SMS

The use of SMS as a customer engagement channel, including for customer service and marketing, is a growing trend that retailers are seeking to capitalize on. With consumers increasingly shopping with retailers across multiple channels, including mobile, it's not surprising that they're more willing to communicate with those businesses via SMS. Consider the following data…

Evolving customer engagement platforms and advanced SMS capabilities make it easy to start sending text messages. However, this channel remains underutilized or neglected as most retailers struggle to find their voice and identify meaningful activations. Rather than covering the basics, I will focus on the journey to define use cases for an integrated and elevated…

The business messaging landscape constantly evolves as new technology advancements and innovative ways to engage customers disrupt the ecosystem. Nearly 70 percent of consumer-brand interactions shifted to messaging during the pandemic, and this trend will likely continue as nearly 65 percent of the global population sends and receives SMS messages. There are several SMS messaging options available to businesses,…

Forward-thinking retailers are already looking to strengthen their marketing strategies for the holiday shopping season. It's never "too early" to prepare for the holiday sales rush. With intelligent techniques and a strategic approach, you can make this holiday season one to remember! This year, marketers are forced to refine their email marketing strategies to account…

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…