Hey everyone, Scott Austin here. And this week on the podcast I want to talk about SMS, but I really don't know that much about SMS.

Most of my clients are doing email and we're using Klaviyo for email.

So

I wanted to bring in an expert in SMS who's also an expert in email, so we can compare and contrast the two there.

But we're bringing in Nikita Khrushchev from aspects.

Welcome, Nikita.

Why don't you tell us a little bit about your background and aspects so we understand your expertise?

Yeah. That makes total sense to me as a small agency. Yeah, I'm a small agency also. And we only do Shopify. We only do one theme, right? And we were very focused on what we do, which makes us really good at it. But it also means, you know, we're not your Swiss Army knife. We can't service all your needs and sounds like you're doing the same thing.

Focusing on a niche and becoming a deep expert in that. For your clients.

Yeah. Yeah. And then what I love being so focused is you really understand

the details and nuances of things.

So

you can really

help your clients out with that kind of stuff.

Now, as we're going to talk about SMS today, can you give us like a little bit of an overview on some stats or some data that explains like what the trends are with SMS, how important it is in your direct,

engagement with your customers, you know, mix and why people should be thinking about it.

You know.

So the expense comes from the service side of things, not from the

labor side of things.

Wow.

You get.

Now, when people are thinking about SMS and email, well, let's let's just take, you know, and everybody's numbers are different, I get that. But if you were to guess, you know, the average percentage of revenue that comes from email and SMS, like, you know, how can we think about what our life might be if we add SMS or if we're doing well, what we should be getting from SMS from a

percentage standpoint?

Yep. Yep.

Now.

So, what I heard you say is that if you add SMS, you know, everybody's numbers are different, of course, but you can see, like, a 20% lift on your email revenue,

which is significant.

Yep.

Now,

if you were to contrast

SMS with email, what is like the differences in SMS that

Stormers need to be thinking about as they're going to implement an SMS program?

For.

To the channel is more informal and communication than. Than email is one of the differences.

Interesting.

Now, when it comes to implementing SMS, you know, in Shopify stores, which is what this podcast is all about.

There are multiple ways that you, you know, there are multiple providers for SMS. You know, what are the pros and cons? How should we look at it?

You know, all my clients, we just use Klaviyo for email. You know, should they be using Klaviyo for SMS? Or

should you separate your email from your SMS platform and have different providers for those things? How do you make that platform

choice?

So I'm hearing if klaviyo. No brainer. Use it for SMS.

Okay. And then if not klaviyo, you have other options to consider and other options to avoid. And I love the fact that you're willing to say. Do not use these people for this reason.

You know.

Well, it's. Most people aren't public about, Don't do this. Which, like I said, I totally appreciate that.

Can you explain a little bit about the legal differences or the opt in differences? The requirements between SMS opt in and email opt ins?

Now. Just. Just so it's clear

If I've been running a Shopify store for ten years and I've got, you know, phone numbers turned on for customer accounts, all those phone numbers aren't good until I turn on this double opt in factor. Right.

So there is a way to tap into your existing phone numbers and in your in your customer records, if you use that method.

I like that.

Yep.

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let's say I'm a small Shopify store. I got email working. You know, I'll make an X amount of revenue. I got a list of XYZ, and you're going to define XR in a second. You'll understand,

you know, how do I get started. You know, when is the right time to think about adding SMS to my toolset?

Is it when I hit a certain revenue point? Is it when I hit a certain list size? Is it some other factor that I'm not thinking about?

So. Well, let me summarize that. What you're saying is SMS is a no brainer for e-commerce brands.

That makes sense.

Yeah. So I'm here in a three step progression. So let me just summarize what I think you're saying. And you can tell me if I'm right or not. Step one collect consent for phone numbers. And there's a bunch of different ways to do that. You can do that in Shopify checkout. You can do that in your klaviyo pop ups or whatever other pop ups you're using.

But start collecting a list when your list gets to a certain size. You said 500 to 1000. Then you start trickling SMS in to your flows because those are all the things that are set up and working. You're just going to increase, hopefully the touchpoint you're making during those flows, and then you get a feel for how that works.

And then you can start doing dedicated campaigns through SMS.

Okay.

That makes total sense.

Now.

I know it was clear. I just like summarizing it because we all think in slightly different ways, right

now. If I was, you know, if you were to give me some best practices, you know, things you should definitely be doing in SMS, you've already given a couple of those.

What are some things that people need to be thinking about as they're implementing their SMS program?

And.

Yeah. No. I love embedding the discount code in the URL. We actually built ourselves a little tool that we use where we put in the URL, the discount code,

and the destination URL we want them to land on. Right. Or if you want them to add the product to the cart automatically. So you just put in what variables you want and it gives you the URL you want.

Because those, you know, helping customers that way is super handy because, you know, going back and forth between screen space on a phone for people like me at least, is a nightmare.

You know? Yep.

So those are good best practices, you know? Are there things we need to be thinking about to reduce opt outs and is opt out a problem in SMS?

The.

Yep. Yep. That makes total sense. Now, what are some worst practices that you see happen? What things should people avoid doing?

I'm here to trick you out here.

That makes sense.

Now, how do you measure? You know, you given a couple things that you're you're looking about, is there a specific way that you're measuring SMS performance? Because, you know, unlike email, I'm hearing from you that cost is actually a really big factor. So you got to be thinking about how much money it's making versus how it's costing you.

And you've also got the, you know, gross, you know, the subscription growth rate being net positive or net negative and those kind of things. What sort of metrics are you looking at when you're managing an SMS. You know, system for a client?

Well, what I'm surprised by there is your your ROI. You know, it can be similar to ads. Just. Just because of the cost, right? The, you know, not the cost of acquisition is the cost of delivery is is so high as a percentage of revenue, depending on all these different variables we're talking about, that you really have to be conscious of that and not bankrupt yourself.

Yep.

Yep. You know,

so

as a small Shopify brand listening to us right now, and they're like, oh, this sounds great, I want to get into SMS. What are the ways that they can think about doing it? Is this something they can do themselves to start off with? Should they hire an agency to start off with? Or is there a do it yourself phase that converts to an agency phase later on?

And like, what are the factors they should be thinking about when they're making those decisions?

Yep.

Yep. That makes a lot of sense.

is there any last advice you have for people that we haven't talked about? Or do you want to, like, summarize, you know, what their SMS strategy or focus should be?

Yeah. All good advice there. Thanks for that. Now, if people want to, reach out to you to learn more about you or aspect, but what can how they how do they do that?

Excellent. Excellent. Thanks for your time and expertise today, Nikita.