Holiday shopping has become an integral part of our holiday experience. For retail businesses, it’s an intense period when all efforts should be directed to catch the attention of possible prospects or current clients.
However, the customs of modern shoppers have changed. Lockdowns pushed people to online shopping, giving a significant boost to mobile purchases. The usage of email campaigns increased as well.
As inboxes become full and new emails cause mostly annoyance than real interest, entrepreneurs and marketers need to leverage other channels to reach out to the customers and ensure that their messages will be read.
SMS has turned into an efficient medium that enables quick delivery and high open rates. We collected the main approaches to SMS for holiday campaigns, how you can gain the most from holiday text messages and how to create an SMS campaign that increases sales during the holiday season.
So, why should you dedicate efforts to preparing holiday SMS text messages? The answer is quite easy: seasonal campaigns are a great source to generate new leads and increase sales.
Any holiday season is a time when customers are susceptible to special offers and promotional info, especially if it correlates with their needs and the items they are looking for.
Basically, we would say that by preparing holiday campaigns, you are killing two birds with one stone: firstly, you increase your chances to attract more customers, secondly, with well-tailored messages, you might help your clients to navigate shopping activities easily.
SMS channel shows a lot of benefits over others. In its nature, SMS messages are short, catchy, and don’t overload recipients with sales info like email newsletters. It’s a quick interaction, and hence, there is a bigger chance that your client or prospect will read it and follow the call to action.
To set up a campaign for SMS holiday messages, you need to take care of two major aspects: a technical platform that will ensure the delivery of the messages to final recipients and smart content that will catch the eye of customers and will push them to make a purchase.
To achieve this goal, you may choose different SMS strategies and leverage them for your marketing. It might be a good idea to try several approaches and tailor certain campaigns for certain audiences, depending on their interests, demographics, their previous experience with your brand, etc.
Here are some examples of such strategies that created a lot of SMS marketing success stories:
The process of launching a holiday SMS message campaign consists of several steps. Let’s look through them.
So let’s discuss the precise dates and holidays you might use to send “happy holidays” SMS messages.
Birthday is one of the most obvious landmarks you might use to interact with your clients. Moreover, you might use not only his or her birthday but, for example, their children's, if you are selling toys or other products for kids.
Leverage the data you know about the client (the most common purchases, for example) to create a custom offer instead of common congratulation.
Anniversaries are occasions you might determine as you want and hence, leverage, as you like. The first interaction of the client with your business, whether it’s the first purchase, the first trip, the first day of subscription, or the day of joining the loyalty program, may be used to remind customers about yourself.
Veterans Day is celebrated in the United States on November, 11, honoring military veterans. This holiday would be relevant for businesses selling military-themed products, and hunting and fishing retailers. Restaurants, souvenir shops, and other businesses that can provide products or services for the celebration might also offer some incentives to mark the occasion.
Thanksgiving is a big deal for the United States, so no business can allow themselves to miss this opportunity. It is not only a great time of year to congratulate and wish the best to your customers, but to promote your company and increase the flow of clients.
Worldwide, Black Friday has become one of the biggest events in the autumn. People are getting prepared for it, determine beforehand what products they are interested in, and follow brands they like.
You might leverage such an opportunity and create real hype around your Black Friday sales through SMS chains. Share the discounts you plan, send reminders about the upcoming event, and use all your creativity to be in the customers' spotlight during Black Friday.
Christmas is another holiday you should get prepared in advance, as your customers start Christmas shopping beforehand as well. Help them find perfect gifts for their family and friends, offer incentives to make them choose your products over your competitors’ don't be shy with holiday wishes, and translate the holiday mood that flies in the air.
Christmas is also a time of miracles, hence, it would be a great time to go beyond commercial purposes and launch charitable actions too. Ask your clients to join your charitable campaign and donate to non-governmental organizations along with your business.
The New Year's Eve campaign might be a logical extension of your Christmas one. Congratulate your customers, maybe even gift them a present (coupon, discount, gift card, another incentive) to win their loyalty and ensure that they continue using your services and products next year.
Whatever campaign you decide to launch and whatever happy holidays SMS you decide to send, a significant part of your success depends on the SMS provider you choose.
There are a lot of services on the market, as the SMS channel has been popular for many years. So, how to choose the one SMS partner who will be able to provide high quality and cater to all your needs? We suggest considering the next points before making a final decision.
Of course, your selection heavily depends on the budget you can allocate for SMS marketing. Usually, companies provide different pricing plans with different volumes, sometimes even custom solutions, so you can choose an optimal option for optimal money. However, don’t make price the main factor here, as prices below average might say about unreliable delivery.
SMS providers are your middle person between mobile carriers that serve the mobile numbers of your clients. They might cooperate with other providers, hence, adding other third-party companies to the link. Choose providers who work directly with mobile network operators, as it gives a bigger chance of reliable services and high delivery rates.
Some issues and disruption may arise, especially with such an intense industry as telecommunication. An efficient and round-of-clock support team is a must-have for a good provider. As for a client, a strong support team also means low downtime of services, confidence in their partner, and an overall positive experience from SMS marketing.
A good provider should be able to cater to your needs, even if they grow in the future (and they probably will). Ensure that the SMS vendor has capacities and experience supporting the growth of your volumes and that you won’t have any issues with deliverability and regulations while scaling up.
Take some time to research the market and learn your options. Check and evaluate different offers, and talk to the company’s managers. You might also want to talk to your current email marketing tools provider: it might be possible that they offer SMS solutions as well.
There are a lot of holiday greeting options for SMS, and it would be unwise to miss them. Creating a holiday SMS campaign is a great way to boost your sales, expand your client base, and strengthen your brand appearance.
SMS marketing might become a game-changer for your business during the holiday season, and we suggest you not miss this chance!
Subscribe to us and you will know about our latest updates and events as just they will be presented
