Klaviyo SMS Marketing Strategies

SMS (short message service) marketing has entered the chat. 

If you’re looking for ways to send your customers time-sensitive messages, reminders, or notifications, have personalized conversations, and cultivate relationships, SMS marketing may be right for you. 

SMS marketing helps create better customer experiences because of its speed, immediacy, and the ability to have two-way conversations. It also offers customers an easy and convenient way to communicate with your brand. 

Here are some helpful tips and tricks that we compiled directly from Klaviyo to help you get started with SMS Marketing.

A MUST-DO FIRST STEP

1. Make sure to turn on SMS in your Klaviyo account
2. Collect SMS consent
   • Note: having someone’s phone number does not count as consent; people must explicitly agree to receive SMS marketing messages
   • SMS content is limited to 160 characters or (if you have an emoji or special character) 70 characters.

TWO TYPES OF SMS MESSAGE MARKETING

1. Transactional SMS contains important customer updates, such as order confirmation or shipping information. This helps keep customers informed and build loyalty. The top two types customers most like to receive, as reported by G2, are shipping updates (75%) and delivery confirmations (65%).
2. Promotional SMS sends your target audience information to increase sales, promote a product, offer a special sale, promote branded events, or build brand awareness. Promotional SMS doesn’t need to feel spammy; it should be timely and relevant. You can send event-triggered messages based on the actions your customers take on your website. For example, if customers add an item to the cart but don’t complete the purchase, you can send an abandoned cart text to encourage them to place an order.

SMS CAMPAIGN IDEAS

Here are a few ways to motivate customers to join your SMS list:

• Create a unique offer—especially one that’s only going to your SMS customer list.
• Give customers a time-sensitive deal, like buy one, get one free (BOGO) for the rest of the day on items you need to clear out.
• Send information that’s necessary to customers who may want to participate in an event.
• Introduce new products or services – especially if you’re giving your SMS list first dibs. Ex: “Want first dibs? Sign up for SMS to join the early access club!”

BEST PRACTICES

Here are 5 best practices recommended by Klaviyo

• Create a mobile-first form: More than 70% of web traffic is viewed on mobile devices, and a form created specifically for mobile shoppers will look and convert far better.
• Always add a form teaser for popups and flyout forms: This helps your shoppers easily identify where they can give you more information once they are ready to sign up.
• Use a multi-step form over multiple fields on one-page: Quiz-like forms perform better, and one line of information is especially easy to fill out on mobile.
• Display popups/flyout forms either immediately or within 1-3 seconds after they land on the site: This helps convert users quickly so that you don’t live on a buy or bust mentality with new shoppers.
• Reduce display frequency to 1-3 days after closing form: This reduces shopper frustration with your website, allowing anyone to browse without interruption for a while.
• After 1-3 weeks of collecting SMS subscribers, you can kick things off with a campaign for all your new SMS subscribers.

A few things to make sure are included in your first campaign:

• Company name
• A single CTA (call-to-action) – keep it short and sweet
• Make the CTA time-sensitive when possible
• Personalize with subscribers’ first name or relevant info
• Use a conversational tone
• Deliver immediate value

GETTING STARTED

CREATE AN EMAIL WELCOME SERIES

When creating your welcome series, there are some basic elements that can help you send an impactful first message:

• Send it immediately after opt-in
• Include your store name
• Personalize the message with your subscriber’s first name
• Let subscribers know how much you appreciate them being on your SMS list
• Provide a clear call to action such as “Sign Up!” 
• Create two different pop-up forms that target two distinct audiences:
  • Current email subscribers: This form targets current email subscribers asking only for their phone numbers.
  • Non-subscribers: This form collects both emails and phone numbers from new visitors only.

MAKE UPDATES ON YOUR WEBSITE

• Prompt SMS opt-in during checkout for a seamless and non-intrusive way to get customers to join your subscriber list. With Klaviyo’s integration with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce, you can use this approach to reach a wider audience with your SMS marketing.
• Incentivize website visitors to become subscribers
  • A good rule of thumb when setting a website pop-up form for SMS opt-in is to use strategic targeting and to show SMS-only forms for those already on your email list.
• Collect email and SMS in separate steps. This can help gain more conversions than a single-page pop-up. If you use a multi-step opt-in form, collect email addresses in the first step, then SMS consent in the second step.

Ready to get started with SMS marketing? Begin by setting up your email marketing plan, and sign up for Klaviyo today.