Text messaging has become an effective way for brands to launch new products, promote flash sales, and cultivate fan loyalty, said Rachel Saul, CMO and co-founder of Chelsea & Rachel Co., during E-Commerce Speed Round: Ask the Experts, part of SFA’s Specialty Food Live! event, Thursday.
“I love text messaging and it certainly is not taboo anymore in terms of consumers,” Saul said. “The stats are very much in the brand’s favor; 98 percent open rates versus email…We recently had a client launch a new product through text messaging and the conversion rate was north of 30 percent. They were able to pre-sell a brand-new product before launching it to the general email list, to social, and to ads.”
Steve Gaither, chief marketing officer for C.A. Fortune said that Chris Fanucci, founder and CEO of Bitewell has built an online marketplace for emerging brands on the platform.
“Text messaging used to be a great opt-in channel and a horrible frequency channel, but that’s really shifted along the way,” he said. “As long as you have a captive audience and it’s anticipated, it’s personal, it’s relevant, and you don’t abuse that, you’re going to be in great shape.”
The platform is also effective for managing subscriptions, added Saul.
“Imagine not even having to login online to manage your subscriptions but to opt-in and say ‘yes, I want to manage my subscriptions via text message,’” she said. “Every month ahead of your order, you’d get a message saying ‘hey, your order is renewing, would you like to swap your products, skip your shipment, or change your delivery date?’ Then it just goes through a flow and you’re able to change it. It’s an easy swap and consumers are really starting to see the benefit and the value that text messaging brings.”
When it comes to successful ecommerce, big brands should take note of what emerging brands are doing, said Betsey McGinn, CEO of McGinn eComm.
“They’re nimble and quick to make strategy changes and decisions that accommodate what’s happening in the consumer landscape and big brands can learn a lot from that,” she said. “I think their biggest challenge, and this will never change, is that they just get outspent by the big brands in some areas. But the idea of being first in on something like Instacart advertising which is effective and affordable, or being first in on launching your brand on Seller Central can give you an advantage that I think big brands can’t get no matter how much they spend.”
Related: Retail Panelists Open to New Brands, Diverse Ownership; SFA Research: Specialty Food Sales Top $170 Billion.