Best practices for creating SMS message content

Drive engagement without exceeding your monthly SMS budget by creating shorter messages with a clear call-to-action

When you launch an SMS marketing campaign, you’re leveraging one of the most effective marketing channels available, due to its high open rates. While SMS messages are highly likely to be read, if they’re too long, they can eat into your monthly sending budget. Here are some useful tips:

• Get permission from your contacts
• Shorten your SMS message
• Make your message meaningful

Did you know? If you're having trouble coming up with content, try our AI Content Generator! When you create your SMS message, all you have to do is add in a few keywords and it will do the rest. Learn more.

Get permission from your contacts

The Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) prohibits organizations from sending unsolicited marketing texts. Before texting, get the client’s written permission. Include clear language in your opt-in form so customers know what they’re signing up for. Allow recipients to unsubscribe from your marketing texts if they wish to.

Using a STOP autoreply is a universally accepted SMS unsubscription technique. Failing to adhere to regulations can result in costly fines and legal headaches. You can use a sign-up landing page to capture SMS consent.

Shorten your SMS message

Every time you send an SMS message, you're charged by the number of individual text messages that make up your SMS message, times the number of contacts you send it to. If your SMS is split into two segments, it counts as two text messages; if it grows to three segments, it counts as three text messages. The good news is that you can fit quite a bit into 160 characters:

• Have one call-to-action - Keep your message focused to one topic. If you have a lot of information to share, it's better to segment your SMS contacts into groups and send more targeted messages to each group.
• Use smaller words - Your brand voice is important, but there's a balance with SMS messaging. Longer words take up more characters and lengthen your message.
• Reduce emoji use - Emoji go hand in hand with text messages, but they take up extra space behind the scenes. If you're going to use emoji, be strategic!
• Give a path to more information - Don't try and cram every last detail in your message. Instead, share a URL where your readers can round out the picture and take an action. We automatically shorten it for you, too!

Make your message meaningful

SMS messages are a powerful tool to help you reach and engage the people who most want to hear from you. Each message you send needs to be meaningful; if your contacts don't find value, they'll start unsubscribing from SMS.

• Keep their attention - Your SMS contacts signed up because they want to read your messages; you've already grabbed their attention! The hard part is keeping it. Each message should have content that excites and isn't part of your regular routine.
• Provide value - Your SMS subscribers signed up because they expect a more personal relationship with you. SMS messages are the perfect way to reward loyal subscribers with exclusive offers, discounts, content, surveys, sneak peeks, and early access that make them feel special. 
• Give real-time updates - If you have important news, your SMS contacts should be the first to know. It's a great way to get eyes on articles about your organization, your most recent blog posts and video content, or to share schedules and line-ups.
• Set a deadline - Making your message time-sensitive increases the sense of urgency to act and boosts engagement.
• Don’t oversend - Tailor your message frequency to avoid overwhelming your contacts. When someone receives a text message, they're likely to look at it, but you must be careful not to abuse this connection, or you risk damaging the relationship.

Note: Test your SMS messages by delivering them to your registered phone number. This lets you see exactly what your contacts will experience before you launch a full campaign. Read Send test SMS messages to learn how.

For more best practices, read our blog post, SMS Text Message Marketing Best Practices to Build Relationships and Increase Sales. To send SMS messages, add SMS marketing to your email plan and successfully complete the SMS registration.

Questions?