SEO One of Top 3 Acquisition Channels for D2C Business
A recent study on direct-to-consumer businesses in 2019 shows that the three top acquisition channels are:
- 61% – Social media
- 51% – SEO
- 50% – Direct traffic
This information is great news for businesses that deal directly with customers. It’s just a matter of making sure you’re using these top methods to engage with customers. Are you communicating with your customers effectively? If you want to improve your customer engagement, look to these methods to increase it. Adding SMS can help increase your traffic online and in-store.
Using SMS to Increase Cross-Channel Traffic
Many D2C businesses find that SMS is a great tool to increase both engagement with customers online and sales in their brick-and-mortar locations. Restaurants using SMS to increase sales find that cross-channel engagement is a successful method of driving traffic and sales. Experienced marketers know that multiple ads or repeating the same ad helps people remember them better. One way to increase exposure is to advertise across several channels. Customers will get your message on each of these channels that they follow.
Opting-In Increases Positive Engagement
Customers have to opt-in to receive your SMS messages. Since they’ve already given you permission to send them text messages, they will be expecting them and will be more willing to read them. You can easily invite them to follow you on other channels to increase their engagement. Like most marketing channels, SMS works best when you include a variety of messages. You can send any type of message that fits into the limited characters allowed. Messages can be short surveys, invites to enter contests on your website, rewards for joining your Facebook page, or your specials for the day. It’s easy for customers to receive your messages on their smartphone, then click a link to another marketing channel. But remember that even customers that don’t own smartphones can receive SMS messages. It depends on your target persona.
Combining Social Media and SMS
Social media marketing and SMS marketing are easy to pair. You can send social media followers to a landing page to join your SMS list, or vice versa. You can invite customers inside your brick-and-mortar location to join your SMS list for a coupon or another reward. Add the invitation to your receipts, have your staff mention it to customers, and include it on packaging. As your SMS list grows, you can offer other rewards to your SMS followers if they become social media followers or newsletter recipients. And the cross-channel marketing works in every direction. So invite newsletter recipients to join your SMS list. And social media followers to join your newsletter. The more often customers receive your marketing messages, the more likely they will engage with you.