Texting Customers Is No Longer Taboo When Everyone Is Stuck at Home
Brands using SMS to offer more than just
promotions and pitches
By Ann-Marie Alcántara
April 27, 2020 5:09 pm ET
In the last weeks, most companies have shut their brick and mortar
stores and gone to online retailing exclusively as well as having to furlough
or lay off some of their employees altogether. In addition, the economy is
looking grim and many people are scrutinizing their budgets and only focusing
on purchasing the essentials. So some businesses have changed their marketing
strategy to texting finding that more people are opting in to receiving the
texts in the last months. Texting is still overwhelmingly used for family and friends,
so some of the companies that are now using it know they have the customer’s
trust at stake.
Women’s apparel brand, Summersalt, said “Text messages have an open
rate close to 100%, according to companies that use them. Texting also can feel
more intimate than websites and emails, they said.” I didn’t know what
open rate was exactly, but this is just what it sounds like, how many people
actually read the message. According to mailchimp.com, the average open rate
for email from various industries was only in the 10-30% range, so 100% is almost
unbelievable.
Another company, SwimOutlet, said they are now sending non-promotion
content, but videos from Olympic athletes with inspiring messages and are trying
to build a different relationship with their customers. “The goal is to lift
customers’ spirits during a hard time, said Alexander Sienkiewicz, chief
marketing officer for SwimOutlet”.
Other stores, such as groceries are using text message to send updates
about new sanitation procedures and store hours and are receiving huge customer
support. This seems very helpful, but as I consider some themes in Chapter 19,
such as ‘consumers are not puppets’, ‘we need to use technology wisely and ‘consumer
privacy needs to be protected’, I hope that retailers will continue to be
overly cautious on how much they use text messaging. For those who feel most
cut off from the world, even receiving texts from a business can be a lifeline
and could be exploited.
Also, this made me think of the article on page 527 of our book, “What’s
Next? Marketers use big data—cool or creepy” in that if consumers start to readily
give out their phone numbers, the easier it will be for data to be collected about
us.
Personally, in March, I experienced a huge increase in texts from a local
café I joined last summer. Before March, they sent an occasional monthly txt, but
not consistent, but in March they started to come daily. I think this is an example
of what not to do, because although they were good deals, I felt a little bombarded
and intruded upon because I had been let go and had no spending money and I kept
receiving all these promotions. It would have been nice if they would have sent
a text to wish me hope and strength which is what many of my other retailers did
via email, separate from any promotions.
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