Facing slow sales months is an intimidating feeling. And when you’re in the thick of the slump, it’s hard to figure out the best way to get your business going again at full speed. For Nick Gorden, the CEO of Shine Solar, a strategic text marketing promotion was what it took to turn one of the company’s worst months into the best month of the year.
The Text Marketing Campaign Setup
It’s no secret that there’s something special about promotions on holidays. Nick created the perfect storm with his Memorial Day text. He had a great offer, utilized a sales-heavy holiday, and communicated with one of the most effective methods — texting. Once he sent that text to his lead database, he and his salespeople just watched the responses flow in.
The Lead Responses
He wanted people to act fast, and what better way than a one-time, “flash sale” offer? The deal was only running until the end of the month, and a text was the best way to instill urgency in people.
Nick decided to send out the offer over text and email to see which one had a better response rate. He received less than 100 email responses. But via text? Nick received over 800 responses!
Now, this amazing response rate wouldn’t have been possible without the promotion — and the “customer first” culture Shine Solar had embodied since its beginning.
The $1 Million Results
Once the responses flooded their Skipio dashboard, Nick tasked his three best salespeople with responding to interested customers. Conversation flowed through texting since some responders weren’t quite ready to get on the phone. By customizing his sales approach to best fit the needs of the customers, Nick was able to reach people that had gone un-contacted for some time.
The database the Shine Solar team sent text messages to were people at various stages of the solar investment process. From that one initial promotional text they ultimately made $1 million in solar sales! This is just one example of how to optimize your lead nurturing.
The personalization they were able to give in the offer text resonated with their core standards as a business — creating the optimal customer experience. With the right time frame and promotion, everything was able to fall into place for Shine Solar.
Why This Text Marketing Promotion Worked
This solar company is all about excellent customer relationships. One of the first things Nick did when he started the company was hire a “concierge.” This employee would walk the customers through every aspect of the installation process, and they would even be there in person for the installation. Customer relationships are of vital importance to Nick.
He knows the market he’s trying to reach — one that has been relatively untouched by solar companies. Nick has cultivated personable relationships with his customers in the rural Midwest. The offer he came up with was strategically aligned with the interests of a small town audience. The Memorial Day promotion included a grill, a cooler, a canopy, and $200 gift card. The incentive totaled up to about $900 worth of items, and dozens of people he texted jumped at the offer.
“Hey [Insert Name], Nick here from Shine Solar. Check this out… it’s only for the next 8 days, so text me back if you want to set up a time to chat. http://www.shinesolar.com/summer-kickoff”
How Your Business Can Run a Successful Text Marketing Promotion
Keeping it short and to the point is a great tactic — no one wants to read lines and lines of text. In fact, on average it only takes people five seconds to read a text. That’s what people are used to, and people who keep things brief are far more likely to find success with business texting.
With text, there’s a 98% open rate. For email, it’s about 20–30%. No wonder Nick found much more success in his text campaign than his email campaign.
It wasn’t luck that Nick’s promotion landed just right among his lead database. He understood what his audience would want, the right holiday to frame it around, and how to get the message out quickly.
Are you experiencing a slump like Nick? Utilize any upcoming major holiday (or event). Combine that with a killer offer text marketing promotion and you’re almost guaranteed a sales increase.
