SMS

Industry forecasts predict spending on location-targeted mobile advertising to exceed $32 billion by December 2023 — up from $21 billion just three years ago. A Factual report says 90 percent of marketers believe location-based advertising (LBA) grows customer bases by 86 percent and increases customer engagement by 84 percent. When it comes to marketing strategy, location…

Consumers don’t just want relevant content, they expect it. With increased expectations from consumers, delivering personalized experiences will be especially crucial during the upcoming holiday season, when shoppers are busier than ever. However, with more channels and data available to marketers, it can be hard to decide where to begin. The first step is engaging…

Shoppers have embraced a “mobile-first” mindset over the last couple of years. Today, consumers use their phones at each step of the shopping journey — from discovering new products to staying in touch with brands after they click “buy.” A recent report shared that nearly all U.S. consumers (91 percent) would consider signing up for…

It has never been clearer that mobile channels are where customers are. In 2020, consumers spent an average of 4.2 hours per day on their phones. At the same time, conversion rates for e-commerce hit a record, reaching 3.5 percent on Black Friday and Cyber Monday this past year. While that is way up from…

Text messages have replaced emails as the preferred way consumers communicate with brands. In fact, 85 percent of consumers would rather receive a text message from a brand rather than an email or phone call. However, just because consumers prefer SMS doesn’t mean brands should overuse the channel. Email serves as a cautionary tale in…

In this episode of Retail Right Now, Total Retail's Melissa Campanelli and Kristina Stidham discuss the latest trends impacting retail customer communication methods, drawing on key insights from a recent survey conducted by NAPCO Research, sponsored by Podium. The subsequent report, "A Message for Retailers: Go Digital," details what retailers should be considering as they…

COVID-19 has forced us into a new mobile and contactless world, with a recent report finding that 56 percent of respondents use their mobile devices more than before the pandemic, and 38 percent of respondents are getting more news and alerts via text. Additionally, 96 percent of consumers say phone calls can be disruptive, and 39 percent of consumers have over…

Retailer-customer relationships are formed on the basis of communication. For retailers, effectively communicating with customers — on their terms — is integral to building relationships with them. That communication encompasses all touchpoints in the customer journey, from browsing/pre-purchase to post-purchase support, and occurs across multiple channels. Therefore, what should retailers be considering as they evaluate…

Like everything else last year, retail brands were forced to learn to live with a new reality. Since the beginning of the pandemic, as consumers adapted to quarantines, social distancing and masks, they also adapted how they interact with brands. More than ever before, they took to conversational artificial intelligence (AI) — the technology that…

The holidays are here and e-commerce marketers are mapping out how to cope with the increased demand and competition this year will bring. To compound the seasonal rush, e-commerce continues to accelerate, and businesses are trying to plan ahead to jump-start their 2021 e-commerce sales. As they do, retailers are looking toward omnichannel strategies for…