The importance of a good retail communication strategy cannot be understated. While there is no shortage of platforms to use, when communicating information that needs to reach customers in a timely manner certain platforms are better than others.
Are your customers really reading your posts?
Read rates show that only 12% of Facebook posts and 20% of emails are read, compare this to a staggering 98% for SMS. Also factor in the average time to open SMS’s stand at 3 minutes and 384 minutes for email. SMS is therefore an invaluable weapon in your communication arsenal.
What is a retailer’s SMS Strategy like?
SMS can be used to increase footfall at your store, announcing a limited time offer over real time message can easily direct your customers to your store. Aside from using SMS to push promotional alerts, it can be used in several other ways. Making product announcements, drawing attention to special events are few other possibilities. If you run an online store for your business, communicating purchase and delivery information to your customers via SMS would greatly help too. Additionally, SMS surveys can be a great way to obtain essential feedback and keep track of it. You can also use SMS in your staff management system. This can be used to send employees shift reminders, schedule confirmations and more.
How do you collect customer data?
To integrate SMS into your business’s communication strategy it is essential to start off by collecting customer data and giving them the option to opt into receiving SMS’s from your business. Usually retailers ask customers to fill a form for this after they make a purchase at their store. Giving your customers a suitable incentive for this always proves to be more effective. A one-time incentive like a 10% discount on the next purchase is common. But a more successful method to get customers to really want to opt in is by tapping into their desire to receive exclusive benefits on a continuous basis. By using SMS as a sole means of communication to inform your customers about time sensitive offers you can create a greater buzz around your business.
How do you use SMS for personalized communication?
Personal communication between a business and its customers is of particular importance as it goes a long way in building and strengthening customer relations. This can be as simple as following up with a customer on an item that wasn’t in stock and informing them when it’s available or more dedicated like sending them personalized offers on their birthday. You can be creative with how you would like to personalize your business’s communication.
From a financial perspective, bulk SMS will not cost you much and can bring about far greater returns. Integrating SMS to your CRM system has the potential to revolutionize it with all the advantages SMS has to offer and as mentioned earlier it can be deployed in staff management systems as well. As a retailer, you might want to review your SMS strategy and examine if you have made the best use of it and explore how you can utilize it further.
