Scaling SMS to Meet Consumers Where They Are

Challenge

Luxury fashion brand HOBO wanted to expand their reach and MERGE recommended launching a SMS program to engage shoppers with one-to-one communication since they were primarily on their mobile devices.

Since text messaging is traditionally regarded as a more casual means of communication, HOBO wanted to ensure the SMS program would accurately convey their sophisticated and refined brand voice. Additionally, HOBO did not want to over saturate customers with constant campaigns nor cannibalize their email program in terms of list and revenue contribution. Email is a very strong revenue driver for HOBO so they didn’t want to steal share from that channel, or any other media effort.

Outcome

MERGE partnered with Attentive, a personalized marketing solution, to launch HOBO’s new text messaging program. With MERGE leading the SMS strategy, they executed a multi-touch approach that began with a mobile sign-up, website sign-up and swipe-up to join on Instagram. They offered a 10% off to subscribers who registered for email and SMS through any of these placements. By utilizing personalized copy and a unified tone across channels, new subscribers received a consistent brand experience.

Once a list was established, MERGE’s team of SMS strategists layered in more testing to gain deeper insights from their audiences so they could create stronger, more targeted messaging.

The A/B testing plan began with testing SMS against Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS). Then, they moved into testing time of day and used CTA best practices to reach shoppers at the most opportune time for purchase conversion. The team collaborated with HOBO to review existing email touches so they could build SMS triggers that complemented the customer journey.

Results

In the first six months of launching HOBO's SMS program, the luxury brand exceptional engagement and continue to experience success with this channel.