Entering the new year, retailers are focused on outperforming competitors and the previous year’s shopper experiences. To maximize marketing spend, retailers need to approach their marketing framework with a cross-channel strategy: beyond tried-and-true email and social towards underutilized channels like push notifications and SMS. I’ll focus on the latter channel in this article.

Ignoring SMS is leaving money on the table. Not only does SMS extend the reach of marketing messages, it increases engagement by connecting with consumers on their most-used devices. Today, about 5 billion people own smartphones. Coupled with text messages having a 98 percent open rate, adopting SMS marketing is a no-brainer.

So, where do you start? Here’s a step-by-step guide to implementing SMS marketing in 2020: