This year’s Amazon Prime Day will take place from June 21-22. Here’s what you need to know.

Last year, Prime Day was postponed due to COVID-19, and kicked off the holiday season several weeks before Black Friday. Shoppers spent a record-breaking $10.4 billion during the 48-hour sale—up 45.2% from $7.16 billion in 2019. This year, Amazon has moved the sale back to its usual summer timing ahead of back-to-school season. Sales are expected to grow another $2 billion, approaching $12 billion worldwide. 

Over the past seven years, Prime Day has become something shoppers look forward to. Major retailers—including Target, Walmart, and Best Buy—have shifted their calendars to compete with Amazon and tap into consumers’ excitement. Many brands are leveraging SMS to maximize Prime Day revenue even more.

This unofficial retail holiday means that shoppers will be actively looking for deals. And while consumers will undoubtedly be browsing Amazon.com, they’ll be in a “buying mindset” and likely exploring what other brands have to offer.

Here are a few ways you can be ready for this summer’s major shopping event.

‍

Promote extended sales across organic marketing channels

Since Prime Day is limited to a 48-hour window, consider offering your own flash sale or promotion. Just make sure it extends both before and after the Prime Day period. 

Drive mobile traffic to your brand’s website by giving text messaging subscribers “exclusive early access” to your sale. To amplify your offer, consider promoting this on your other organic marketing channels, including social media and email. Make subscribers feel like VIPs by sending special limited-time deals throughout the promotional window. 

Create a sense of urgency by highlighting the limited-time nature of your offer, and link directly back to your website (or your brand’s page on Amazon) so subscribers can shop right away.

‍

Take advantage of paid marketing channels, too

Whether you’re driving traffic to your brand’s Amazon page or to your website, you’ll need to capture as many shoppers’ attention as possible leading up to and during Prime Day. Paid search campaigns and social media advertising can help you drive awareness ahead of the big sale. 

Consider also promoting your text channel with paid marketing campaigns. You’ll grow a list of engaged subscribers to text directly when your deals begin. During a digitally noisy shopping period like Prime Day, text messages are much more likely to be seen than other marketing communication channels.

Create a cohesive digital customer experience by using similar branded imagery and copy across your paid media, social, and text messaging campaigns. 

‍

Highlight your free shipping options

Amazon Prime’s free one- and two-day shipping policies have changed shoppers’ expectations around shipping. This has become even more important over the last year, when they were primarily shopping online. 

Shoppers are drawn to Amazon Prime because of its free one- and two-day shipping policies. Last year, consumers said free shipping was the number one factor influencing where they chose to shop. Recover those potentially abandoned carts by sending shoppers a reminder offering free shipping if they complete their purchase. 

‍

Looking for inspiration to help you capture your subscribers’ attention? Be sure to head over to Texts We Love, our SMS gallery, to browse real text messages brands are sending to engage shoppers, drive revenue, and build loyalty.