How to Compliantly Text Customers Outside Your SMS Subscriber List

Instantly Increase Your SMS Reach

Compliance isn’t something to be thrown around lightly. Taking a compliance-first approach to your SMS marketing program also means you’re taking a customer-first approach. 

But did you know that in certain situations you can send one text to a customer that isn’t subscribed to your SMS list? 

It all comes down to the differences between A2P and P2P messaging. In this post, we’ll cover everything you need to know about instantly increasing your sale and SMS reach. 

What is the Difference Between A2P and P2P Text Messages? 

Application-to-Person (A2P) is any form of message traffic in which a person receives messages from an application rather than another individual. A2P SMS empowers brands to both single send and automate drip workflow text messages from a platform like Voyage SMS.

Person-to-Person messaging (P2P) is when two or more people communicate over text messaging. P2P messaging has different regulations than its counterpart application-to-person (A2P) messaging. 

The language in A2P opt-ins must be explicitly clear that the individual is enrolling in a promotional SMS program. If any ambiguity exists, it could lead to the individual claiming their consent was not valid—i.e. that the subscriber did not clearly authorize you to deliver ongoing advertisements via text. 

This is where the magic of P2P comes into play. Because P2P is sent by humans, it allows for more nuances and true conversations to take place. Therefore the regulations are different. While the majority of SMS compliance regulations are similar across A2P and P2P messaging, the TCPA does not expressly require written consent for person-to-person SMS. This means that in certain use cases, you can text customers without having them explicitly opt-in to all SMS communications which instantly widens your SMS reach beyond your subscribers. 

(Although it’s not required, LiveRecover by Voyage recommends express consent for P2P for the highest level of trust with your customers. By having it in place, your brand is prepared for any future regulation changes for P2P messaging from the start.)

P2P texting gives you the opportunity to immediately expand your SMS reach, which means interactions and purchases that normally would never take place. 

Humans Texting Your Customers Makes All the Difference 

P2P messaging opens the door to better customer interactions. The nuance that humans can bring to a conversation is what makes P2P texting so successful. 

How Thinx Recovered $450k Worth Of Abandoned Carts Using Human-powered SMS

Thinx, a niche online underwear brand, had an issue all eCommerce stores face — cart abandonment. Abandoned carts were a constant headache and costly challenge for Thinx. When customers made a last-minute decision not to go through with a purchase, it added up to missed revenue, diminished profits — and the painful knowledge that they weren’t realizing their full commercial potential. 

Using LiveRecover by Voyage, Thinx had live agents personally engage with customers to convert abandoned carts into sales.

“Having live agents—not bots—recover our abandoned carts is super powerful,” said Brendan Hastings, VP of Digital Product and Engineering at Thinx. “They contact our customers manually to understand why they didn’t purchase, are able to answer their questions in real-time, and help them make a decision to buy.”‍ 

LiveRecover by Voyage agents allows Thinx to have:

• Their abandoned carts and customers’ contact details automatically sync to LiveRecover, meaning no admin time or input is required by Thinx.
• Tailored, personalized texts are sent to customers 30 minutes after every cart is abandoned to understand why they didn’t buy.
• Knowledgeable agents at the end of every text. They have the training and resources to answer all the common questions that make customers hesitate—such as shipping, fit or measurement, and other product-specific queries. 
• Agents offer a small discount, typically in the form of free shipping, to seal the deal.

In just eight months of Thinx using live agents, they have recovered more than $450k of revenue. That’s a huge chunk of previously lost income that’s now in their bank account. 

👀 Click here to read the full case study.

How Do LiveRecover by Voyage Brand Ambassadors Interact With Your Customers?

LiveRecover by Voyage’s live agents act as your brand ambassadors when interacting with your customers. Think of them as an extension of your team who reduce support tickets while improving the customer experience and satisfaction.

You have full control over which customers the agents reach out to to match your marketing strategy. Only want us to reach out to first-time customers? Or maybe you want to exclude all carts less than $100 in value? No problem. 

Here’s an example workflow for our agents: 

Step 1. Someone was close to purchasing but didn't finish checking out.

Our eCommerce integrations automatically collect the information entered at checkout, so we can follow up with those customers manually.

Step 2. A live agent texts them to offer assistance to convert.

We use their contact info from the checkout process and contact them manually to understand why they didn’t purchase. The goal is to answer their questions and help them make a decision to buy.

Step 3. We answer their questions in real-time and help guide them through the purchase.

Some people hesitate to buy because of a few simple questions. An email can't answer these, but we can! A few common types of questions that we answer that delay purchases include: shipping related, fit or measurement, and product-specific questions.

Step 4. With a small discount, and a human touch, we turn a lost sale into a new customer.

These people are hesitant to buy at first. But after answering a few questions and giving them a small discount with a link back to their cart, we turn the abandoned checkout into a sale.

P2P aka Human-powered Texting Will Take Your SMS Strategy to the Next Level 

By deploying LiveRecover by Voyage brand ambassadors alongside your A2P automation and campaigns, you will be reaching the maximum number of customers and recovering lost revenue. As Steve O’Dell, Co-founder and CEO of Tenzo said: 

“I tell other founders that you need to have LiveRecover as your immediate checkout abandonment solution. When a customer is hot and is right at the point of purchase, LiveRecover is incredible at helping you win customers.” 

Want to turn up to 30% of abandoned checkouts into real revenue? Get started with LiveRecover by Voyage today.