SMS drip campaigns are automated messages that ‘drip’ to contacts at predetermined intervals. They are a proven strategy for keeping customers engaged, nurturing leads, and boosting sales.
With the growing popularity and efficacy of business texting, companies are now using SMS to deliver these automated messages.
This blog will share 10 SMS drip campaign examples your business can use for inspiration. Remember, drip campaigns are versatile and can be used for various purposes.
Abandoned cart recovery
Each year across the globe, about $4.6 trillion is abandoned in online shopping carts. As a result, many ecommerce businesses look for ways to recover abandoned carts to boost revenue. One popular strategy is using abandoned cart recovery messages.
Businesses can use SMS drip campaigns to encourage customers to complete a purchase. Abandoned cart text messages have an impressive 98 percent open rate, which can ensure your message is read.
In the following text message drip campaign, an online clothing store, Alphalete, encourages a customer to complete a purchase with a series of programmatically triggered text messages.
Welcome message flow
Use a series of text messages to welcome new customers or subscribers. New customers are often highly engaged when they first purchase or subscribe to SMS from your brand, so take advantage of this with a welcome message flow.
Many brands start their welcome message drip campaign with a thank you note and follow it up with discounts or incentives to purchase again. These campaigns often aim to make customers feel appreciated and increase sales.
A professional baseball team welcomes a new subscriber to its text marketing program in the following example.
Loyalty program drip campaign
Effective brand loyalty programs work. A KPMG study found that 83 percent of customers who join a loyalty program say it encourages them to continue buying from that business.
Use a drip campaign to encourage more customers to join your loyalty program and boost repeat purchases. This drip campaign can help you promote your loyalty program and build relationships to gain more loyal customers.
In the following drip campaign example, Delta Air Lines encourages a customer to sign up for its loyalty program with a series of texts showcasing the benefits and a bonus offer.
Onboarding drip campaign
Some companies want to create a series of messages to onboard their customers. An onboarding drip campaign should provide value to new customers, teach them the basics, and encourage them to complete the setup.
Companies that offer software as a service can benefit significantly from onboarding drip campaigns. In the following SMS drip campaign example, an SEO software service encourages new customers to complete account setup and invite users.
Feedback solicitation campaign
Businesses across all industries should solicit customer feedback and reviews to improve operations and customer experience. Online reviews can help businesses gain more customers, and feedback is invaluable for identifying business weaknesses.
A personalized SMS drip campaign can help your business gain insights about each customer’s experience and obtain more online reviews, enhancing your online reputation.
In the following example, a hotel sends a series of text messages to collect feedback from a customer and solicit a review.
Free trial conversion
Many subscription-based companies offer a limited free trial so customers can test the product or service before purchasing. While this can help convert some people, more messaging is often needed to convince a lead to purchase or upgrade the subscription.
You can set up an SMS drip campaign to help convert more users on the free trial to paying customers. You can start the campaign when there’s about a week left on the free trial to help convert more users nearing the end of the trial period.
In the following drip campaign example, a SaaS company encourages customers to keep their accounts active by adding their billing information.
Upsell message flow
Another popular drip campaign type used by marketing and sales teams is to upsell or cross-sell to customers. If prompted and convinced, people often add more to their carts or upgrade their service.
An SMS drip campaign can help your business improve upsell opportunities with a series of optimally timed messages. In the following example, you’ll see a massage business attempt to upsell a client to a longer massage or cross-sell to book additional services.
Win-back sequence
Many businesses today rely on monthly or yearly subscription payments to drive revenue. Although companies attempt to retain all of their subscribers, the reality is that unsubscribes happen. You can use a drip campaign to help bring these customers back. Some of the most effective win-back drip sequences offer customers discounts and incentives.
Take the following drip campaign example from MH Digital, an online magazine that requires a subscription to read it. You’ll see the text messaging flow attempts to convince the customer to resubscribe at a cheaper price.
Lead nurturing and engagement campaign
The reality is most leads are not ready to purchase immediately. In these scenarios, you can prove your company’s value by sending relevant content and messages. To automate these, you can use an SMS drip campaign.
The example below shows how a home services company nurtures a lead until they are ready to purchase.
Service reminder drip
You can also put your event reminders or appointment reminders on autopilot with a reminder drip campaign. In these drip campaigns, the goal is to ensure clients remember to book an annual service, attend a meeting, or remember an upcoming meeting.
In the following example, a dental office reminds a patient to schedule a routine cleaning.
Reengagement drip
Another popular way businesses use drip campaigns is to reengage customers who haven’t interacted with their brand recently. When executed correctly, these drip campaigns help companies reduce churn.Understanding why a customer may have strayed away from your brand is a good practice. Some common reasons include pricing, availability, and service.
In the following example, a Pilates studio attempts to reengage a member who hasn’t attended a class in about a month. The studio shares its new availability as well as a discount.
Are you on HubSpot? Check out these HubSpot SMS workflows for extra inspiration.
Automate SMS drip campaigns with Textline
SMS drip campaigns are an effective way to get personalized messages to contacts at the optimal time in their purchase journey. SMS has high open and engagement rates, which can help your business drive results.
Textline is a go-to platform for SMS drip campaigns. Our platform allows you to set up automated text messages quickly, and we will release a new feature called Flows in the coming months. This feature will enable businesses to create SMS drip campaigns with just a few clicks.
Create a Textline account today for free and quickly set up automated texts.
