Tips for Optimizing SMS Campaigns in Ecommerce

📲 I spent over 5 years in SMS marketing for eCommerce. After analyzing/working on dozens of programs... Here's how I'd approach it from the ground up if I were starting from zero👇 Phase 1: Build the shell 🐢 Set up core behavioral automation & list growth strategies to increase revenue. If you don't get these right, you'll never scale it. - Two-tap opt-in onsite + at checkout to capture subscribers - Welcome Series + set up day 1 two-way messaging expectations w/ subscribers - Abandoned Cart - Browse Abandonment - Post-Purchase ( Educational onboarding and reorder reminders) - Transactional Updates (97% of consumers want these & they are VERY low hanging fruit to drive engagement + revenue. I've seen brands drive $50k/mo from these messages) Phase 2: Add more fuel 🚀 Start leveling up your strategy - Start sending SMS campaigns as your retargeting list grows. Campaigns are great... but remember unsubscribe rates go up a lot and segmentation is your best friend🙂 - Begin behavioral segmentation inside of your automations to personalize messaging/increase relevancy. - Integrate your Customer Service platform to start handling replies (fast if you can)... These are often buying questions that can lead to more sales and happy customers - Test more list growth strategies like adding SMS opt-ins to your order tracking pages, interactive email, package inserts, and test paid ads/influencer funnels that go to SMS funnels Phase 3: Optimization & Conversational 🧪💬 Focus on 2% improvements... - A/B test EVERY automated flow with at least 2 variations per message. Test copy, timing, mms vs sms, personalization, etc... - A/B test your sign-up units. Whether it's behavioral or the look/feel of the sign-up unit... don't settle for one. Let the data tell you what is the top converting path. - A/B test your campaigns. Figure out the best send times for your respective segments, what voice works best for copy, mms vs sms, top converting offers, etc... Don't just test revenue here (think unsubscribe rates, click-through rates, etc...) - Implement 2-way conversational automation across key flows. Look for key moments to engage in more conversations with your customers to build relationships, collect more zero-party data, and deliver personalized content. My favorites are the welcome series and post-purchase... but I've seen cool examples even in places like the abandoned cart to handle objections (we built a whole business off of this at Tone). Bonus: If your vendor does human-powered texting like Concierge or Sales, this might be the time to consider it (only after everything else is in place!). 👉 Great SMS programs are not built overnight. The best programs are built in phases... with constant evaluation, testing, and optimization. Those 2% improvements over time compound and set you up for long-term success and growth. Hmm maybe we should name a podcast about that? 🤔 #smsmarketing #ecommerce

I've generated nearly 9-figures in revenue through SMS Marketing for brands. Here's everything I've learned 👇 1. Avoid sending nurture content. No one wants a 3-paragraph life lesson on text. These messages get the highest unsubscribes in my experience. Save that for your blog or your email list. Use SMS strictly for important messages: – New drops – Low stock alerts – Restocks – Flash sales 2. You don’t need complex SMS systems. The exact SMS setup that generated $500k/mo for a client: We sent an average of 1.5 sms campaigns per week. And we had these simple automations:  – Welcome flow: 3 texts – Site abandon: 1 text – Browse abandon: 1 text – Cart abandon: 1 text – Checkout abandon: 1 text – Winback: 2 texts – Back-in-stock: 2 texts That’s literally it. Don't get overwhelmed, a little bit goes a long ways with sms. 3. SMS is NOT email. You can get away with 4–5 emails a week. With SMS I prefer a max of 2 per week. It’s more intrusive, more expensive, and more risky. If you are scaling hard on acquisition and new traffic, I'm cool with sending daily texts to your non-buyers. But be really careful with your buyer segments. Send to them less often and only on important events. 4. Your texts should be boring as hell Avoid including images, emojis, and long messages Texts with images cost 3x more than without... and they never generate 3x the revenue to justify the increase costs. Keep every message under 160 characters. If you go over 160 characters, you’re charged twice as much. Avoid emojis. They take up 30–50 characters each, eating up your already small amount of character space. With all these restrictions, your messages should be pretty plain. But these plain messages will deliver you the best ROI. 5. Send times – Avoid early mornings (before 10am) – Avoid late nights (after 7:30pm) – Midday (11am–2pm) and post-work (5–6pm) hit best – Flash sale final calls work great at 6:30–7pm Every list is different, but in general these hold true. 6. Pop-up forms need to be done right Don’t ask for phone + email on the same step... that's viewed as too much work for the customer and they will close out of the form. Split your steps. Ask for email first. Then ask for the phone number with copy, “finish signing up with text to activate your discount” Do NOT push for “get SMS-exclusive deals”... The first one feels required. The second one feels optional and will get much lower opt-ins.. Big difference. 7. You don’t need to hyper-segment SMS. There’s no spam folder or deliverability to worry about like you do with email. Just blast your sms list and exclude dead weight (people who haven’t been active on site or clicked in sms in 12 months+). Keep it simple and you'll print.. Final thought: SMS works best when it’s simple. Don't overcomplicate it. Less sends, less segmentation, and only send stuff when it's important. Just tell them what’s dropping and give them the damn link.

8/10 DTC brands I audit have NO clue how to use SMS to generate revenue. Here are 7 things we do to make millions/mo with it: (BOOKMARK THIS) (1) How to Get Opt-Ins Without Being Pushy:   - Checkout Opt-In - Exit Intent Popup - Post-Purchase Flip - Email-to-SMS Bridge ---- (2) SMS Flows Welcome Series (3 texts): - Welcome + intro offer (15% off, valid 7 days)  - "How's your experience with [brand]?" + bestsellers - Urgency reminder (24 hours left on discount) Andoned Cart (2-3 texts): - "You left something behind" + cart link - "Still thinking? Here's 10% off to help." - "Last chance—cart expires in 6 hour.s" Post-Purchase (3 texts): - Order confirmation + tracking - "How to get the most out of [product]" - Cross-sell based on their purchase ---- (3) Content strategy: Value Content (send daily): - Restock notifications - Behind-the-scenes - Product care tips - Customer spotlights Campaign Content (2-3x per week): - New product launches - Flash sales - VIP early access - Limited-time offers ---- (4) Personalization : Generic "Hey [name], here's 20% off" kills loyalty. 4 ways to use personalization: - Purchase-based: "Hey Sarah, your usual [product] is 20% off today." - Behavior-based: "Noticed you browsing our new collection. Here's early access." - Lifecycle-based: "Happy 1-year anniversary as a customer! Here's 10% off." - Geographic: "You're in Chicago. We have local pickup available." ---- (5) Build Two-Way Conversations: Most brands fear replies. But replies are just engagement and feedback that promote relationship building. So you should encourage it: - Ask questions: "What's your biggest skincare challenge?" - Use for support: "Issue with your order? Reply here" - Create polls: "Reply A for [option] or B for [option]" - Actually respond when people text back ---- (6) The Metrics Metrics to track: - Opt-in rate: 10-15% is good - Conversion rate: How many buy after getting SMS - Churn rate: How many unsubscribe - Revenue per subscriber ---- (7) Advanced Tactics - SMS-Exclusive Products: Make subscribers feel special with products they can't get anywhere else - Birthday/Anniversary Campaigns - Pre-Cart Abandonment: If someone viewed a product but didn't add it to the cart, text them. - Cross-Channel Coordination: Let email and SMS work together. ---- Things to avoid: - Treating SMS like email - Bad deliverability setup - Discount addiction - Ignoring replies - No list growth TL;DR SMS is the most personal way to build loyalty with customers who actually want to hear from you. Done right: 40-60% higher LTV than email-only customers.

The power of audience segmenting shines with this retail dispensary. Let’s take a look: A single-location cannabis store in an industrial area struggled with low foot traffic and inconsistent SMS marketing. The goal was to increase customer visits and basket sizes. The strategy: 👉 Consistent Messaging i.e. Scheduled SMS twice weekly for midweek deals and weekend promotions. 👉 Segmentation i.e. Focused on recent buyers (last 30 days) and win-back campaigns for lapsed customers. Created category segments for each win-back campaign, further targeting based on preferred purchasing habits. Results: ✅ SMS Database Growth: +372% organically. ✅ Website Traffic: +122%, with new visitors up 90% and returning visitors up 101%. ✅ Social Media Engagement: Impressions grew 607%, followers 205%. Takeaways: ✅ Consistency in communication drives engagement. ✅ Targeted messaging reduces opt-outs and re-engages lapsed customers. ✅ Collaboration between marketing and retail teams is essential for success. Smart, consistent, and personalized SMS campaigns can transform customer engagement and retail performance. For 2025, I encourage you all to look through your contact lists and see how you can make them work more for you. The next big win could come through with just a touch more organization. #casestudy #smsmarketing

SMS can be hard to crack for Shopify brands. Here are my favorite 3 SMS angles every brand should use: 1) Target by weather in certain areas ☀️ SMS works well when you personalize your messages properly. 👉 Hot day in Houston? Promote your swim trunks 🩳 👉 Cold day in New York? Promote your new arrivals for winter ❄️ 👉 Rainy day in Chicago? Promote your water-repelling jackets 🧥 Give people a reason to buy your products at a time they need them most. 2) Time of day/month/year Get more specific than just holidays or the time of year. 👉 Send a nighttime SMS promoting your pajamas 🌃 👉 Send an SMS on Monday morning promoting your coffee ☕️ 👉 Send an afternoon SMS promoting a "lunch special" discount 🍔 👉 Send an SMS on Thursday night about your alcoholic beverages 🍻 Again... think about when your customers would want/need your products most. 3) Location Get your audience's attention by mentioning their location. (No, don't call them out by their home address). Just mention key buzzwords or slang to make your messaging stand out: 👉 Tennessee = moonshine, whiskey, Broadway, Smoky Mountains 👉 Chicago = Navy Pier, Lake Michigan, cold weather, Windy City 👉 New York = $1 pizza, the subway, Empire State Building SMS offers more ways to get personal with your customers. Make the most out of your 160 characters.

Text is one of the most powerful customer channels—but only if you respect the inbox. But I’ve seen too many brands fumble texting—not because the channel doesn’t work (spoiler alert: it is your most effective channel), but because the approach doesn't.    Decreasing opt out rate is often one of the first things we talk about with customers, and after making sure consent and clean lists are buttoned up, we start talking about the content.   When I work with customers on optimizing their content to decrease opt out rates, here's the general framework I turn to: 1️⃣ Relevance – If YOU want to say it, don't text it. If THEY need to hear it, text it. Flip the script and think about what your consumer needs to hear. This is the hardest to get right, because we are wired to think about what we want to say. 2️⃣ Cognitive load – Less is more. Keep it short and make the CTA crystal clear to reduce the risk of decision paralysis hindering an action. 3️⃣ Trust – Use every opportunity you have to snowball trust. Start by sending your logo, then send a virtual contact card -- so consumers trust that you are who you say you are, every time.   🚫 Less noise. ✅ More impact.    The difference between “ugh, spam” and “oh, thanks” is just a few smart choices.

After analyzing 1.5B texts from 2023, 1 insight is obvious. Brands are sending too many + too few texts at the same time. How? Some quick context stats. Flows account for 50% of SMS Rev  but only 7% of messages. That means 1.4B/1.5B texts were Campaigns. The biggest ? I had looking into the data… Who are all those campaigns going to? The short answer: too many campaigns are sent to too many subs who aren’t ready to buy. I broke down the ROAS + CPO of messages/month. + accounted for Seasonality by Vertical. ROAS was highest & CPO was lowest in 3 months: - November - August - May What are super important events during those time periods? - BFCM - Back to School - Mother’s/Memorial day The takeaways: - SMS is a high-value channel. Save it. - SMS is a conversion channel. Push it more in peak periods. - SMS is a guaranteed open channel. Use it wisely. Too many customers are getting your texts when they aren’t ready to buy. That might be fine, but you’re wasting budget. Instead: Send fewer Texts to customers in slow periods. 👉 + send more in busy periods. If ROAS is high and CPO is low, that means 1 thing. You’re leaving Profitable Rev on the table. When it's the opposite. You're blowing your budget. Want to learn more insights on how to get more from your SMS program by doing less? Check out the report I built w/ Yotpo in the comments. The wonderful Tina Donati + I spent 3 mos cutting up ~$1B in SMS Sales. To figure out what’s driving higher returns… Not higher budgets. You’ll also RSVP for the webinar next week with Gabe & Hilary where we break down the best tactics. #shopify #yotpopartner

SMS marketing is not ‘mass spam'... It’s the easiest way to get in front of people who get flooded with emails. Especially when it's timely. And the #1 cardinal rule of SMS marketing: Don’t spam. Instead of “Sale ends tonight, hurry!” Try “Your favorite hoodie is back in stock. Tap to see new colors!” Instead of blasting “Buy Now” texts, think: • Send a 1 liner insight • Drop a curious angle about their abandoned carts • Offer a quick test: “Reply YES if you’re curious about scaling beyond Black Friday deals” Personalization + relevancy = less unsubscribes, more conversions. SMS is an important channel in ecommerce, you just have to treat it with care.

ATTN Agency has driven over $50M in attributable revenue for brand with SMS in 2023. And when I audit accounts, there are a handful of common mistakes I see over and over again… Here are 3 SMS mistakes that are costing your brand sales right now: 1) Over-communicating. Simply put, people don’t want to hear from you everyday — especially your unengaged subscribers. There’s a communication sweet spot in SMS, and the reality is, it’s different for each brand. But the point is this: Customers only have one phone number, so picking your spots on when to communicate is crucial. Plus, you likely pay per message you send — so making the most of each one directly helps your bottom line. 2) Only communicating when you have a promo. On the flip side of that, you can’t only communicate when you want to promote something. SMS is a one-to-one communication medium. You’re talking directly to one person. Your goal needs to be finding out what this person is interested in, and sending tailored content based on those preferences. And this can be done through quizzes, games, or straight up asking the customer what their preferences are. The point is this: Only sending this person promos does nothing to build a real relationship with them. Which brings me to my next point: 3) Not prioritizing conversational, two-way messaging. If your customer can scroll through your SMS conversations with them and only see messages from you, you’ve done SMS wrong. The point is to drive engagement, create hype, and build connection with your audience. And this comes back to 2 way messaging. It’s more of a conversation, and less of a broadcast. Here’s a dead simple way to do this: Design a quiz, game, or product preferences message with various options — and simply ask the customer to respond to the message with a 1, 2, 3 (and so on). This lets you gather data on what they like, as well as make them feel engaged and interested in what your brand has to offer. Here’s a great example of this from La Colombe Coffee (pictured below!) That’s it! If you have any other great techniques to drive SMS engagement, be sure to share them in the comments! And if you want more tips on crafting a high-converting SMS strategy, be sure to follow me Andrew Buckley.