The e-commerce platform Shopify is a system that lets online brands process payments and collects contact information. As an e-commerce brand, you decide between prioritizing email or SMS marketing. Which are you going to choose? 

SMS has proven to have open rates up to 5x higher than email with engagement and click-thru rates 10x that of email. Now more than ever you should consider SMS marketing for your Shopify store.

Here’s how each respective channel works with Shopify, the pros and cons, and how SMS marketing provides your company with a more authentic and direct line of communication to your customers.

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How Traditional Email Marketing Works

Shopify lets you import email addresses from customers who have purchased with you. While you can potentially segment your subscribers based on their purchase history, that’s where the personalization ends with email marketing platforms. 

As an email platform user, you’re spending time and effort creating email templates and campaigns that you blast to your entire list of subscribers or your large segments. Because of the effort needed, these are put together with minimal details.

With a text marketing platform like Community, personalization is limitless. Plus, the time and effort it takes to create a text are lower efforts than an email. 

Here are other reasons why SMS marketing is a smarter choice for you as a Shopify seller.

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Why SMS is Better

Text message marketing paves the way for more personalization than email can. You connect with every member of your audience intimately, right in their text inbox, instead of getting buried under a pile of impersonal e-newsletters in an email inbox. 

As a Shopify seller, you organize your contacts and create customized segments for more personal connections. Here’s how.

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Integrates Seamlessly with Shopify

Community’s platform for SMS marketing integrates with the information your customers input through Shopify when making a purchase. It adds their number and contact information directly to your list of contacts — your Audience — so you can segment them into categories. 

Customize each subgroup — your Communities — by anything that makes sense for your business.

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Higher Open Rates Mean More Engagement

Community text messages maintain a 95% average open rate and a 59% click-through rate. 

These rates are significantly higher than email marketing statistics showing emails have an open rate of 20% and a meager response rate of just 6%. The lower open and response rates make sense considering how many email newsletters the average consumer receives — but how many companies text them? 

SMS marketing through Community’s platform is the secret to getting in front of consumers and staying top of mind. 

The above statistics also make sense when you think about how many people typically keep their text message inbox clear compared to email inboxes cluttered with spam. When comparing data on engagement with texts and emails — text messages are the obvious choice for ensuring your messages get seen.

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Better ROI Makes It the Cost-Effective Choice

There is a pricing tier system with email marketing platforms based on the number of subscribers you have or the number of emails you send. Pricing tiers mean your business is paying to send out hundreds of emails and hoping that people sort through their inboxes and decide to open your email. 

Community’s 95% open rate translates to SMS marketing being the better, cost-effective choice when compared to email marketing platforms. 

You can send text messages instantly and directly to your audience members’ phones and engage with them in personal, two-way conversations. SMS marketing is the clear choice for online brands looking to get the most bang for their buck. 

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Include the Same Media as Email

What about sending links, product photos, videos, or even GIFs? You can send anything in a regular text message using Community’s SMS platform. 

That means you are sending the same fun and engaging media you see in email campaigns via text. You can even add emojis and audio messages for an extra personal touch. 

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Community Has the Features You Need

Not all SMS marketing platforms are created equal. Many options for text marketing focus on automation and chatbots for speaking with subscribers. 

Community’s platform focuses less on automation and puts its value on holding honest conversations with multiple people at once. Community enables closer communication through their many tools and features created with authentic, personal connections in mind.  

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Engagement Through Authentic Connection

Community created the Clustering response tool to handle high levels of engagement. Use the Clustering feature to group together multiple texts containing similar content so that you can send one reply to all of them. Clustering allows you to hold real conversations with many Members at scale. 

One study showed that 72% of responders want to engage with companies that send personalized messages customized to their specific interests. Knowing your customers contributes to the strength of the connection they feel with your business. 

As a Shopify e-commerce company, engagement and personal connection is key to your brand standing out in the sea of online competitors and keeping customer satisfaction high.

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Segmentation with Communities

Community calls the segmented groups within your audience “Communities." You can segment each Community in any way relevant for your company, such as grouping members by their interests, location, commonly purchased products, lifestyle choices, and more. 

The Keywords feature lets you assign important words or emojis to help categorize members into their correlated segment when they reply with the Keyword. The more details and information you can collect and use to engage your audience, the more they’ll build a lasting relationship with your brand for years to come. 

Community’s SMS marketing channel is the right choice compared to email marketing platforms because you can use the collected information to personalize your segmentation down to the smallest detail. 

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Demographic Filters

Another way to sort your audience is to use Community’s Demographic Filters feature. 

Demographic filters allow you to sort your audience by their gender identity, age, and geographic location. Then, you can send targeted campaigns with the personalized content your customers want by using Community’s easy-to-use Filters.

Demographic filters help understand the types of customers your brand attracts to continue to market to your target buyer persona.

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Text Polls for Quick Feedback

One of the main advantages of SMS marketing over email is the speed you can interact with your audience members. 

Research shows that 83% of consumers report that convenience is more important when making shopping decisions today than five years ago. The world has changed, and consumers expect companies to change by making communication and purchasing easier. 

Community makes it possible for you to send convenient text polls to gather feedback from your customers. Organize responses with the Clustering tool or use the Keywords function to categorize answers. SMS lets you gather instant feedback or get answers to your questions immediately. 

Can email marketing do that?

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Easily Add Subscribers with Shopify Integration

Community allows Shopify sellers to grow their Community without lifting a finger. Shopify integrates seamlessly with your Community account, and all customers are prompted to opt-in for your text messages during the checkout process. 

After opting in, they are instantly added to your contacts and are ready to communicate with you and learn more about your company. Plus, you can instantly see total spend and last order date for each Member in your community.

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What SMS Marketing Means for you as a Shopify Seller

Engage with your audience members like never before using Community’s SMS marketing integrated with your Shopify account.

Build stronger brand loyalty by interacting with members individually and personally using features like the Communities audience segmentation tool and Clustering response management feature. 

Community’s text platform enables authentic connections, so you learn what content and products your customers want to know more about or receive from you. You can provide it all in a personalized way.  

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Final Thoughts on Email vs. SMS Marketing For Shopify Sellers

Email marketing and SMS marketing work with your Shopify account as an e-commerce company. However, building an expensive email marketing list and creating time-consuming templates is a pain. 

Community makes SMS marketing low effort, gives a better return on your investment, and provides a significantly more personal way of communicating with your customers. 

If you’re thinking about which marketing channel your brand should focus on, text marketing is the clear winner and the one that leads to engaged customers who feel strongly connected to your company. 

With Community, you’re having real-time conversations with each member of your Community audience instead of sending impersonal email blasts.

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Sources:

Tap Into The Marketing Power of SMS | Gartner.com 

26 Essential Personalization Stats for 2020 | Smarterhq.com 

Convenience | cdn.nrf.com.