Messaging apps have over 3 billion active users globally, and SMS marketing becomes even more compelling considering that 60% of consumers prefer messaging over email or phone calls.
To leverage SMS marketing to its best, staying updated with current trends is crucial.
In this blog, we delve into key SMS marketing trends for 2024 aimed at enhancing your sales strategies.
SMS/ Text marketing trends for 2024
Here are 8 key trends for SMS marketing in 2024 to follow:
1. Personalization
Personalization includes customizing your messages based on customer preferences, past purchases, or behavior. This helps in including the most relevant information in the messages that will increase the chances of your customers to engage.
Personalization helps with positive experience and better ROI as 89% of marketers report a positive return on investment with SMS personalization. The top two personalization uses in marketing are “Product recommendations”, and “Predictive customer service”.
In a personalized text message, you need to include
- Name
- Past interactions references
- Tailored recommendations
- Exclusive offers
Best practices for personalization;
- Make sure to collect ample data for personalization.
- Perform SMS segmentation for better-targeted campaigns.
- Optlizie message timing by sending SMS only in active hours.
- Include strong CTAs for the final push.
Here is one example of a personalization message.
Recommended read: What is SMS Personalization – Key Tips and Advice (2024)
2. Interactive messages
Interactive text messages include integrating elements such as polls, quizzes, or surveys to make messages less boring and repetitive. It improves response rate and helps businesses leverage active engagement for collecting user information.
For example, a clothing store might send a text asking, “What’s your favorite fashion trend this season? Reply with A for Boho, B for Minimalist, or C for Street Style.” Based on responses, they can tailor future messages or offers.
3. Rich media content
SMS messages that contain multimedia content like images, GIFs, or videos increase customer engagement by 56%. These visual elements make your message more appealing and allow you to give a peak of products to your customers.
4. Two-way SMS marketing: ref
In two-way SMS you get answers from your recipients. It allows interactive conversations with customers facilitating real-time communication and feedback.
Here’s an example of a two-way SMS marketing campaign:
Of 70% of consumers who have opted in to receive texts from businesses, 61% say they want the ability to text a business back. Two-way SMS marketing adds a human touch to the campaigns, where customers view your campaigns as a chance for conversation rather than automated messaging. It also helps:
- Reduce the purchase anxiety
- Upsell & cross-sell the products
- Push abandon cart products
5. Leveraging AI
AI plays a crucial role in enhancing SMS marketing strategies. It can automate processes, analyze data to understand customer behavior, personalize messages, and optimize campaigns for better results.
With the help of AI, you can also include the following in campaigns:
- AI-agents for providing helpful and accurate replies
- Generative and predictive AI for real-time campaign optimization
- AI-powered cross-sell recommendations
6. Segmentation and Targeting
Segment your audience based on demographics, interests, or purchase history, and send targeted messages to each segment. This ensures that your messages are relevant and resonant with the recipients, leading to higher conversion rates.
There are some segmented groups that you should focus on more than other. These are
- High-value customers
- Holiday shoppers
- Prospect customers
- Customers based on subscription method
Some of the best practices for segmentation and targeting are
- Define dormant users, and send SMS reminders.
- Activate users through referrals or reviews.
- Share tips/links for consistent interactions.
- Offer welcome discounts, and highlight key features.
- Implement loyalty programs and cross-selling.
Recommended read: What is SMS Segmentation, Best Practices & Examples
7. Automation and AI
Implement automation tools and AI algorithms to send timely, relevant messages based on triggers such as abandoned carts, previous interactions, or specific events. This saves time and ensures consistent communication with customers.
TxtCart automatically sends tailored messages based on predefined triggers, allowing for personalized customer engagement. With a user-friendly drag-and-drop interface, you can also create robust flows from scratch, targeting specific subscribers with triggers, splits, and more.
TxtCart provides 20 template flows to get you started with action-based series like welcome messages and post-purchase follow-ups.
8. Integration with Other Channels
65% of consumers use social media messaging apps to contact a company’s customer service team.
Integrating SMS marketing with other channels such as email, social media, or your website creates a cohesive marketing strategy. Cross-promoting your message across different platforms can amplify its impact and reach a wider audience.
For instance, sharing an SMS-exclusive discount code on social media and email newsletters encourages customers to engage with your brand across multiple touchpoints, increasing brand visibility and driving conversions. This integrated approach ensures that your marketing efforts are synchronized and maximally effective.
Streamline SMS marketing with TxtCart
You can only simplify SMS marketing with an SMS marketing platform.
This is where a solution like TxtCart comes into play. This Shopify app offers a range of features that enable you to enhance SMS marketing efforts including automated cart abandonment flows, robust customer segmentation and intelligent AI customizations.
TxtCart also gives you an easy-to-use reporting dashboard. You can view the current status of the campaign(s), the number of recipients it sent to as well as campaign-specific reply rate, CTR (click-through rate), revenue generated as well as approx ROI (Return on Investment).
