The Retention Newsie 🗞️ 

Welcome to The Retention Newsie by The Email Marketers.

Every week we bring you the best case studies, strategies, and tips around keeping more customers, turning them into raving fans, and increasing revenue

Up this week:

• 📱 How SMS enables retention

• 🔍 Case Study: Princess Polly's Unified Marketing Strategy

• 💰 Maintaining customer loyalty during inflation, responding to negative reviews, and more!

Reading time: 4 minutes

The secret to keeping your customer’s attention is right in their pocket.

Mobile devices are an indispensable part of our daily lives, accompanying us wherever we go. Yet, one of the most powerful marketing tools remains largely untapped: text message marketing.

At first glance, text messages might appear to be an unconventional marketing choice. They’re common, easily overlooked, and short. But, these perceived weaknesses are strengths that make SMS marketing a powerful tool.

Brevity as a Benefit

Text messages are short, it’s even in the name: short message service. The 130 character-limit encourages marketers to craft clear, succinct messages.

After all, good marketing messages can be of any length. Use this limit to your advantage, it’s the perfect opportunity to capture attention without overwhelming your audience.

Increased Engagement

The concise nature of text messages significantly increases the likelihood of customers reading and engaging with them. With an astounding 45% response rate, SMS marketing far outperforms email's 6% response rate.

Retention Reinforcement

SMS works best for retention when paired with other strategies.

• Loyalty and rewards programs are naturally exclusive. Text is the ideal channel to deliver those juicy benefits.

• Brands with cyclical “drops” that are intentionally limited should always promote them over text to their fans.

• Subscription programs can easily fade into the background. Smart, automated, recurring text campaigns can keep your subscribers informed about the benefits of their subscriptions and new updates they should take advantage of.

Best Practices

The messages are short but executing them well is surprisingly complex.

Getting it right requires a focus on the details.

• Comply with Laws: Adhere to the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) guidelines, including obtaining opt-ins, disclosing message frequency and potential costs, and providing an easy opt-out.

• Consider Short Codes: Invest in a memorable 5-6 digit short code for easier brand recognition and two-way communication.

• Integrate with Other Channels: Use SMS as part of a larger omnichannel strategy, complementing email, direct mail, and other marketing efforts

• Time Messages Appropriately: Send texts during reasonable hours, typically between 8:00 AM and 9:00 PM local time.

• Provide Value: Use SMS to share exclusive deals, discounts, and valuable information to keep customers engaged.

• Segment Your Audience: Personalize your campaigns based on customer data to improve relevance and conversion rates.

SMS is the best way to reconnect with your favorite customers. It’s a direct line to their attention and a key piece of any retention strategy.

Loyalty programs, referrals, subscriptions, and even community building all work better when paired with targeted messaging delivered to your customer’s pocket.

🔍️ Case Study: Princess Polly's Unified Marketing Strategy

Princess Polly, a beloved fashion retailer among Gen Z consumers, has mastered the art of unifying the customer journey with text messages.

By using SMS marketing, user-generated content and a loyalty program, they've created a cohesive and engaging customer experience that drives sales and fosters brand loyalty.

With 96% of Gen Z consumers owning a smartphone, Princess Polly used SMS outreach to personally connect with customers. They generate highly personalized text messages, such as exclusive deals, flash sales, and sneak peeks of relevant merchandise drops based on customer preferences.

The result? SMS quickly became one of Princess Polly's best-performing channels, with campaigns seeing up to 73x ROI and welcome flows boasting 84% CVR.

"SMS has been able to support all of our marketing campaigns," said Kim Zorn, head of performance at Princess Polly. "The performance we see on the SMS exclusive sales are incredible — the ROI is one of the highest among our channels."

By integrating SMS into their loyalty program, Princess Polly rewards customers for signing up for text messages. Structured into tiers, the program offers discounts, access to a private Facebook Insider group, and opportunities to be featured on social channels.

The convenience and personalization of SMS marketing have contributed to the program's success, with VIP participation averaging 74% across Princess Polly's four loyalty tiers and 95% of members becoming redeemers in the most elite tier, Backstage Pass.

"It's been a dream come true for our customers," said Zorn. "They get really excited over the exclusivity and we're able to communicate better with them knowing what they want."

We help 8-figure e-commerce brands increase revenue and build strong customer relationships through retention marketing: Email, SMS, direct mail, subscriptions, memberships, loyalty programs, and more.