Explore how these brands are delivering personalized experiences to UK consumers via SMS.

In the UK, 66% of online orders were placed on mobile during the first quarter of 2022. So it’s no wonder brands are starting to realize the opportunity to connect with UK consumers via SMS marketing. 

According to our 2022 survey of 700 UK consumers, 90% are interested in receiving SMS marketing from brands (but only 34% are currently opted-in). Brands who’ve been quick to adopt SMS are already seeing success with personalized programs that are helping diversify their marketing and revenue streams.

Whether you’re building an SMS channel from scratch or expanding your existing US program across the pond, SMS can help you create personalized shopping moments and additional touchpoints with UK shoppers that go beyond the marketing channels you’re already using.

Check out how these four innovative brands are using SMS to create engaging customer experiences with their UK audience.

​

Floral Street: Educating their engaged audience with VIP events

UK-based fragrance retailer Floral Street sent their SMS audience an exclusive invite to their Scentschool™ event, educating their audience on their sustainable products and brand values. This experiential offer helped subscribers feel more connected to the brand by hearing directly from founder and perfume connoisseur, Michelle Feeney. 

70% of UK consumers want exclusive access to VIP perks and discounts from the brands they engage with, making it the top reason they subscribe to SMS channels. Floral Street emphasized this exclusive strategy in their messaging (“Hey VIP!”), driving subscribers to click the direct link to the product page. As a bonus incentive, the sustainable fragrance brand added a percent-off discount code that SMS subscribers could use right away.

‍

Inkbox: Driving website traffic with personalized recommendations

Known for their semi-permanent tattoo technology, Inkbox shares personalized product recommendations with UK subscribers using Attentive’s Two-Way Journeys™. The two-part quiz asks about the subscriber's preferred tattoo types and styles, then instantly shares a direct link to a relevant product.

After asking subscribers about their product preferences, the brand can save their responses as custom attributes. Then, they can use this zero-party data—information provided directly from consumers—to build SMS segments that deliver relevant messaging to each subscriber throughout their journey.

‍

Sakuraco: A/B testing subscription discount vs. dollar-off discount during the welcome experience

Sakuraco—a Japanese snack subscription box service—uses A/B testing on their sign-up unit to discover which incentive is most likely to get their UK audience to subscribe to texts. Sakuraco tests a percent-off subscription incentive against their standard “£5 off any order” promotion.

High-intent shoppers looking to try a particular product are often intrigued by the immediate discount on their order. On the other hand, prompting new subscribers to use their code on a subscription drives incremental revenue through repeat purchases, and encourages a lasting customer relationship. Testing the subscriber journey helps Sakuraco understand what resonates best with their audience to continue to scale their SMS list.

‍

FLOWERBX: Driving last-minute holiday purchases with location-based reminders

Flower delivery brand FLOWERBX used geo-targeting to send highly relevant shipping reminders to subscribers based on their location. Two days before the shipping deadline for Valentine’s Day orders, FLOWERBX created a sense of urgency through timely messaging (“Final Call”) in their text. 

Since orders from customers based in London had a later cutoff time (midnight vs. 13:00), clarifying these relevant details ahead of time helped the brand avoid potential customer issues and made the shopping experience even easier.

As UK consumers continue to adopt mobile commerce, SMS will become an ever more valuable channel to deliver the kinds of personalized experiences they want from brands.  

Get more tips in our data-driven guide on SMS marketing in the UK, and discover how to make text messaging a part of your holistic marketing strategy.

PS: Did you know you can now filter text message examples by location in our SMS gallery? Explore more examples from UK brands and tons of other SMS strategies in Texts We Love.