How to Cut Through the Noise and Boost Conversions With SMS Marketing for Black Friday (BFCM Series Part 3)

It’s not long now until BFCM and it seems many brands are still trying to lockdown the finer details of their marketing schedule. Sound familiar? We’ve already covered some great email marketing tips in part 2 of our BFCM blog series. Be sure to give it a read if you’re looking to get your email marketing plan nailed. In this blog we’re going to build upon that and cover how you can incorporate SMS marketing for Black Friday — to drive more sales across the BFCM weekend. Pssst… these text marketing tips are designed to compliment your email marketing (not replace it). Why SMS for Black Friday? Text messages are amazing for cutting through the noise and actually getting read. And if there’s one downside to the Black Friday rush, it’s that every other man and his well-groomed dog are trying to promote their sale at the same time. With stats like these, SMS is becoming a no-brainer…

• SMS has 8 times the click-through rate of email
• 90% of text messages are read within 3 minutes

The top 3 (last-minute) ways to grow your SMS list for Black Friday

If you’re late to the party in growing your SMS database — fear not — there’s still time to get some good momentum before Black Friday. And the good news is, you don’t need to have a massive list to get some great results with text message marketing. As we discussed in our recent case study, SMS subscribers tend to be your most engaged customers! Your goal is to get your best customers on your SMS list and send them offers they’d be annoyed if they missed out on. With that in mind, here are 3 quick ways to get your SMS list growing before BFCM.

1. Send a hype campaign encouraging people to sign up for Black Friday early access

Black Friday is already on the mind of your customers, so why not offer them a chance to be first to shop? This can be a great incentive for joining your text marketing list. You can send out an email campaign inviting your subscribers to join your “VIP text list” to be first in line once your Black Friday sale kicks off. For customers that are eagerly awaiting your sale, this should be a simple “oh heck yes!”. Pro tip: you’ll also want to exclude people that are already on your SMS list from this campaign.

2. Add SMS capture to your existing data capture forms

This strategy is such a quick and easy win for your store. Simply add an SMS form to your existing email data capture forms. And if you’re worried about impacting your email opt-in conversion rate, fear not… if you add your SMS fields on the second stage (as a multi-step form) people won’t see your SMS opt-in until they’ve already signed up for email.

3. Add SMS consent at checkout for your store

Another quick win is to set up the option for customers to give SMS consent at checkout. During the buying process customers are hyper-engaged with your brand and it can be the perfect time to take the relationship to the next level!

The first text — kick off your Black Friday early access with SMS

Now for the fun part… announcing your BFCM sale has begun! If you’ve decided to give your SMS subscribers early access — receiving your text should make their day.

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You’ll want to make your message exciting and (of course) don’t forget to include your offer link as well as any required coupon codes. Something like this perhaps…  “It’s finally time! Your early access is open — simply enter code HAPPYBFCM for 30% off our entire site! happystore.com/BFCM” If you have a loyalty program in place this could be tiered access (with your top loyalty members getting access before your lower level members). This is a great way to encourage future involvement in your loyalty program — as people can see the clear benefits of shopping more frequently with your brand and climbing the tiers.

The follow-up — send your SMS Black Friday sale reminder

You may also want to consider sending out another SMS sale reminder. As we’ve mentioned SMS should compliment your email marketing efforts, not replace them. So we don’t want to over-do it (even during BFCM). Remembering our golden rule (send your best customers messages they actually want) this SMS reminder could be extremely helpful for most loyal shoppers. Perhaps they’ve been distracted with all the other offers bombarding their inbox during the BFCM weekend, and forgotten about your sale? This final text message could be…

• 12 hours before your BFCM sale ends
• Once your Cyber Monday sale kicks off
• Or any other time that makes sense for your promotion cycle

Maximize conversions with abandoned checkout SMS reminders

With more customers flooding to your store, the Black Friday weekend is sure to also be a time of high abandonment at checkout. So this can be a great time to introduce a simple cart abandonment SMS flow. With your customers’ email inbox likely to be flooded with email offers from other brands, setting up a basic SMS abandonment flow will help you cut through the noise and salvage more carts! Here at Andzen, we specialise in creating customised multi-channel marketing campaigns. We can help you integrate your email marketing with new channels (like SMS or Messenger). If you’re ready to level-up your customer journey, reach out and book in a free (no-obligation) chat with one of our eCommerce experts today!