We often forget that mobile marketing can also be used as an ecommerce tool simply because you have consumers who are now carrying around retail outlets or banks in their pockets due to increased smartphone usage worldwide. According to Wikipedia, the phrase ‘mobile commerce’ was originally coined as far back as 1997 to mean ‘the delivery of electronic commerce capabilities directly into the consumers’ hand, anywhere, via wireless technology’.

Keeping this in mind, let’s take a look at exactly how SMS can become an ecommerce tool to better serve your business. The first thing to remember is that SMS (text message) marketing is an excellent option or even companion to your email marketing. According to multiple research reports, audiences are more likely to open, read and respond to an SMS as opposed to an email – this makes it the best way to get news across to someone fast. The next time someone makes an online purchase, you could give them the option of receiving the confirmation of payment by SMS and not only by Email – because chances are they may have made the purchase off their mobile device in the first place. This makes it more immediate and easier to keep a record of on-the-go.  

In addition to the transaction confirmation SMS, you could also use text marketing as a vehicle to inform customers about the status of the delivery of the product, send an alert when it is ready for pick up and also follow up with aftersales services via SMS. You could even use it to send simple tips to your customers about the new product they purchased or information on related products.

Here are a few other ways in which you can use SMS as an ecommerce tool for your business:

–        If you are service provider selling tickets online such as a movie theatre or event company, you opt to text the confirmations.

–        If you are a catalogue merchant, you could accept orders for products in your catalogue immediately via SMS and respond with a confirmation.

–         A bank or financial institution could use it to send an SMS to confirm a deposit or withdrawal from an account or credit card purchase. You could even use it as more efficient banking tool itself allowing for mobile money transfers making global or regional trade a smoother process.

It is time to take a new look at how you use Text Marketing as a tool – it is more than just a way to have a two-way dialogue, it is becoming a powerful tool for ecommerce based business transactions itself.

To get started with this we recommend talking to your website developer or IT team about how you can use the Texta APIs to integrate with your systems.