These days, businesses look for different ways to engage with their consumers and build long-lasting, healthy relationships. Gone are the days when SMS was just a promotional tool. Today, the scenario is totally changed. Businesses use SMS marketing to send automated messages to their prospects to keep them engaged for a longer time.

These automated SMS campaigns are popularly known as SMS drip campaigns, which are similar to email drip campaigns. However, text messages have an open rate of 98%, whereas emails have an open rate of 20%.

Let us understand drip SMS automation using the following simple formula.

Automated + personalized text messages = not missing a single opportunity + delightful consumer experience.

Drip SMS automation lets you be on top of your consumers' actions and deliver on-time messages to drive more sales and retain consumers. It will also increase consumer lifetime value.

This blog will discuss drip SMS automation for e-commerce along with its pros, cons, and examples. So, without further ado, let's dive into it.

What is drip SMS automation?

First of all, let us understand what a drip campaign is. It is the scheduled set of emails or text messages or, in simple terms, automated communications. The drip campaigns get activated whenever your subscribers perform specific actions like viewing products on your online store or adding products to the cart.

In the SMS drip campaign, a sequence of automated text messages is sent through the SMS. This approach helps you quickly engage with your consumers with customized content to build personalized, solid connections.

What are the advantages of SMS drip automation in e-commerce?

SMS drip automation is an effective and efficient communication strategy that offers various benefits. As per the study, 69% of customers prefer to connect with businesses through SMS, and 86% of SMBs believe that SMS automation offers improved consumer engagement compared to email marketing.

However, only creating drip SMS automation is not enough; you must offer an exceptional consumer experience to increase engagement and build genuine consumer connections.

Here are a few benefits that automated SMS drip campaigns can offer.

1.     Improved Engagement Rate

Automated SMS drip campaigns are an effective marketing tool that runs on autopilot. Therefore, you can communicate with your target audience consistently and promptly. Besides, there is a higher chance that consumers will open text messages than email. So, it will let you result in higher engagement, open, and click-through rates than email. As per the study, with each passing year, SMS conversion rates have increased by 102% for eCommerce businesses. Therefore, you are making a serious mistake if you are not collecting customers' phone numbers.

 

2.     Save Time & Efforts

When you go for drip SMS automation, you need to spend less time managing these campaigns. It will boost productivity and efficiency. Let's understand it better through examples. You can set up automatic message replies for a few events in the buyer's journey, such as welcome messages, delivery notifications, birthday greetings, discount offer notifications, order confirmation messages, etc. In short, automated SMS campaigns need little to no manual intervention, so you can focus more on the other important tasks of your business.

3.     Better Consumer Control

When it comes to drip SMS automation, it delivers a tailored and consent-driven consumer experience. Therefore, customers can have complete control over their engagement with the brand. Besides, consumers can easily opt-in or out of receiving brand messages.

So, customers can engage with businesses on their own terms, which can lead to increased trust and loyalty. Brands can experience increased engagement and drive sales through highly targeted drip SMS automated campaigns.

 

4.     Increased ROI

Drip SMS automation improves the consumer experience by sending personalized content to the targeted audience at the right time. It helps nurture leads and drive more sales.  

Increased consumer experience leads to improved ROI.

Through automated SMS drip campaigns, brands can send scheduled messages at specific intervals and encourage leads to take some action. This approach will save you valuable time and effort, and there is a high chance that your leads will convert into high-paying customers.

5.     More Touchpoints

In automated SMS drip campaigns, you can automate the process of sending text messages at specific intervals. So, it will increase touchpoints, and there is a high chance that consumers will read your message and engage with your brand.

 More touch points = high chances of strong consumer relationships

 It will motivate consumers to take action, which can result in higher conversion rates.

 Higher conversion rates = Increased ROI

 So, if you are searching for an effective marketing technique to connect with the target audience and drive more sales, you should consider the SMS drip automation campaign.

 

What are the best practices for building SMS drip automation campaigns for e-commerce businesses?

Here are the best practices/tips that you need to follow while building a drip SMS automation campaign.

• First, understand your target audience by segmenting them by gender, demographics, interactions, and behaviors. Based on it, send them personalized messages to increase engagement.
• After that, get consent from consumers before sending them an SMS.
• Decide on the drip SMS campaign's objectives, such as conversion, lead nurturing, consumer retention, or something else.
• Once the objective is clear, it's time to create customized, compelling messages that suit your audience. Include a clear CTA in the message.
• After that, test the various elements of the drip SMS campaign, such as content, message timing, and frequency. Then you should optimize the campaign based on performance metrics such as conversions and open rates.
• Now, implement the automation and make sure the messages are delivered on time and consistently.
• In the next step, based on your audience's preferences and behaviors, send them messages.
• Keep monitoring performance metrics and, based on them, refine and optimize the campaign. So you can enjoy better results.

How can you set up an SMS drip campaign for your online store?

You can set up a drip SMS automation campaign by following these steps.

• First, you need to identify the SMS campaign type, such as lead nurturing, conversion, product promotion, etc., and based on it, customize your strategy.
• After that, it's time to find out the right audience base. You can segment them according to preferences, demographics, and behaviors and craft tailored messages for them.
• Now, use SMS marketing software that can help you achieve your SMS campaign goals by letting you create automated workflows. It will send SMS to the right audience at the right time.
• After that, you can select the automation workflow and craft clear, concise, and compelling messages based on your audience's needs and interests.
• Once you launch the drip SMS automation, you must measure and optimize the campaign based on performance metrics like conversions, click-through rates, and open rates. Review the campaign regularly and refine your strategy to achieve better results.

Where can you use an SMS drip campaign?

For your eCommerce business, you can use drip SMS automation for the following use cases. We have covered a few types of automated SMS drip campaigns here. You can customize it as per your requirements.

1. Order Confirmation

Here is an SMS template that you can use to confirm the order.

Confirmed: Thank You For Your Shopping On [your business name]. We are preparing your order, and it is expected to be delivered by [date] – Team [your business name]

2. Shipping Confirmation

Team [your business name]: Hey, [consumer name], Your order has shipped! We hope you loved it. Contact us if you have any queries: [link]

3. Welcome Message

[Business name]: Glad We are an official text partner now. Welcome to [business name]. Here is your first 10% off coupon code [code]. To activate, click here [link]. Happy shopping!

4. Lead nurturing/ Abandoned cart recovery.

Hello [lead name], We have noticed you added the [product name] to your cart and filled in all the details. However, you didn't purchase it. So, complete the purchase. Is there anything else that we can help you with?

[website link]

Checkout

Conclusion

In summary, drip SMS automation is powerful and works well for e-commerce brands. Although we live in the 21st century, text messaging is still one of the most preferred communication methods.

Employing drip SMS automation can help you connect with your consumers directly and let you build lasting relationships with them. SMS drip campaigns are an effective way to engage with consumers and drive more sales. However, you should properly set them up. It requires proper planning and execution. So, to create a customized and successful SMS drip campaign, visualize your consumer journey and analyze touchpoints where you want to engage them. You can use automation tools to streamline the entire process and deliver timely messages. Therefore, use such tools to automate your SMS campaigns and establish a long-lasting relationship with your consumers.

Featured image by Daria Nepriakhina ?? on Unsplash