Everyone loves a deal.

SMS is a great way to deliver special offers, coupons, or discounts to new and existing customers alike. Because of the high read-rates of text messages, you can be sure that the coupon or offer that you send out leads to higher rates of redemption than other forms of coupon delivery, such as mail or email.

Using SMS to send out coupons and discounts means increased revenue and more frequent customer engagement. As an added bonus, valuable offers and coupons help to drive customer loyalty and build your brand.

• Developing customer loyalty
• Increasing revenue and sales
• Measuring what items and offers are most appealing to customers
• Promoting high margin goods and services
• Bringing on new customers and clients
• Developing brand awareness

SMS messages allow stores and service providers to offer incentives to new and existing customers that drive purchasing behavior. Here are just a few ways that SMS messaging can be used to increase revenue, reinforce brand loyalty, and build your active customer base.

Promotions for new product lines. Introducing a new product can be nerve-wracking.  Promotional offers to create and sustain  interest can be delivered via text message.
Birthday or special event rewards. Any reason to engage customers is a good reason.  For birthdays or any other special occasions, offering a promo or discount as a result of a milestone goes a long way in building loyalty and revenue.
Loyalty programs.  You want to reward the customers that love you most.  Loyalty programs with SMS messaging are a great way to do that.
New customer incentives. Sometimes people need a little nudge to help them finally settle on making a purchase.  Text messaging is a great way to engage potential customers with a promo or offer that makes the decision easy.
Repeat buy incentives.  Customers sometimes forget about your product or service after the transaction is complete.  With SMS messaging you can remain engaged with those customers and offer other products they might like.
Reorder incentives.  Some products and services are recurring purchases.  Using text messages to stay in touch with customers helps drive crucial reorders.
Introduction of new products and services. A great way to promote new product or service offerings is with an early discount.   Text messaging lets you share this discount with customers as a way to induce a purchase and make them aware of your new offer.
Featured events and promotions. Letting customers know about a special event through text message is a great way to make them feel special.
Reacquiring old customers. Sometimes people cancel service and you are sad to see them go.  Use a text message to encourage them to come back.

This year’s inventory of sweaters and blazers would be arriving soon, meaning last year’s styles would quickly fall out of favor with customers of the upscale internet clothing store. The owners could keep the inventory listed at full price and risk selling very little of it before the new items came in. Or they could heavily discount the items and try to extract as much value as possible before the stock became near-worthless to their customers. Instead, they decided to use an SMS promotional campaign to increase demand in a way that wouldn’t devalue their brand or the products themselves. Here’s how they did it.

The promotions group realized that slashing prices would lead customers to think that last year’s hot products could be had at a substantial discount if only they waited long enough. Considering the products they offered were of the upscale (and often expensive variety), that didn’t seem like a very good idea to the owners of the site. Instead, they decided to pair the aging inventory as an incentive to pre-purchase new items that hadn’t yet arrived. The demand for the new items was sure to be high so the eCommerce site packaged that demand with the existing products through a text message promotional campaign.

With a week to go before the new inventory arrived, the clothier sent a simple text message to their entire database of existing customers. “Buy one remaining in-stock item from last year’s collection and receive VIP access to purchase the new collection next week. Click here to learn how.” The link included in the message took the visitor to a page informing them that a full-price purchase of an in-stock item would give them a chance to also enter a pre-order for a new item before everyone else had a chance to buy. This creative campaign was a success in more ways than one. Not only did the eCommerce site sell out of the merchandise associated with last year’s collection of sweaters and scarves, but they also ended up selling a quarter of the new collection inventory before it had even arrived in their warehouse.