How to Use Email and Social to Increase Your SMS Subscribers

SMS Cross-Channel Digital Marketing Campaigns

As the old and wise saying goes, “there’s no I in team”, which is the approach we are suggesting you take with your marketing channels. While all marketing channels have their strengths, in this post we’ll be covering how you can implement your other channels to grow your SMS subscribers. 

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How to Grow Your SMS List Through Other Marketing Channels

Compared to the ol’ reliables (aka email and social), SMS may be the new kid on the block when it comes to eCommerce marketing. But SMS has the capability to cut through the noise, be hyper-personalized, and actually get opened and seen by your customers. 

As you hone your brand’s SMS strategy, it’s important to harness cross-channel campaigns. Each channel can feed into one another, creating a flywheel that ultimately spurs more conversions. 

Here are some ideas for leveraging SMS across your other marketing channels:

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Social Media

Social commerce allows consumers to purchase a product or service without having to leave their social platform of choice: Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, etc. The idea is to capture your consumers where they live and play, when they’re at the peak of their excitement over a product.

So, how can you naturally place SMS opt-ins into your social strategy? 

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Position your SMS subscribers as VIPs

If you have a new product launch or sale coming up, mention that text subscribers will be able to shop the sale or products first. If you share on your stories or ask people to follow the link in your bio, you will want to use your SMS platform's social link to make it a seamless process for customers to sign up. For example, when Voyage Deep Link is used on a mobile device, a text message automatically opens that allows them to opt-in to your SMS list. 

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SMS posts

Periodically, have designated posts or stories asking people to sign up for SMS with some kind of incentive or discount.

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Get creative

You can ask customers a quiz question through social and text the right answer to you to receive a discount code. Offer sizing questions or services through text. Or offer the perfect gift guide through text where customers select who they are shopping for and products are recommended to them. Don’t be afraid to get creative with it! 

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Paid Advertising

Harness the power of your targeted ads to test SMS acquisition outside of your existing net of subscribers. Consider advertising tools like Facebook lead ads to capture new SMS audiences. 

Another paid advertising avenue is to use influencer marketing to increase your reach to new audiences and convert them into subscribers. Similar to your owned social strategy, you can ask influencers to share your SMS sign-up with their followers with an incentive. 

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Email Marketing 

There’s a great opportunity to cross-promote SMS opt-in opportunities to your brand’s existing email subscribers - and vice versa. Offer your email subscribers an opportunity for a more personalized experience by signing up for SMS updates. Incorporate SMS opt-in at email opt-in points to garner new subscribers.

For example, if a customer signs up for a back-in-stock email for a product, in that confirmation email, you could add a CTA along the lines of “Check your texts more often? Sign up for back-in-stock texts, so you are the first to know when this is back!” 

During a promotion or sale, balance communicating with customers on both channels thoughtfully. Play with the timing of email and texts to capture attention. Entice email subscribers to sign up for the generally more effective SMS channel by sharing exclusive discounts for SMS subscribers. This could be as simple as having a CTA in your emails saying, “Want 10% off? Sign up for our texts!” 

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SMS Best Practices 

SMS is an incredibly powerful marketing tool. With 98% open rates and the exceptional success brands have seen (check out some SMS success stories here), it’s a no-brainer for eCommerce brands to cultivate and grow their SMS program. 

SMS cross-channel marketing campaigns is just one topic we cover in our new guide—The Definitive SMS Marketing Guide. In the guide, we cover everything about SMS, from the optimal candidate for managing your program to setting up a successful acquisition channel, all the way through benchmarks, best practices, and stellar campaign examples.

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To learn more about SMS best practices and more, download the Definitive SMS Marketing Guide today!