10 ways SMS can accelerate your retail and e-commerce business

Customers are fickle. Trends and interests change overnight, and the competition for consumer attention is brutal.

To survive, retail and e-commerce businesses must tackle the increasingly difficult challenge of reaching and engaging the right customers at the right time.

That’s why savvy businesses are turning to SMS as part of their marketing strategy to attract and retain customers.

Recent data from a Sinch SimpleTexting SMS marketing study underscores the efficacy of this approach:

• Widespread adoption: As of 2025, 66% of businesses use SMS marketing to communicate with their customers, with nearly 70% planning to boost their SMS marketing budgets.
• Enhanced marketing success: Businesses that engage in SMS marketing are 589% more likely to report success in their digital marketing efforts compared to those that don’t incorporate text messaging.
• High customer engagement: A significant 82% of consumers check their text messages within five minutes of receipt, highlighting the immediacy and impact of SMS communications.

These statistics illustrate the compelling advantages of integrating SMS into your e-commerce marketing strategy.

There are many ways that SMS messaging can add value, cut costs, and satisfy customers: from attention-grabbing imagery and tailored landing pages through to reducing cart abandonment and improving the online purchasing experience.

Moreover, the future of SMS is truly exciting. New technology allows us to automate processes and integrate our SMS tool into other platforms such as HubSpot and Shopify.

This blog post shares 10 ideas for how you can use text messaging to accelerate your retail and e-commerce business.

Text message marketing, also known as SMS marketing, is the practice of sending promotional or transactional text messages to contacts who have opted in.

E-commerce businesses use SMS marketing to engage customers directly on their mobile devices with timely and relevant messages.

At Sinch, we see e-commerce brands typically relying on SMS marketing to boost engagement, recover lost sales, and improve customer satisfaction. These messages are concise, immediate, and have high engagement rates.

Common use cases of SMS marketing for e-commerce include:

• Retargeting based on website behavior: Send messages to customers who browse product pages but don’t make a purchase.
• Abandoned cart recovery: Remind shoppers to complete their purchases when they leave items in their carts.
• Order confirmations: Provide instant confirmation and details when a customer completes a purchase.
• Shipping updates: Keep customers informed with tracking links and estimated delivery times.
• Satisfaction checks: Request feedback or reviews after a product is delivered.
• New product updates: Notify customers when new products or collections launch.

For e-commerce brands looking to boost engagement, drive sales, and enhance customer experience, SMS marketing offers a powerful, direct, and cost-effective way to connect with shoppers.

Here are the top 10 benefits of SMS marketing for e-commerce businesses:

1. High open and response rates: SMS messages boast an open rate of approximately 98%, with 90% of messages read within three minutes. This makes SMS ideal for e-commerce brands looking to boost conversions with timely promotions, abandoned cart reminders, and flash sales.
2. Cost-effectiveness: Compared to paid social ads and email marketing, SMS is a highly cost-effective way to engage customers, especially with its high ROI. E-commerce brands can send personalized promotions and order updates at a fraction of the cost of other channels.
3. Direct and immediate communication: SMS allows e-commerce businesses to reach customers instantly, making it a perfect channel for limited-time discounts, restock alerts, and order confirmation messages.
4. High engagement rates: SMS marketing has eight times the engagement rate of email. For e-commerce brands, this means more customers clicking through on sales, exclusive offers, and loyalty rewards.
5. Easy integration with other channels: SMS can seamlessly complement email and social media marketing. E-commerce businesses can use SMS to send follow-ups after email promotions, notify VIP customers of special deals, or drive traffic to new product launches.
6. Versatility across e-commerce niches: From fashion and beauty to electronics and subscription boxes, SMS marketing is effective across all e-commerce verticals. Brands use it for exclusive discounts, early access to sales, and back-in-stock alerts.
7. High customer preference: 90% of consumers prefer SMS over phone calls for brand communication. E-commerce brands can leverage this preference to improve customer satisfaction with order tracking updates, return notifications, and loyalty program reminders.
8. Increased cart recovery rates: SMS is one of the most effective tools for reducing cart abandonment. Sending a personalized text with a discount code or reminding a customer of items left in their cart can significantly boost conversions.
9. Faster customer support and resolution: Customers appreciate quick, convenient service via SMS. E-commerce brands can use SMS for automated order status updates, returns processing, and direct customer service responses.
10. Environmentally friendly: By utilizing SMS instead of paper-based marketing materials, e-commerce businesses contribute to environmental conservation. SMS marketing reduces waste and aligns with sustainability-conscious consumer preferences.

SMS is a good channel for marketing. You can advertise your products or services and be confident in the knowledge that customers will receive and act upon your message.

Mobile phones are experiencing phenomenal usage rates, with five billion users rarely without their devices. In fact, most people check their texts more than 10 times a day.

The open rate for SMS is 98 percent, significantly outperforming email, which has an industry average of only 22 percent. Successful SMS campaigns elicit eight times the response rate of email and achieve a 23 percent conversion rate.

Businesses can invite customers to sales events, special VIP nights, or to participate in loyalty programs. SMS can be part of your omnichannel strategy, where emails are followed up by an SMS reminder or an SMS message includes links to further information.

Many customers require multiple points of contact before converting from a prospect to a customer. SMS gives you an alternate and high-performing channel for your marketing activities.

Tip:

Run a lookup against all numbers in your database through the Sinch Engage hub to determine which numbers are valid and reachable. Use lookups to send only to valid mobile numbers, meaning you only pay for sent messages, keep your database clean, and remain spam-compliant.

Case study:

Oz Hair and Beauty, a leading Australian beauty retailer, faced challenges in maintaining personalized customer relationships as their business tripled in size.

To address this, they partnered with Sinch to implement targeted SMS campaigns and two-way messaging, enhancing customer engagement and driving sales.

This strategy led to a remarkable 38x return on investment (ROI), a 12% click-through rate, and a 15% response rate in their 2022 Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaign.

Additionally, integrating Sinch’s SMS services with Shopify enabled automated abandoned cart messages, achieving a 13% conversion rate.

Overall, personalized SMS marketing has significantly boosted Oz Hair and Beauty’s customer engagement and sales.

Oz Hair and Beauty, a leading Australian beauty retailer, faced challenges in maintaining personalized customer relationships as their business tripled in size.

To address this, they partnered with Sinch to implement targeted SMS campaigns and two-way messaging, enhancing customer engagement and driving sales.

This strategy led to a remarkable 38x return on investment (ROI), a 12% click-through rate, and a 15% response rate in their 2022 Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaign.

Additionally, integrating Sinch’s SMS services with Shopify enabled automated abandoned cart messages, achieving a 13% conversion rate.

83% of consumers see additional visuals as influential in the buying process. There’s no doubt that images stay front-of-mind: two-thirds of consumers can recall a specific brand they’ve seen advertised on mobile in the previous week.

Additionally, RCS and visual messaging boost e-commerce with interactive, media-rich messages, driving 74% higher engagement and 14x ROI. Features like branded messaging and interactive buttons increase conversions, with 60% of consumers more likely to engage.

Beautiful images can inspire, particularly in industries such as luxury brands, hospitality, tourism, gyms, hair, and beauty. A stunning image of a holiday destination can encourage customers to plan vacations; on-trend accessories or homewares can drive sales; and the latest in fashion encourages customers to explore more with links to your online store.

Example MMS:

[designer to add image of holiday coffee cup]

Need a break from the daily grind? Use our promotional code #holidayme on any holiday booking this month to receive 20% off!

Tip:

Customers will love seeing your stunning imagery – but not repeatedly! Our deduplication feature automatically detects and withholds messages deemed as duplicates, ensuring your customers only receive the right message, once.

Case study:

Courir, a European sneaker retailer, used RCS messaging with Sinch to enhance customer engagement and sales.

This strategy delivered a 137% ROI and tripled campaign revenue, showing the power of interactive, media-rich messaging.

Customers want an easy, intuitive online journey. Using SMS removes obstacles in the buying process by reducing the number of steps required, thereby reducing drop-offs. For example, customers can go straight from the SMS to a dedicated mobile landing page (MLP), with one-tap action buttons for easy purchasing. With MLPs quickly and easily created for each campaign, there is no need for your team to update your website.

Even better, use analytics to reveal how customers have interacted with your messages, who to target for further activity, and to measure the success of your marketing strategy.

Example SMS:

Hi Jilian, FINAL MARKDOWNS: Up to 75% off for VIPs only at Designer Gal. Ending soon. To opt out, reply STOP.

Tip:

Shorten your URLs with your SMS marketing platform’s Short Trackable Links feature to save space for more valuable customer-converting content.

An e-receipt is a simple, traditional receipt sent via SMS. At checkout, ask for the customer’s mobile number, then text a link where the customer can elect to receive the e-receipt via email or save it to their phone. Make sure your checkout language is compliant for express written consent.

E-receipts are an easy way to resolve the customer pain point of having to save a paper receipt and later rummage around to find it for returns or queries.

For the business, the collection of mobile numbers for the purpose of sending e-receipts builds your customer database, along with details of each customer’s purchases, preferences, and interests.

Use this opportunity to engage with customers by sending related offers or encouraging customer feedback via weblinks. Include information about customer support as well as options for referral and sharing on social media. Be like Amazon, and add items from the customer’s wish list, tempting them back to consider more purchases!

Example SMS:

Hi Roberto, Thank you for shopping with Action Sports Equipment on March 12, 2019. Please find your e-receipt here: [link]. We look forward to seeing you again!

Tip:

Personalize your communication by ensuring your messages always come from the same dedicated virtual number. This groups conversation threads and helps the customer recognize that the message is from you.

Cart abandonment is currently sitting at a hefty 75%. That’s a lot of customers ready and willing to purchase items or services, then dropping off at the final hurdle.

Of these shoppers, one in four have abandoned their cart due to a checkout process that is ‘too long or complicated’.

For the best results, based on our research, automate an SMS reminder with an image of the item 60 minutes after the cart has been abandoned.

Example SMS:

Hi Liam, we’ve saved your cart for you! Make sure to grab your items before they’re gone. [link]

Tip:

Using Sinch Engage’s social sending feature ensures that your messages are only sent during suitable hours. This prevents customers from receiving messages at inconvenient times, such as the middle of the night.

Once your customers have ordered their goods, keep them informed, especially for purchases timed around important events such as Christmas or Valentine’s Day.

Integrate your software platforms with SMS for greater efficiency and more functionality. Updating your customers by SMS at various points throughout the delivery process allows them to not only track their order but also to manage their time.

Alternatively, enable MMS so your couriers can send a photo showing exactly where your customer’s package has been left. Instead of keeping uninformed customers waiting impatiently for the item to arrive, provide regular updates to deliver greater customer satisfaction.

Example MMS:

Received:

Your item from Simply Gorgeous Tables is scheduled for delivery between 8 am and 10 am tomorrow. If you wish to change the delivery date, please reply by typing 1, 2, or 3.

1. Friday 23 April
2. Monday 26 April
3. Tuesday 27 April

Sent:

1

Received:

Thank you. Your delivery has been rescheduled to Friday between 8 am and 10 am.

Tip:

Automate for efficiency and reliability. Set up workflows in your ERP or CRM software so notifications are triggered and sent any time an order status changes.

Use case:

Integrate Sinch Engage’s SMS messaging with NetSuite for customer service communication that’s easy to manage and meets customers’ high expectations. Set up one-way and two-way SMS for every stage of the customer lifecycle:

• Reach customers with personalized bulk SMS messages.
• Use keywords to route inbound messages and trigger auto-responses.
• Review message logs that are automatically appended to the customer record.
• Keep customers up –to date with automated order notifications and delivery status.

If your customer has ordered more than one item, such as groceries or several pieces of clothing, one unavailable item has the potential to hold up the whole delivery.

Find out quickly and easily how the customer would like to proceed using automated RCS with simple one-tap action buttons. This removes the need for contact center or logistics staff to phone a customer and complete the order.

In the example shown, this message covers all options: The customer can elect to proceed without the item, select the suggested replacement, or choose another replacement item.

Example RCS:

Your item: Hoboni Greek Yogurt 1kg is not available.

Would you like us to replace it with: Fresko Yogurt 1kg?

[Yes] [Remove item] [Choose another item]

Tip:

Let customers know when products are back in stock with automated SMS, MMS, or RCS notifications. Install Sinch Engage’s Shopify app SMS marketing automation and get access to win-backs, marketing campaigns, and more.

Make your organization easy to contact and a pleasure to do business with. Text messages are perfect for short inquiries that are quickly and easily answered, providing a fast response time.

Use two-way SMS to quickly answer product or support questions. Provide instant account status updates, such as loyalty program details. If customers are waiting for items to arrive, send SMS notifications of availability the minute new stock arrives.

And if you haven’t heard from your customer for some time, send a personalized SMS inviting them back with a discount or special offer.

Text messaging can also be used to route high-priority customer cases. If a case is created with certain conditions – for example, a high-value customer – an SMS can be sent to the relevant support representative or account manager to ensure a timely response.

MMS can better facilitate customer service conversations with access to more information. For example, a customer can photograph a product code and send the image to customer service to clarify an issue.

Example MMS:

Hi Seo-yeon, we really miss you! Visit us at [link] for free shipping on all items with code MISSYOU19. Or show this message in-store for 10% off storewide. Txt STOP to opt out.

It costs more to attract a new customer than to retain an existing one, so successful businesses make it a priority to find out what keeps their customers happy.

Customer satisfaction surveys provide valuable insight into your customers’ needs and wants, which are critical for improving your business and ensuring customer loyalty. Learn where your business is performing well or, if you have dissatisfied customers, take the opportunity to proactively reach out and resolve any issues.

43% of consumers check their text messages more than 10 times a day, so it’s not surprising that SMS surveys elicit great response rates. With automation, they are extremely easy to program and even easier for customers to respond to.

Example MMS

Receiving:

Hi Antonio, based on your recent visit to our store, how satisfied are you with our customer service, with “0” being not at all satisfied to “10” extremely satisfied?

Sent:

[8]

Receiving:

How satisfied are you with our range, with “0” being not at all satisfied to “10” extremely satisfied?

Sent:

[8]

Receiving:

How satisfied are you with our prices, with “0” being not at all satisfied to “10” extremely satisfied?

Sent:

[8]

Teams and tools are becoming more abundant and complex. Leaders are looking for new ways to simplify their processes, ease workloads, and improve efficiency. Connecting your platforms and technologies and automating workflows is the key to achieving this.

As more businesses recognize the power and versatility of SMS, there is a growing need for better integration into existing software such as ERPs like NetSuite, CRMs like HubSpot, and e-commerce platforms like Shopify. Having your tools communicate with each other enhances functionality and allows businesses to build more integrated campaigns that drive stronger results.

From improving customer relationship management to increasing internal team productivity, automation and integration offer endless opportunities to benefit your business long-term.

Example MMS:

Hi Sarah, we haven’t heard from you lately but would love to. Let’s make up! Enjoy 20% off your next order. Use MISSYOU20 at checkout. To unsubscribe: [link]

As consumer behavior continues to evolve, e-commerce businesses must find effective and immediate ways to connect with their audience.

SMS has proven to be a powerful tool for marketing, customer engagement, and business automation.

With high open rates, strong conversion potential, and seamless integrations, SMS is no longer just a communication channel. It’s a strategic asset for retail and e-commerce brands.

By leveraging SMS for marketing, cart recovery, customer service, and personalized engagement, e–commerce businesses can drive higher retention, increase revenue, and create a more streamlined and satisfying experience for their customers.

Additionally, automation and integrations with platforms like Shopify, HubSpot, and NetSuite make SMS even more efficient and impactful.

The key to success is to use SMS strategically and responsibly, ensuring that messages are relevant, timely, and valuable to customers.

As technology continues to advance, businesses that embrace SMS as part of their omnichannel strategy will be the ones that stand out in a competitive marketplace.

Now is the time to take advantage of SMS to accelerate your business growth. Start integrating SMS into your e-commerce strategy today and experience the impact firsthand.

Get started with SMS marketing today. Sign up for your free trial of Sinch Engage.