Essential SMS Marketing Best Practices to Boost Engagement and Sales

SMS 101

Jun 27, 2018

Karlee Reistroffer

When running a text marketing campaign, it's important to follow the best practices for SMS marketing. These campaigns have the potential to drive significant sales for your business, but launching an SMS campaign can feel daunting.

Before launching your next SMS campaign, check these text marketing best practices off your list:

Table of Contents

Building a Strong Foundation for SMS Marketing
Crafting Effective SMS Messages
Enhancing Engagement and Interaction
Optimizing Your SMS Campaigns
Common Pitfalls to Avoid in SMS Marketing

Building a Strong Foundation for SMS Marketing

Obtain Permission

Text marketing 101 is to always get permission before texting customers.

It doesn’t matter if you have a customer’s phone number or you’re already texting them order updates. You could incur steep fines for texting consumers marketing messages when they did not provide express written consent.

So what qualifies as “express written consent”?

When subscribers opt in to your SMS program via a website form, you’ve earned “written consent.” But the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) also requires you to follow up with a confirmation text as a double opt-in measure.

However, when manually adding contacts or uploading a list for your SMS campaign, you must obtain written confirmation from the subscriber. For example, you can provide a sign-up sheet where customers can write down their phone number to receive special offers.

Defining Campaign Types at Opt-In

When it comes to text marketing, not all permission is created equal.

For example, if customers opt in to receive order status updates, you don’t have consent to send SMS marketing messages.

Before promoting your SMS campaign, you need to define the program type, and make it obvious to potential subscribers when they opt in.

Clearly outline the type of campaign potential subscribers are signing up for when asking for their phone number. Set expectations for what kinds of messages they will receive and how often they’ll receive them. Reiterate those details in the confirmation auto response.

Maintaining transparency at every step will help build loyalty and prevent opt-outs.

Giving a Compelling Reason to Subscribe

Texting is a personal act — potential subscribers need a clear and compelling reason to request texts from your business.

A top SMS opt-in best practice is to offer something exclusive and valuable to incentivize potential subscribers.

For example, you could offer subscribers early access to new product announcements or discounts. By opting in to your texting program, subscribers could also be entered into a contest to win a prize.

Promoting Your Campaign with Shortcodes

Creating a texting shortcode — a 5 or 6 digit phone number used for mass SMS campaigns — can help grow your SMS list.

Text marketing platforms allow you to generate a shortcode and create unique keywords that people can text to enter your campaign.

When coming up with a keyword, make it unique to your brand but easy to remember and type.

Once you’ve created a shortcode and keyword, promote them across your website, social media profiles, email campaigns and web forms to build your SMS list.

Data Privacy and Security Considerations

Securing customer data is not just a legal obligation but a critical component of building and maintaining trust. Adhering to privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA is essential to ensure that your texting platform remains compliant and trustworthy. Best practices for data security include implementing robust encryption methods, regularly updating software to address vulnerabilities, and conducting frequent security audits.

Additionally, being transparent with customers about how their data is used and obtaining their informed consent can significantly enhance trust and loyalty. Prioritizing these measures not only protects your customers but also strengthens your brand's reputation in an increasingly privacy-conscious world.

Crafting Effective SMS Messages

Keep it Simple and Clear

SMS is a highly lucrative marketing channel — so make every message count.

And that starts with sending content your subscribers actually care about.

Avoid senseless messages with no real call to action. When creating your mobile marketing strategy, assign a specific goal and purpose to each message that goes out. Incorporating MMS is also an effective way to keep texts interesting.

Deliver on your promise at opt-in by providing valuable information or exclusive offers. Strive to make subscribers feel special, and routinely communicate the value of being a subscriber so they want to participate in the program.

Use Clear, Everyday Language

Texting is less formal than phone or email conversations, but that doesn’t mean you should communicate with subscribers like you would with friends.

To prevent coming off as unprofessional or sacrificing clarity, avoid shorthand abbreviations.

However, your texts should be brief — most SMS marketing platforms limit characters to 160 per message. Remember, your text messages are interrupting a subscriber’s day, so keep your message to-the-point and worthwhile.

Be Considerate of Timing and Frequency

You told subscribers how often they’d hear from you when they signed up and in the confirmation text.

Be sure to stick to that frequency.

But how do you determine the ideal texting cadence in the first place?

How often you text subscribers will differ depending on your type of business. If you host weekly events, weekly texts would seem reasonable to a subscriber. If customers purchase from you once or twice a year, weekly texts would feel overbearing. Strike the right balance based on how often you already interact with customers, and be careful not to overwhelm them.

Personalization and Segmentation

Leveraging customer data for personalization and segmentation can transform your SMS campaigns from generic blasts into highly targeted messages that resonate with individual users. By analyzing customer behavior, preferences, and demographics, you can craft messages that speak directly to their interests and needs. For example, segmenting your audience based on purchase history or engagement levels allows you to send tailored offers and relevant updates, significantly boosting engagement and conversion rates. Personalization not only enhances the customer experience but also increases the likelihood of your messages being acted upon, driving better results and fostering stronger customer relationships.

Leveraging Multimedia in SMS

Incorporating multimedia into your SMS campaigns can also dramatically enhance engagement and impact. By leveraging MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service), you can send eye-catching images, videos, and audio clips that capture attention and convey your message more effectively than text alone. The visual appeal of multimedia messages not only makes your content more compelling but also provides an opportunity to showcase products, share tutorials, or offer exclusive previews. To maximize the benefits, ensure your multimedia content is optimized for mobile devices and keep file sizes manageable to avoid delays or delivery issues. When used thoughtfully, MMS can elevate your campaigns, making them more memorable and driving higher interaction rates.

Enhancing Engagement and Interaction

Enable Two-Way Texting

There’s nothing more frustrating than receiving a message from a business and having to go to another platform to respond.

Enable two-way texting with a platform like Textedly to eliminate frustration and give people a fast and easy way to interact. They’ll be more likely to stay opted in to your SMS campaign if it makes contacting your business faster and easier.

To humanize messages and delight subscribers, send personalized follow-ups using custom fields and segments, available in most texting platforms.

Creating Interactive Campaigns

Creating interactive SMS campaigns is a powerful way to engage your audience and gather valuable insights. By running polls and surveys, you can invite customers to share their opinions, preferences, and feedback directly through their phones, making them feel heard and valued. Contests and giveaways add an element of fun and excitement, encouraging participation and boosting brand interaction. These interactive elements not only drive engagement but also foster customer loyalty by making users feel more connected to your brand. Additionally, the data collected from these activities provides actionable insights that can inform future marketing strategies and enhance your overall approach.

Listening to Your Customers

Engaging in genuine communication with your customers is key to building brand loyalty. Instead of sending texts from an unidentified number, use two-way texting to engage them in interactive communication through polls and surveys.

By doing so, you’ll make them feel their opinion matters to you while you collect invaluable information about your product and service offerings.

Optimizing Your SMS Campaigns

Measure and Improve Your Strategy

Your SMS marketing strategy shouldn’t be a “set it and forget it” initiative. Earning a subscriber is gold, so you need to monitor performance and pivot to ensure you’re delivering value and preserving subscribers.

Evaluate what types of messages garner the most engagement and action, and send more of those types of texts. Eliminate any messages from your mobile marketing strategy that have high opt-out rates to maximize your return.

Use Clear Calls to Action

Make it easy for customers to understand what you want them to do. Unfortunately, by skipping clear calls to action (CTAs), you’re probably leaving money on the table.

Are you using CTAs like these in your text messages?

Shop now
Click here to learn more
Enter [keyword] at checkout
Subscribe here
Go to [link]
Join our email list today [link]

A/B Testing For SMS Campaigns

A/B testing is a crucial strategy for optimizing SMS campaigns and maximizing their effectiveness. By testing different message variations, you can identify which elements—such as wording, timing, or call-to-action—resonate best with your audience. This approach allows you to make data-driven decisions, improving open rates, click-through rates, and overall campaign performance. To run effective A/B tests, ensure you test one variable at a time to accurately gauge its impact, and use a sufficiently large sample size to achieve reliable results.

Common Pitfalls to Avoid in SMS Marketing

Retaining Uninterested Customers

Honoring customers’ SMS opt-out requests is critical (and legally required). But why else would you keep someone in your database who’s never made a purchase? “The more, the merrier” rule doesn’t always apply, especially in marketing.

Don’t be afraid to purge your customer list occasionally – there’s no point in growing your database with dead weight.

Consider reaching out to customers who haven’t purchased and offer them a discount for returning to your store, but let them know that you’d be happy to remove them from your customer list. Sometimes FOMO can motivate people to return to the fold – especially with a sweet deal!

Texting Without Permission

A common mistake many marketers make is starting an SMS marketing program without permission. You must obtain express written consent from your customers before sending them marketing communications. Skipping this step can result in serious consequences, including steep fines for violating TCPA laws.

There are a few easy ways of getting consent from customers:

Text a keyword
Fill out a form online or in-store
Responding to a customer after they text you first

In addition, providing an easy way to opt out of communications keeps customers happy with your brand.

Managing Unsubscribes Gracefully

Handling unsubscribes gracefully is crucial for maintaining a positive brand image and fostering long-term customer relationships. When a user opts out, ensure the process is smooth and straightforward, and send a polite confirmation message thanking them for their time. This approach shows respect for their decision and leaves the door open for future engagement. Additionally, analyzing unsubscribe data can provide valuable insights into potential issues with your messaging frequency, content relevance, or targeting strategies. By addressing these insights, you can refine your SMS campaigns to better meet the needs and preferences of your audience, ultimately reducing future opt-outs and enhancing overall campaign effectiveness.

SMS Marketing With Textedly

SMS marketing can be a powerful and cost-effective tool for your business when executed well. You only need a well-rounded strategy and a bit of creativity to design campaigns that drive revenue and customer engagement.

With a user-friendly texting platform like Textedly, you can create your own offers, mobile coupons and marketing messages and deliver them to your contacts with just a few clicks.