SMS May Be Your New Favorite Way to Gain Email Subscribers
Got brick-and-mortar stores?
Send packages to people in the mail that contain their purchases?
Give people receipts?
If you sell anything at all, chances are that this applies to you.
If you want people to subscribe to your email marketing, nix the handwritten sign-ups, the cashier mistyping into your POS system or expecting catalog readers to log online. Instead, ask them to text a simple keyword to a shortcode to sign up for your communications.
Why?
1. The overwhelming majority of Americans own cell phones with text-messaging capabilities. This is where using SMS beats QR codes (as not everyone owns a smartphone).
2. You can reduce acquisition of bad addresses. Subscribers are typing in their own addresses, rather than a third party (the cashier) and no one is interpreting handwriting after the fact.
3. It's convenient. A scary number of us actually SLEEP with our phones, so needless to say, they are often on our person at all times. If I get a piece of direct mail encouraging me to sign-up, it's a lot easier to text with my phone than grab my computer and navigate to the form online.
4. You can streamline contacts directly into your ESP. Brick-and-mortar stores often unintentionally create a (sometimes significant) delay between opt-in and when contacts become an official part of the database. Enabling SMS sign-up means that you can get contacts right into your email platform and send a welcome message immediately. This makes it possible to motivate sign-ups in the first place when you can tout an instant emailed coupon.
Sound good?
So, encourage your customers and prospects to text and sign-up for email on signs by the checkout lane, on doors going in and out of your stores, on/in catalogs, inserts, back of receipts, merchandise tags, shipping boxes and more.
Also, highly consider having people who signed up via SMS in a separate list in your email platform to track list growth and overall performance.
What do you think? If you have any experience using SMS to gain email subscribers that you'd like to share, please do!
Kristen Gregory
Manager of Strategic Services at Bronto
@kristengreg
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About the Author
Kristen Gregory helps clients build relationships and boost revenue via detailed, business-specific strategic advice on all facets of their email marketing programs. She is a regular contributor to Bronto's best practice blog, speaks at industry conferences and has been featured in and/or mentioned on Chief Marketer, The Retail Email Blog, Email Marketing Reports, Shop.org and Marketing Profs Get to the Point Email Marketing.
Kristen has multichannel marketing experience within the healthcare and publishing industries, with more than 5 years concentrating on email alone. In her spare time, Kristen is a volunteer doula and works on Bronto's Community Committee to serve the local Durham area.
I'm curious about your
I'm curious about your permission model. "The overwhelming majority of Americans own cell phones with text-messaging capabilities." Sure, and very few of us want text messages (that we pay to receive) from every retailer on the block. Email goes to an inbox that I can check on my schedule, filter, etc. Text messages imply a sense of urgency that I reserve for very few people, and I don't have the tool set to manipulate them that I do with email. How are you collecting phone numbers, and how do you know if those numbers represent mobile phones?
Hello JB, This post is
Hello JB,
This post is focused on the idea of leveraging SMS to sign people up for email - exactly the method of communication that you prefer - not for SMS communications. What I'm suggesting is that having people use their cell phones to opt-in to receive email in a brick-and-mortar store, for example, could be an effective way to grow your email list.
Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Thanks!
Sounds like an email
Sounds like an email conversation from 10-15 years ago. How do you get someone's cell phone number in order to send them the initial text message so that they can opt in to your email communications?
Hi JB, You don't get their
Hi JB,
You don't get their cell number to send them a text message asking them to opt-in.
What I'm suggesting here is that you have signage in your brick-and-mortar or inserts in your order fulfillment packages that have a call-to-action that say something like: "Want to receive special offers via email? Text "signup" to shortcode XYZ123 and get an instant 10% coupon delivered to your inbox for your next order."
Hope that helps.
Kristen
We're seeing the same type of
We're seeing the same type of maturation taking place with SMS marketing as other forms of marketing on the Internet. It's a good thing since SMS can be quite disruptive if not used ethically.
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