Simple Steps for SMS Success

Avoiding pitfalls and leveraging text messaging for success

Find the right voice

• Keep a consistent voice when communicating with subscribers via SMS

• Copy should remain professional and urgent while maintaining a personable, specific tone

• Don’t cut corners with abbreviations

Say no to “text speak”

• Text Speak (g2g, c u l8r, lol) is fine for person to person communications, but will alienate a significant portion of consumers.

• Take the time to tailor 160 word SMS communications without relying on text speak to save space and cram content.

Adspeak is pointless and invisible

• Do not include adspeak (Act Now! Limited time offer!) in your SMS outreach.

• Adspeak is so prevalent in marketing culture that it has become invisible to consumers, and is therefore a waste of space.

Maintain a strong call to action

• Incentivize every interaction possible, whether with discounts, giveaways, or insider information.

• Keep incentivized content fresh and interesting, so that subscribers are excited to see what comes next.

• Tap your employees for ideas about incentives and outreach ideas.

Keep it local and specific

• Reference local goings-on such as high school/college sports, local politics, and news in your SMS outreach.

• EZ Texting allows for easy grouping of subscriber lists, which makes specificity of outreach simple.

Don’t interrupt for no reason

• Text outreach can be friendly, but should not be casual or seem unimportant.

• Each interaction should be properly incentivized or contain some specified user benefit, even if that benefit is a game or quiz.

Games, quizzes, and surveys

• These are a great way to drive interactions and get people looking forward to SMS communications with your business

• Use linking to drive traffic to content on your mobile website.

• Partner with other local businesses to cross-promote websites and products this way

Thou shalt not spam

• It is crucial that the tone and frequency of your text messaging do not resemble spam marketing.

• Modern consumers are trained to automatically reject spam; spamming subscribers with generic or overly frequent outreach will ‘poison the well.’

Always provide an opt out

• Opting out should be as easy as opting in.• Though counterintuitive, providing a clear

path to opting out of a campaign is a great way to build trust and brand loyalty.

• Subscribers and participants are put at ease by the option to cease interaction.

Don’t be afraid to ask for advice

• Nobody knows your customers better than your customers.

• SMS outreach allows for real time conversations to take place, so don’t be afraid to ask questions.

• Consumers in the social media age are very likely to provide input when prompted.