Author: Aaron Hammond, Partner & SMS Marketing Specialist at 3BM
Work has been busy and you have no time – typical excuse.
Something came up last minute and you need to raincheck – yup, we’ve all heard that one.
Darn, you caught a random stomach bug going around! – uh huh, sure.
Anyway, after all the excuses, your friends finally were able to drag you away for a night out.
Wait, is that a smile? Are you actually enjoying yourself!?
Uh oh. You just caught a whiff. Where is that stench coming from?
Oh man, it’s you!
That natural deodorant just didn’t work how it said it would, huh?
Enter:
Moiz Ali, Founder of Native, randomly ventured to take a peek at his deodorant label:
Aluminum!? Wait, but why?!
What started as a mission to remove aluminum from his everyday deodorant, turned into a mission to create a natural deodorant that ACTUALLY works.
Native goes up against not only those unnatural antiperspirants, but also those so-called natural deodorants, that may not have aluminum or sketchy ingredients, but simply don’t hold up all day for most of us.
I’ve been on their email and SMS lists forever now, back when I first started my own journey looking for a natural deodorant, but what still catches my eye today is the way they use MMS, or multimedia, in their messaging with eye-catching imagery…
Deodorant that looks so good you want to, and technically could, eat it – but it isn’t suggested or recommended.
Alright, let’s take a look.
Rules: The SMS Sages
Each week, we brave the infinite attack on our senses to find highly-effective ecommerce sales texts… and we pull back the curtain to reveal what made them work.
Our goal with this weekly tangle with The SMS Sages is to teach you strategies and tactics you can use with SMS for your own brand.
Where do we find these mystical electronic shortened pieces of mail? Our own text inboxes, mostly, since we’re signed up to many lists of brands we enjoy following. We also take suggestions from readers who have striking texts they’d like to share.
Did you get a text recently that made you smile, take a second look, or literally laugh out loud? We want to see it.
Send an email with screenshots of the text to us at (aaron at threebeaconmarketing dot com) with a brief note about what you liked about it. If we choose to break it down, we’ll give you a shoutout and link back to your site.
Oh, and don’t forward us the texts you wrote. That’s the only rule.
Cool? Cool.
The Opening Intro: Straightforward & Uncomplicated
‘But wait, I don’t want to send messages to my customers because SMS is all about discounts!’
‘No one will care about my messages and I’ll waste money if I don’t offer promos in all messages and cut into my margins!’
Yea. Okay. Mmmhmm.
Believe it or not, your customers want to hear more from you about new products, and even order and shipping confirmations, than they want to be bothered by a ‘sale’ every other day.
Anywho, let’s dive in.
The ‘from’ name is the first piece of information the customer sees after opening your text.
While some brands may use the name of the CEO, or their mascot, in their Opening Intro, Native wastes no time:
Hi, it’s me, Native. There is certainly no doubt where this message is coming from!
It’s okay to keep it simple and not overcomplicate the Opening Intro.
Opening Line: You Learn Something New Every Day!
Bonus points if a text message not only makes me pause or click through to the website, but also teaches me something new.
Aluminum, we’ve all heard it. It’s in most mainstream deodorants and it is bad. Got it.
But baking soda?
That isn’t all though.
A piece of wisdom delivered with a sense of humor – ‘Picky pits?’
Um, yes, that is me, and I’m not even mad about it because now you have my attention. 😉
Body Text: Give Me Something Sweet to Eat! Well, Wear, At Least…
The emoji grabs my attention regardless of what it is, but the fact that it is a sweet treat (and I have more of a sweet tooth than I like to admit) certainly doesn’t hurt:
Evergreen. Eucalyptus. Cedarwood. Yea, everyone has those.
But wait. Sweet Cinnamon Hearts? Strawberry & Vanilla Taffy?
Now those are unique!
Image: How Far Is Too Far?
I warned you.
So good looking you could eat it!
I’m not going to… but, I definitely thought about it!
The image used caught my attention before any of the text did, so it definitely worked.
Bright, colorful, stands out.
The Sign-Off
No code here, no fancy words, just ‘hey, click here to shop them all’.
‘Them all’? There is more?
I’m definitely clicking through to see what other crazy scents Native is pioneering!
Oh, and last, but not least, don’t forget about your tracking URL, because you gotta be able to track engagement and direct ROI back to the SMS message, or what’s the point?
Bringing It All Together
And here we come to the close.
The message was unique, included humor and provided value, but pairing it with a winning image really sealed the deal:
I know it works.
I know they care and cater to people that have sensitive pits.
And I know they have something cool and new when it comes to the scents for adventurous folks.
What You Learned
Here’s the tl;dr of what you learned today:
- If you can make the customer laugh, you won
- Stand out from the crowd with eye catching imagery – when it makes sense and fits
- SMS isn’t all about sale, sale, sale, buy, buy, buy – provide value in other ways
- Just think about the kind of text message you would want to see in your inbox, and have fun
Now what?
- Book a call with 3BM to see if it makes sense to work together.
- Check out Native’s products.