BigCommerce SMS marketing guide – Boost revenue in 2023!

According to a survey, 96% of marketers claimed that SMS marketing has been beneficial in generating revenue for their business.

Moreover, 91% of customers would opt-in for text messages from brands.

If you use SMS marketing for your BigCommerce store, you can improve your competitive position and increase your revenue.

SMS marketing for BigCommerce can…

• Elevate customer interaction
• Skyrocket revenue
• Establish a real-time connection with prospects and more.

SMS for BigCommerce brands is a top revenue channel, and here is the complete guide on BigCommerce SMS marketing to grow your revenue by connecting prospects in real time. 

Let’s begin with the advantages of leveraging SMS for BigCommerce.

Why do SMS marketing for your BigCommerce store?

There are numerous advantages to utilizing text message marketing for BigCommerce, which will be outlined below:

1. Drive more mobile sales 

A recent survey revealed that 73% of all eCommerce sales occur through a mobile phone. This is where you can use SMS marketing and tap into the trend.  

You can send…

• An onboarding text to your subscribers and introduce your brands to them better.
• Offer your new subscribers a discount or coupon to win your first purchase.
• Flash sales texts to drive time-sensitive purchases.
• Product launches or re-stock SMS to attract new and repeated sales. 

Sending enticing text messages with clear CTAs can help you drive them to relevant sales pages to convert.

2. Reach a wider audience 

SMS are easy modes of communication as they don’t require the internet and pop on mobile screens.

This allows you to target multiple segments and reach out to broader demographics, whether your target prospects are old, young, male, female, etc.

All you need is their contact number, and you’re good to go.

2. Engage more with subscribers

SMS marketing for BigCommerce lets you engage with subscribers seamlessly.

In fact, with a 98% opening rate and a 45% response rate, text marketing is the best way to engage with subscribers.

It enables brands to connect with customers in a two-way conversation. This encourages immediate action and builds a strong relationship between the two.

4. Send real-time updates

SMS is independent of internet connectivity, so your prospects will get a notification on their phone as soon as you hit send.

It increases the chances of updating your customers promptly regarding their order status, location, or other details.

Furthermore, obtaining text messages containing tracking links or order confirmations proves to be quite handy, as they give quick updates.

5. Get customer feedback  

SMS marketing is a convenient and quick way to collect feedback from customers.

Providing feedback through a few words or clicks is more convenient for customers than reading and relying upon lengthy emails.

For example, instead of asking customers to leave reviews on the website, you can ask them to text a rating from 1-10.

Further, you can even send an open-ended question and ask them to reply in one to two words. This way, it’s easy to collect feedback.

Limitations of BigCommerce SMS marketing

Before considering BigCommerce SMS integration, you must be aware of certain limitations associated with SMS marketing. Therefore, it is recommended that you thoroughly examine these limitations.

1. Consent and compliance: Complying with regulations is essential for SMS marketing, requiring explicit customer consent. This can sometimes be complex and time-consuming.

2. Character limit: Text messages are limited in terms of characters. Crafting impactful messages within the limited character count becomes quite challenging for conveying detailed information.

3. Costs: Sending a large number of SMS may result in additional charges. So, you must consider the cost implications and plan your SMS marketing budget accordingly.

4. Delivery timing: Text delivery depends on your recipient’s mobile network. So, your message may get delivered later than expected.

5. Spam and intrusiveness: Sending too many or irrelevant messages may cause customers to perceive them as spam. Ensure to keep track of the number of messages you send to a receiver and their content to avoid spamming.

Now that you know the perks and limitations of BigCommerce SMS marketing, here’s how to get started!

How to do BigCommerce SMS marketing?  

Achieving your revenue goals with BigCommerce SMS campaigns requires a fundamental step – generating a list of phone numbers of your potential customers.

Let’s learn how you can grow your phone number list.

Step 1: Grow and segment your SMS subscriber list  

To target prospects via text messaging, you need to generate mobile numbers.

Great job! If you have a list of phone numbers ready, you can now start targeting them with your BigCommerce SMS campaigns.

However, if not, here are the best ideas to grow your SMS list:

• Optimize your website by displaying opt-in forms with special offers/discounts to encourage visitors to subscribe to your SMS list.  
• Use exit-intent SMS popups with exclusive offers in exchange for their phone numbers.
• Run interactive contests online that require phone numbers for participation.
• Create a QR code that, when scanned, triggers a pre-set text with your BigCommerce SMS short code and keyword in the customer’s messaging app.
• Begin an SMS loyalty program to encourage subscription for updates.
• Generate phone numbers using your promotional email campaigns with enticing offers like inviting them to join your WhatsApp VIP club.

Once you have the list ready, segment it into various factors. For instance, you can segment the list based on their preferences, interests, demographics, or purchase history.

Important: While collecting your prospects’ phone numbers, obtain consent from them.

So, offer subscription options through website forms, mobile apps, or keyword-based opt-ins. Moreover, you must clearly explain the type and frequency of messages recipients can expect.

Step 2: Choose a reliable platform for BigCommerce SMS integration

BigCommerce app marketplace offers numerous SMS marketing platforms to integrate.

You should start by jotting down the features while selecting the tool for SMS marketing for eCommerce.

On prior, consider an easy-to-integrate and operate BigCommerce SMS app, along with various other top features.

Here are the key features to check SMS marketing for BigCommerce:

• Segmentation and personalized targeting

To facilitate specific targeting, it must offer customer segmentation based on characteristics or behaviors.

This lets you craft and deliver messages tailored to customer preferences, purchase history, and behaviors, increasing engagement and conversions.

• Automated text messaging to powerup business efficiency

Send automated SMS updates regarding order confirmations, shipping details, and delivery tracking, which enhances your customer experience and transparency.

• Abandoned cart recovery text reminders

This feature helps you regain your potentially lost sales. You can send SMS reminders and exclusive deals to customers with abandoned shopping carts to motivate them to complete their purchases.

• Bulk SMS to boost productivity 

The bulk SMS feature enables you to target many potential customers quickly with special deals and offers. Moreover, it leads to higher engagement.

• Two-way communication

Allow customers to respond to SMS messages, enabling direct engagement, inquiries, and feedback. This helps to build their trust in the product, company, or service.

• Scheduled messaging

Schedule your text SMS campaigns for optimal delivery times, increasing the likelihood of customer interaction.

• Performance analytics

It must let you track essential SMS metrics like delivery rate, text open rates, CTRs (click-through rates), and conversion rates to evaluate your campaign’s success.

• Compliance management

Manage customer consent and opt-outs for SMS marketing regulations to ensure legal compliance.

• Templates and customization

It would be best if the platform offers customizable SMS templates for efficient campaign creation while still allowing for personalized messages.

Investing in a reliable text messaging solution can be a boon to the success of your BigCommere store.

By utilizing targeted SMS campaigns, you can improve engagement with your prospects and establish a direct connection with them.

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Step 3: Craft the SMS marketing campaigns effectively  

After choosing your ideal tool for BigCommerce SMS marketing, you need an impactful message with a clear CTA to fulfill your objective with your text campaigns.

Follow the below tips for crafting the best SMS marketing campaigns:

• The message should be short and precise (Try to craft it under 160 characters)
• Craft simple and impactful SMS (Easy language with short and clear sentences)
• Highlight the value you’re offering (Personalized and lucrative)
• Incorporate a strong call-to-action (Emojis can add a touch of personality and visual appeal, but use them wisely.)

Research your competitors and analyze the trends in your industry to experiment with your text message.

Doing so will help you understand your potential customers and ease your task of reaching out to them.

Moreover, this will help you discover what works best for your brand or which texts get a higher response from the subscribers.  

Further, you can always use pre-built text templates and automate the campaigns using one of the best SMS marketing software.

Step 4: Analyze and optimize 

Measuring your SMS campaign’s performance will open new ways to generate more sales.

It helps you discover the areas that require improvisation with your text message and re-strategize required decisions.

Once you discover the right way to do SMS marketing, you can align your strategy better with your revenue goals.

Effective SMS marketing can help you achieve various goals, such as improving customer-brand interactions, reducing abandonment carts, and growing sales.

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6 Best practices for BigCommerce SMS marketing

As per the Attentive Mobile survey, SMS marketers generate nearly $71 for each dollar spent on text marketing.

Customers love receiving messages and get engaged if the message hits right. Here are some best practices for BigCommerce SMS marketing to drive engagement and sales:

1. Add value to your SMS

Text messaging without value is completely wasting your money. Do it concisely if you want to connect, engage, or sell.

Your text message has a high probability of fulfilling the goal you want if you have clarity on what you can offer them that adds value.

See the example below where the brand targets their recent buyer with a personalized SMS text:

So, the recipients fond of decorating their space will likely read the blog; thus, the brand can have a list of prospects for their new decor-related products.

Find how you can add value to your customer or organization (if serving B2B); this will help you gain more customer insights for driving revenue.

Here are a few ideas to make your text message valuable:

• Recommend complementary products that work well with their previous purchases and provide practical insights into their use cases.
• Sharing behind-the-scenes insights into your product creation process or packaging.
• Send exclusive personalized deals and offers to your existing customers to drive more revenue.
• Send SMS abandoned cart reminders for BigCommerce store subscribers to regain lost sales by offering valuable incentives.

2. Text during peak hours 

The key benefit of text message marketing is its rapid actions and direct conversation.

You just need to crack the code of “Text subscribers when they expect you the most!”

For instance, having an evening craving and getting a hungry bite personalized SMS message from Uber Eats.

Now that’s what we can say – Best timing!

However, the timing for sending text messages varies from business to business as the target audience of each business carries different buying behavior.

You must closely examine your past successful text campaign results, conduct surveys, or engage with prospects on social channels to discover your peak engagement hours.

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3. Be concise and use CTA 

Not running around the bush and clearly expressing your point goes a long way with BigCommerce SMS. 

Your texts have your prospects’ attention, so be concise and clear about what you want to say.

Give them a clear value proposition to act upon. This way, you can convey your content swiftly.  

See how the text message in the below example simply conveys the sales and the discounts and ends it with the link to persuade the prospects to start shopping:

4. Include disclaimers

Marketing is all about presenting the most alluring offers to achieve your objectives.

But, for establishing yourself as a reliable brand, being transparent with your customers is essential.

You may have more information or T&C (terms and conditions) with your SMS, like promotional details, subscription preferences, opt-out instructions, data usage policies, privacy considerations, etc.

In that case, you may clearly mention the necessary additional information or T&C.

For example- “Messages and data rates may apply.“

This simple disclosure can help you win the customer’s trust.

5. Mention opt-out option 

Don’t cage your customers to hear from you.

Your SMS should not annoy the customers; otherwise, you can’t achieve the purpose of your SMS marketing.

Always make it easy for the customers to opt out whenever they want. This way, you get the active and potential customer list and have higher chances of achieving your goal.

This also creates a good image for the brand.

6. Send highly personalized messages

If you want engagement, personalize your text message to a great extent.

Personalizing your texts is like giving attention to your customers, and who doesn’t like it?

See the below example of how a personalized text message looks like:

You can segment your subscribers’ lists and build personalized text campaigns with respect to their names, locations, interests, and more.

Doing so brings you closer to them and increases the probability of them becoming loyal customers.

Related read: 9 Text (SMS) marketing tips to increase small business sales

BigCommerce SMS marketing with Salesmate! 

Connect BigCommerce with Salesmate to enhance customer interaction using powerful text messaging.

You can send bulk SMS with Text Pilot and fasten engagement with pre-built templates.

Moreover, send personalized text updates on order shipment and delivery. You target with personalized abandoned carts recovery text to gain lost opportunities.

It offers the facility to send and receive text messages from any device. Plus, it lets you send text messages to multiple countries with the facility of the virtual phone system.

This type of instant engagement is proven to increase conversions, which helps you build a loyal customer base.

Salesmate offers Text Reports to analyze the performance of your text campaigns and optimize for better results.

Not limited to this, Salesmate CRM is your complete package to grow your BigCommerce business with omnichannel communication, automation, and analytics.

Salesmate CRM will let you:

• Capture leads with built-in lead-generation tools.
• Nurture prospects with drip campaigns for abandoned carts, promotions, etc.
• Save more time for relevant tasks with sales and marketing automation.
• Create text and email sequences to drive response faster.
• Grow your sales by visualizing your BigCommerce deals with sales pipeline management.
• Send exclusive updates and offers to your SMS subscribers from the Mobile CRM app.

Curious to know how Salesmate CRM can drive more revenue for your BigCommerce store?

Wrap up

SMS marketing can boost your BigCommerce store sales with no internet need and real-time connectivity to mobile devices.

With the power of personalized and timely text messages, you can engage prospects better, drive more sales, and build lasting relationships.

Remember to obtain consent, craft concise messages, and offer genuine value to maximize the impact of your SMS marketing efforts.

To enhance your BigCommere sales, explore Salesmate, an affordable texting messaging CRM solution to build strong customer relationships through personalized SMS.

Frequently asked questions