Make the Most of Mobile Commerce by Adding Text Messaging
Both mcommerce and text messaging are convenient and effective for customers, which is why they’re such a perfect pair when developing or promoting a mobile-driven sales strategy.
According to Internet Retailer, 2020 was the biggest year on record for mobile commerce with $115 billion dollars spent through mobile devices. Web design and SEO agency, Outerbox, states that 80% of smartphone users have used their mobile device to make a purchase in the last six months. And according to dropshipping app-makers, Oberlo, the 2021 share of total ecommerce sales belonging to mobile is a healthy 72.9%. "In other words," they write, "nearly three out of every four dollars spent on online purchases today is done so through a mobile device."
Driving mobile commerce is a natural extension of text-based marketing strategies. And, just as there are multiple ways to make a sale IRL, there are also multiple ways to convert your customer base to purchase through texting.
But first: What is mobile commerce?
Whereas ecommerce is specific to desktop devices, mobile commerce (or mcommerce) is simply commerce that takes place on mobile devices. While mcommerce is a part of the e-commerce landscape, it may need to be approached in a different manner, with shopping experiences and customer communications designed for the mobile experience.
And since mcommerce and text communications share space on mobile devices, they’re a natural fit when building or scaling your mobile sales business.
of smartphone users have used their mobile device to make a purchase in the last six months.
total ecommerce sales belonging to mobile.
Here, four ways to engage customers and increase sales.
1. Drive Mcommerce Purchases Through Exclusive Text Promotions
Promotions and coupons are a guaranteed way to drive sales. But your business can stand apart from the crowd when you provide your customers with convenient coupons that offer an incentive to buy right away.
Texts are an instantaneous communication method with 80% of all texts responded to within 10 minutes. This makes text the perfect channel for flash sale announcements, which are popular because they encourage customers to act immediately. Then, customers can follow your included link to complete purchases. Use our Link Shortener to add a link to purchase and you’ll be able to track your messages and see what resonates the most with your audience.
Also, a mobile-based loyalty program is a great way to get closer to your most devoted customers. Text makes it easy to opt in and join a loyalty program. Offer these customers the best discounts and most exclusive sales via text and watch the orders come in.
2. Mcommerce & MMS — Take Advantage of Texting’s Multimedia Capabilities
Sometimes you need to see something to know you need it. That’s where MMS — Multimedia Messaging Service — comes in.
Add an image of just-in or top-selling inventory to your text to pique customer interest. MMS capabilities allow you to fully bring the depth and range of your business to your customer’s phone. And our image editor, powered by Shutterstock, makes creating the perfect MMS image easy.
For maximum effectiveness, MMS works well if you use customer segmentation and target customers most likely to respond to the product. For example, a dress shop may target customers who have purchased products in the past by sending that particular segment an announcement about new products in stock or a sale on similar items.
3. Engage 1-on-1 Chat to Make Direct Connections with Customers
One of the major benefits of mcommerce is that it can combine the convenience of ecommerce with the potential for connection that comes from an in-store shopping experience. Enabling 1:1 text functionality lets your customers text you with questions about products, ask for recommendations, and have a curated shopping experience from the comfort of their own phones.
4. Grow Your Textable Subscriber List With Sign-Up Forms & Opt Ins
If you have an existing e-commerce site or digital storefront it’s easy to add an embeddable Sign-Up Form to quickly capture mobile opt-ins and grow your list. You can also showcase a QR code or Keyword and dedicated short code combo on your site to capture mobile subscribers. Then, reward your new subscribers instantly by setting up a welcoming auto-response message that includes a special coupon or exclusive promotion. It will be sent automatically to every new subscriber who opts in to your list.
Now you’re growing on autopilot!
Want to know more about mobile commerce? We put together some answers to address frequently asked questions:
Mobile Commerce FAQs
The uses of mobile commerce are varied, from researching products to comparing retailers’ prices to completing a purchase. With a huge percentage of online shopping being done on mobile phones, e-retailers are optimizing ecommerce experiences for mobile users, and even customizing their product pages and checkout flow to the kind of mobile device, iPhone or Samsung Galaxy for instance, on which the majority of their demographic is visiting their site.
While mobile commerce is a type of e-commerce, there are some fundamental differences in the way customers browse via mobile. For example, customers tend to do a lot of their pre-purchase research via mobile and, even before the pandemic, 67% enjoyed digital window shopping, making mobile-friendly showrooms and photo galleries an important factor for mcommerce sites. Therefore, mcommerce web designers and developers may want to gear the product and landing pages to the preferred usage habits of a mobile commerce shopper; i.e. fast scrolling versus clicking around. Or, for instance, an ecommerce brand with a high percentage of iPhone-based customers should offer an Apple Pay integration with their shopping cart.
Right now, mobile commerce is a huge slice — nearly 80% — of the entire ecommerce pie. Imagine the majority of your customers entered your retail space through the back door and had to navigate a dark and messy stockroom to find their way to the showroom. Given the opportunity, you would try to reorient your store to improve their shopping experience and first impression of your shop, right? That is the same idea behind developing a mobile-first strategy for your ecommerce brand. To convert more leads to sales, you want to meet your customers where they are — on their phones.
When deciding whether to optimize your ecommerce site for mobile, consider the retail space analogy in our previous answer. You want to improve the back entrance, but you don’t want to lose any of the street appeal and, therefore, foot traffic. Optimizing for a great mobile commerce experience does not have to mean that your desktop experience suffers, but it does mean that your site takes into account the behaviors and visual landmarks of a mobile shopper. One of the major pitfalls of ecommerce retailers is not knowing their audience well enough. It is imperative to do the research on how shoppers are finding the ecommerce site, using it, and on which devices.
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