Top 5 Texting Tools for Online Stores

SMS marketing is the most effective way to communicate with potential and returning customers. With Sakari, any company can conduct powerful text message marketing campaigns.

Whether it’s transactional or promotional, SMS marketing services are always the right option. A2P SMS platforms provide a myriad of handy texting tools that ensure more powerful SMS campaigns.

For e-commerce newcomers, the sheer number of SMS functionality opportunities can make text message marketing software feel daunting.

Here are a few tools and how your online store can incorporate them in every step of the entire customer journey.

Why Uses Texting Tools for SMS Marketing?

Using texting tools makes SMS marketing campaigns better. Text messaging can be automated, freeing employee and customer time. Conversational marketing can be elevated, giving businesses the ability to directly text their customers.

Support can be bolstered through many means. For those who want to get the best from SMS marketing, there’s no better option than using texting tools.

Note that some of these tools are found in Sakari or on our integrations with other platforms, such as HubSpot and Pipedrive. They are still powerful and accessible to most organizations.

Leverage SMS Marketing Services with Sakari

Sakari is the best SMS marketing software for e-commerce and beyond. We provide all the features listed below and more, ensuring everyone can take advantage of A2P SMS messaging.

Over half of marketers don’t have a plan in place to use text messages, so there’s no time like the present to create an SMS campaign to get ahead of the competition.

Book a demo for a hands-on demonstration of Sakari and its endless capabilities.

1. Converse with Two-Way SMS Messages

Two-way texting lets businesses communicate with customers via SMS messages. They excel at boosting support capabilities and accessibility. For example, a customer can reply to a marketing message and expect a response within minutes.

Alternatively, they could text a business a question and get the answer in their inbox. There are many more opportunities for two-way texting offers that make it well-suited for e-commerce.

Two-way texting can also increase sales through upselling, incentivizing, and adding that much-needed personal touch. Have a return customer? Use customer data to track when their favorite product is on sale, leveraging two-way texting to tell them how to buy more, buy a premium version, and so on.

There are a plethora of clever strategies any online store can employ when using two-way texting.

2. Schedule Abandoned Cart Reminders

Finally, you’ve got a customer. They spend time on the website, browsing your many fantastic wares and adding them to their shopping cart. Right before they get to the checkout, something comes up. They get distracted, leave, and forget.

This all-too-familiar occurrence is among e-commerce’s greatest woes. Luckily, SMS abandoned cart reminders will save the day. So long as they’ve subscribed, you can add them to a workflow.

Once they fall into the abandoned cart group, it’ll automatically send them a text. SMS’ high open rate ensures they’ll soon be reminded about their carts and send them running to your website.

3. Automate with Autoresponders

An autoresponder uses workflows and other automation programs to converse with customers without taking up employee time. Moreover, they work whether the office is staffed or not; since an online store is always open, always-on support is crucial.

How do they work? Autoresponders look for keywords in text messages and reply to them using pre-written text.

For example, a prospective sends, “Is the mug handmade?” to an online pottery company’s number. The autoresponder sees “handmade” and “mug” and, per the designer’s input, responds with, “Yes, our mug is made by the hands of our talented artists!”

These fantastic texting tools can be made using integrations with HubSpot (read our HubSpot autoresponder tutorial) and other platforms.

4. Try Bulk Text Messaging

Bulk messaging lets businesses reach hundreds of customers. Companies can send carefully written texts right to subscribers’ inboxes. They can be anything from SMS sales announcements to product updates. Around half of A2P SMS recipients reply to texts, making bulk texts extraordinarily effective.

To best use bulk texting, combine it with the other methods listed here. Personalizing texts through contact tokens and other methods is a great way to snare subscribers.

5. Entice with MMS

In most formats, people engage more with something visual than they do with text. LinkedIn posts with images receive 98% higher engagement than those without. Tweets with a visual element get triple the attention. Businesses using SMS marketing can conduct extraordinarily effective campaigns using the power of multimedia messaging service (MMS).

Using MMS, companies can send images and videos. Have a new and exciting product? Attach a picture of it to entice prospective customers. Many senders like to use photos of coupons to ensure only humans can use them.

Gifs are always fun and engaging. However one uses it, MMS is an excellent choice if well-executed.

Get Texting Tools for Online Stores Today with Sakari

Sakari allows sending hundreds of text messages to small businesses and large enterprises alike. With our platform of texting tools for online stores and more, the possibilities are limitless with SMS.

Try Sakari's SMS Marketing Platform for FREE

Ready to transform the way you communicate with your customers? Start your 14-day free trial with Sakari today and experience the power of seamless SMS messaging at your fingertips.

No credit card required, just immediate access to all the tools you need to enhance engagement and drive results.