Why SMS marketing is a must-have for your next retargeting campaign

If you have felt the frustration of valuable business leads slipping through your fingers, SMS marketing could be the missing ingredient in your retargeting campaign.

Let’s talk about why and how you should implement SMS retargeting in your marketing strategy.

Why you can’t afford to miss out on retargeting

Retargeting refers to the practice of displaying advertisements to consumers who are already aware of your brand or have completed a certain action which triggered a cookie. Studies show consumers are 76% more likely to click on retargeted ads than standard display ads, making the practice of retargeting an incredibly rewarding one.

It’s also incredibly easy to get started. You can start the retargeting process by adding a tracking link to your SMS. You can also add tracking pixels to your Facebook, Instagram, Google Ads, or any other type of digital ad. In all cases, you will begin to build a unique list of contacts who are familiar with your product and can now be retargeted.

Let’s dive into the specific benefits of using retargeting in your SMS marketing campaign.

What can SMS retargeting do for you?

With SMS retargeting in your arsenal, you can:

• Enjoy a significant increase in engagement rates. SMS messages have an average open rate of 98%, while email open rates sit at a 20% average (Campaign Monitor).
• Lay the foundation for a meaningful conversion. When you consider that 92% of the consumers visiting your website for the first time aren’t ready to make a purchase (Episerver), it makes sense to follow up with retargeting. Reminding them of the products they recently viewed, or discounts that are relevant to them can gently push them towards committing to a purchase.
• Target customers who haven’t made a purchase in a while. If you notice your customers aren’t returning as expected, you can target them with timely offers to keep your business front of mind.
• Gain valuable insights and improve future ads. Retargeting campaigns give you access to qualifying information, allowing you to use it to create more relevant ads, increase click-through and conversion rates, and lower cost-per-click (CPC) costs.

How SMS retargeting can come to the rescue

What do the benefits of SMS retargeting actually look like when put into action? Here are some real-world SMS retargeting applications used by e-commerce businesses:

• Addressing abandoned carts

  Online marketers are all too familiar with the painful reality of cart abandonment, with 88% of consumers saying they have abandoned their online cart before completing their transaction (Statista). SMS retargeting can be used to gently remind consumers that they didn’t finish checking out. Studies show you can expect 26% of these retargeted prospects to return to their online carts and complete their transaction (ThriveHive).

• Mastering cross-selling

  Retargeting isn’t only about recapturing first-time website visitors. Existing customers are just as worthy of your attention. In fact, existing customers make more frequent purchases and spend more per purchase when compared to new customers (Bain & Company), meaning it’s well worth cross-selling to them. You can use SMS retargeting to plug similar products to your existing customers, like a trendy phone grip to go with the new phone case they just bought from you.

Retargeting is a clever little marketing trick that keeps prospects from slipping through your fingers. It’s a common practice within popular CPC ad placements but isn’t used as often as it should in the SMS realm.