When you’re running an e-commerce website, driving steady traffic to your website is key. One simple way that you can increase your web traffic is with an SMS marketing campaign. In 2021, a study found that Australians spend an average of 5.5 hours on their phone per day! With consumers spending so much time on their mobile phones, text messages are a very effective way to connect with them and funnel them to your website. If you’re new to SMS marketing, creating the right text messages can take some trial and error. Here are some tips to help you develop captivating messages that encourage recipients to visit your website.

Take Advantage of SMS Integrations

A great place to start is by integrating your SMS campaign with the digital platforms you already use. SMSGlobal offers 99 different integrations with popular platforms like Shopify, HubSpot, and many others. Making use of these integrations can help you send text messages automatically to keep engagement up. For example, when you integrate with Shopify, you can automatically send welcome messages, shipment confirmations, abandoned cart notifications, new product updates, and more. Regular communication with your customers creates an authentic connection and encourages them to revisit your website. Integrating with the apps you already use makes this process much easier and allows you to send more messages with less effort.

Include Links In Every Message

The best SMS marketing campaigns make it easy for recipients to go directly to your website. As of 2021, the average human attention span is just eight seconds, which means that you need to capture their attention right away. If you don’t include a link to your website in each message, your recipients will likely get distracted and move on to something else. Luckily, it’s very easy to include hyperlinks in your text messaging campaign. Both SMS and MMS campaigns support hyperlinks that go directly to the page you want to promote. If you’re already using specific landing pages for different segments of your customer base, you can link directly to them to increase your conversion rate. Many people are wary of including links in their SMS messages because of the limited number of characters available. You can use a URL shortener to condense your link and make it fit in your text message to solve this problem. Some URL shorteners even allow you to create cute and catchy links that reflect your businesses’ personality.

Use A Call To Action

Keeping your text messages short and sweet is very important. However, you also need to communicate clearly with your customers to get the results you’re looking for. This often means including a call to action rather than just including the link with no context. Don’t be afraid to tell your recipients exactly what you want them to do - in this case, click on the link and visit your website! Even a short piece of text such as “click here to see our latest sales” can be helpful. It lets the user know what they are clicking on and the benefit of visiting your website.

Leverage Your Social Media Following

If you’ve already built a big following on social media platforms like Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or Twitter, you can transform that following into a larger SMS marketing list. To do this, make a post on your most popular social media platform with a phone number and opt-in code to join your SMS list.
Don’t be afraid to add colourful graphics and fun copy to each social media post to make them stand out. You should also share the benefits of signing up for your text message lists, such as exclusive deals, new product alerts, and more. By increasing the number of people receiving your text message list, you’ll eventually drive a larger volume of traffic to your site. You may even be able to turn new social media followers into new customers.

Send New Product Alerts

You put so much effort into developing new products and services for your business, but you’ll need to put just as much effort into making sure your audience sees them. Text messages are a very effective way to communicate about new products because they feel personal and detailed. You can even add photos or videos of your products with MMS messaging. Many businesses send their new product alerts via email or social media messaging, but this can often get lost in the shuffle. Consumers are bombarded with emails every day and often have difficulty keeping up. 95 percent of text messages are opened three minutes after receiving them, while email has a total open rate of just 20 percent. This makes texting a better option for companies looking to stand out from the crowd.

Include Text-Only Coupons

One of the best things about text message marketing is that it builds a very personal connection with users and can make them feel special. To enhance this experience, consider implementing text-only coupons for customers on your SMS list. You can use these messages to share information about exclusive sales, products, and events that other customers don’t have access to. Because these offers are exclusive, they create a sense of luxury and prestige. They also create a sense of urgency, which prompts the reader to take advantage of this deal quickly. This drives more traffic to your website while making customers feel valued.

Provide Custom Recommendations

With all of the incredible marketing tools, we have available these days, it is easier than ever to create customised text messaging campaigns. Not all of your customers are alike, which means that not all of your text messages should be alike either. Consider implementing custom recommendations based on your previous interactions with each customer. After a customer makes a purchase, you can send them a follow-up text with recommendations for accessories or add-ons. If your customer has an item sitting in their cart that they haven’t followed up with, you can send a recommendation text with a link back to their cart as well as other items they might like. This type of SMS message can be very effective because it takes the user’s previous behaviour and preferences into account. It feels more authentic and engaging than seeing a generic advertisement and encourages users to take action quickly.

Ask For Feedback

Surveys are another great way to get your customers engaged and push them toward your website. After your customers have made a purchase, used your service, or interacted with you in some way, consider sending them a text message survey to ask about their experience. Sending out a survey shows your customers that you value their opinions and experiences and that you are committed to improving in the future. It also can provide your business with very helpful feedback that you can use to succeed even more in the future. On top of that, sending out a survey is a great way to drive traffic to your website. While you can complete the survey entirely via text message, you can also send them a link to take the survey on your website. Tools like Google Forms allow you to set up forms online without much effort. Once your customer is finished taking the survey, they will already be on your website, making it easy for them to browse even more products.

Implement A Referral Program

Sometimes your existing customers can also be your best marketing tools. If you have a very loyal base of repeat customers, consider implementing a text-based referral program. With this type of program, each customer gets a unique referral link that they can text directly to their friends, family, and other contacts. When one of their contacts uses that link, your existing customer will earn some sort of perk. These loyalty points typically go towards free items or a discount off their next purchase but don’t be afraid to get creative with your incentives. By linking rewards to your text message referrals, you’re encouraging your existing customers to spread the word about your company. The more referral links you can send out, the more traffic you can potentially drive to your website. The advantage of using this strategy is that your customers are likely going to share their referral links with friends and family with who they share common interests. This means they also have a high likelihood of being within your target demographic.

Increasing Web Traffic With SMS Marketing

One of the best things about SMS marketing is that there are so many different strategies you can use so that you can choose the best option for your business. Contact SMSGlobal today to set up your new text message marketing campaign! If you’re not already using SMS marketing, now is a great time to start texting your customers and boosting your online engagement.