As consumers shift toward shopping on mobile devices instead of laptops, companies in both the brick-and-mortar space and the e-commerce space increasingly need to meet their customers where they are—on their phones.
RCS for Business makes it easier than ever for companies to engage with customers in their native apps. With over 7 billion smartphones in use globally—all of them equipped with a native messaging app—the majority of the global population now has a phone with messaging capabilities. What’s more, text messages maintain open rates of 98% or higher.
With platforms such as Attentive and TrueDialog, even small retailers or start-up e-commerce companies can gain access to the same customers as large, global chains.
Let’s consider a local independent bookstore and café called Common Grounds. This bookstore offers a carefully curated selection of books across categories and genres, hosts readings and events for all ages, and boosts its foot traffic with an appealing menu of coffee drinks and baked goodies.
Here are four ways Common Grounds can make the most of messaging with RCS.
Drive Traffic with Special Offers
One of the best ways to encourage foot traffic is through special offers, and given the offerings of Common Grounds, it has a wide range of options to use in its efforts to bring customers to its doors.
Promoting their children’s book event with $1 hot chocolate will not only encourage adults to bring children to the bookstore, but it will likely drive additional café sales. And by encouraging customers to purchase the book ahead of time, Common Grounds drives commitment to the event.
See RCS in action
Check out this demo of Out There Media’s RCS messages created for Netflix.
Encourage Commitment by Sharing Details
For brick-and-mortar retailers, getting customers into the store is vital to the bottom line. Common Grounds knows that special events can encourage people to visit, browse, and purchase, but it also understands that people are more likely to follow through on attending events when there is little to no friction in the process.
With RCS, Common Grounds can drop a location pin into the message and add events to a calendar.
Increase Customer Loyalty through Personalization
Common Grounds can create carousels of anticipated books that will be arriving on shelves soon and encourage customers to pre-pay or place a copy on hold—all right from the chat.
Boost an Online Presence
As the ease of e-commerce increases and even small retailers have more options and opportunities to create a widespread, popular brand, RCS can open doors to sales far outside a geographic area. Common Grounds can use RCS to drive traffic to its online store.
Common Grounds can even ask customers to share the offer with others right from the chat.
Once customers are in the online store, Common Grounds can encourage further purchases by continuing the conversation flow. Additional suggestions could include Common Grounds branded merchandise or books in store inventory.
RCS offers a whole new world of marketing and sales for retail and e-commerce. By meeting customers where they are and targeting their unique interests, businesses like Common Grounds can drive customer loyalty and long-term success.
Want to learn more about how RCS is changing how business interacts with customers? Check out our recent webinar, RCS Business Messaging: Unlocking the Next Evolution in Mobile Engagement, or experiment with messaging in our message builder sandbox tool.
