms of communication, such as email or SMS. You can include images, videos, and call-to-action buttons in a push notification. This allows you to engage your audience more effectively. Additionally, push notifications are more likely to be seen and read than other forms of communication. This is because they appear on the lock screen of a mobile device and are more accessible with a single swipe. As a result, push notifications are essential for businesses that want to reach their audience more effectively.
Push notifications are better for eCommerce businesses.
You can use them to send promotional offers, discounts, and abandoned cart reminders directly to your customers’ phones. Mobile app push notifications have a higher open rate than email, so you’re more likely to reach your audience with your message. In addition, mobile app push notifications can be segmented and customized to target specific groups of customers with relevant offers. For example, you could send an abandoned cart reminder to customers who have added items to their cart but haven’t completed the purchase. You can increase sales and engagement with your eCommerce business using mobile app push notifications.
Experience the power of Push Notifications
Mobile app push notifications are an excellent way to get customers’ attention. People are always getting messages, so it can be hard to stand out. But mobile app push notifications go straight to people’s pockets. Retailers can use them to tell people about sales or new products or remind them about things they left in their cart. Push notifications are one of the best ways to communicate with your customers, better than sending wasteful and ineffective SMS messages.
Trusting Plobal Apps to build your mobile store has many benefits. One of which is push notification. You get to automate messages and schedule push notifications, allowing you to focus on implementing more innovative ideas for your brand. Your customers don’t have to forget about you once they leave your app. Our Abandoned Browse Campaigns update them based on their last activity on your app. Now is the time to tap into the power of push notifications.
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