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Brands must stay on the cutting edge of marketing to maintain and grow their customer base. Companies that use SMS marketing successfully can build customer retention and boost sales by sharing promotions and exclusive offers directly to consumers’ native text message inboxes.
Compared to email marketing, SMS marketing offers instant deliverability, higher open rates, and better conversion rates. Most importantly, text messaging gives you a direct line of communication with your customer base — those who want you to communicate with them through this highly personal channel.
In this blog, we’ll review real-world examples of SMS marketing from brands you likely know and love.
Jump right to brands using SMS marketing for:
Customer Loyalty & Rewards Programs
The power of SMS marketing lies in connecting with customers where they already are—on their phones. Incentivizing customers with loyalty programs and rewards is a great way to get them to opt-in to receive SMS messages from your business and encourage repeat purchases.
Once they’ve made it onto your marketing list, you can continue providing them with product updates and special offers to keep them engaged with your brand. Here are three examples of different loyalty texts from brands.
1. Alo Yoga: Access Member Exclusives
Alo Yoga is a popular lifestyle and athleisure brand known for offering high-quality yoga apparel, activewear, and wellness products. In the first real-life SMS marketing example, Alo Yoga engages its loyal customer base by letting them know they have reward points to use. This can drive sales and encourage customers to redeem points.
In the second SMS marketing example from Alo Yoga, the brand gives its Alo Access members priority access to a new color offering. It uses urgency and exclusivity to encourage sales.
2. Aerie: Cardholder Loyalty Award
Aerie is an American apparel company that promotes body positivity, inclusivity, and self-love. In this SMS marketing text, the clothing retailer offers its Real Rewards members a free gift if they spend $75+. This is a great way to build relationships with existing customers by offering them something in return for buying from your brand.
Sales & Discounts
SMS marketing is a great way to promote exclusive sales and discounts with your customers. It can be a game-changer for many brands looking to drive immediate action and increase revenue. Brands can promote seasonal deals, flash sales, or give text coupons to their customers. Let’s look at a few real-world examples:
3. Anthropology: Holiday Sale
Anthropologie is a distinctive retail brand known for its eclectic mix of women’s fashion, accessories, home decor, and beauty products. The retailer promotes its Presidents’ Day sale in this text example. This encourages text subscribers to shop the sale on the holiday. This is an effective strategy many brands use, but this one stands out for its high discount amount.
4. Show Me Your Mumu: Welcome Discount
Show Me Your Mumu is a California-based fashion brand known for its carefree, bohemian-inspired aesthetic and fun, feminine styles. In the SMS example below, the clothing brand welcomes new subscribers and gives them their joining incentive. The text stands out to us at Textedly because it is very on brand for the Mumu team.
5. Wild Dove Boutique: Semi-Annual Sale Promotion
Wild Dove Boutique is a contemporary women’s fashion brand known for its effortlessly stylish and timeless pieces. In this marketing text, Wild Dove promotes its semi-annual sale. This text message stands out because it’s highly personalized with the customer’s name and the sender introducing herself. This is a great tactic to use as a smaller brand that wants to build relationships with its customers.
6. Solidcore: Membership Discount
Solidcore is a fitness brand that offers high-intensity, low-impact workout classes designed to build strength, endurance, and muscle tone. While the fitness studio uses SMS to remind its customers about upcoming classes, it also uses it for marketing. In the example below, Solidcore promotes a membership discount to students, teachers, healthcare personnel, and military members. This is a great strategy to encourage more monthly memberships.
7. Anytime Fitness: Limited-Time Discount
Anytime Fitness is a global fitness franchise that provides members with 24/7 access to its gyms, offering a flexible and convenient workout experience. Anytime Fitness uses SMS marketing to promote memberships and encourage clients to sign up for personal training, group classes, and fitness challenges. In the example below, Anytime Fitness encourages a past member to join for just $1 for a limited time. Offering a limited-time deal is a great way to create urgency, as customers are more likely to sign up right away before the deal ends.
Other Promotional Messages
SMS marketing also has other promotional use cases outside of loyalty programs and sales. Let’s take a look at a few other real-life companies that use SMS marketing for other promotional use cases.
8. SKIMS: New Collection Launch
SKIMS is a shapewear and lifestyle brand founded by entrepreneur Kim Kardashian. The brand uses SMS marketing largely to stay in touch with customers and announce its new products. In the example below, SKIMS announces the opening of a new apparel shop. Sending texts about new collection launches works because it taps into a customer’s desire for exclusivity, excitement, and immediacy.
9. Hello Molly: Abandoned Cart SMS
Hello Molly is an Australian fashion brand known for its trendy, stylish, and affordable clothing for young women. Hello Molly uses SMS marketing to promote new products, share exclusive deals, and reduce its abandoned cart rate. In the example below, the Australian fashion brand personalizes an abandoned cart text to a customer. It includes a direct link to the shopping cart and mentions a prior 10% discount. Abandoned cart SMS campaigns work because they target customers who strongly intend to purchase but don’t complete the transaction. SMS is a powerful tool for re-engaging these customers.
10. Outdoor Voices: New Product Launch
Outdoor Voices is an activewear brand focusing on fun, functional, and inclusive fitness apparel for outdoor activities. In this SMS marketing example, the brand introduces customers to a new dress. This text example stands out for a product launch because it leaves a hint of curiosity about the new color, encouraging customers to click on the link.
Engagement Campaigns
By sending interactive and personalized messages, brands can encourage customer participation, spark conversations, and increase brand loyalty. These campaigns strengthen relationships and provide valuable insights into customer preferences and behaviors.
11. Urban Dental: Happy Birthday Text
Urban Dental is a modern, patient-centered dental practice that provides high-quality, comprehensive care in a welcoming and comfortable environment. In this example, the dental office simply sends a happy birthday text to its customer. Sending a happy birthday text works for several reasons, all centered around building relationships, fostering customer loyalty, and providing a personalized experience.
Pro tip for brands: If you offer a product or service, throw in an exclusive birthday discount to encourage a purchase.
12. Glen Ivy Hot Springs: Itinerary Alert
Glen Ivy Hot Springs is a premier spa and wellness center known for its relaxing, rejuvenating, and therapeutic hot spring treatments. The wellness center sends its day-spa guests an itinerary in the SMS example below. This text message helps guests know what services they booked to keep them informed. Once customers head to the link, they are encouraged to book other services. This is a great engagement and upselling opportunity.
13. David’s Bridal: Two-Way Engagement
David’s Bridal is a bridal retailer known for offering an extensive selection of wedding dresses, bridesmaid dresses, accessories, and special occasion attire. The retailer uses SMS to converse with customers, as shown in the example below. The brand encourages customers to reply to be connected to the right SMS agent. Encouraging a reply collects more information from customers so they can have a personalized shopping experience or get their questions answered quickly.
Opt-In Campaigns
SMS opt-in campaigns ensure your brand complies with texting regulations and creates a more personalized experience, leading to higher engagement rates. These campaigns set the foundation for ongoing communication, allowing brands to build trust and deliver targeted, relevant messages directly to customers' phones. Let’s look at how some of the most successful brands collect opt-ins for their SMS campaigns.
14. Liquid Death: Checkout Opt-In
Liquid Death is a brand of mountain spring water that stands out for its bold, edgy branding and unique marketing approach. Liquid Death encourages opt-ins during its checkout process. This is a great way to collect information from customers who recently bought from your brand.
- Azazie: Text to Join Campaign
Azazie is an online retailer that offers high-quality, customizable bridal gowns, bridesmaid dresses, and accessories at affordable prices. The ecommerce brand encourages opt-ins with a text-to-join campaign. In particular, the brand incentivizes opt-ins by offering a free gift. Text-to-join campaigns work because they simplify the opt-in process for customers to opt into communication, making it easy, fast, and engaging.
Get SMS Marketing Right With Textedly
SMS marketing is one of the best ways to reach customers who want to hear from you. As a result, it’s no surprise that some of the largest retailers rely heavily on this channel.
However, companies that use SMS marketing aren’t just big-name brands. Whether you’re a small or established business, texting your audience is a cost-effective way to grow.
Keep your customers updated on your special offers, promote new products, or recover abandoned carts with the help of Textedly.
Textedly is an affordable and feature-rich text marketing platform built to scale with your brand. Don’t miss your chance to drive growth. Try Textedly free to experience the benefits of SMS marketing for your business today.
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