Ultimate Holiday SMS Survival Guide
The holiday season is expected to see retail sales at a record $960M this year. To capitalize on this projection, make sure you are staying top of mind for your customer, building brand loyalty and offering something valuable in your SMS campaigns. The good news, Voxie is here to help! Keep reading for a complete holiday sms campaign overview!
Here are five recommends to help kickstart quality holiday messaging:
- Grow your subscriber list early
- Be thoughtful and concise when crafting the perfect message
- Strategize for success when it comes to scheduling messages
- Measure the success of your campaign
- Leverage your new subscriber list post holiday season
Grow Your Subscriber List:
The larger your list ahead of Black Friday / Cyber Monday, the larger your revenue impact can be. Consider implementing the below strategies, and remember, the more strategies you use, the more successful your overall campaign can be.
- Add mobile & web pop-ups to your website
- Include the option to subscribe to text in your check out flow
- Add a website footer / header where customers can opt into texting
- Leverage community events with a lead capture strategy - consider a QR code!
- Send your email subscribers an invitation to opt into text marketing.
Craft The Perfect Message:
Do
- Be thoughtful and concise with your content. Make sure to include details of your offer or promotion in the text body.
- Stay on theme. This is the time to have fun with the holidays, include an image from our image gallery, share recipes or gift guides. Have fun!
- Include urgency in your message, let people know this is a limited offer and they should act before time runs out!
- Be sure to include a specific call to action. Do you want to drive consumers to your website, store front or to call your business? Whatever makes the most sense for your business, be explicit in asking customers to take that action.
- Tailor your message and make it personal. Use custom attributes within Voxie to include your customers name, your brand name or anything that makes your message personal.
Don’t
- Don’t send overwhelming frequency, consider that your customers are receiving many messages this weekend - and make sure you are being concise in your content.
- Don’t send generic messages. Be clear what your offer is, when customers can take advantage of it and how!
- Don’t use misleading content or over promise. This is a good time to build trust and brand loyalty with your subscribers!
Strategize For Success - Scheduling And Delivery Approach:
To get the most out of your sending efforts, keep these key factors in mind:
- Send during low-traffic times, not at the top of the hour.
- Consider your message format/type. MMS messages should be avoided on Black Friday and Cyber Monday to ensure better deliverability, but should be used outside of those days!
- Safe sending hours are 8am - 9pm in your recipients local time zone. Make sure to consider safe sending hours when scheduling your campaigns.
- Focus on timing your messages when customers are active and where your influence will be highest. If you are a lunch business, send an hour before lunch time, e-commerce sees the greatest click through rates in the later afternoon. Business relevance takes precedence here.
- Schedule your messages in advance so there isn’t a rush to craft and build messages over the holidays.
Measuring Success And Maximizing Conversions
Measure, track, calculate and monitor the recipients engaging with your messages. Consider using the following KPI’s for your SMS Campaign. All of which can be tracked within the Voxie dashboard:
- Click Through Rate (CTR)
- Reply Rate
- Response Rate
- Opt-out Rate
- Open Rate
Leverage Your New Subscriber List Post Holiday Season
Once the holidays wrap, it doesn’t mean your new subscribers want you to forget about them. There are a number of strategies to keep consumers engaged post holiday season, decided what makes the most sense for your business!
- Re-Engagement Campaigns: Identify inactive subscribers and run re-engagement campaigns to win back their interest. Offer special incentives to rekindle their engagement with your brand.
- Clearance Sales and Promotions: After the holidays, many businesses offer clearance sales and discounts to clear out excess holiday inventory. Use text messages to promote these sales, offering exclusive deals to your SMS subscribers. This helps you sell remaining holiday stock and generate revenue
- Social Media Integration: Use text messages to promote your social media profiles, encouraging subscribers to follow you for the latest updates, contests, and promotions.
- Post-Holiday Surveys: Send out SMS surveys to your customers to gather feedback on their holiday shopping experiences. This information can be valuable for improving your future holiday campaigns and product offerings.
- Product Recommendations: Use data from holiday shopping behaviors to send personalized product recommendations to your customers. Suggest related or complementary items based on their previous purchases. Leveraging the information you have about your customers
- Loyalty Programs: Promote your loyalty program through text messages, encouraging holiday shoppers to join or participate. Offer incentives for signing up, such as bonus points, discounts, or exclusive rewards.
- Referral Programs: Encourage your existing customers to refer friends and family by offering incentives through text messages. Referral programs can help you acquire new customers and boost sales.
Text Templates To Try
🦃 Thanksgiving Made Easy! 🍔
Skip the stress and enjoy a delicious feast from [Fast Food Restaurant]. Let us handle the cooking so you can focus on gratitude and good times with loved ones. Order now for a hassle-free Thanksgiving [LINK]!
Exclusive Early Access🌟
Be the first to dive into incredible deals at [Brand Name]! Enjoy VIP access to our Black Friday discounts starting [Date and Time]. Load up your cart now and don't miss our biggest sale of the year 👉 [Link]
FROM THE VOXIE TEAM,
WE HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL HOLIDAY SEASON - HAPPY TEXTING!
Updated Holiday Hours
’Tis the season filled with out of office notifications, but not today and not with the Customer Support team at Voxie! We’ve adjusted our hours to make sure you’re covered this Thanksgiving and Black Friday.
Customer Support Holiday Hours
Monday, November 20th - Wednesday, November 22nd: 8:00am - 8:00pm ET
Thursday, November 23rd: 10:00am - 3:00pm ET
Friday, November 24th: 8:00am - 8:00pm ET
Saturday & Sunday, November 25-26th: Coverage on an as needed basis. We’ll jump in to help with any high priority situations!
Monday, November 27th: Return to normal hours 8:00am - 8:00pm ET
How To Connect With Customer Support
Email: support@voxiechat.com