Kamil Sattar: SMS Automations to Scale and Get New Audiences

If you are in the dropshipping and just in general - the ecom field, then you’ve probably heard of him.

Dropshipping legend, eCom mentor and founder of www.e-commercementoring.com, YouTube and Facebook ads pro, public speaker and as of recently - Forbes Council’s youngest member. An inspiration to thousands of people all over the world..

Ecom ladies and gents, give it up for the eCom King - Kamil Sattar.

We are here today to tell you his story and especially - how he decided to  get onboard of text marketing and implement SMS as part of his omnichannel marketing strategy. 
 

Who is Kamil?

Mohammed Kamil Sattar is а 20-year-old British entrepreneur who started his dropshipping journey in 2016, after dropping out of college.

Back then, Kamil was buying and reselling high-end designer brands. The luxury goods niche got his foot in the game, but being the way he is - curious and constantly looking to improve, soon after he discovered dropshipping. What attracted him to this business model is the low investment vs. high return.

Kamil started dropshipping while he was working a day job as well. Dissatisfied with the conditions, pay and overall experience, he started looking more and more into dropshipping, “studying” successful people, networking, learning how to market to customers, increase average order value (AOV), stimulate customer lifetime value (CLV), do upsell, adopt email marketing and use Facebook ads to their full potential. 

Fast-forward three years and here he is - with several 6 and 7-figure stores under his belt, mentoring thousands of people, but still trying out new and robust marketing techniques. And this is how he stumbled upon SMS and Yotpo SMSBump. 

First Encounter with SMS and Yotpo SMSBump 

Kamil is a huge fan of Neil Patel and he heard him talking about the power of text message marketing in numerous videos. But that wasn’t it. He then heard another YouTuber discuss how insane text marketing is, mainly an app called Yotpo SMSBump, how powerful it is, and how much return on investment he got just by spending about $50.

Even though SMS kept coming up as the new best marketing channel on the block, for quite some time Kamil was dubious about it and didn’t put it to use at his own stores. He kept using email marketing and at that point - didn’t consider text marketing as an alternative.
 

“I guess my ego came in the way. I overlooked it. I was thinking it wasn’t good enough and that email marketing would always do the best because, obviously, in the “old days” it was the best of the best,” Kamil admits. 
 

But as he kept seeing it more and more, he decided to take a leap of faith with it. And as you will see - it was a leap in the right direction. 

Kamil’s Experience with Yotpo SMSBump 

Kamil has only been using the app for a couple of months now. For awhile he was just doing what he usually does - testing and figuring out his way around the app, what works for him and his stores. His first results were quick to follow: with only $40 invested, he was able to make back $8700 on one of his fitness gear stores, or a ROI of close to 22 000%.

“To do this with Facebook retargeting, it would have never been so cheap. You are looking at investing at least 2-3 thousand dollars,” he comments.

But it’s not just that SMS is cheap. What got Kamil to try it out is the unbeatable open rate of up to 99%. Essentially, almost every text message stores send will be opened.

“Facebook can’t compete with SMS, Google can’t compete with it, not even email can compete with text message marketing, especially when it comes to retargeting and product upsells,” he shares.

And what is his exact text marketing strategy? 

Abandoned Cart Reminders 

First and foremost, Kamil emphasizes the importance and effectiveness of abandoned cart recovery sequences. This is where a lot of potential purchases slip through the cracks, but is also where a bit of investment and careful timing can recover a good portion of sales.

What he determined worked best for him is a three-step sequence: 
 

After 1 hour: 

Hello, {FirstName}. We noticed you forgot some items in your shopping cart at {SiteName}, complete your order here {AbandonedCheckoutUrl} before we run out of stock. Reply STOP to opt out. 

After 1 day:

Hey, {FirstName}. It seems to us that you left behind some items in your cart. Checkout now with 10% off: {AbandonedCheckoutUrl}. Reply STOP to opt out. 

After 3 days: 

Hey, {FirstName}. An item in your cart is almost sold out. Get 15% OFF on your whole order! {AbandonedCheckoutUrl}. Reply STOP to opt out. 
 

No matter what, Kamil advises merchants to try and do at least two abandoned cart recoveries and experiment with timing. Do one sequence, where you have a reminder fire off after 1 hour and 1 day, and then test out another sequence, where the first notification is sent out after 1 hour, and the second - after 3 days. This way you will see what is more appealing to your customers.

Pro tip: With Yotpo SMSBump you can create 3 independent abandoned cart automations or simply setup the same sequence but using our SMS flow editor. It’s entirely up to you and how much you’d like to dive into the different app features. 

Product Upsells

Besides cart recovery, Kamil finds SMS product upsells far more effective than any other channel. About 40% of the $8,700 Kamil made with Yotpo SMSBump came from product upsells. He compares the results he got with the pop-up he has set-up right before customers go to their cart to complete the purchase. That pop-up rarely brings him in any extra sales, whereas with SMS, 7 out of 10 times people end up buying something extra.

“Really powerful. Even more powerful than Klaviyo.”

His product upsell strategy consists of two simple steps, where the major player is a generous discount. After doing some careful calculations, Kamil figured out that offers of up to 60% were not going to hurt his business, but on the contrary - will secure him some bonus purchases. Especially since he is using a channel as cheap as SMS to upsell, making his investment very little. 
 

After 1 hour 

{SiteName}: Hello, {BillingFirstName}. Thanks for purchasing {BoughtProductName}. As a huge thank you for your support we like to offer you a limited time 40% OFF from {RecommendProductName}. Get it here: {RecommendProductUrl}. Reply STOP to opt out. 
 

After 1 day

{SiteName}: Hello, {BillingFirstName}. To really show our appreciation for your support we have upgraded your coupon code from 40% to 60% OFF from {RecommendProductName}. Get it here: {RecommendProductUrl}. Reply STOP to opt out.

Pro tip: Generous discounts might be the converting for Kamil, but every store should decide on a number individually after careful budgeting. The easiest way to determine how big your discount should be - compare the manufacturing cost to the profit you are earning. If the gap is rather small, then try to be very mindful about the discounts you are giving since this might hurt your profitability and you might end up selling at loss.

Here’s how you can create a product upsell automation, or set up a flow if you want to include other conditions, such as total number of orders, or total amount spent. 

Customer Winback Messages

Kamil also realizes the power of customer lifetime value for the sustainability of any brand, and how important it is to keep present customers close and engage with them regularly. This is precisely why the third automation he always has enabled is the customer winback.

Again, this is a two-step sequence, which introduces an exciting new collection as a way to pique shoppers' interest: 

After 30 days of inactivity 

{SiteName}: Hi {FirstName} we noticed it has been a while since your last order. Don't worry, we have added loads of amazing products to our site. Get 10% OFF on your next purchase {DiscountCodeUrl}. Reply STOP to opt out. 

3 days after the first message 

{SiteName}: Hi {FirstName}, we noticed you didn't order anything from our new product range. Let me tempt you with a 40% OFF on your next purchase: {DiscountCodeUrl}. Reply STOP to opt out.

“I use these three automations every single time I build a store, or I help one of my students build a store. There is never a day when we skip on them, they are mandatory for us and our success,” Kamil says. 
 

He also started using one of Yotpo SMSBump’s most recent features - flows, and has developed a shipping order confirmation flow to ensure he keeps an open line of communication with his customers, and that they will always receive updates on their orders.

“Just these four steps can boost your ROI up to 10 to 20 000%.”
 

When crafting his text message content, Kamil always relies on several main ingredients to create the perfect SMS. 

Ingredients for the Perfect SMS  

First and foremost, Kamil believes that the beauty of SMS is in its simplicity. And keeping it simple is the way to go. Use short words and don’t overdo it on the “fancy” lingo. Understand your audience, the way they speak, and try to use their particular “slang”. If you want to add a little color - emojis do quite well and make the text message more eye-grabbing. 

The second addition to a converting SMS is a generous offer. Personally, Kamil goes as high as 60% off on product upsells. And from his perspective and experience - they are the ones which do the best in terms of getting the most out of SMS.

Especially for people who are just now starting with SMS, he recommends A/B testing. This feature will help merchants determine which of their messages is the best, and only that message will be sent out to the majority of the subscribers. In turn, this will minimize cost and maximize conversion.

Last but not least - Kamil emphasises the importance of personalization and giving your SMS a “real feel”. Make your text message sound like you are truly looking to have a conversation with your customers, rather than just sell them something. Address them by their first name, recommend products based on their past purchases, or offer them a deal if they’ve shown loyalty.

And experiment.
 

“Getting the perfect solution requires lots of testing and understanding your target audience.” 

SMS during COVID-19 

With the global pandemic changing the way business is done, we saw it fitting to ask the opinion of an expert like Kamil, who is also directly affected by the situation, like millions of other business owners.

What’s most important in the current conditions is for merchants to walk that extra mile when it comes to communicating with customers. The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on the global shipping industry and delays are almost unavoidable. With that in mind, make sure to always drop a line or two in your order confirmation SMS, letting customers know there might be delays. This will ease their minds.

Kamil reminds that contrary to popular belief, delays are nothing to worry about, especially now. People are understanding, they won’t try to ask for a refund, they know that this is a global problem and we are all in the same boat.

He even gives an example with a giant such as Amazon Prime, which has temporarily suspended next-day deliveries and are experiencing heavy delays, of up to a couple of weeks.

Still, to take care of any situation where a customer might be very dissatisfied, consider upselling and offering them a special deal as a treat. This way you don’t just make it up to your customers for the inconvenience, but you also secure yourself some extra sales.

Pro tip: for some bonus guidelines on how to leverage SMS marketing in times of crisis, consider giving our latest eBook a read. 

 

Evolution of SMS From his Perspective

In the short term, Kamil sees text marketing evolving towards providing stores with more opportunities to brand their text messages. SMS is still rather limited when it comes to branding - right now, you can only add your phone number, images, your store name etc. Being able to include a logo, change the background color to fit the brand guidelines etc. is something he sees being developed in the foreseeable future.

But that’s just on the surface. When it comes to actual capabilities, Kamil expects SMS to be able to offer much deeper segmentation, so businesses can get real nitty and gritty in terms of very small behavior changes.
 

“What Yotpo SMSBump does in terms of segmentation is very very advanced. It’s definitely a step ahead, it’s a glimpse of what’s to come,” he admits.  

Key Takeaway

One of Kamil’s main advice is for merchants to always try different things and never rely just on one channel, no matter how much success it brings. Stores will bring more and more revenue if they adopt a marketing mix of channels, and have them work in sync, reinforcing one another. And one of those channels absolutely needs to be SMS. 

Contact information: 

If you are looking for a change in career path...
Or have already decided that 2020 is the year to begin your dropshipping journey...
Or perhaps you are already a merchant, looking for advice on how to scale their business…

Contact Kamil and he will give you all the right tools and guidance.

If you are more of a self-learner, subscribe for his YouTube channel where he releases tons of knowledge every week. His most recent gem is a true winner - a complete 5-hour course on how to create and scale a store from scratch. You will see a familiar app as part of his tutorial. :)