Ecommerce retail marketing: SMS vs Email the facts

Some years ago it would’ve paid to hedge your bets on how the traditional brick-and-mortar shops were going to get hit by the introduction of the internet and ecommerce shopping, as retail and tech experts made their predictions. Oh how they were right.

Retail and tech experts also made predictions about the shift in power from desktop to smartphone, including us here. And it’s all happened so so fast.
Large companies such as Google have been calling themselves a ‘mobile-first’ company for some years now. Where everything they design and build is done so on and with a mobile phone in mind first. Desktop always falls behind in second place.

However it is not just companies who are now considered ‘mobile-first’ – so too are people.

The shift in activities performed and carried out on the smartphone has now left the majority of consumers, companies and businesses to now be collectively known as, yep you guessed it… ‘mobile-first’

When ecommerce first appeared on the scene, the marketing plan for your online shop would usually look something like this:

• Get a website,
• Slap the web address here there and everywhere,
• Create some Google ads and;
• Send lots of email campaigns about your online shop

So does the ‘mobile-first’ label now signal the end for ecommerce and retail marketing emails?

Well it’s probably a bit soon to grab the suit from the dry cleaners ready for email’s funeral. However recent stats released by Experian Marketing Services signal that the clock is ticking for email and that the grim reaper could be knocking on its door soon.

If you are a retailer then all this will probably not come as a surprise. You have likely seen first-hand the response and engagement rates which have fallen year on year.

However the shift to mobile shouldn’t scare you, it shouldn’t worry you BUT it should excite you. As mobile has shown its methods work and produce great results for retailers.

Sending your customers text messages about your great products or service is an established way to reach them, and works fantastically well. The mobile phone is not only how we all want to communicate, but it’s how we all want to browse the web and shop too.

Here is a handy infographic with 5 easy ways to sending a successful marketing message – however it probably could be simplified in just 3 easy to follow steps…

Make it personal.
Make it relevant and;
Make it on time.

Follow these 3 steps and SMS marketing could make your online ecommerce site the place to shop on the web.
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Text Marketer infographic SMS vs email statistics