In the cluttered and constantly evolving digital landscape, retailers need new and innovative ways to cut through the noise. One emerging trend making waves is SMS affiliate marketing—a powerful, lucrative tool for businesses to meet consumers where they are: right on their phones.
With global affiliate marketing reaching $17 billion—and climbing—it’s more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve. Explore how affiliate marketing through SMS can seamlessly integrate into current strategies to amplify engagement efforts and drive affiliate revenue.
What Is SMS Affiliate Marketing? An Overview
SMS affiliate strategies combine the best of both worlds: the persuasive punch of affiliate marketing with the immediacy and personalization of text messaging.
We’re talking about promotion—affiliate links included—done completely through text. Otherwise, it functions like any other digital affiliate marketing strategy. When subscribers click text URLs and make a purchase, the affiliate earns a commission.
SMS affiliate marketing leverages the high open rates of SMS and the ubiquity of cell phones for a convenient, effective way to drive engagement and sales.
7 Best Practices for Affiliate Marketing via Text
While every text affiliate marketing channel differs, these best practices are key for maximizing the effectiveness of any strategy.
1. Personalize Deals
Make your subscribers feel like VIPs. Use keywords and audience segmentation tools to send tailored texts based on their preferences.
2. Use Drip Sequences
Schedule recurring texts with exclusive codes, taking care not to bombard their devices. Prioritize building a relationship that keeps them coming back for more.
3. Plan for Holidays
Prep and schedule content in advance for major e-commerce holidays such as Amazon Prime Day, Black Friday, and Cyber Monday.
4. Include Visuals
A picture is worth a thousand words—and potentially thousands in sales. Send photos of products and deals to grab your audience’s attention.
5. Offer Restock Updates
Turn sold-out products into an opportunity to connect with subscribers about restocks. This can create urgency that translates into revenue.
6. Share Curated Lists
Curate handpicked recommendation lists for subscribers. This is a great relationship-building strategy that can drive more traffic to your site.
7. Respect the Timing
Nobody likes too many texts or those sent at odd hours. Keep messages to only what’s necessary, and only send during appropriate times.
Uses for SMS Affiliate Marketing Beyond the Basics
SMS isn’t just for sending coupons. These SMS marketing strategies help you leverage your affiliate program across the entire sales funnel.
- Offer Flash Sales: Time-sensitive deals and exclusive subscriber discounts are a great way to drive immediate sales.
- Build Anticipation: Create hype around new products with exclusive previews and launch date announcements.
- Rescue Abandoned Carts: Send well-timed follow-up texts to encourage your audience to complete their purchases.
- Send Seasonal Promotions: Align deals with seasons and current events to tap into timely shopping trends.
- Reward Customer Loyalty: Offer subscribers perks like early access, special offers, or sneak peeks into future promotions.
Successful SMS Affiliate Marketing Examples
These are just a few real-world examples of companies achieving success with SMS affiliate marketing strategies.
CNET: Exceeding Click-Through Expectations
CNET has been a long-standing player in the deals game, offering phenomenal promotions via SMS with their CNET Deals channel. During their Amazon Prime push, each broadcast boasted a 15%+ CTR (click-through rate). Compare that to the industry benchmark of 2.3% CTR via email, and it’s clear why SMS is great for engagement.
Forbes Vetted: When Personalization Pays Off
Forbes Vetted delivers daily SMS deals, as well as personalized product reviews and deals based on subscribers’ interests. By listening to their audience using keyword and segmentation features, they're able to drive meaningful engagement and revenue.
Here's the Deal with Reviewed: Testing Wins
USA TODAY’s Here's the Deal with Reviewed channel does the leg work of testing out everyday items so their readers don’t have to. The team texts a weekly deals roundup to thousands of highly engaged subscribers, utilizing SMS as an effective distribution channel.
Kitchn by Apartment Therapy: Cooking Up Conversations
Apartment Therapy’s Cook/Shop campaign offers a way for subscribers to find great deals on kitchen supplies. From Wayfair and Prime Day steals to sales to staff-compiled favorites, they've got their audience covered on a weekly basis.
Want to see more examples of the SMS impact? Check out more case studies here.
The SMS Advantage: Key Takeaways
SMS affiliate marketing is your ticket to your most engaged audiences yet. These stats confirm just how texting outperforms traditional tactics:
- More Traffic: Consumer deals via SMS have an average 19% CTR compared to 0.5–2% through other mediums of communication.
- Higher Conversion: Using SMS to distribute deals to high-intent subscribers increases the likelihood of purchase. Read more with this case study.
- Better Engagement: Users know what they want and will actively seek your advice on the best promotions. This subscriber input can curate your next set of deals!
Online shopping is bigger than ever—65.7% of e-commerce purchases are made through mobile devices. SMS affiliate strategies utilize the direct line to your customers to create interactive, personalized shopping experiences.
Ultimately, it’s an unmatched way to drive engagement, increase conversions, and boost affiliate revenue.
Master SMS Affiliate Marketing
SMS affiliate marketing is more than a trend. It’s a marketing revolution. Take your campaigns to the next level with an action plan:
- Identify where SMS can complement your existing affiliate marketing strategies.
- Define what success looks like and set clear goals for your channels.
- Use data to create targeted lists for personalized marketing.
- Make every word count within SMS character limits.
- Ensure you follow all relevant regulations for SMS marketing.
- Create an omnichannel experience by integrating SMS with other efforts.
Whether you're looking to integrate SMS into your year-round affiliate strategy or leverage it for specific events (like Cyber Monday and Amazon Prime Day), Subtext has you covered.
With advanced features designed to meet a wide range of marketing needs, we can help you turn every text into a stepping stone toward unprecedented success.
Reach out to set up a time to talk to our SMS experts!