SMS Your Way to Loyalty: Brands Tap Into Texting To Boost Revenue

The holiday shopping season showed the power of personalised mobile messaging for brands, writes Anup Khera, VP and GM of International at Attentive. In his latest article, Khera discusses how European brands are increasingly turning to SMS marketing to drive revenue and build customer loyalty.

The results of the most recent Cyber Week showed how truly consumer shopping behaviour has changed. No longer limited to in-store shopping, mobile shopping contributed to more than half of online sales during BFCM, hitting new highs. As consumers can now shop wherever they are, this also means an influx of marketing as brands compete for shopper’s attention.

Brands can no longer rely on traditional marketing channels, such as email, as performance has waned and consumers have heightened expectations for interactive experiences. Personalisation is now table stake and customers expect a two-way relationship with their favourite brands. With 88% of UK consumers sharing with us that they’re interested in or have already signed up for text messaging from brands, more and more brands are launching text message marketing programmes, allowing them to strengthen relationships with their consumers through two-way, personalised mobile communication in real-time.

When used strategically, SMS marketing is a powerful channel that can convert browsers into buyers. Through advanced preference-collection and segmentation features, SMS allows brands to connect with and engage the right subscribers with the right message at the right time. By tapping into subscribers’ behaviours such as browsing history, purchase history, frequency and average order value, marketers can directly tailor their messages to appeal to the individual subscriber, keeping customers loyal – and buying from – the brand via text.

We saw the success of the channel in our own Cyber Week data, as Attentive drove over £29 million in online revenue for UK brands, up 146% from last year. Consumers also wanted to hear from brands by text message, as there was an over 400% increase in new SMS subscribers, compared to last year.

Brands such as Monsoon, Emma the Sleep Company, Charlotte Tilbury, and Astrid & Miyu are all great examples of brands using SMS to drive better engagement and revenue with their customers. Many of them are also testing and seeing results with our AI product that not only results in higher engagement, but also saves valuable time for marketers by streamlining copy creation workflows.

As we head into 2024, the brands who can deliver relevant, tailored mobile commerce experiences will come out on top – giving consumers the experience they crave, while supporting them through the buying journey.