Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about why SMS is an established marketing channel and one not to be overlooked. Today, I want to discuss some types of SMS messages and how they can be used effectively.  

While there is no real right or wrong way to use SMS — as long as you apply a little common sense — there are some more common ways to use them. 

The first thing to remember is that SMS is very time-sensitive. When you send an email, the recipient may see it in one minute, one day, or somewhere in between. When you send a text, studies show that most are read within three minutes. 

Use this to your advantage by communicating time-sensitive promotions and communications through text. Things like flash sales and last chance reminders make perfect sense.

You can create exclusivity and anticipation for your text messages by offering text-only offers. This could be in the form of an SMS-only discount or early access to sales or new product alerts. Things like this make people WANT to check your texts. 

Use SMS to drive contacts to your email. If you have a lot to announce, like multiple Black Friday offers, send an SMS to those signed up for both channels and direct people to the email for full details. 

For those signed up for only SMS, you could use this same approach to direct people to sign up for your emails so that they never miss a big sale again. 

As you can see, you have a lot of options with how to use SMS and there really is no wrong way. Using their time-sensitive nature to your advantage can help you increase engagement in this high-potential channel. 

Join me tomorrow when I am going to talk about SMS inside of automation. 

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week I want to talk specifically about a topic I’ve already alluded to — SMS. 

Today, I want to explain why SMS is so important for ecommerce brands today. Last year I was saying that if you’re not using SMS by this time net year you’ll be behind. Well, that time is now. 

In 2020, there was a nearly 400% increase in SMS sends from the year prior. Last year, that number increased nearly 100%. When it comes to automated SMS, as I already spoke about, last year ecommerce brands increased their automated SMS by nearly 260%. The growth is incredible.   

The numbers are one thing, the reasons for those numbers are another. Here is the biggest reason you need to know — EVERYONE TEXTS!

Texting is not only used by Gen Zers. It is not only used by Millennials. It’s not only used Gen Xers like myself. And here’s a secret … Baby Boomers also text, and as my mother proved to me, do sign up marketing SMS. 

Ignore the generational cohort narrative — it’s not true. Everyone texts because it is a permanent form of daily communication. And from a marketing perspective, like email, it is an opt-in channel — meaning only those who WANT to receive them will.

As I mentioned in the daily tips around list growth, begin collecting mobile numbers on your opt-in forms. This will serve multiple purposes.

First — doing so will allow your customers to tell you whether they want to receive text messages from your brand. 

Second — If you begin collecting them but are not quite ready to use them when you do become ready you’ll be able to hit the ground running. On a similar note, while you may not be ready to use them in mass, you can begin by adding them to automations.

And third, an often overlooked component of SMS marketing is it can help offset email unsubscribes. Think about it. 

When a user unsubscribes to your emails, companies often resort to paid retargeting to “win-back” the customer. Having another 1-to-1 opt-in channel to communicate through can help reduce your retargeting costs.   

SMS is not a young person’s game — it’s an everyone’s game. And the impact can be huge. 

On a previous episode of the Cart Insiders Podcast, I spoke with the owner of DIvatress about their SMS program. Their owner Rob was initially skeptical of SMS but figured he’d add the field to his pop-up and see what happened.

In 8 months he grew his SMS list to 70K, 13K of which are SMS-only contacts — no email. They’ve generated 123K in sales through the SMS channel and it makes up 7% of their marketing revenue.  

Want to grow your sales? Start by growing your SMS program.

Join me tomorrow where I’ll explore types of messages where SMS can be a great fit. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week I talked about personalizing your cart abandonment strategy based on data points like cart total and purchase history. 

Here are the main takeaways of the week. 

• Split messages based on cart total and/or their purchase history. This allows you to customize messages for those over and under your free shipping threshold — or AOV if there is no threshold — and communicate to each customer differently based on their shopping history. 
• Be sure to focus on addressing general obstacles to conversion, but also specific ones based on the cart or purchase history data.
• Adapt your discount strategy accordingly. Are they over or under a free shipping threshold? Are they a loyal customer? And how might these answers impact your discount strategy?  
• Based on the splits, determine if you should change how many messages you send to each group. Loyal customers may only need one email and SMS, while first-time shoppers may need all three to convert.

Optimizing your messages to increase cart recovery rate will help you achieve incremental growth with your email program — and ultimately make you more money.

I hope you were able to find something in this week’s tips that will help you increase your sales. 

I’d love to see your refreshed cart abandonment messages, so be sure to share them with me on Twitter or linkedin, or tell me your brand name and I’ll go abandon a cart myself. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday I talked about splitting your messages based on purchase history. Today, I want to discuss how this type of split can impact your send and discount strategy

Let’s look again at those brand-new customers. Because they’re new, and acquisition is so important, you may even want to alter your discount strategy. Remember, you’ve likely already spent money to acquire this customer. 

For this reason, you might choose to move the discount to the very first message to try to seal the deal right away. Make them work hard to say “no.”

Personally, I would still keep it later in the series and really look to optimize your messages for conversion, but this may entirely depend on the type of products you sell and how difficult it is to acquire new customers.

How many messages do they need? Well, I’d throw the kitchen sink at ‘em and send them all three, including an SMS if they opted into receiving texts.

For loyal customers, do they need three or four messages and deep discounts? Probably not. Loyal customers may only need one email and an SMS reminder. However, if you do offer discounts to everyone else, don’t take these customers for granted. 

Maybe offer them either a slightly deeper discount or one without a minimum spend — chances are they’ll probably spend well above it anyway. And if you do, you can recognize them in your message as a valued customer and let them know the no-minimum or slightly larger discount is your little way of saying thanks.

You can fill in the remaining customer tiers to match your business. First-time returning customers — maybe they get a discount in the first message but with a minimum spend, and receive two emails and one SMS.  

The trick is to send as many messages and smart incentives to people as is needed to recapture lost carts while keeping profits as high as possible. 

As you can see, the options are really limitless — especially if you choose to combine these splits with the cart total splits. Think about what makes the most sense for your business, and make it happen one split at a time.  

Again, if you want to start easy, create your splits and send the same message to each group. This will give you insight into how each performs and you can adjust your strategy from there. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about ways to adjust your send and discount strategy based on cart total.  Today, I want to discuss another way to split your messages — either in tandem with the previous split or all by itself. 

Another way to use splits is by looking at the abandoners’ previous purchase history. Knowing this can be a big clue as to 

(1) whether they’re inclined to purchase and (2) how you want to approach them.

After all, it WOULD make sense to treat a loyal customer differently than a brand new customer, right?

Let’s look at this.

Take those brand new customers. These are the ones you spend so much money trying to acquire through paid activities.  Well, when you finally get them to the point of placing items in their cart, you want to close the deal. Otherwise, those acquisition costs go buh-buy.

By using an automation split to isolate these shoppers, you can focus on all of the things we’ve already mentioned that would likely matter to them, like promoting value-adds and using a sense of urgency. However, knowing they are new to your brand, you may want to double down on using social proof in your messages, satisfaction guarantees, and WHY they should feel comfortable doing business with your brand. 

You may also want to bring a bit more attention to your customer service contact info — such as live chat — or reinforce the speed of shipping. 

For loyal customers, you may not need all of this reinforcement — after all, they most likely know this and that’s why they’re coming back. You can probably go a little bit lighter on the social proof — unless it’s maybe around some new products — and keep the focus on your customer service and other product value-adds. 

You can fill in the remaining customer tiers to match your business. Returning customers looking to make their second purchase with you? … remind them of your shipping and return policies while continuing to reinforce your social proof — but maybe along with some product recommendations.   

As you can see, the options are really limitless — especially if you choose to combine these splits with the cart total splits. Think about what makes the most sense for your business, and make it happen one split at a time.  

Again, if you want to start easy, create your splits and send the same message to each group. This will give you insight into how each performs and you can adjust your strategy from there. 

Join me tomorrow where I’ll build upon this and discuss how these splits may impact your send and discount strategy. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about message content when splitting your abandoned cart emails based on the shopper’s cart total. Today, I want to build upon that strategy and discuss how these splits can impact other elements of your series? 

On top of different message content based on cart total, think of the other aspects of your strategy that can be impacted, like discounts and the number of messages you send.

Let’s look at those shoppers under the $35 free shipping threshold. 

Knowing they have a low cart total, you may want to adapt your discount strategy, perhaps by including a minimum spend to qualify. This way, you can present the discount as 10% off AND free shipping on all orders above $50.

On top of the discount, knowing the cart total is so low, you may choose to send, say, only one email message and one SMS message. Or for those email-only customers, maybe two messages instead of three. 

After all, the chances of low cart total abandoners returning to complete their purchase are likely lower than those with higher totals.  

Of course, you may want to send them all three if you continue to retarget these same shoppers on search and social, as email is a much cheaper option.  But really, the option is all yours!

Now, let’s look at those over the threshold. For these shoppers, you can remove the minimum amount and just subtly remind them they also qualify for free shipping — keeping the message on-point to overcome their other purchase obstacles. 

Of course, you can try to entice these shoppers even further by offering a tiered discount. This could be 10% off 50, 15% off 75, and 20% off 100 — Pus free shipping :)     

When it comes to the number of messages you send in your series, the same principle applies to what I just spoke of. Because their carts are higher, you may choose to send three messages and two SMS to this group. 

But remember, you can use multiple splits, and because of this, you can opt to send a fourth message or additional SMS to the top tier of cart abandoners, knowing they may take a bit longer to complete their purchase.

You can see how one piece of data gives you the ability to customize your abandoned cart messages in a way that makes the most sense for your customers. 

So start splitting your messages, even if you send the same message to everyone. This way, you can see how the metrics between these two or more audiences convert before customizing your messages and splits further. 

Come back tomorrow because we are going to take splits to a whole new level. 

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week we continue our attention on abandoned cart messaging. Last week we talked about the basics, like message content and timing. This week I’ll discuss ways to further personalize these messages to not only improve the customer experience but increase the recovered revenue rate.  

Today, let’s discuss splitting your messages based on the cart total. Let’s say you're a brand that offers free shipping over $35. The messaging, and even incentive, you want to communicate to those under this threshold is likely different from those who abandoned a $200 cart. 

After all, the reason they abandoned is much likely different. 

Now, if you either don’t offer free shipping or always offer free shipping, consider using AOV as your threshold.   

For those under the threshold, I would prominently call out value-adds that likely matter to this shopper, like the fact they get free shipping if they reach the threshold. After all, most consumers today don’t want to pay for shipping, so our goal is to help them qualify for it. 

You can also add product recommendations — or even top-rated products — in your messages can help guide them toward increasing their cart total. Again, we are helping them reach a threshold. 

Now, for those over the threshold, you don’t need to prominently focus on free shipping — after all, that’s not why they abandoned their cart. 

Instead, you can focus your messages on overcoming potential obstacles to conversion for higher-priced carts, such as your return policies and satisfaction guarantees. Depending on your products, you may also want to add a layer of social proof to build confidence, such as those around product fit or quality.

And yes, you can split by more than one amount, creating an even better experience. For instance, you can create one path for those under the $35 threshold, 

another for those $35 to $74, 

and another for those $75 and above — again, adapting your messages to help guide the shopper toward a purchase.

One simple automation split based on a single data point and you can effectively create more personalized messaging and a better over customer experience. 

Join me tomorrow where I’ll build upon this and discuss how these splits may impact other elements of your abandoned cart series. 

Thanks for tuning in to this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

This week I talked about the basics of creating a multi-channel abandoned cart series that recaptures lost sales. But this week is just the beginning. Next week, we’re going to get into the REAL fun stuff with abandoned cart messaging! 

But first, let’s do a quick recap of the week. 

• When creating your abandoned cart messages, there are three things I'd recommend including to engage the customer's intent: 

1. Actively promote your value-adds and competitive differentiators in your messages such as free shipping and return policies. 
2. Convey a sense of urgency in your messaging. Something like, "these items won't last long" can work great.
3. Use social proof to reinforce value, such as product ratings and customer testimonials. 

• When it comes to discounting, don't feel you have to discount. But if you do, save it for the final message in the series. Of course, be sure to use workflow splits to test incentives.
• Test the timing of your sends, but if you're looking for a place to start, I recommend sending your  cart abandonment messages at 1 hour, 24 hrs, and 48 hours after abandonment.
• Add all opt-in channels you collect permissions for in your automations, especially SMS. Remember, last year brands sent nearly 100% more automated SMS and 700% more automated push messages than the year before. 
• When sending abandoned SMS messages, consider using them as bookmarks, so sending along with message 1 and message 3. Send push messages with message 2 to start,  and adjust according to results

As you can see, we covered a lot this week, but gradually optimizing your messages will help you achieve incremental growth with your email program — and ultimately make you more money.

I hope you were able to find something in this week’s tips that will help you increase your sales. 

I’d love to see your cart abandonment messages, so be sure to share them with me on Twitter or linkedin, or tell me your brand name and I’ll go abandon a cart myself. And be sure to tune in next week where I’ll be diving further into cart abandonment and show you how to use data to personalize your series even further.

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday I talked about when to send your abandoned cart emails. Today, let’s talk about re-engaging customers via the right channels. 

One reason email is an extremely effective tool is that it is an opt-in channel. But so too are SMS and web push messages. Brands who are collecting these permissions should absolutely be using them in their abandoned cart automation. 

Last year SMS saw a nearly 260% lift in automated messages sent compared to the year before, while automated push messages increased 700%. Brands are recognizing the value in other opt-in channels.  

If you’re collecting these permissions, you should be using them to re-engage abandoned cart shoppers. Here are some things you may want to consider.

** SMS: Most text messages are read within 3 minutes. This means it’s a timely channel to communicate with consumers on. With the first abandoned cart message sent via email, you may want to also send an SMS at the same time. This gives consumers the choice of how they want to interact.

You may not need to send an SMS with every email. I would suggest starting by using them as bookends — one at the start and one at the end of the series, especially if you offer a discount. That last text message serves as a great reminder and nudge toward the cart. 

Now, this send strategy may change based on other personalization variables that I’ll talk about next week — but to get you started and capturing baselines, this is where I’d start. 

And while it seems like common sense, I’m going to say it — make sure the message links back to the cart to allow for easy checkout. 

I am not going to spend a lot of time talking about push messages today only because it is still a maturing channel, but as you heard me mention earlier, it is seeing massive growth and performance. 

Like SMS, it is a more instantaneous marketing channel. But if you are collecting Push Message opt-ins, I would absolutely use them with abandoned cart messaging. 

In fact, brands I have seen use them have found their highest metrics when used with cart abandonment. I would suggest using them around the second message. Let the email and/or SMS be the primary channel and use Push to complement the middle part. 

So there it is — be sure to use all opt-in channels in the same workflow and create a truly engaging series that recaptures those pesky abandoned carts. Send a text message with messages 1 and 3, and if you use push, send it around the second message. 

Watch your metrics, and adjust accordingly. 

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!

Welcome everybody to Omnisend’s marketing tip series, where in roughly 3 minutes or less each day, I’ll give you actionable tips on ways to improve your email & SMS marketing program and help you increase sales.

Yesterday we talked about whether or not to discount in your abandoned cart messages. Today, I want to discuss the timing of your message sends, AND, if you do offer discounts, when exactly you should offer them. 

Choosing the cadence of your abandoned cart emails is another decision that has no wrong answer. And here’s why.

If you are selling a $1,000 product, the decision cycle will likely be longer than when selling a $30 short. 

That being said, there is a standard send cadence I have found to be successful with many brands. Here is what I recommend, at least to start, is to …

Send message 1 one hour after abandonment. Remember, sending a message with a sense of urgency might be all that’s needed to persuade them to complete their order.

Send message 2 24 hours after abandonment. 

By this time, the customer has had time to price shop and consider their purchase. And they may be dying to make the purchase, but just need a nudge. 

Send message 3 48 hours after abandonment.

Here is where you pull out all of the stops. If you offer an incentive, do it now.  

While it is certainly acceptable to offer a discount in earlier messages, the intent is already high and their excitement level for the purchase may be too strong for them to wait to pull the trigger on the purchase. 

Remember, with all messages, be sure to convey  a sense of urgency, showcase value-adds such as free returns, and use social proof. 

Again, this timing recommendation is just a starting. I recommend using automation splits to test timing, incentives, and the number of messages. You know your brand and customer the best. 

Once you see how everything is performing, you can optimize your messages further. 

So there it is — 1 hour, 24 hrs,and 48 hrs after abandonment, with the incentive coming in the third message. 

Be sure to join me tomorrow where I’ll discuss making your workflows even more effective by adding additional opt-in channels and why it’s important to do so.

Thanks for tuning into this episode of our marketing tips series. Feel free to let me know if you have any questions and be sure to check out Omnisend and let us prove how we can help you double your conversions. 

Until next time, happy marketing!