Rainbow Shops is using SMS for effective brand personalization

SMS (short message service) can serve as effective personalization with customers while remaining in accordance with digital privacy laws, according to a presentation by women’s retail brand Rainbow Shops at CommerceNext 2022.

Why it matters

In an increasingly privacy-focused online advertising sphere, SMS has emerged as a viable channel for communicating with customers directly, building brand loyalty, and serving as a space to further understand customers’ individual needs.

Tone is essential

• SMS messages should comply with the more conversational tone associated with texting, according to David Cost, vp/e-commerce and marketing at Rainbow Shops, in a presentation titled “Preparing Your Tech Stack for the Era of Conversational Commerce”.
• Cost says consumers often respond to automated SMS messages as if they are speaking with a live sales representative. As such, brands should endeavor to meet consumers at their level, by adopting a more conversational tone in their messaging, and straying away from generic promotional scripts.
• For example, using customers’ first names and avoiding long expository paragraphs is key.

Takeaways

• In 2022, roughly 70% of marketers are using SMS for “retention and re-engagement,” a ten percentage point increase from 2021, said Elizabeth Ray, vp/client strategy at SMS platform Attentive. Ray also reported that customers spend, on average, 50% more when directed from SMS.
• SMS should be used as a tool for precise personalization – not, as Cost phrases it, “false personalization,” or messaging that gets customers’ individual attributes wrong, thus targeting them ineffectively. “If we have a plus-sized customer and we send her junior-sized messaging, that’s a loss,” he said. “We’re gonna lose her.”
• Brands can acquire first-person data by asking consumers direct questions over SMS about the products and services they are looking for. This will ensure targeting accuracy later in the sales journey.
• SMS messaging can also be used to guide customers along the purchase funnel – if they have items waiting in checkout, a message might be the difference between inertia and action.

The big idea

“Clearly we need to pick up on those daily touchpoints that are happening,” said Cost of the everyday occurrence of SMS messaging among consumers.