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eCommerce: Texting works, just don’t be annoying

Guess what? Texting customers doesn’t have to be icky.

In fact, according to a new study, abandoned cart texts encouraged 38% of shoppers to complete their purchases.

It’s OK to ring

More than half of the shoppers surveyed said that receiving a WhatsApp or SMS remarketing message helped them to hit the “buy now” button.

Also, SMS remains the second most preferred channel for receiving promotional messages for 20% of customers, with email being the undisputed king.

Preferred channels for receiving marketing messages

… But be careful how you ding

However, all customers said that they get annoyed with SMS marketing. Especially when messages aren’t relevant to products they’ve purchased.

And if you’re wondering what gets on shoppers’ nerves, here’s a short list:

  • Messaging too frequently (49%).
  • Messages irrelevant to shoppers needs (34%).
  • Messages sent at inappropriate times (14%).

Reasons why shoppers get annoyed with brands

What to do

Give your customers a choice to adjust messaging frequency.

Oh, and make sure your messages honor special days like birthdays or holidays and remind customers of unfinished actions, in addition to sales and promotions.

Why we care

Given the challenging e-commerce environment, it’s good to know that well-tailored SMS and other messaging channels can bring awesome results.

You just have to pick the right moments and message types, of course.

And in a privacy-first marketing landscape, that could be the difference between cash flow and cash clog.