Your Texting Dos and Don’ts

When marketers think of the word “omni-channel,” three things come to mind: email, mobile, and in-person experiences. Talk about stating the obvious, Movable Ink.

But here’s the thing. Within mobile alone, marketers are actually juggling a whole lot more channels: there’s push, in-app, SMS, WhatsApp…the list goes on. That’s a lot to contend with, but marketers need to perfect each sub-channel experience if they want to make the most of mobile’s engagement-driving powers.

Thankfully, the solution isn’t staying up into the wee hours of the night and agonizing over image dimensions and mobile renderings. Remember, you’ve got a fancy tech stack to avoid this conundrum. With the right tech stack hacks, you’ll be able to maximize your existing tools for easy omni-channel prowess.?

Pushing the Envelope

Once customers have downloaded your mobile app (thank you, email, you were never dead to us), push notifications are marketers’ best bet on driving app engagement. Here are two ways to quickly enhance them with the tools you might already have:

A Picture Worth 1000 Clicks

A push notification without an image? Ho-hum, humdrum. A rich image that reminds customers of the product they left behind? That’s a different story.?

Marketers can easily add imagery to their push notifications via APIs. With a couple of custom tweaks, an API can automatically display the product image, description, and current pricing to motivate customers to complete any unfinished action.

Email Data for Mobile Clicks

When a customer clicks out of email and pulls out their phone to browse products, marketers know it’s one customer. But according to siloed data, it can look like two separate individuals on different purchasing paths. This breakdown of visibility into the customer journey can result in inaccurate personalization and messaging, a faux pas we just can’t stand.

The tech stack tool that can kick this bad habit to the curb is a mobile SDK. It natively captures behavioral events from multiple messaging channels, allowing marketers to have a clear view of customers’ individual journeys.

The Ins and Outs of Apps

Now that you’ve got customers in your app, it’s time to optimize the experience to keep them from tapping out. There are three quick ways to make your in-app messages interactive and enticing using your tech stack:

• Live polls. Gamification plays increase conversion rates by up to 8%, making it a quick-win we can’t ignore. To get things up and running at lightning speed, marketers can even repurpose successful polls from an email campaign. Best of all, you can use that data for future retargeting when the real-time votes start rolling in.
• Scratch-offs. There’s a reason we wrap presents. Everyone loves the element of surprise, and that remains true for mobile experiences. Let the people scratch, peel, or swipe to uncover a special offer or call-to-action.
• Product grids. Product grids are the bread and butter of email, but they’re not nearly as common on mobile. However, they should be—it’s not even that hard when you can add several click-through URLs in one message to drive to multiple destinations.

Techy Texts

You know a customer is committed when they're willing to receive text messages from your brand. Sure, maybe they just signed up for that one-time discount, but if you play your cards right you’ll have them tapping into all of your texts with excitement.

Let’s talk about your two most important texting channels: SMS and WhatsApp. Just like your eyebrows, they’re sisters, not twins, and they bring different benefits to the table. Luckily, you can get the best of both worlds by conquering these common missed opps with your tech stack:

Keep it Personal

Are you really surprised that personalization is the first one on our list? While brands are quick to text customers, these messages often lack the level of visual personalization seen in email. While texting programs still manage to swing a high open rate, imagine the level of engagement you could see by enhancing these messages with a customized touch.?

Just like other mobile sub-channels, text messages can deliver personalized content based on behavioral data. SMS only requires a simple opt-in from customers, while WhatsApp allows engaging visuals from the jump.

Link Up

One of the most common problems mobile marketers face is linking. When a customer taps to explore the cool pair of shoes you just sent, they’ll often be routed to a generic homepage—or worse, to the mobile browsing page rather than the app.

However, this issue has an easy fix with undeniable impact. With device-level targeting and specifically crafted URLs, marketers can minimize friction and ensure customers are always in the right digital place.?

Built-In Advantages

The text messaging channel offers a level of urgency that even email can’t match. Lean into the natural advantages of the channel with short and snappy copy, clear CTAs, or limited time deals to drive quick action.

Marketing Moments to Watch ??

Is Pepsi better than the “other guy”? — Pepsi’s going on a world tour (yes, you heard us right) to prove that they’re more tasty and refreshing than the soda brand-that-shall-not-be-named.

We’ll see about that — Not to be outdone in the nostalgia department, Coca Cola keeps up the battle for soda supremacy with their “Fantasy” orange cream debut.

SuperAd Sunday – There were too many Super Bowl ads to choose from, so lucky for you, we have an entire blog post dedicated to all of our favorites.?

Abracadabra, Mastercard – We’ve got to give credit where credit is due; Mastercard, we never quite expected this tie-in for Gaga’s comeback.