At some point in the semester, we discussed SMS as it relates to mobile marketing. Over this past Black Friday weekend, I had the pleasure of receiving an influx of messages from Express to Tobi and any other brand whose terms and conditions I did not read close enough. When I first started to receive SMS notifications from companies, I thought they were being a little too intimate, but I quickly became used to it. I honestly read every message, but they do not make me more prone to shop necessarily. The only time SMS messaging converts me to an actual shopper is when I am already shopping whether it is online or in a brick and mortar. Even so, I am more easily converted when I am physically in the space to take advantage of the promotion.
Although some people consider SMS messaging effective due to its high open rate compared to other communication channels such as email marketing, I think it still falls short in some areas. I do not think that everyone should receive the same generic SMS notification from their favorite retailer. Instead, I think that SMS notifications should be configured to beacon technology to drive a more personalized and connected experience. The collaboration of the two tools may also serve as a way to increase in-store conversion rates and overall sales.
In my mind, I would be in the mall and receive a message from Express only because the transmitters from the beacon technology picked up that I was in the vicinity of a store. However, someone that was home would not receive that same text message from Express, if they were to receive one at all. Retailers could have potentially used this innovative idea over the Black Friday weekend as another way to drive even more sales.
Usually, people are shopping in stores on Black Friday. Retailers could have taken advantage of this by using SMS messages in a more meaningful way. Instead, I was receiving dozens of messages that merely collected dust during the big sale weekend. At one point, I was receiving so many notifications from retailers, I wanted to wail my hands and yell, “SOS, please someone help me”. One way for text messages to make more sense while I was home is to send me short abandon cart messages. Then, it would make sense for me to receive SMS messages.
References