Christmas text message marketing tips for online sellers

Christmas SMS campaign tips

Text message marketing can be a crucial asset to utilize for boosting your overall sales this festive season. There are millions of customers that are waiting for your online brand to give them a viable reason why they should give their money to you, and not someone else. With SMS, you can give them the added value that they need to make this decision.

Related: Every retailer needs Omni-channel this festive season

Christmas is the most competitive sales period for online sellers. Here are some vital tips on how you should be using your text message marketing to leverage sales this season.

Christmas sales statistics to capitalize on

There are lots of interesting sales stats that your brand can capitalize on this Christmas sales season. The most compelling being that sales tend to drop off in the week leading up to Christmas, and then spike again between Christmas day and January 3rd. These post-Christmas sales are a text messaging marketing dream if you capitalize on them.

Most sales done online around Christmas time were conducted via desktop applications, with 23% or so conducted on mobile devices. While mobile shopping is growing, there is still a strong desire to view entire web pages in their original form.

Text message marketing tips for your online brand

Online sellers like you need to know how to leverage text message marketing so that by the time Christmas is here, you are maximizing your earning potential.

• Use SMS to institute a 'reserve and collect' service on your online site. Customers can opt-in or join via an app, and they will be able to reserve and pay for Christmas gifts before the time, and then collect them on a collection day. Some 40% of the largest online retailers offer this service, and it can account for as much as 29% of their revenue.

• Christmas SMS messages are always well received by your happy, shopping customers. Show your appreciation by releasing a string of highly viral and incredibly impressive specials through your text message marketing loyalty program. Use Christmas as your opportunity to grow your list, make more sales, and gain viral exposure.

• Send personalized Christmas greeting messages to your text message marketing list. Do something special, like create a customer appreciation video, then send all of your customers a link to it. Encourage your existing list members to share the opt-in page or shortcode with their friends and family. For every share, give them points.

• Launch a big Christmas competition this year, and use it to get new list members on your text message marketing list. Then announce the winner a week before Christmas, and get them to send you photos of themselves with the big prize. Create a write-up on your eCommerce blog, and text the URL to customers during the week to inspire more visits and sales with a second competition.

These fun, festive, text message marketing tips should help you escalate your sales this festive season. Don't forget to decorate your eCommerce website with Christmas goodies, as it shows your customers that you embrace the holidays. Prepare for every online sellers' biggest sales season now, to benefit from the power of SMS marketing.

Read more about how Omni-channel marketing can have a huge impact on retail sales during the festive season.

 With the Clickatell Platform, you can simply and easily start sending bulk SMS and put your text messaging marketing plan for the festive season, into action. Sign up for a free account today and take advantage of unlimited testing in our sandbox environment.