In the competitive world of retail marketing, effectively acquiring customers and turning them into conversions can be challenging. While email marketing has proven to be an effective route for customer acquisition, brands are now experimenting with a variety of communication strategies. Specifically, SMS marketing has proven to be a promising approach when used in parallel with email.
Challenges and Strategies
Retailers and brands should implement key strategies such as online pop-ups and optimized checkout processes, both in-store and online, to facilitate easy signups for email or SMS programs to acquire new customers. Additionally, triggered emails can prompt those who opted in for email to join their SMS program. A newer method gaining traction is the use of QR codes on product packaging to encourage email and SMS sign ups while browsing in-store or when a new order arrives at home.
Although these strategies effectively attract customers to your programs, the most significant challenge remains conversion.
Your customers know who you are, but are they actually buying from you? Conversion hinges on factors such as having desirable products, appropriate sizing, cost-effective shipping, and efficient order processing. By addressing all these elements of a consumer’s journey, brands are one step closer to achieving conversions.
Building Relationships and Loyalty
Securing customer loyalty is vital for long-term conversion success, and brands need to communicate the benefits of their loyalty programs clearly. Discounts are a powerful way to reward loyal customers, but to truly stand out, personalized messaging when a customer achieves a milestone or performs a specific action with a brand can make these offers more enticing.
For instance, how you respond when someone abandons their cart or browses without buying can significantly impact customer retention and conversion rates. Once a purchase is made, a simple acknowledgment can go a long way in making customers feel valued.
A MERGE client in the footwear industry, understands how to personalize and reach consumers in a meaningful way. This brand caters to both industry professionals who need durable workwear boots and fashion-conscious individuals who wear these products simply for style.
Marketing to these distinct groups should be tailored to their unique preferences because they use the products differently.
However, it's important to avoid making communications too personal. Use data that customers have willingly provided, such as their first name or birthday, which is common in loyalty programs. Reference past purchases to suggest related products, but avoid overly personal data like specific location unless it's generalized.
For instance, a weather-based trigger isn’t intrusive because it doesn’t pinpoint a customer’s specific location. Instead, it might send an email featuring rain gear when the forecast for the city or town predicts rain. This keeps the personalization relevant but not breaching personal data.
Building lasting customer relationships requires ongoing effort and attention to detail, but the rewards in terms of customer retention and brand loyalty are worth it.
Leveraging Data and Measuring Success
An effective strategy we've implemented with Champion PetFoods involves running paid social ads on Meta. These ads direct consumers back to email, where we then send tailored messages to them. Meta serves as the vehicle to entice people to subscribe, leveraging lookalike audiences from the email program to target the right audience on Meta.
When it comes to metrics, brands should focus on measuring the effectiveness of their personalized SMS or email customer acquisition strategies. Click theory is a technique, particularly in email, where we can see exactly where within an email a customer is clicking.
For example, Wrangler is currently testing adding a subscriber’s first name before product recommendations. This small personalization has produced a significant lift in click-through rates for their email campaigns.
Integration and Emerging Trends
We leverage AI and personalization to enhance our clients’ marketing strategies.
Preventing brand coupon abuse involves leveraging AI tools within email and SMS retail marketing platforms. Coupon abuse occurs when individuals exploit promotional offers beyond their intended use. By producing unique coupon codes for each subscriber, we can avoid this abuse. Our clients, Hobo, Lee, and Wrangler, who are currently testing this strategy, have seen promising results.
Another significant application of AI is determining the optimal time to send emails. Although this feature may not be as developed for SMS, AI analyzes past engagement data to predict the best times to send emails, rather than sending them at the same time every day.
AI also helps create schedules for sending both email and SMS, identifying the right triggers and timing for each channel. Platforms like Salesforce offer AI-driven decisions to determine whether a customer should receive an email or SMS, or both.
In terms of trends, we've found that personalization, like including first names in messages, works particularly well during busy sale periods. Additionally, using terms like "shop early just for text subscribers" instead of simply "VIP" has proven effective. We emphasize the importance of A/B testing personalization elements and ensuring that tests run long enough to provide reliable results.
We also utilize our clients’ platforms, such as ESP’s, CRM systems or CDPs, to leverage data and predictive analytics, helping us stay on top of trends and refine strategies. Moreover, we recommend running tests during normal business periods, not just during sales, to gain accurate insights into regular customer behavior.
*Jenny LeBlang, MERGE Email Strategist, also contributed to this article
The Wrap
By focusing on AI and personalization, retailers and brands can create seamless user experiences that drive customer acquisition and conversions. Embracing these SMS and email retail marketing strategies will position brands for sustained growth in an increasingly competitive digital landscape.
Connect with a MERGE expert today to discover how we can enhance your customer acquisition strategies through optimized SMS and email marketing programs.