SMS Marketing Strategy to Prepare for BFCM 2024

Maximizing engagement and sales during Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) 2024 requires a well-executed SMS marketing strategy. With the right SMS marketing tools, you can automate and personalize your campaigns to create a seamless, multi-channel customer experience. Here’s how to craft an effective BFCM strategy using features like segmentation, automation, and AI-powered product recommendations:

1. Build & Segment Your SMS List

Encourage sign-ups: Use integrated popups and forms to collect phone numbers. Offer incentives such as discounts or early access to BFCM deals to encourage sign-ups.
Segment your audience: Advanced segmentation tools allow you to group your SMS subscribers based on their shopping behavior, loyalty points, or purchase history. For BFCM, create custom segments such as:
- High-spending customers
- Inactive customers who haven’t purchased recently
- Loyalty program members with high points

Feature:

Use multi-channel segmentation to automatically filter and target the right customers for SMS campaigns, ensuring personalized and relevant messages.

2. Set Up Exclusive Early Access Campaigns

VIP access for loyal customers: Leverage a loyalty program to reward your best customers with exclusive early access to your BFCM sale. Send them personalized SMS messages using automated workflows.
Countdown reminders: Schedule countdown SMS notifications for BFCM using the campaign scheduler. Send these messages to segmented lists of engaged customers.

Example SMS:

“Hey [First Name]! As a VIP, you get early access to our BFCM sale. Shop now and save 30%! [Link]”

3. Use Personalized Messages

Personalization features allow you to incorporate customer details like names, loyalty points, and recent purchases into your SMS messages. Use this feature to make each message feel personalized and relevant.
Highlight loyalty points or referral rewards as part of your BFCM promotions.

Feature:

Automate SMS reminders for loyalty point expiration, reward points redemption, or special offers that align with BFCM promotions, making each interaction personalized.

Example SMS:

“Hey [Name], earn double loyalty points on your next BFCM purchase! Shop here: [Link]”

4. Create a BFCM SMS Calendar Using a Scheduler

Phase 1: Pre-BFCM: Schedule teaser SMS campaigns a week before Black Friday to build anticipation. Let subscribers know exclusive deals are coming.
Phase 2: BFCM Weekend: Use trigger-based automation to send real-time notifications about flash sales or low stock alerts. Automatically send out updates on ongoing deals.
Phase 3: Post-BFCM: Set up follow-up SMS to thank customers and offer a discount code for future purchases, encouraging repeat business.

Example Timeline:

1 week out: “Get ready! BFCM is almost here. Exclusive offers are coming your way.”
3 days out: “Mark your calendar: Early access to our BFCM sale starts in 48 hours!”
Day of: “It’s live! Shop our BFCM deals now before they’re gone! [Link]”

5. Incorporate Urgency and Scarcity Using Automation

Low-stock alerts: Automate SMS notifications for low stock or limited-time deals. Customers will receive real-time alerts, pushing them to complete their purchases quickly.
Time-sensitive deals: Highlight flash sales that last only a few hours and send automated follow-ups with reminders.

Feature:

Dynamic blocks automatically show the number of items left in stock or time remaining for a sale, creating urgency within your SMS messages

Example SMS:

“Hurry! Only a few items left in stock for our 50% off sale! Grab yours now: [Link]”

6. Leverage AI-Driven Product Recommendations

Use AI-powered product recommendations to personalize SMS offers based on customers’ previous purchases, increasing the likelihood of conversions.
Include these product recommendations directly within the SMS message, linking customers to tailored product pages.

Feature:

AI-based recommendations can automatically promote products based on each customer’s behavior, optimizing your SMS campaigns with relevant products.

Example SMS:

“Based on your last purchase, you’ll love these deals: [Link]”

7. Create Cross-Channel Campaigns

Sync SMS with email and push notifications: Create multi-channel marketing campaigns by integrating SMS with email and push notifications. Schedule and automate messages across platforms for a cohesive experience.
Abandoned cart reminders: Use cart recovery features to send SMS reminders to customers who leave items in their cart during BFCM. Use this opportunity to recover lost sales with exclusive discounts.

Feature:

Automate SMS, email, and push campaigns to create a unified experience, ensuring customers receive timely reminders and updates across all platforms.

Example SMS:

“You left something behind! Complete your purchase before our BFCM sale ends: [Link]”

8. Post-Purchase Engagement

After a successful sale, send automated thank you messages or post-purchase offers. Encourage customers to leave reviews or join your loyalty program through SMS follow-ups.

Feature:

Set up post-purchase automation that sends SMS to thank customers and invite them to earn loyalty points for future purchases or review products.

Example SMS:

“Thanks for shopping with us! Enjoy 15% off your next purchase with code THANKYOU15.”

9. Stay Compliant with Built-in Features

Feature:

Built-in compliance ensures that opt-out options are included in every message, making it easy to comply with legal requirements while maintaining a positive customer experience.

Conclusion

By utilizing advanced SMS marketing tools that offer segmentation, personalization, AI-driven product recommendations, automation, and multi-channel integration, you can create a highly targeted and effective SMS strategy for BFCM 2024. With the ability to automate, optimize, and personalize every step of the customer journey, SMS marketing is an essential part of driving conversions, boosting engagement, and increasing sales during this critical shopping period.