2024 brings us a later-than-usual Black Friday which means, this year retailers are facing an especially complex challenge: how to stand out and get attention during an election year, and get enough holiday sales during a condensed period post-Thanksgiving, pre-Christmas window.
We wanted to see how brands are dealing with their Black Friday preparations, and what role SMS messaging will play this year. So we surveyed 100 brand leaders who are running Black Friday campaigns and this is what we found:
1. 80% of brands are incorporating SMS into their Black Friday/Cyber Monday campaigns
And with good reason! SMS boasts nearly universal accessibility in the U.S. with sky high open rates north of 95%. Not only can brands reach a wide swath of customers (as long as they opt-in), they can also customize their SMS to connect with customers most likely to be interested in specific offers. MMS, SMS’s showier cousin, offers further marketing opportunities with images, gifs, and even video. Nearly half of brands (47%) reported plans for MMS this year.
Uplevel your SMS program with insights from our experts
Quick Guide
Black Friday SMS Handbook
Research Report
State of Messaging 2024
2. Email leads the runner-up channels
How do other channels stack up? 62% of brands plan to use email, TV/streaming ads come in at 45%, direct mail at 31%, and radio/podcast ads at 30%.
Interestingly there is pretty strong interest in newer messaging options with 26% of brands planning to use WhatsApp (note that the surveyed brands were in the US, which typically has less WhatsApp usage than other regions) and 17% of brands are wading into the RCS waters.
3. Nearly 60% of brands are relying more on SMS in 2024 than in 2023
Retail and ecommerce companies are seeing the ROI that text messaging provides and well over half of them (59% to be exact) are investing more in SMS for Black Friday this year than last year. 27% expect to keep things about the same as last year, and only 14% are planning to use texting less this year.
4. 1 in 3 brands don’t start planning until September
If you’re a little last minute when it comes to campaign planning, you’re not alone. 29% of brands are overachievers who plan year round. But while there are clear Black Friday preparations brands should be doing over the summer, a full third don’t start planning until the fall months, with 7% waiting all the way until November to kick planning into gear.
5. Only 42% of brands know for sure that their 10DLC traffic is properly registered
Meanwhile 49% aren’t sure if their traffic is 100% registered, and 7% admit that a good chunk of their traffic is not fully registered. (Note that this was not a survey of Bandwidth customers.) Providers and carriers alike are cracking down on unregistered 10DLC traffic so it is more important than ever to make sure you know how to register your 10DLC traffic, get your burning 10DLC questions answered, and choose a partner who can help you stay on top of your messaging health.
When you’re ready to get your own Black Friday planning started, look no further than our Black Friday SMS handbook. It’s packed with the step-by-step direction you need to set up a campaign for the best deliverability and ROI possible. Plus, it comes with a downloadable calendar to help you track exactly where you are in the planning process.
