Sending text alerts

Sending short text messages (called SMS messages) over a smartphone is an easy and affordable way to communicate with customers. It works especially well for these tasks:

• Sending reminders about an event, a product, or a service
• Creating immediate awareness
• Sending maintenance notices or appointment reminders for services
• Providing notice that products are available for in-store pickup
• Hosting a contest, or sending information related to contests
• Sending special offers

Customers must opt-in, or choose, to receive text alerts. Similar to e-mail marketing, certain rules apply regarding how and when you can send messages via mobile phones to customers. Do not send unsolicited texts. Especially because customers can be charged a per-text fee by their cellular service provider, a business can get in trouble if it doesn’t ask permission to advertise or market to a customer using SMS alerts. You must also give customers the ability to opt-out or choose to stop receiving text alerts.

Encourage customers to opt-in to receive text alerts by offering a special incentive or one-time perk, such as a discount off the next purchase. The mega-retailer Kohl’s actively promotes its text-based “mobile sales alerts” on its website and offers customers a 15 percent discount. The company also clearly states approximately how many alerts per week a customer may receive, in order to help set expectations.

When you use any type of mobile campaign to promote your store, you should follow a few rules. Make sure that your mobile message recipient always opts-in to the campaign. Additionally, ask customers to submit a keyword or short code to signal their desire to participate. And, of course, never sell your mobile contact list to other retailers.

Distributing mobile coupons

It’s hard to say what’s driving the demand for mobile coupons, which were once thought to be a disruptive nuisance. Perhaps Americans are becoming more cost-conscious and are on the lookout for a deal. Or maybe they are simply curious as to how mobile coupons work. Whatever the reason, billions of mobile coupons are being distributed each year. According to research from Accenture (www.accenture.com), more than 70 percent of people surveyed showed interest in receiving coupons on their smartphones, and that percentage continues to grow as more people realize the benefits of mobile coupons.

More consumers are enjoying the delivery of mobile coupons to get discounts and perks while they are near a particular store, for example. Retailers (both online and offline) are finding that mobile coupons are spurring a type of spontaneous buying, ultimately driving more sales and greater revenue for their stores. Even so, other research reveals that a large percentage of mobile coupons go unused — but even if not used, they are influencing future buying decisions. The fact that so many mobile coupons are being distributed is a good indicator that the demand for them is likely to continue growing as they become more mainstream.

What’s the big deal about having coupons sent to your phone? For starters, they are coupons sent to your phone! Seriously, as a traditional or online retailer, mobile coupons have been shown to

• Generate better engagement and response rates with customers
• Increase customer loyalty
• Cost less than traditional advertising
• Reach customers when they are near your location
• Be easier to administer than other advertising

A growing number of companies offer SMS and mobile coupon services, along with other mobile marketing services and tools. Try one of the following:

• Simple Texting (www.simpletexting.com): Offers a number of marketing options for SMS services. Service is available to a large number of companies outside the United States. In some cases, a minimum purchase may be required.
• EzTexting (www.eztexting.com): With a host of different plans for businesses, EzTexting costs as little as a few cents per text (not exceeding 5 cents) in a true pay-as-you-go format. They also offer monthly plans, based on usage, that range from approximately $30 to $150 per month.
• Red Fish Media (www.redfishmedia.com): This company has a range of mobile marketing and SMS services. As m-commerce has become more popular, this company has expanded its offerings and now helps brands with all parts of mobile marketing.
• Avid Mobile (www.avidmobile.com): Boasting an all-in-one application that integrates SMS, mobile coupons and email, Avid Mobile also provides enhanced reporting and simplified developer tools. The company’s app provides users with an easy way to build custom mobile websites, apps and landing pages. A free trial is available that does not require a credit card.
• Trumpia (www.trumpia.com): This full-service SMS software lets you do automated mass texting, as well as individual texting with enhanced targeting capabilities. Pricing is available by company size, including start-ups ($225 per month), business ($465), and mid-enterprise ($945 per month). Additional plans are available for large enterprises and custom projects.

Omnichannel

An important consideration when discussing online and offline sales is referred to as omnichannel, or cross-channel. This phrase takes into account the way that shopping is distributed, or spread across, multiple platforms and how retailers must have a cohesive strategy to not only market to all these channels, but enable shopping across and between various channels. Just as shoppers like to have a choice of whether to shop in your physical retail location or online, consumers now want even more choices for the way they shop and buy online, including mobile devices (both smartphones and tablets) and social media websites (from Instagram to Pinterest). Just as we discussed the capability to market to consumers through these platforms, you also want to offer the capability to shop, or buy, directly from the same platforms with the least amount of interference or disruption to the buying process.

Several companies are offering mobile shopping platforms that integrate with your online store or your social media profiles, such as Facebook and Twitter. Check out mShopper (www.mshopper.com) to see how a mobile store can be integrated with your existing website to offer a truly mobile shopping experience. As you include more mobile and social media buying experiences with your store, look for other service providers and technologies that help integrate the shopping experience across multiple channels.

Google AdWords

Using Google AdWords is comparable to placing an ad in your local newspaper. You purchase a specific amount of space (or ad size) for a set dollar amount to entice customers to come into your store. You can even specify a section of the paper in which your ad should appear. For example, if you have a sporting goods store, your ad might appear in the sports section of the newspaper. Google works almost the same way.

In this case, your ad is displayed in the search engine based on a prospective customer's search results (called SERP). Suppose that someone uses Google to search for soccer balls. Your text ad, typically a few sentences long, shows up either on the top of the screen with other sponsored ads, or at the bottom of the search results as shown in Figure 5-1. Google continues to add more listing feature options, such as letting you include your phone number in the text ad (for direct-from-mobile calling).

Unlike with traditional print ads, with Google AdWords you choose the keywords that trigger your ad to appear and you decide how much you want to pay for the ad space. When you use AdWords, you aren’t paying for a certain ad size but, rather, for a certain number of hits on your ad. In this process, known as cost per click, or CPC, you pay only when prospective customers click your text link. (Another common industry term for this type of marketing or advertising is PPC, or pay per click.)

Geotargeting takes CPC one step further. You also might decide that you want your ad to appear only when the prospective customer is searching from a specific location, such as a country or city. For example, if your sports store is based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and someone in that area searches for soccer balls, your ad appears. If the person clicks your ad, you’re charged the amount that you agreed to pay. You can pay as little as a few pennies up to several dollars or more for each click. Google is also driving similar types of localized or geographically based results in all their organic (non-paid) search results.

If you set the price, or CPC, that you’re willing to pay (as we just mentioned), you may be wondering why you would ever agree to pay a high dollar amount. It’s simple: Because you’re basically bidding on the price of the ad, or in this case, the CPC, your price correlates with the popularity of the keyword on which you’re bidding. The more popular your keyword or your keywords, the more people are willing to pay for them, which drives up the price and the competition for your ad position, or where it gets placed within search results. You might still choose to bid a smaller amount for your CPC, but that means your ad will appear fewer times or in a lower position on the page. To be competitive, you may have to pay a higher CPC.

You can limit the cost of your keywords by bidding on specific words or phrases, as opposed to choosing more general terms. Rather than bid on soccer balls, for example, bid on a specific type or name-brand soccer ball. Or use a phrase such as soccer balls for kids or youth soccer balls. You see fewer results, but they should also lead to a more qualified buyer for a smaller ad price.

Registration for Google AdWords is free, except for a minimal setup fee, and requires no contracts or minimum spending requirements. You’re charged only when someone clicks your text ad. With Google AdWords, you can

• Create campaigns for multiple products or websites, using multiple sets of keywords
• Target multiple locations at once (instead of only one zip code, or city, for example)
• Use images, video, and audio with the ad, as opposed to only text
• Gain access to various advanced planning and budgeting tools
• Set daily budget limits (for greater control) versus monthly budget limits

You can extend the value of organic (not paid for) localized search results by taking advantage of Google’s free local search placement, called Google Places. Registering with Google Places helps make sure that your business shows up (map and all) when a search for a local place or term is searched. To register for Google Places, visit www.google.com/places. Did we mention this service is free?

We show you how to sign up for Google AdWords in Book 6, Chapter 3.

No matter which type of advertising program you choose to use, you can bet that spending money smartly on locally targeted ads is a good move. Increasingly, your local customers expect deals, discounts, and special incentives for choosing to shop with you — and they want to access these offers on the spot. You don’t have to go overboard with localized or mobile promotions, but expect these types of advertising options to continue to grow in popularity.

Facebook promotes local retail

If you’ve been on Facebook at all, you’re used to the types of ads you can see within your news feed, especially from a mobile phone. The ads look like posts that a friend may have shared, with photos or video and a little bit of text. The difference with ads is that they have headlines to help grab someone’s attention, and, in tiny print, the posts contain the word “sponsored,” so people understand that it is an ad. As a retailer, Facebook ads are incredibly simple to put together, they are cheap, and they allow you to target who sees the ads based on gender, interests, likes, and location. These factors make Facebook a pretty good investment for retail advertising.

Facebook has enhanced its focus on local store marketing with a new advertising option called Dynamic Ads for retailers. It lets retailers show Facebook users ads that feature products that are available in stores closest to them. For example, if you’ve been searching for a new Weber grill, you may see an ad for Home Depot that features the exact grill you want to buy, and, even better, it is currently in stock at a Home Depot location just half a mile from you! The ads are integrated with the retailer’s product catalog, and the ad can dynamically change based on location and availability. This new ad program is being tested by some of the larger retailers, but we’re betting smaller, local retailers will soon be using these in-store traffic-driving ads.

In the meantime, follow these steps to get started with a simple location-based ad for your Facebook page:

1. After you are logged into your Facebook page, go to your Settings page by selecting the down arrow in the top-right corner of the screen and selecting Settings.

   You see a new screen with options to edit various controls for the page and a navigation menu on the left with additional options. (To advertise in Instagram, select Instagram Ads in the left navigation pane.)

2. At the bottom of the Settings page, click Create Ad.

   The Facebook Ads Manager screen appears. This program contains an intuitive guide to help you create an ad based on your goals, which Facebook calls Objectives. This includes options such as increasing conversions on your website, improving attendance at an event you’re hosting, or promoting your page. For this purpose, you want to reach people who are nearby your store.

3. Select “Reach people near your business” for your ad campaign objective.

   A new image shows up at the bottom of the screen that says Local Awareness. It has a form field for you to input the name of your ad campaign. You can make up any name you want for the campaign, but it’s always advisable to use a descriptive name so that you remember what the campaign was promoting (such as “Summer Clearance Local Shoppers”).

4. After entering a campaign name, click Continue.

5. Next, set the specific ad parameters, including location, budget, and placements.

   If you manage more than one Facebook page, you’ll first select which page this ad campaign is for. Then, you see a map that shows the general vicinity of your business. It is here where you choose who sees the ad. This is called setting the Audience.

6. To set the Audience, enter your business street address (if not already entered), and then use the drop-down menu next to the address form field to choose the radius around your store for showing the ad.

   You can choose pre-set options ranging from 1 mile to 50 miles, or you can set a custom radius. If you choose a 5-mile radius, and someone is 3 miles away from your store, that person will be shown your ad.

7. Next, select the age range and gender of those whom you want to see your Facebook ad.

   As you choose the radius, ages, and gender, Facebook will show you the potential reach, or total number of people who are likely to see your ad. Facebook also breaks this number out to an estimated daily reach, and automatically shows you the numbers for both Facebook and Instagram.

8. Continue to scroll down the page to complete the rest of your ad setup, including placement and budget.

   Facebook auto-fills the option for Automatic Placement, which determines when the ad is shown to the designated audience. You can customize placement, but we recommend letting Facebook proceed with the automatic option to make things easy for you.

9. Set your budget and your ad schedule.

   Choose how much money you want to spend on your ad. You can set a daily spend ($5 each day) or a lifetime campaign spend ($50), and the ad runs until that total amount is used up, whether it takes an hour, a day, or a week to go through the budget.

   In this same section, you also choose what period of time you want the ad to run. Facebook gives you the option of running Continuously (until the budget runs out), or you can set a specific date range using the calendar settings Facebook provides.

   You also have the option here to name the specific ad (earlier you named the whole campaign, which may end up having several individual ads in it). You can name the ad set based on some descriptor, like whom the ad targets or what date range it’s running.

10. Click Continue to set up the ads.

    You see a new page with different style of ad layouts. Choose Carousel for multiple images, Single Image, Single Video, or Slideshow for a looping video style ad with multiple images.

11. Select your image and upload it to the ad.

    Once you choose an ad layout, Facebook guides you on how to select and upload the appropriate image or video. If you don’t have your own images, you can choose from a small photo stock library provided by Facebook.

    When using your own images, follow the recommended image specs. Facebook shows this information to you in the right sidebar, next to the ad layout page.

12. Scroll down the page once you have finished adding your images or video, and add your text for the ad, the destination, and the call to action.

    You see a small box or form field labeled “Text.”

13. Enter the text that you want to appear with your ad.

    It’s usually best to keep it brief and limit the number of characters to fewer than 75.

14. In the next small box, enter the Headline for your ad.

    The headline should be short, just a few words, and catchy or interesting enough to get people’s attention.

    On the right side of the page, Facebook shows you a real-time view of the ad you are creating.

15. Choose a destination and call to action for your ad.

    When people click on the ad, you have the option to send them directly to your Facebook page or to a specific URL (a page on your website, for example).

    Scroll down to select the call to action from the drop-down list of options. You can choose a call to action such as, Get Directions or Call Now. There are also advanced options if you want to use more detailed information for the destination and call to action, but we recommend keeping it simple to start.

16. Click the Place Order button to complete your ad set up.

    You can choose to Review your order and see a pop-up box that shows everything you’ve selected for your ad (from audience to budget).

17. Once you are happy with your ad, select the Place Order button.

    If not already set up, Facebook will have you complete credit card information to pay for the ad before it starts running.

You can always pause a live campaign, edit a campaign, or stop a campaign even before your budget runs out.

Twitter provides targeted ad options

Another popular way of combining the power of social media and mobile commerce is via Twitter (www.twitter.com). This social media platform emerged as an industry heavyweight after quickly rocketing into the spotlight as a way for individuals and companies to hold and follow short conversations via text style of messages of 140 characters or fewer. Unlike having a conversation with just a single person, Twitter allows an unlimited number of people to follow your conversation and lets you follow or track dozens or hundreds (or more) of conversations by others.

As an online or traditional retailer, your customers can follow frequent updates from your company on the status of a release of a hot new product, such as a video game. Or you might be opening a new store or hosting a special event (online or offline), and customers can learn about it or follow updates about it by using Twitter.

Twitter has been introducing additional ways to use the social platform for in-network shopping. Through Twitter Cards (a form of Twitter advertising), online retailers can expand their typical short tweets by using images, additional information, detailed lead generators (a call to action, such as downloading an e-book), or a buying incentive (such as a discounted price). The process is like adding a small virtual card or display area to your standard tweet. These advertising cards launch the buying process for your store. You can also use Promoted Tweets, another form of in-platform advertising, to target segments of Twitter users with special offers.

Amazon initiated a direct buy option from within Twitter by using the hashtag #AmazonCart with promoted products. Consumers respond to product promotions and have the featured item placed directly in their Amazon shopping carts for later checkout. The buying option has been going strong for a couple of years and other major retailers have experimented with this in-platform shopping option, too. As this form of social selling, or selling through social media, develops, look for innovative new ways to turn occasional customers into a community of loyal followers for your brand.

To find out who might be looking for information about your store or site, use the Twitter search function to track conversations by inserting keywords. For example, if your online store is MyPlace.com, just enter that name in the search box; Twitter pulls all current and archived conversations in which your site’s name is mentioned. This feature is not only a helpful way to find out what customers are saying about you and your products, but also it can help shape the type of ads or promotions you use in Twitter. You can also create a list within Twitter that is made up of people who have mentioned your brand in tweets, and you can create an ad targeted to this list of people.

Twitter is also a popular way for customers to voice dissatisfaction. Tweets from unhappy customers can attract negative attention to your brand, and can sometimes add up to a bevy of complaints about your product or service if other people start responding to or sharing the original tweeted complaint. Mobile phones make it even easier for customers to complain on social media, anytime and from anywhere. You need to pay careful attention to negative tweets about your business and respond to them quickly, or they can detract from the paid investment you’ve made for advertising in the platform.

Subscription services

Innovative e-commerce retailers started the subscription service trend several years ago, and it has proven to have staying power. If you’re not familiar with this sales approach, it allows customers to sign up and pre-pay for monthly (or biweekly) product deliveries. Customers can now get a wide variety of products including a week’s worth of ready-to-cook meals (boxes packed with fresh produce, proteins, and recipe cards) thanks to online stores like Hello Fresh and Blue Apron; a monthly stash of pet supplies, foods, and treats from Chewy.com and Barkbox.com; and a host of different types of personal products such as make-up (www.birchbox.com) and razors (www.harrys.com).

As the success of this industry has increased, traditional retailers are offering similar programs. Why? Consider that traffic to subscription box websites has risen 3,000 percent in the last three years compared to a 168 percent increase in traffic to the top 500 online retail sites, according to research from Hitwise (http://connexity.com). For established retailers, subscription box services offer a way to increase repeat business (and potentially higher average sales) from already loyal customers. As this marketing opportunity matures, the trick to subscription boxes is ensuring that there is real value there for the customer, and it’s not only about convenience. Making it worthwhile for your customer to commit to an ongoing delivery of products may mean offering other incentives, such as a standing 15 to 20 percent discount on every box, or providing free sample products with each delivery. The upside for you is a consistent stream of revenue, especially if you require customers to commit to a minimum monthly plan verses a month-by-month option.

Setting up a subscription box service may require a one-time investment in additional technologies or apps for your website in order to maintain the program. You also want to provide customers with a simple online management tool (as part of their customer profile) that allows them to pause the subscription service or opt out of it.

In-store pickup

Target, Kohl’s, and Wal-Mart are among the many major retailers that have discovered the customer’s affinity toward pay-ahead convenience. Customers can purchase products online, from mobile devices or the desktop, and skip the hassle of maneuvering through aisles and waiting in line to checkout. Instead, the retailer has the customer’s purchases waiting for her (usually at a customer service counter). Or, in the case of Wal-Mart, customers don’t even have to leave their cars; instead, employees deliver the goods right to the customers’ cars. If not scheduling a specific pickup time, customers can opt to receive a text alert on their smartphones when the order is packed and ready to pick up.

The concept continues to grow in popularity, and over one-third of the top 500 retailers in the United States now offer some type of in-store pickup option. Target has seen its program grow 50 percent year over year, and in the first half of 2016, it helped the retailer boost online sales past the $1 billion mark. The downside for all retailers using this tactic is that consumers’ expectations for pickup services are constantly increasing. A recent survey indicated that more than 50 percent of customers expect products to be ready for pickup within 2 hours, and in some cases the goal is under 20 minutes.

When implementing a buy online, pick up in-store program, there are several important items to consider, especially if you are a smaller retailer with limited resources:

• Staffing: Not only do you need to have employees available to “shop” the inventory from your store and pack it, but it also puts additional strain on your check-out lines, especially if you don’t have a designated customer service area. That means customers who ordered online to avoid long in-store lines could get exasperated because they end up having to wait anyway. Plan carefully how to restructure in-store check-out areas to accommodate for online orders.
• Mobile alerts: You’ll need the capability to send text alerts to customers’ mobile phones to let them know items are ready for pickup.
• Backend inventory management: As we mentioned when discussing omnichannel retail, it’s critical that you have real-time insight into all your inventory, and that your online system talk to or communicate this information with your offline system. There’s nothing worse than a customer ordering an item online for in-store pickup, only to find out that it’s actually out of stock at the store.
• Shopping cart localization features: Similar to having your inventory system inline, your website’s shopping cart should ideally have the ability to show item availability by store location (if you have more than one location), and provide a view into payments from your in-store Point of Sale (POS) system.
• Holidays: Even the most well-oiled in-store pickup machine can run amuck during a particularly busy time, such as the holidays. You’ll want to have a plan for increased staffing levels, and improved in-store customer flow for those buying online.

Trying new ways to increase revenue is a necessity, but that doesn’t mean you can take shortcuts to more sales, especially where mobile is concerned. Plan to make regular investments in technology, from mobile apps to e-commerce solutions, in order to help your store compete with everyone from big box retailers to online start-ups.