A Beginner’s Guide to SMS Marketing for Shopify Merchants

Running a Shopify store today means competing for attention in a world where customers are constantly distracted. They browse on their phones. They switch tabs mid-checkout. They tell themselves they’ll “come back later” ... and often don’t. You were soooo close to closing the sale, but for some reason the shopper decided to abandon their cart.

This guide is for Shopify merchants who want to understand how SMS marketing actually works, how to set it up responsibly, and how to use it without annoying customers or damaging their brand.

What SMS Marketing Is (and What It Isn’t)

SMS marketing is the practice of sending text messages to customers who have explicitly agreed to receive them. These messages are typically short, timely, and tied to a specific moment in the customer journey. The key part to remember here is "agreed to receive them".

When done correctly, SMS feels helpful and when done poorly, it feels invasive and disruptive. The key here is striking the perfect balance that respects customers but also helps your business.

How to enable SMS Marketing in Shopify (i.e. gathering consent)

Before sending a single message, consent must come first.

SMS marketing requires customers to explicitly opt in to receive texts. This isn’t just a legal requirement — it’s what keeps your messages welcome and deliverable. Not doing so can have huge repercussions and honestly just might damage your brand. Shopify makes it super easy to collect this consent but you must ensure it's set up correctly. To ensure you're capturing customers' SMS Detail you must enable it from the Admin Portal under Checkout > Marketing Options > SMS. Turning on this functionality will ensure that users can provide their phone number during the checkout flow. Turning this on doesn't mean they've given consent, but you now have a box during the Checkout Flow where the shopper can give consent. Assuming shoppers have provided this, you're golden and have the green flag to perform outreach.

However, turning on this setting is simply not enough .. you must now feed the Phone Numbers into a system which can then reach out to customers on their phone numbers.

If enabled, shoppers will now see this Field during checkout where they can provide their contact.

and if the shopper does click that box and provide their details, you will see it under the Customer Details.

My customer gave me consent ... now what?

Let's say now you have a solid list of customers some of which have given consent. This was a warm lead so you're super duper close to closing the sale. Your customer opted in. They trusted you enough to say, “You can text me.” Now the question isn’t if you should reach out—it’s how and when. This is where abandoned carts come handy ... we believe if a shopper had added items to your cart, was about to place purchase and they simply didn't convert ... that's a perfect place to engage with the customer. Remind them of their cart and heck maybe even throw in a Promo Code to help the conversion.

This is where tools like Matrucart come in and can simplify that outreach process. Matrucart instantly loads abandoned carts of shoppers that had provided their phone number and initiates a workflow that will help seal the deal. Once consent is in place, Matrucart monitors abandoned checkouts and sends a thoughtful, well-timed SMS tied to what the customer actually left behind. No guessing. No manual follow-ups. Just the right message at the right moment.

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