There are a lot of factors in logistics that are out of your hand and things you can’t change.

For instance, you can’t reduce waiting times for clearance for the shipment of your products.

Or you can’t prevent unnecessary traffic on roads that lead to delays in delivery.

Or you can’t make your truck/ship go any faster.

So what is it that you can control?

Communication.

Technology and innovation are critical to the success of a modern logistics business as the industry is evolving even more so as the buying activities are shifting to mobile technology. Real-time updates via text messaging have become a resourceful yet underrated marketing tactic for shipping companies.

Although logistics companies are aware of the existence of SMS in logistics, they’re very much in the dark about the value it provides. So to clear the air, we’ve listed some top benefits of SMS in the logistics industry.

Read on, you’ll be surprised.

1. Reduced costs

As you scale your e-commerce business, ask yourself, “Is it really practical to call all your dispatchers and customers for every order update? Or every offer? Or every promotional campaign?”

Not likely.

With an increasing number of orders and customers, you need an affordable communication marketing tool. Sending and receiving information through text messages is cheaper and quicker than having to pick up the phone for minor announcements and problems.

There are many tools (for instance, VertexSMS) that are cost-effective and easy to use. They can also be integrated into your daily operations of SMEs and enterprise logistics businesses to make the process even smoother.

2. Improved warehouse management

Effectively administrating warehousing and distribution requires dependable and quick information. Despite this, logistic companies are stuck using time-consuming manual processes that lead to data inaccuracies.

Besides customers, SMS messaging helps you provide real-time updates to staff and warehouse workers. This helps in communicating the same information to the end consumer. An SMS platform that is readily available, cheap, and easy to install would provide a huge impact in the following context.

• SMS enables warehouse managers to receive instant updates about the status of their orders.
• You can keep them updated on delays and system failures.
• In the case of international shipping, time and location barriers make it difficult to keep in touch via constant calls. Instead, an SMS is more feasible for providing a real-time update of the product and ensuring transparency in communication.
• You can automate these key messages and send bulk SMS to all your warehouses for inventory requirements.
• You can send notifications for the amount of space you’ll need in the next shipment.

3. Optimized efficiency

Speed and accuracy can make or break a logistics brand. You want every interested party to get the right information at the right time.

And knowing that speed and availability are the two factors that give a competitive advantage to the logistic sector, SMS marketing can significantly contribute to logistics efficiency. With SMS alerts, you’re paving the way for timely collaboration that facilitates optimized efficiency.

For example, if the customer is not available at the said location when the package arrives, they can quickly get an update from client services for the new delivery date. Even if the truck is stuck in traffic, the driver can notify the warehouse about the delay in delivery.

As covered before, shipments may face various hindrances during transit. The idea is that a quick message can at least keep everyone in the loop and allow them to communicate the right information to the customer. It prevents confusion and reduces the need for frequent staff meetings and group calls.

4. Improved relationships with customers

Imagine your customer receiving a message on a Saturday afternoon that reads, “Dear customer, your yoga pants order is out for delivery. Get ready to receive them tomorrow morning!”

That’s it.

Sometimes, it’s just this little piece of news that brings a lot of anticipation and joy to your customers who are eagerly waiting for their delivery. SMS allows you to send real-time updates without the need for the internet to all your buyers.

Research suggests that 48% of e-commerce shoppers want to receive shipping updates via SMS.

With SMS, you’re also significantly reducing the call time. No customer has to wait to talk to a customer service representative since the alerts sent via SMS replace the need for most over-the-phone contact.

It also makes it convenient for them to reach out to you in case of any queries, making customer service quick and reliable. You can incorporate the right shortcodes through which customers can speak directly to the appropriate representative. You can also use URL shorteners to keep the text neat and make it readable.

All you have to do is set things in motion and put your customers on an SMS list. Once they’re there, you can send out regular reminders, coupon codes, and announcements that will engage customers and encourage additional business. However, getting the permission of employees to receive regular messages from you is essential.

5. Higher number of orders

You might argue that you can send mass emails. But SMS enjoys a massive open rate as compared to emails. The average open rate for SMS is as high as 98% while for emails it is just 20%.

There are numerous reasons why people are more likely to read an SMS than an email. SMS messages are handy, people receive them on their phones, they don’t require internet, or because they are crisp and to the point. And considering that logistics is a very mobile occupation, texts are more convenient to send to associated parties like drivers, customers, and vendors.

For example, LensDirect launched SMS low-supply reminders. They also sent low-supply reminders sent via email which had an average of a 0.53% conversion rate. Compared to that, the text messages yielded a 2.49% conversion rate — a 370% increase. Ultimately, LensDirect was able to increase its orders by 225%. \

6. Better collaboration with drivers

Just the same way texts help warehouse managers, it is also an indispensable tool for dispatchers and drivers. It is also relatively safer since it minimizes distractions. Drivers don’t have to use the phone while driving or delivering and still get the message on time. Some of the best ways they can leverage SMS are:

• Delivery updates: Drivers can send delivery tracking information via SMS. Post the delivery, the dispatcher can simply text pictures once a delivery has been successfully made. This will help with the record-keeping and guarantee quality assurance records.
• Send shift schedule notifications: You can facilitate smooth two-way communication with your field technicians and other employees by sending out schedules or requests for changes and returns.
• Training information: As a logistics company, it’s very challenging to get all your workforce under a single roof to share the latest training information. To ensure that all your employees are in-sync with the latest practices, you can send periodic training updates via SMS.
• Weather delays: Weather is one of the biggest disruptors of logistics schedules. Again, this isn’t something that’s in your control. So to keep the consumer experience intact and inform them in advance, you can quickly send SMS to customers, explaining the situation. You can do the same for your drivers and dispatchers. Send them alerts to delay or hasten their deliveries.

7. Reduced human error

Logistics involve a ton of sensitive information that includes customer details, product details, prices, and addresses. Such information is critical to deliveries. Hence, it doesn’t have room for human error such as lack of remembrance or misplaced addresses.

With SMS, this completely gets taken care of. Sure, even calling works but with SMS you have the information stored in case you want to go back to it. It makes the entire process more efficient and less prone to mistakes. Text messages promote better record keeping and pull messages into inboxes or business systems.

Finishing thoughts

As the logistics industry is becoming more technologically advanced, it is also increasingly depending on the internet. And with something as risky and unpredictable as logistics, you need at least one communication medium that can function without it and is also scalable at the same time. SMS is that medium.

SMS retains the personalized tone in communication and is also not subject to the same capacity restrictions as phone calls. There are numerous companies that facilitate companies to send bulk SMS, thus allowing logistics companies to achieve better productivity at lower costs. With the right implementation, SMS solutions for shipping firms can lift customer service standards and enhance communication on the move.

With technology changing our world, everything we want today is a swipe away!

E-commerce is one of the fastest-growing industries in the world that involves selling goods and services to customers through a website or mobile app. It has been credited for helping fuel economic growth, creating jobs, and offering consumers a diverse range of products that are difficult to find in stores.

E-commerce is so popular that it has become a highly sought-after industry in recent years. This includes running a business on Amazon, eBay, Etsy, and many other popular e-commerce sites. There are many different types of e-commerce businesses, such as online retailers, marketplaces, and apps that sell physical goods for delivery.

Technological up-gradation is boosting the e-commerce industry rapidly with the emergence of new trends. Apart from innovations in the traditional logistics, shipment tracking, and warehousing space, technology is rapidly transforming the retail landscape and customer experience.

Let us look into the top 5 technological trends that are revolutionizing the e-commerce industry.

Evolution of the e-commerce industry

The e-commerce industry has been around for decades. The history of e-commerce can be traced back to the early 1970s when the first e-commerce transaction took place using a pre-internet computer network.

In the last 50 years, the e-commerce sector has seen tremendous growth with the number of websites selling goods or services increasing constantly. A statistical inquiry revealed that more than 2 billion people were known to use e-commerce facilities to make online purchases every day in 2020. The same source also highlighted about 70%  of the sales were made through mobile applications last year, especially consumers in Asia used smartphones for most of their online transactions. The graph of growth for e-commerce firms has always risen and is expected to grow even more in the upcoming years.

5 most innovative tech contributions to e-commerce

The digital marketing industry has been a major contributor to e-commerce in recent years. The rise of digital marketing tools, such as Google AdWords, Facebook Ads, and Instagram Ads allows companies to target consumers more effectively and grow their business at a quicker pace than ever before. As e-commerce becomes more and more popular, the way it is being conducted is changing.

The e-commerce industry is continuously evolving, with new technologies and innovations coming out every day. This shift in technology has been a game-changer for the e-commerce industry, and it’s still happening. The e-commerce trends that are emerging are expected to have a major impact on online businesses.

Here are the five technological contributions that one must know in the e-commerce world.

1. AI assistants for online retailers

One of the biggest e-commerce trends that one can think of is artificial intelligence (AI). AI helps online retailers in understanding consumer buying behavior based on their online purchases.

The AI assistants have brought a drastic change in the way the e-commerce industry operates by introducing chatbot facilities and predicting the consumer’s shopping patterns. Online marketers can analyze the consumer’s reviews and comments using this feature and also send them personalized offers for their shopping cart. These offers can be generated based on their frequent purchases and can include discounts or suggestions for supplementary products.

Using AI, online retailers can serve customers 24x7 with their virtual chatbot facilities and assistants. Consumers find these automatic systems handy and this, in turn, has increased customer retention and sales. Along with increased customer satisfaction, AI assistants are also useful in managing the inventories of e-commerce businesses. AI can predict the tentative sales, change in product demands and anticipate the number of inventories to be held.

2. Augmented reality or enhanced virtual experience

Augmented reality (AR) aims to bridge the gap between the consumers and a sensory product experience. Since consumers cannot touch or feel the product while they shop online, AR helps them to obtain contextualized information about their choice of products.

Consumers can get deeper and more detailed information about anything using this feature. Online retailers can help consumers make informed choices using AR as the consumers can undergo a virtual try-on for their products before they buy them. It also helps consumers decide how the product would work for them using their interactive user manuals.

E-commerce has witnessed an increased consumer interaction with the inception of AR. With greater consumer satisfaction, the retailers have been able to retain their customers better.

3. Voice-activated shopping to enable smart purchasing

Voice search is a significant technological innovation in the e-commerce world. Various virtual assistants such as Amazon’s Alexa, Apple’s Siri, Google Voice Search, etc. have emerged that have benefited the e-commerce industry by upscaling customer experiences with e-commerce websites and apps.

Voice-activated shopping has become a popular innovative contribution as it offers consumers a personalized shopping experience. It is also easy to use for consumers who are not tech-savvy enough to go through a company website and order online.

Moreover, the time efficiency offered by this feature has been a boon in this fast pacing world.

4. Mobile apps and wallets for easy online shopping

With smartphones surrounding our lives, everything that a consumer needs today is present at the tip of their fingers. The introduction of mobile apps to stay connected to the consumers is another technological trend in the e-commerce industry.

Having a user-friendly application helps consumers search for the products and shop conveniently. Mobile wallets or e-wallets (for example, Plixpay) have made online payments easy and fast.

Research by BusinessWire suggests that mobile wallets would capture 52% of the market share as the preferred mode of payments by 2023. This growth is simultaneous to the expansion of mobile usage among customers for shopping. Therefore, providing e-wallet options to customers is a rising trend in the e-commerce sector.

Apart from their popularity, e-wallets are known to boost sales as customers are less likely to face obstacles during the checkout process with their payment details stored securely in the e-wallets. Both mobile apps and e-wallets are uplifting growth in the e-commerce sector.

5. Blockchain to facilitate cryptocurrency transactions

Cryptocurrency is attracting huge buzz in this digital era. Having a blockchain-based e-commerce business can help online retailers capitalize on the consumers who hold cryptocurrencies.

Blockchains are digital ledgers that support the payments and maintenance of cryptocurrencies safely and securely. Meanwhile, cryptocurrencies are digital money stored in crypto wallets or exchanges.

Blockchain allows customers to purchase from websites and pay using bitcoins. Blockchains are known for safe and sound financial transactions and hence online retailers having a blockchain-based online business improves the overall business experience.

Blockchain also combines all financial processes on a single application and saves huge maintenance costs to businesses. One of the biggest advantages of having a blockchain is to get in touch with customers all across the globe without any barriers.

What does the future of e-commerce look like?

As more and more people are using the internet to shop, the number of consumers is growing exponentially. With a global boom in online shopping, it is estimated that e-commerce retail sales will rise from 14.1% to 22.5% by 2023.

Equally crucial are the statistics for mobile shopping. Market research suggests that 49% of shoppers exclusively use mobiles, and 67% of users are fond of window shopping for fun. This trend is expected to continue for years to come, so optimizing e-commerce stores for mobile-friendliness is another must trend to follow.

Final words

E-commerce has become a major industry in recent years, and with the advancement of technology, it has become more accessible to consumers. It has been constantly evolving with new technologies, such as AI and 3D printing, that are being used across industries.

Return Management Software and Marketing Automation are making shopping accessible to more individuals and allowing them to find new products they wouldn't have had access to before. It will help businesses as well as consumers to gain access to new products and services at a faster rate. In the future, companies will be able to use AI tools to improve their sales, marketing, and customer service operations.

If you’re in a business that relies on appointments, you know how harmful client no-shows can be. You book the time in your calendar, might even spend hours preparing just to be left with a gaping hole in your schedule.

There are many ways you can prevent this from happening, and one of them is automated text reminders. SMS is one of the most personal communication channels that you can use to reach out to customers, and most of the time, a text message doesn’t go unnoticed.

Therefore, sending text reminders to clients before their appointments can reduce the number of no-shows that happen because people simply forget, or help to rearrange your schedule if someone cancels.

Below you’ll find the best practices of sending SMS reminders to your customers and X ready-to-use text message reminder templates that you can also adjust to your business. Let’s dive in!

What is a text reminder and why do you need them?

A text reminder is simply a message that you send to your customers in order to remind them about an upcoming appointment. Such practice is very common in health and beauty industries – allowing clients to confirm or cancel/reschedule their appointments via SMS is an easy way to prevent losses for a particular business.

Suppose you work in a dental clinic and the demand for your services is high. People wait in line for months; however, you occasionally have to spend an hour or two a day without work just because someone missed their appointments.

Now, if you send a text message reminder, let’s say, 24 hours before the appointment, you will still have enough time to fill that gap in your schedule with another client if someone cancels. Besides, you will be able to save the latter client by allowing them to reschedule for another day instantly, also eliminating the need for them to contact you later for the same matter.

Sounds like a win-win situation, doesn’t it?

5 tips for text reminders that work

Text reminders are not that difficult to do, but there are still some things you should keep in mind to get the best out of them.

Here are some practical tips for writing a reminder message that works.

1. Time it right

Choosing the right timing for your reminder text messages is crucial for them to work. The key purpose of these texts is to reduce no-shows, be able to (re)organize your schedule, or provide clients with an easy way to reschedule. Therefore, if you send text message reminders at the wrong times, these goals can be quite difficult to achieve.

For instance, if a client gets an SMS appointment reminder 3 days before the visit, there’s still a chance that they might forget it. Similarly, sending a text reminder too late (e.g., 5 hours before the appointment) can leave too little time to reschedule if your client has forgotten about it and cannot make it.

Generally, it is recommended to send text message reminders 24 hours in advance and stick to the business hours, if possible. This will help customers plan the upcoming day accordingly and give you just enough time to fill the empty spot if they cancel.

2. Say only what’s important

Another important aspect of text reminders is straightforwardness. It’s not a promotional message where you might want to use your creativity; with SMS reminders, you want to simply inform people that something you agreed on is coming and give them more details about it.

It’s important to include the following information:

• Date
• Time
• Your company name
• Reason for appointment
• Address (optional)
• Call to action – confirm, cancel, or reschedule

For example:

Hi John, this is a reminder from the Barbers Room for your haircut with Neil on Mar 23 at @10 AM. Reply Y to confirm, N to cancel.

After all, if someone has already made an appointment with you, they’re likely familiar with the basic information, so your message is meant to remind them to show up.

3. Personalize

Personalizing the messages you send, be it reminders or other types of SMS campaigns, is important for better engagement and strengthening the relationships with your clients. It's simply more appealing and can make you look "more human"; therefore, it helps connect with your customers.

So when sending text reminders, don’t just send a generic SMS that can be applied to anyone, anywhere. Of course, there's not much room for experiments when you have a 160-character limit (and you shouldn’t really go overboard as we’ve already agreed above), but at least addressing a client by their name is highly recommended.

4. Enable two-way communication

Getting a response to your text reminders is essential for your business since it allows you to better plan your time and avoid financial loss.

Therefore, to be able to do this, your SMS appointment reminders should support two-way communication, allowing people to write you back.

Enabling two-way communication lets your clients easily verify and manage their appointments by simply replying to the message you've sent them. It doesn't require changing channels to contact your business if anything changes, making it more convenient for both sides.

5. Keep up with the SMS compliance laws

This couldn’t be stressed enough – SMS marketing is strictly permission-based, and to be able to send any type of text messages to your customers, including text reminders, you have to get their consent first.

You can ask your clients to opt-in to your marketing messages when making an appointment or use one of many other ways to grow your SMS list.

Once the client subscribes to your SMS marketing communications, you don’t have to worry about legal issues.

10 reminder SMS templates

Although we've been focusing more on appointments so far, text reminders can be used for everything that requires some kind of attendance, such as events or package deliveries.

Below you’ll find 10 ready-to-use SMS reminder templates for different occasions that you can adjust to your own business.

Template #1: Appointment booking confirmation

Hi [customer_name], thank you for scheduling an appointment with [company_name]. We look forward to seeing you on [date], [time]. If you need any help, please call us at [phone_number].

Template #2: Upcoming appointment reminder

Hi [customer_name], this is a reminder about your scheduled appointment with [company name] for tomorrow ([date]) at [time]]. Reply with YES to confirm, NO to cancel.

Template #3: Feedback request/Follow-up

[customer_name], we hope you enjoyed your [reason_for_appointmet] with [specialist]. To help us improve, please fill out this survey to let us know how it went: [short_link]

Template #4: Scheduling a new appointment

Hi [customer_name], it’s been a while since we saw you! This is a reminder to schedule your annual [appointment] at [company_name] – call [phone_number] or follow the link to book your time: [short_link]

Template #5: Missed appointment

Hello [customer_name], we missed you at [company_name] for a [reason_for_appointment] today. Please give us a call at [phone_number] or follow the link to reschedule: [short link].

Template #6: Registration now open

Hi [customer_name] – we’re officially starting the registration for [event_name] that will start on [date]. Don’t forget to book your seat here: [short_link]

Template #7: Event reminder

Hey [name], only 2 days left before the start of [event_name]! Prepare yourself for some fun and see you this [week_day] at [time], [address].

Template #8: Class reminders

[customer_name], don’t forget – [class_name] has been moved from 3 PM to 3:30 PM tomorrow, [date]. See you there!

Template #9: Home services appointment reminder

Hi [customer_name], your [reason_for_appointment] is scheduled for [date]. You can expect a [specialist] to arrive between [time]-[time]. Contact us at [phone_number] for any further questions.

Template #10: Package delivery

Hello, your package no. 12345 is scheduled for delivery today between [time]-[time]. The carrier will give you a call 30min before the delivery.

Text reminders – a win for both business and customers

Due to the personal and quick nature of SMS messages, it’s a perfect channel to send appointment reminders. Unlike emails, the vast majority of texts are opened so you can be sure that the information you provide reaches the recipient.

Therefore, you can stay on track of all your appointments and make changes accordingly. Text reminders simplify things for customers since they don't have to worry about forgetting their appointments and put businesses more at ease.

Just a quick reminder – like with any message you send to your customers, follow the best practices and don’t overdo it!

Every spring, an incredible number of people all over the world hurry to retail stores and online outlets for one reason - to find something special for Mother’s Day.

Online shopping is still a popular choice for many, which provides e-commerce store owners with a great opportunity to boost their sales during this heartwarming spring holiday. So before Mother's Day reaches us, it’s essential to get your Mother’s day marketing ideas up and running.

Therefore, we have gathered a list of 15 Mother’s Day SMS templates and campaign ideas so you could start preparing your online store and encourage shoppers to choose your business over your competitors.

Customer behavior during Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is in the 3rd place of holiday spending just after Christmas and Valentine’s Day. In 2021, Mother’s Day spending reached $28.1 billion with average spending of $220.48 per person, according to the National Retail Federation.

Odds are that people will be celebrating even bigger this year to make up for the past two years' socially distanced holiday. This creates an excellent opportunity for retailers to make some extra revenue as well as nurture relationships with their customers.

Of course, no one wants to let this perfect moment to connect with customers slip by. Soon enough, email inboxes will be filled with Mother’s Day promotions and greetings, social media feeds will flood with mom-inspired posts, TV and radio ads will remind us of the special day coming up. You need to devise a spot on Mother’s Day promotion ideas to stand out in all of this.

One way to grab your customers' attention and get that special connection is, of course, with Mother’s Day SMS messages.

Making the most of Mother’s Day

When any holiday approaches, e-commerce merchants have to keep a few things in mind to successfully stand out from the competition and execute their campaigns:

• Remind your customers early on that a special day is soon upon us. Most people will start looking for gifts a few weeks ahead, especially from online stores, to ensure the shipments will arrive on time. Put your store in a holiday spirit - use relevant themes throughout your store. For example, a floral motif could put your customers in Mother’s Day spirit.
• Understand your target audience. The shoppers aren’t only sons and daughters, but also husbands, fathers, grandfathers, grandchildren, etc. Keep this in mind when crafting your Mother’s Day campaign ideas - which products to sell and how to display them.
• Create bonds through genuine emotions. Not everything you do has to result in a sale, sometimes it’s beneficial to reach out to your customers with a different intent - to make them smile.

As SMS messages provide a personal approach, you can be a few steps ahead of your competitors and influence customer behavior by invoking the right mix of emotions.

Checklist for creating an SMS campaign for Mother's Day

Remember, there are a set of rules when it comes to promotional SMS messages:

1. Get permission to contact customers. You cannot just start sending SMS messages to customers, they first need to opt-in to hear from you.

2. Always introduce yourself. Use your brand name instead of a number and/or sign the message you send.

3. Keep the message simple. SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, you want to stay short and clever to get the desired result.

4. Include a call to action. Be clear on what step the customer should take next.

15 Mother’s Day SMS templates

Without further ado, let’s take a look at some Mother’s Day promotion ideas and universal Happy Mother’s Day templates to get your customers into shopping mode.

1. Send a warm greeting

Simple greetings without the intent to sell may go a long way in building your business-customer relationship.

Template #1

Happy Mother’s Day, [customer_name]! We hope you will be able to celebrate the special day with your loved ones! [company_name]

Template #2

Dear [customer_name]! Sending love to you from [company_name] this Mother’s Day! Cheers to all the great MOMents we’ve shared.

2. Create a sense of urgency

Sometimes all your customers need is a little nudge in the right direction that you can achieve by adding a little bit of urgency to your SMS messages. For example, by indicating that there's only a specific number of items that you'll sell cheaper or offering something special for a limited time.

Template #3

Take a mom-ent to celebrate! Check out our special Mother’s Day gifts and deals and get 25% off all cart until Tuesday: [short_link]

Template #4

Cheers to thousands of perfect mom-ents this Mother's Day! Pick the best Mother’s Day gift in the next 24 hours to get the sweetest deal: [short_link]

Template #5

Hello [customer_name]! Last day to ship it for free and get it before Mother’s Day. Find the perfect gift here: [short_link]

Template #6

Hi, [customer_name]! It’s your last chance to save up to 50% on an exclusive Mother’s Day sale. Shop now: [short_link]

3. Offer an extra perk

Shoppers love to receive free stuff. Use it to your advantage.

Template #7

Get something special for your Mom this Mother’s Day and receive a free gift with every order. Shop now: [short_link]

Template #8

Treat your Mom with a perfect gift and we will treat you with free shipping. Get the deal here: [short_link]

Template #9

Our Mother’s Day deals are here! Surprise your mom with our MOM-believable gift set and receive a special treat at the checkout: [short_link]

4. Use segmentation

Target a specific group of your subscribers to grab their attention.

Template #10 (for male customers)

Make your mom proud of raising such a thoughtful son, [customer_name]! Check out our special Mother’s Day deals here: [short_link]

Template #11 (for female customers)

Here’s a little something to help you be the best daughter your mom could wish for. Treat her to our special Mother’s Day collection: [short_link]

Template #12 (for mothers)

You da MOM [customer_name]! Treat yourself this Mother’s Day with something special and get an exclusive Mother’s Day surprise: [short_link]

5. Send a reminder of the upcoming Mother’s Day

It's not that difficult to forget special occasions when there's so much going on in life. Make sure your customers take care of their presents early by sending a reminder.

Template #13

Don't forget to treat your mother to something special and make Mother’s Day a day to remember! Great deals await here: [short_link]

Template #14

There’s no greater gift than a mother’s love. Let your mother know how much you appreciate her by getting her something special. Shop now: [short_link]

Template #15

Prepare to celebrate this year’s Mother’s Day with [company_name]. Use code BESTMOM to get her a spectacular present at a spectacular price: [short_link]

To wrap up

Like any other holiday, Mother’s Day is a perfect opportunity to connect with your customers, offer them something special, and show your appreciation towards them. With a personalized SMS campaign, you are sure to win their hearts and make them smile.

Get inspiration from our Mother’s Day SMS templates, adjust them for your business needs, and don’t forget to visit, or at least, send your mom a text message this Mother’s Day!

Even though you might not be working in the chocolate industry, Easter is still a great time to cheer your customers up with some sweet deals.

Last year, shoppers in the US were about to spend an average of $179.70 per person for Easter-related items, like candy, gifts, or food. So far, this figure is the highest on record, which shows that people’s interest in this holiday is only growing, bringing new opportunities for marketers.

Therefore, below you’ll find some Easter marketing ideas, tips, and ready to use Easter text messages that you can adjust to your business to get the best out of this bright holiday this year.

Key tips for winning Easter text messages

1. Start early

Treat Easter like any other holiday that requires you to prepare in advance. Easter gifts are becoming more and more popular (cute pastel bunny soap, anyone?), people are also looking for fun family activities and events to join, and some delicious meals to cook. Even if your business is not directly related to this holiday, you can still find a way to contribute.

To succeed with your Easter SMS campaigns, it’s important to get on customers’ radars early. Start creating buzz, let your potential customers know about your upcoming offers and what they can expect.

Moreover, you can easily use this as an opportunity to grow your SMS list for the occasion and beyond by announcing Easter offers available only to your text marketing subscribers (for instance, on your social media channels or using email newsletters).

2. Plan your whole campaign

Planning your SMS campaign from the beginning to the end is the key to staying efficient and reaching better results.

Looking at your Easter SMS campaign as a whole can help you to organize your ideas and offers better, implement the best practices of what has worked in the past, adapt it to this specific holiday, and create a series of SMS that will help you achieve your goals.

3. Incorporate other channels

SMS can bring you some nice results on its own, but it works even better when combined with other channels, for instance, email marketing. Every platform that you use to communicate with your customers has its own pros and cons, including SMS, and mixing them together can only improve your marketing efforts.

So when planning your Easter text messages, think of how they can complement your communication on other channels that you use, be it Facebook, Instagram, or emails.

To give you an example, emails are great for long-form content, while you can't really use SMS to send a 200-word newsletter. But what you can do with SMS, in this case, is to encourage users to pay attention to the offer you’ve just sent via email, likely increasing its open rates and engagement.

4. Make it fun and valuable

Although it might be tempting to focus on sales only, make sure to vary your Easter offers, incentives, and content overall so that your subscribers don’t get bored.

If you have a blog, compile a list of some fun activities for families and friends, put together an Easter gift list, or share a nice recipe for Easter breakfast. You can also organize a contest (e.g., “Show how you decorate Easter eggs!") to boost customer engagement and also keep them excited about the possibility of winning. Finally, don’t forget to send a simple text with warm Easter greetings.

This way, you can liven up your Easter campaign and avoid being too salesly, keeping your customers interested.

12 Easter SMS templates and ideas to boost your sales this year

Below you’ll find 12 ideas and SMS templates for Easter that will help you draw inspiration for your upcoming Easter campaign.

Template #1: General greetings

Happy Easter, [customer_name]! Warm greetings from all of us at [company_name] – may your day be filled with peace and love! Thank you for being with us!

Template #2: Building awareness

There’s no better time to start preparing for the Easter weekend – our sale is going live in just 3 days! Save up to 50%, choose in advance: [short_link]

Template #3: Text-to-win Easter contest

[customer_name], we have some eggs-tra nice gifts we’d love to give away this Easter! Reply with IAMIN for a chance to win. More info on the contest: [short_link]

Template #4: Subscriber-only deals

[customer_name], use code SUBSCRIBER20 to get an exclusive 20% discount on all items in our Easter catalog! Shop today: [short link]

Template #5: Flash sale

Easter flash sale is here! Use code FLASH25 to get 25% off on your next order. Offer valid only today until 11PM. Start shopping: [short_link]

Template #6: Gift guide

Still missing a couple of Easter gifts? No worries – check out our gift guide and surprise your loved ones this weekend! Order now: [short_link]

Template #7: Easter-related content

Easter is all about good company and… good food. Lacking ideas on how to make your family’s bellies happy? Check out these 10 Easter recipes: [short_link]

Template #8: Easter opening hours

Hi [customer_name], just a quick reminder that we’ll be open 1PM-6PM during the Easter weekend. Will work as usual (10AM-7PM) from Monday on. Happy Easter!

Template #9: New arrivals

[customer_name], long-awaited [product_name] is finally here in the time of Easter! Be the first to try it out – use code LETSTRY20 to get 20% OFF: [short_link]

Template #10: Surprise gifts

Egg-citing news, [customer_name]! This Easter, get a gift valued at $15 with every order over $35! Visit our store to start shopping: [short_link]

Template #11: Refer-a-friend discount

Happy Easter, [customer_name]! Recommend us to your friend and enjoy a sweet 15% discount on your next order – both of you! Learn more here: [short_link]

Template #12: Easter egg hunt

[customer_name], it’s time for hunting… Easter eggs! Visit our store and look for hidden Easter eggs to save up to 50% this weekend. Sounds egg-citing? Hunt now: [short_link]

Dyeing to start crafting your Easter SMS messages?

You should be – not only it's one of the most heartwarming holidays in Spring, but also an excellent opportunity to show appreciation for your customers, boost customer engagement and sales.

Use these SMS templates for Easter as an inspiration to generate more Easter marketing ideas and brighten the holidays for your subscribers – remember, even a simple but sincere greetings SMS can make someone’s day!

As the competition online continues to grow, customers are getting more and more demanding. Therefore, it’s also more difficult for businesses to keep them engaged and interested, not to mention convince new customers to trust their brand.

Being very straightforward and highly personal, SMS marketing is one of the most effective ways to grab your subscribers’ attention and promote your business. Text messages can be used in a variety of ways, but to reach the best results with SMS campaigns, you have to follow the best SMS practices.

In this post, we will go through several different SMS campaign ideas and SMS campaign examples from real brands that you and use to draw inspiration for your next SMS marketing campaign.

How do you escape all the “marketing noise” with text messages?

In 2007, research done by market research firm Yankelovich revealed that an average person is exposed to up to 5,000 ads per day. In 2007!

There are no official figures that we know of today, but the numbers are believed to have nearly doubled since then. Can a simple SMS message cut through all this noise?

Well… Yes. The main advantage of using SMS to achieve your marketing goals is the nature of the channel itself. Every phone on Earth can receive text messages, no internet required. Besides, nowadays people can barely resist checking their phones every so often.

However, that doesn’t mean that SMS marketing doesn’t require any effort. It does, no less than any other way of marketing. Yet choosing the right SMS campaign software, keeping up with the ongoing trends (use of images, videos, personalization, etc.), combining them with the benefits of a text as a channel, and varying between different uses can help you reach the results you desire.

SMS campaign ideas that you can adjust to your business

Welcome messages

Welcome messages are a nice way to greet new customers and start your collaboration on a positive note.

Sending a welcome message also works as a confirmation that the subscription was successful, gives you a chance to provide people with more information about your brand and connect in a way that showcases your unique voice.

It might sound like a small gesture, but if you do it right, that first message can already win over many of your customers’ hearts, like the Starbucks Frappuccino campaign did.

Seasonal text marketing campaigns

Seasonal sales are probably one of the easiest ways to get people to make a purchase. Think of Christmas or Valentine’s Day, for instance. Presents are on everyone’s mind anyway, all you have to do is to show your subscribers where they can get them.

Your true fans might be expecting to hear from you already and take advantage of the offers you’ve prepared. For this, the fastest way to those sales is a well-crafted bulk SMS campaign.

Win back customers campaigns

As per classic saying, it costs 5 times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one. And once someone has already bought something from you or used your services, you’d want to keep them coming back. Because you’ve already spent your time and money on winning their business.

Various SMS campaign tools allow you to use automated messages for this by setting up a specific trigger (e.g., ordered 6 months ago) and offering an incentive (a discount, free shipping, a gift, etc.) that would encourage another purchase.

Cross-sell/Up-sell SMS campaigns

If you want to boost repeat purchases and give a customer a chance to discover some of your other products/increase average order value (AOV), cross-selling and up-selling SMS campaigns can be a great way to do that.

Cross-selling is a tactic when you sell complementary products to a customer. For instance, offering a keyboard to someone who has just bought a computer from you.

Upselling is enhancing the product someone is already buying, like offering a Premium version of some software instead of Basic.  

Abandoned cart SMS campaigns

There are many reasons why shoppers abandon their carts, including unexpected shipping costs, complicated checkout, lack of payment options, etc.

Yet sometimes people just postpone their decision for later (and forget about it), and abandoned cart reminders can help you bring them back to complete that purchase.

Similarly to win back customers SMS, you can set up an automated text and choose how long you want to wait before reminding a customer about products they left in their cart. For instance, you can choose to wait 24 hours before sending a message with a special offer that will hopefully encourage a shopper to come back and help you make another sale.

SMS-only offers

When something is exclusive and only available to a specific group of people, it usually makes others want it more. This is human nature, a powerful psychological phenomenon that marketers should keep in mind when working on their SMS and marketing strategies overall.

Therefore, SMS-only offers serve two purposes:

• Exclusive deals make your existing subscribers feel special. They can help you boost their satisfaction with your brand as well as increase conversion rates.
• SMS-only deals are another good reason for people to subscribe to your marketing messages, thus helping you grow your SMS list.

Besides offering something valuable, make sure to let your subscribers know that they are part of this special group to encourage the response that you expect.

Product launch text message campaigns

If you aim at making your new product launch a success (and you obviously do), you can’t leave SMS out. This is the channel that can help you reach people who are already interested in shopping with you since they’ve subscribed to your marketing messages.

For the best results, set up a series of different texts before the launch date. For example, with the first message, two weeks in advance, you can let your subscribers know that something new and exciting is coming. It will build suspense.

Send the second message a few days before the launch to remind potential customers about the new product and give them more details. The last message should announce the launch, include a clear call to action and a link where the product can be purchased.

Birthday campaigns

Personalization is a highly valuable aspect of marketing communication, and a lot of customers prefer the messages they get from brands to be tailored to them as much as possible.

If you address your customers by their names, it’s already great. If you can also offer personalized deals – even better. And even though wishing them a happy birthday once per year might seem like nothing, it’s not only one of those things that’s just nice to have but also something that can boost your customer loyalty to your brand.

5 SMS campaign examples for inspiration

1. Starbucks Frappuccino SMS marketing campaign

Starbucks has been making good use of various SMS marketing campaigns for a while already, and they're usually simple but truly impactful. You already got a sneak peek of what we're talking about in the first half of this post, but here’s more.

Several years ago, Starbucks launched a campaign called “Frappuccino Fun All Summer Long” during which it invited coffee-lovers to opt-in for up to 6 SMS and MMS messages per month. Different calls-to-action then appeared on social media (like “Text STRAW” on Facebook, “Text SIPYEAH” on Twitter, etc.), and fans were greeted with fun “space cats” as you’ve already seen in the example above.

There was also another idea based on how quickly people tend to look at text messages. Starbucks invited everyone to text HAPPY to their shortcode to receive daily reminders about Frappuccino Happy Hour, providing information about ongoing limited-time promotions and effectively growing their subscribers' list.

2. Amazon’s Treasure Truck

The idea behind Amazon's Treasure Truck is to offer people a fun and exciting way to shop while also encouraging them to subscribe to the company's texts.

Treasure Truck first appeared in public in 2016 when it started driving through different cities, offering exclusive deals. It was all about the surprise which has turned shopping into kind of a game.

Amazon would track trending, somehow special, or highly-discounted products and create limited-time deals in exchange for opting-in. People could take advantage of the offer on the spot and pick up their orders immediately.

Amazon would then keep sending its subscribers a few deals a month with the link to a secret Treasure Truck page, allowing them to see a pick-up location for the next order or offering a delivery option right to their door.

3. Subway SMS campaign

Subway is another food brand that uses SMS messages to offer special deals to its subscribers.

5 years ago, Subway invited interested clients to opt-in for their weekly SMS marketing deals, and receive a free 6-inch subway sandwich with the purchase of a 30 oz drink in exchange. Once someone subscribes to Subway's offers, they receive a coupon that must be redeemed during the next 5 minutes.

At the time of writing, Subway is running a similar campaign where they offer to purchase the same 6-inch sandwich for only $2.99 after signing up for weekly coupons.

4. Red Cross Text To Donate campaign

Not only food and other commercial brands take advantage of the convenience of SMS marketing. The Red Cross, for instance, uses it to collect donations to American Red Cross Disaster Relief.

By simply texting REDCROSS to 90999, people can donate $10 to help people recover from hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and other natural disasters. Texting PREVENT will give $10 to the Red Cross and help to vaccinate children to reduce deaths from measles.

5. Disney’s Text To Wait campaign

When Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge finally opened in Disneyland and Disney World, everyone expected it to be a big hit. Oga’s Cantina, where curious fans could enjoy intergalactic treats, was an especially popular attraction, and to make the experience better for visitors, Disney decided to go with text messages.

Before thousands of people hit the lines, Disney decided to use texting to reduce waiting times and allow everyone to enjoy the space. Or to put it simply, it created a virtual line where anyone who wants to visit Oga’s Cantina could text their name and a number of people they're coming with to save them a spot.

Then, Disney would text back with an estimated waiting time. So no one gets to waste their time just standing there and waiting, and could go straight to the attraction as soon as they get the message with an update.

It’s now time to launch your next SMS marketing campaign

Those are just a few SMS campaign examples and ideas worth keeping in mind when planning your first (or next) SMS marketing campaign.

Regardless of the industry, the kind of business you're in, or the organization you belong to, SMS marketing can be used to meet various needs and serve different purposes. So go through the list once again, draw inspiration or simply make a few adjustments to the ideas given, and start building your SMS campaigns to achieve your goals.

Congratulations! You've just won $100,000! Finish reading this post, and it will be transferred to your account by the end of the day.

Sounds too good to be true? And familiar, perhaps?

As the sentence above is clearly just a (not so funny) joke, text message scam is very real. Scammers are increasingly taking advantage of people who are less aware of what scam actually is or have trouble identifying it. In fact, the number of mobile phishing attempts has increased by 325% in Q3 2020 compared to Q2 of the same year.

To prevent losses, it's essential to learn how to spot a potential text message scam and avoid falling victim to it.

Below you’ll find a list of tips on how to identify text scam and a couple of spam text messages examples that should help you stay safe once scammers decide to target your inbox with amazing yet, unfortunately, fake offers.

What is a text message scam?

A text message scam, also called smishing or SMS phishing, is an attempt to trick someone into revealing sensitive information (personal or financial) by sending unsolicited SMS messages.

Scammers often impersonate well-known companies, banks, government institutions, mobile operators – basically, anyone the recipient may trust enough and give scammers access to their personal details.

They create a hypothetical situation and compose fake text messages so that the recipient would share their usernames and passwords, credit card details, PINs, or any other information, leading to financial loss.

Spam text message example

How to identify a fake text message?

Although at first glance, spam text messages might look quite convincing, there are several warning signs you should pay attention to if you have even the slightest doubt of the SMS message you’ve just got being real.

1. Irrelevant content

If it looks that the text message you've received is meant for another person or has nothing to do with your recent activity, that’s the first indication of a possible scam.

One of the most common text scam examples will announce that you’ve just won a prize in some competition. To redeem that prize, whether it’s a gift or cash, you will be asked to complete a few steps, generally giving away your sensitive information while doing so.

Another popular example of scam text messages is a delivery notification from a trusted carrier. Usually, you'll be informed of a failed delivery or expected to set delivery preferences/reschedule following a sketchy link.

In both of these or similar situations, think – have you participated in some kind of contest at all? Have you recently bought something online? Is there anything in the message that just doesn’t make sense?

2. Poor grammar

Poor grammar and misspellings don‘t automatically indicate SMS spam, especially if you know the sender. But if you find yourself wondering how a business or organization that tries to reach out to you made such grammatical mistakes, that might be your first clue.

Even though errors can happen (we‘re all humans, after all), a legitimate company will rarely send weirdly-structured messages that lack proper punctuation or sound like they were just directly translated from some far-away language.

Such unprofessionalism is a major red flag in the context of text message phishing, and you shouldn‘t follow any requirements without making sure about the origin of that SMS.

3. Unknown/long numbers

Identifying a text scam based on an unknown number only is tricky. Just like with poor grammar, getting a message from an unknown number doesn’t 100% mean that someone’s trying to scam you.

The problem arises when that unknown number is lengthy, too random, or includes an awkwardly written name of a company (the result of SMS spoofing). With some exceptions (e.g., international numbers), long and weird numbers are often a sign of a text message scam.

If in doubt, check the official number of an organization that is texting you (quickly done online) or contact them directly if the issue seems to be serious/urgent before acting on anything.

4. Call for immediate action

Scammers like to use urgency to succeed, leaving you as little time as possible to figure it all out. They try to play with emotions and push you to act immediately so that you'd make your decision driven by feelings (of worry) rather than logic.

Some of the most common spam text messages examples that use urgency are:

• Your family member needs help. It's difficult to keep a cold heart when you're told that someone you love may be in trouble or danger.
• Your bank account was temporarily suspended or any other bank-related message, really. Since safety is your biggest concern when it comes to your savings, you may want to act on that message fast and find out what’s going on in order not to lose any money. Unfortunately, acting fast in such situations can cause you just that.
• Government text scams. You may encounter messages “sent by official government agencies” like the IRS trying to scare you about some legal issues. The truth is that the government will never use a simple SMS to contact you for such matters and ask for sensitive information, and they even state this on their websites.

5. Suspicious links

Links in SMS messages are a very common practice since text messages are meant to achieve some specific goal, and for that, the recipient must click through. Therefore, you shouldn't worry about every link you receive, but you must still examine them carefully before acting.

Never open a link if:

• You don’t know the sender
• The link contains weird characters (letters and numbers)
• The link is abnormally long
• The content of the message is suspicious and includes a weird shortened link.

As for the short links, they are not a problem in general. Most companies use URL shorteners to create branded links that help them appear more trustworthy and track their SMS campaigns. But they are not that difficult to compromise, so you have to evaluate the context of the message itself if you're being convinced to follow a bunch of random characters that were just put together into a short link.

Tips to avoid falling victim to text message scam

Suppose you've received a text message that “meets all the scam requirements" mentioned above.

What to do? And most importantly, what not to do next?

First, calm down

If you’ve received a text message that makes your heart race, fight the urge to act immediately and go over it one more time. Do you know the origin of this SMS? How is it written? Does it contain any weird links?

Don't let emotions take over and seriously consider it a possible scam.

Do your research before acting

Don’t trust text messages blindly, especially if the sender is not 100% clear. If it refers to some organization, look it up online first. Check their official phone number, their policy on such things as communicating via text messages, or use the contact information on their website to get in touch directly. If the text message refers to your family member, make sure to contact him/her first.

Don’t share any sensitive information, ever

None of the legitimate companies or organizations, be it a bank, a government agency, or a delivery company, will ever ask to share sensitive information via text messages or any other communication channel.

No matter how convincing it looks, always remember that your personal details are your top-secret, and if there’s ever something wrong, sharing them after receiving a simple text message is not the way to deal with serious issues.

Never reply

Although replying to spam text messages might not do any harm, it will let scammers know that your number is active, and the messages they send do get opened. Therefore, this might encourage even more fake SMS of any kind.

Don’t click on suspicious links

This couldn’t be stressed enough – the message itself can’t do much harm to you, but following weird links included in unexpected messages can. Even if you don’t provide any information yourself, opening a link can, for instance, download malware to your phone that will act against your will.

Be cautious

When you get unsolicited text messages, follow the same practices as you do when dealing with spam and unknown senders in your email inbox. Even if you think you know the person or a company that has just sent you an SMS, if it’s unusual, stay alert.

How to report a scam text message?

Whether or not you acted on a text message that appeared to be fake, you should still report it. You can:

• Report a fraudulent message to your mobile network operator. This may help prevent text scams from spreading and causing losses to other people.
• Report it to the company that’s being impersonated. If a scammer hides behind the name of some brand, make sure that the company knows it. For instance, if you’ve received a fake text from your bank, inform them about this immediately so that they can provide instructions on their website or social media channels.
• Report SMS spam to the authorities. If you live in the US, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is one of the main ways to go.

Look for common text scam signs in unexpected SMS messages

There’s no way to prevent scammers from sending unwanted text messages to your phone but learning the most common red flags in SMS communication can help you stay safe.

When you come across a suspicious SMS, the critical thing to remember is not to act instantly, just like scammers want you to do. Staying aware of a scam possibility, knowing how to recognize it, and what to do next can help prevent yourself from harm and reduce the chances of other people falling victim to it. Put simply, equipping yourself with knowledge is the #1 tip for avoiding possible damage regarding text message scams.

Emails are one of the key tools in every marketer’s pocket. Email marketing is a common and convenient way to reach out to customers, and it has been for so long that no one even questions its importance in their marketing mix.

In 2021, the global email marketing market was valued at $8.49 billion, and it’s still expected to grow by more than 50% in the upcoming 5 years. Millions of marketing emails land in customers’ inboxes every single day, only proving the effectiveness of this channel.

As easy as sending emails to customers may sound, it’s actually not that easy. You want to make sure that the emails you send are relevant, provide value, and are well-made to achieve the desired results. Another crucial aspect of an effective email marketing strategy – diversity in format and purpose.

To keep your subscribers engaged and run successful campaigns, check out the list of different types of emails that can cater to various needs – both yours and your customers', and make sure to consider incorporating them into your email strategy.

1. Welcome emails

A welcome email is the first email a company sends to subscribers once they sign up for email marketing or create an account on their website.

It’s one of the most important emails to send to your customers since it helps to confirm that the registration was successful (= assurance, peace of mind), help set the right tone for future communication, and start onboarding the customer.

Besides, welcome emails can be an excellent opportunity to tell more about your company, help people get started, and even promote your product and services (gently!).

Key tips for strong welcome emails

• Send a welcome email ASAP. Your subscriber's interest is at its peak, so it's important to hit their inbox as soon as they sign in, especially if you're providing an incentive alongside. Even a few hours can make a big difference if someone is ready to act now.
• Show gratitude. Saying "Thank you" for subscribing is a part of basic etiquette. It’s a simple but very important step that makes people feel valued and shows that you care.
• Set expectations. Let people know how often they can expect to hear from you and introduce your future content to avoid any misunderstandings. Sending emails to customers too often can cost you your reputation and subscribers, just like sending emails that are irrelevant to your mailing list.
• Share helpful resources. A welcome email is a great opportunity to help people start using your product or services by sharing instructions, guides, and other valuable content. This way, subscribers can hop on board immediately without trying to figure out how to do all this themselves.
• Tell subscribers what to do next. Include a clear call to action to direct users to the place where they can perform your desired action. In Trello’s example, that would be “Go to my boards” – inviting the reader to start immediately.

2. Newsletters

As the title indicates, newsletter emails are more about informing than selling. Newsletters can include company and product updates, tips, inspiration, educational content, event invitations, and so on. Something to learn from, enjoy reading, and get value out of it.

This type of emails is mainly used to keep subscribers in the loop; therefore, you may want to schedule your newsletters to go out regularly. 61% of consumers expect to receive at least one email a week; meanwhile, on average, it’s recommended to email customers no more than twice a week but at least once per month to stay on their radar.

Key tips for creating newsletter emails

• Provide value. The content you usually share in newsletters might take some time to go through, so your goal is to make sure the readers get something valuable out of it. Otherwise, they will have no interest in checking the next one you send.
• Keep it short and simple. Prioritize quality over quantity and include only what you think it’s worth it. Visually long newsletters can encourage readers to “save it for later” and never actually come back to it.
• Make it visual. Photos, illustrations, and other visuals can help grab the reader's attention and make the content easier to digest.
• Include a call to action. Whether it’s an article, illustration, e-book, or anything else, make it easy for subscribers to follow by including a clear call to action.
• Don’t try too hard to sell. Remember that it’s a newsletter, not a promotion – focus on building connections that you can benefit from sending other types of emails.

3. New product launch emails

New product launch is a big deal – you've been working hard for it, and now you want everyone to know it's finally available.

One of the biggest mistakes you can make at this point is to treat launch emails as an afterthought. You know the ins and outs of your product and feel excited to release it; however, your audience might not necessarily feel the same way.

Besides, your subscribers are the people who are interested and agreed to hear from you, therefore, new product launch emails can be a great way to kickstart your sales.

Key tips for new product launch emails

• Create a series of emails. By sending just one email, you risk getting lost in many other marketing messages. A carefully-planned sequence of emails will help you build anticipation way before the product launch and make the customer look forward to it.
• Don’t take a subject line for granted. It can help you stand out in your subscribers' inbox and encourage them to open the email – so make it catchy.
• Polish your copy. A good copy can evoke many feelings – create buzz, interest, exclusivity, inspire to try something out. Create a sense of urgency, use power words, and make readers feel special by highlighting the exclusivity of an offer ("Get early access," "Letting you know first," etc.)
• Use visuals. Add high-quality pictures and/or a video of the new product in use.
• Include links to more information. Depending on a product, one email might not necessarily be enough to introduce readers to all the best the product has to offer. Direct subscribers to other sources where they can learn more and make an informed decision.

4. Promotional emails

A promotional email is an email that includes an offer for your subscribers. Its primary goal is to sell, and it usually comes with coupons, discounts, sales announcements, access to exclusive content, and similar.

This is where you can use all the tools in your sales arsenal and encourage readers to convert. Promotional emails are also great for boosting customer retention and engagement since you're giving them quick access to your best deals.

Overall, sending a promotional email to your customers can drive sales that might not have happened otherwise.

Key tips for successful promotional emails

• Diversify your offers. If you send special deals regularly, make sure to offer different incentives. It will help keep subscribers more engaged, apply to a broader audience, and won't get boring after a while.
• Have a good reason. Dropping one deal after another can raise some questions – is everything alright with those products? To avoid inspiring such questions, always think about timing and other circumstances – like special occasions, rewards for feedback or loyalty, etc.
• Use personalization. Segment your audience, analyze their behavior, and call them by their names. It will help you create stronger bonds with customers and offer something relevant.
• Create a sense of urgency. Promotional emails aim to make sales, so ideally, you want your subscribers to act instantly. Set time limits (e.g., offer valid until midnight) or define how many people can take advantage of the offer (e.g., first 500). This will inspire FOMO (fear of missing out), increasing your chances of making more sales.
• Put thought into your call to action. Not including or failing to include a good call to action in your promotional emails can lose you a sale. Actually, more than one.

5. Back-in-stock emails

It happens, products run out of stock, and sometimes there is no quick way to fix this. Your site visitors browse your store just to find out that the item they’re interested in is not available, and it costs you sales.

Back-in-stock emails can help you re-engage those customers and recover some of the lost revenue. Allow your visitors to leave you their email address so that they can be notified when the product is once again available and come back to get it.

Key tips for back-in-stock emails

• Craft an attention-grabbing subject line. Try to mention why you are sending this email and evoke curiosity, e.g., Good news! Our best-selling sweater is back in stock!
• Make it exciting. Something someone’s been waiting for a while is finally available – make sure to celebrate it in your copy to boost the mood and interest to check it out.
• Use urgency. As with promotional emails, urgency is very important, too. Encourage readers to act now as the product might sell out again. You can mention that the stock is limited or the item is in high demand, so it's easy to miss out.
• Include other product recommendations. Depending on how long your subscribers have been waiting, they might have lost interest in a specific product over time. Use back-in-stock email as an opportunity to showcase other products for them to explore – and who knows, maybe you will even sell more than expected.

6. Abandoned cart emails

Abandoned cart emails are the type of emails businesses send to shoppers who add items to their cart but leave the site without making a purchase.

Online shopping abandoned cart rate varies from 70.65% to 89.11% (2021) in different industries, and that’s just way too many orders to lose. Some of them can be recovered by sending an automated follow-up email that encourages shoppers to come back and finish what they’ve started.

In fact, more than 44% of abandoned cart emails get opened (that’s almost twice more than regular emails), and nearly 30% of them lead to conversion.

Key tips for abandoned cart emails

• Come up with a catchy subject line. Your goal is to grab your subscribers' attention instantly, and this will help you do it. A catchy headline is critical if you want more people to open your emails, and abandoned cart emails are not an exception.
• Add an incentive. Some of the most common reasons for cart abandonment are unexpected shipping costs or the order's final price. Therefore, a discount, coupon, or free shipping can be enough to nudge a shopper in the right direction and encourage them to complete the checkout.
• The right timing. Generally, you should send the first email one hour after the cart abandonment while the shopper is still in that "shopping mode." It can help you increase the chances of them acting on your offer. The next email should be sent about 12 hours later, followed by the last one 24 hours later.
• Call to action. Make sure your CTA button is clearly visible and easy to find. You have one particular goal sending abandoned cart emails – and CTA, leading to the right place, is crucial here.

7. Transactional emails

Put simply, transactional emails are emails that usually provide information about an ongoing commercial transaction or account activity. Some of the examples of transactional emails are order, shipping and delivery confirmations, refund-related emails, password reminders, and similar. They are usually triggered by a user request or an action that just took place.

What differentiates transactional emails from other types of emails is that they're highly personalized. While promotional emails are usually sent in bulk, transactional emails only get sent to one particular individual. They help users perform specific actions within the product (e.g., password change), provide them with peace of mind, and make your business look more transparent.

Key tips for better transactional emails

• Send transactional emails ASAP. Since they’re triggered by specific user actions or requests, transactional emails should land in their inboxes as soon as possible. This will reduce uncertainty and doubt that might otherwise occur.
• Be direct with your subject line. Make sure the subject line of your transactional email is clear and straightforward to ensure that the email is opened. Besides, it will make it easier for the recipient to find it in a bunch of emails later if needed.
• Match your brand tone and design. Don’t underestimate the importance of the looks and feels of your transactional emails. Stay professional, but not boring.
• Avoid “no-reply” emails. Customers can have questions, and using "no-reply" emails can send the wrong message of avoiding them.
• Include recommendations. You can also include other product recommendations at the end of your transactional emails to give customers a reason to return to your store.

Start engaging customers with different types of emails today

Email marketing is not only about sending newsletters and promotions. There's much more to it, and mixing things up can benefit both companies and subscribers.

Sending different types of emails to customers will help you fulfill different goals (like selling, informing, or entertaining), keep subscribers interested, and keep your open rates high. Sincere efforts to keep readers engaged and provide value won't go unnoticed, likely increasing sales.

What is the difference between good and great promotional messages?

It's personalization that can increase the SMS open rates significantly, as backed by years of experience from the VertexSMS Key Account Manager Jonas Valeisa.

This is also seen from the recent data on personalization which shows that 72% of customers only engage with personalized messaging.

With personalization in mind, we have put together a list of promotional SMS templates and examples that can help you win more customers. These SMS templates are ready-to-use but can be easily altered to fit your business needs, no matter the industry you’re in.

A checklist for effective promotional messages

The intent of promo messages is for the customer to make a purchase. Therefore, there are several other things besides personalization to keep an eye on when crafting your SMS campaigns.

Your promotional messages will deliver better results if you follow the basics:

1. Always have permission to contact customers

SMS messages are strictly permission-based so you will have to build your SMS list before sending text promotions to your customers. You should also include an easy way for people to opt-out.

2. Make sure to include your business name

Without a clear indication of who the message is from, your promotional messaging could be easily considered as spam.

3. Consider timing

Think about when your customers are most likely to read and engage with your messages. If you have a coffee shop, you might want to reach out to customers early in the morning. If you, however, run an e-commerce store, it makes more sense to schedule your promo messages around noon when people have time to browse your store.

4. Target specific groups

It is really simple to segment your audience to provide relevant content to customers. You can create different lists based on people’s age, gender, location, previous preferences, etc.

5. Include a clear call to action

By including a clever CTA, you will be able to nudge customers to take the needed action. You can benefit from urgency with phrases like “Last chance to...”, “Don’t Miss Out and Buy Now,” etc.

6. Analyze your results

Always make sure you do an in-depth analysis of how your campaign works to understand how you could improve.

PRO TIP: how to track the results of your promotional messages

Our team’s experience shows that the best way to understand how your campaigns work is to use a trackable link in your promotional text messages.

In fact, the inclusion of links in promo messages is so effective that one of our biggest clients has decided to use trackable links in all of their marketing messages. This is one of the best ways to really understand your customer behavior - everything from clicks to conversions.

What to avoid in promo messages?

Promotional messages are by nature promotional. However, the trick to putting together an excellent promo message is not to come off as too salesy.

For this, avoid sending messages that:

• Don’t provide clear value to customers
• Are too frequent and pushy
• Overuse caps lock or include buzzwords like “free” or anything else that could come off as spam

The main thing to do when trying to write a great promotional message is to simply send customers something that you would be happy to receive from a business yourself.

16 promotional message templates to help you win more customers

Let's cut to the chase. Here are the promised SMS templates for marketing that can help you to boost sales and strengthen the relationship with your customers.

You’ll find:

• Templates for onboarding
• Flash sale promotion examples
• New product launch templates
• Free trial promotion examples
• Promo templates for loyal customers

Templates for onboarding

As mentioned earlier, text message marketing is permission-based. Therefore, the first messages you send to your customers are the most important ones as these will be the sole foundation of your (texting) relationship.

Use this chance to set the tone of the experience your business provides and provide them with the information they need to know. Let your subscribers know how often they can expect to hear from you and set clear expectations for future communication. It’s also recommended to use a double opt-in to confirm the subscription and avoid any misunderstandings.

Template #1

Hello [customer_name], thanks for opting in for SMS updates from [company_name]! Please reply with Y to confirm. Text STOP at any time to unsubscribe.

Template #2

Welcome, [customer_name]! Thanks for opting-in for our SMS updates. You can expect to hear from us 3-4 per month. Reply HELP for support, STOP to cancel anytime.

Template #3

Hi [customer_name]! Thank you for signing up for our SMS updates. Take 15% off your first order with the code WELCOME15 here: [short_link]

Flash sale promotion examples

Keep your customers interested by creating urgency and hype. For this, flash sales that offer savings for a short period of time can work magic.

Template #4

Hello, [customer_name]! Looking for a new summer outfit? Get 25% off our new collection. Place an order before Sunday: [short_link]

Template #5

Good news, [customer_name]! For a limited time, all our Valentine’s Day items are 20% cheaper! Surprise your loved ones with a special gift, offer valid till 02/10: [short_link]

Template #6

Hello, [customer_name]! We’d love you to join us at our seasonal opening party! Get your early bird tickets before midnight to receive a 20% discount: [short_link]

Template #7

Hi, [customer_name]. Limited-time deal: book a table at our restaurant today to receive a 10% discount on the whole menu. Call us +123456 or visit: [short_link]

New product launch templates

Customers who have opted-in to receive messages from you are eagerly waiting to hear what you have to offer. Use this opportunity to inform them as soon as you have new stock available.

Template #8

Hi, [customer_name]! The wait is finally over - the NEW LIMITED EDITION sneakers have arrived. Hurry up and shop before they sell out: [short_link]

Template #9

[customer_name], we are happy to announce that some of your favorites from the past are back. Shop now and receive 10% at the checkout: [short_link]

Template #10

[product_name] is finally here! We couldn’t be more excited for you to try it - shop now and receive 20% off: [short_link]

Free trial promotion examples

If you have a product or service that includes a free trial, you might want to strengthen your relationship with customers before their free trial ends. Below are some SMS templates that can help you do it.

Template #11

Hello, [customer_name]! Have you enjoyed using [product_name]? If you need more time to browse around, use promo code 10MORE to get 10 more days for free: [short_link]

Template #12

[customer_name], are you running out of time using [product_name]? Reply YES to receive 50 more trial credits in your account: [short_link]

Template #13

Your free trial is coming to an end, [customer_name]. Enjoyed using [product_name]? Get 15% OFF your first month with a code FIRST15: [short_link]

Promotional SMS templates for loyal customers

Loyal customers are the ones who are likely to spend the most with you. Show them some extra love to keep the relationship alive and healthy.

Template #14

Dear [customer_name], our annual sale is coming up next week. To thank you for your loyalty, we’ve already unlocked some of the best deals for you. Check now: [short_link]

Template #15

We’re happy you’ve been with us for such a long time, [customer_name]! Here is something to brighten up your day. Redeem your gift here: [short_link]

Template #16

Hello, [customer_name]. We believe you’ll find something for you and for your special someone in our new stock. Use code SPECIAL to get the 2nd item for free: [short_link]

Start crafting your promo text message campaigns today

For building a strong relationship over promotional SMS messages, make sure you understand which information customers want to receive. Stay true to your brand, offer exciting deals, maintain clear and transparent communication, and engage customers in conversation.

This way you will definitely see a boost in your sales in no time.

Email marketing is an efficient and cost-effective means of communication with your customers.

Unlike paid advertising, you don't have to pay every time someone reads or responds to one of your emails. Email also has the advantage of being used for both short-term campaigns and long-term relationships with customers. And while it's easy to miss stuff on social media, emails land right in your customers’ inboxes.

It's an investment that pays dividends for many years, making customer communication more accessible than ever before. Email marketing is a robust sales and marketing tool, and its strength lies in targeting customers with information most relevant to them.

So if your business wants to grow, you need the power of email marketing behind you.

13 benefits of using email marketing to grow your business

To grow a small business, you need to ensure that your products or services are constantly moving out of the door. That means communicating with customers regularly and building up a community of brand fans who will keep coming back for more.

Here's how email marketing can help.

1. You can reach your target audience easily

By sending email marketing campaigns to the right people at the right time, you'll reach just the folks who are interested in what you're selling. That makes both for efficient advertising and repeat business when you keep in touch with buyers who've already got their wallets out at once.

Collect detailed information about how your customers respond to your emails with email marketing software. For example, if a particular customer segment prefers to be sent offers in the morning, you can set up an autoresponder series that does just that. If another is most interested in being contacted at weekends, you can set up a separate series for them.

Having that level of flexibility is invaluable when creating the perfect message for each person on your list.

2. It helps to keep customers engaged

It's already tough keeping up with friends, colleagues, and family – how are you meant to remember everyone who has bought from you, too?

With email marketing, it's easy to set up an autoresponder series that will automatically send friendly messages reminding people of your great deals, the content you create, product updates, first-rate customer service, and more. Therefore, you'll be able to continuously interact with them and keep them engaged.

3. Email marketing is cost-effective

Email marketing won't cost you anything unless you use email marketing software that comes at a fixed subscription fee. And once it's set up, auto responders are free to use!

Email marketing's main benefit is advertising without paying for every ad impression. However, if you have an extensive email list, this means that email campaigns can be as effective as paid ads and help to get the word out about your brand, drive traffic to your site, and increase sales.

4. It helps you stay on your customers' radar

Making sure your customers never forget about your brand is the best method to get them excited.

Email marketing helps with that – it's easy to incorporate into your daily/weekly/monthly routine. In addition, every email shows up in the inboxes of interested customers (who opted in when they signed up for your emails).

Keep in touch with your email subscribers, and they're much more likely to turn into lifelong customers.

5. It's fast

Email marketing is one of the fastest ways to get in touch with new customers as well as communicate with existing ones.

This is the best way to grow a small business – every message gets delivered instantly! Email marketing software means you can also set up your emails in advance. You'll save time and resources that way and then be able to sit back and enjoy the extra business that will start rolling in.

6. You can gain customer trust

Trust is crucially important when you're trying to sell. By using email marketing, you can show that you care about your customers' needs and are working hard to meet them – and that's the best way of all to get more sales.

But, of course, the other side of the coin here is that if you've built up trust in your small business, your customers will be more likely to buy from you again.

7. Email marketing helps to build loyalty

Running a small business can be enormously rewarding – but it's also hard work.

Email marketing is one of the best ways to show people that you appreciate them and are committed to working with them over the long term. In addition, by nurturing your email list and keeping people engaged through regular emails, you can grow your small business and gain valuable brand advocates in the process.

8. You can grow your customer base

The more extensive your email list is, the more potential customers you target with future email marketing campaigns. So you must turn every new customer into an email subscriber as quickly as you can. And, as we've already seen, emails are the best way of keeping in contact with your customers and encouraging them to buy from your small business time and again.

9. You can improve your site traffic

Building a community of brand advocates is just one benefit of email marketing.

Another is that it enables you to spread the word about your business regularly, so more people will visit your website – which, in turn, means you'll get higher search engine rankings and attract even more visitors to your site.

10. You will get to know your audience better

Email campaigns can include many different calls-to-action (CTAs), making it easy to track changes in customer behavior.

For instance, if you've got a new product coming out, you might encourage subscribers to leave reviews or pre-order it. In addition, you can keep an eye on click rates and conversion rates to see how effective your email marketing is – and alter future campaigns accordingly.

11. It enables you to keep up-to-date with new technologies

Email marketing was around for a long time before people started using apps and software to automate certain aspects of it – meaning that you can stay on top of the latest trends in your field without changing your existing workflow.

Nevertheless, email remains one of the most effective tools for promoting online sales, so it's well worth sticking with and learning to use correctly.

12. You can improve your social media results

Email marketing and social media go hand in hand, so if you already have a good following on Twitter or Facebook, you can use your email list as a kind of launchpad for future posts that encourage people to sign up online.

As a result, you'll get more people on your email list, which means you can use social media to promote future content directly to them.

13. You can benefit from personalization

Finally, an attractive benefit of email marketing is that if you run your own small business, you'll be able to create exclusive and personalized offers for subscribers.

For instance, if you run a restaurant, you could send an email about a special offer on a blackboard. Likewise, if you're an online seller of clothes and shoes, you might use email marketing to announce collaborations with designers who sell their limited edition pieces through your website.

In conclusion

So, there is a list of benefits you can get from email marketing. If you understand these points, it's time to find a great email service provider or a well-known PPC agency, since most of the PPC companies that run ad campaigns are also providing email marketing services that will help you to grow your business. Because when it comes to email marketing, the software is always better than manual work.

Even if you're not actively using email marketing at the moment, it's worth starting soon because it will help you to make an impact with your target audience and boost the results of all your other marketing efforts, too. In addition, emails are one of the most effective tools for acquiring new customers – so make sure you embrace it fully by building up your email list as soon as possible.

Whether you’re just starting with text marketing or have been using it for a while, there's no way forward without a solid SMS subscriber list.

Unfortunately, growing your SMS list is not always as easy as it may sound. SMS marketing is strictly permission-based, meaning that to send text messages to your customers, you have to get their consent first.

The good news is – people tend to open around 98% of SMS they get; therefore, once they opt-in, you can be sure that most of your messages are read.

Worth the efforts, right?

So without further ado, let’s go through some of the ideas for collecting phone numbers that can help you effectively and, most importantly, legally grow your SMS subscriber list.

What is SMS opt-in?

SMS opt-in is written permission customers give a business or organization that wants to send them SMS messages.

Even if a brand already has some kind of relationship with a customer or has their phone number in their contact base (e. g. for shipping purposes), without a customer’s consent to receive text messages, sending an SMS becomes illegal.

Opt-in text message example

SMS compliance laws

In different countries, SMS opt-in rules are regulated by different laws. However, the idea that unites them all is that a business must provide clear information and stay transparent about its practices when communicating with customers via text messages, besides getting written permission to send them.

For instance:

• In the US, SMS marketing requirements are covered in the US Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Additionally, SMS marketers should follow Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) regulations that cover industry guidelines.
• In Canada, SMS marketing laws and regulations fall under Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL).
• In Europe, to send text messages to customers, you have to follow the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).

So make sure to check the regulations for the specific countries/regions in advance if you want to send messages to your customers without getting into trouble.

7 ways to collect phone numbers and grow your SMS subscriber list

Alright, so you now know that people should willingly sign up for text messages, but you might still find it challenging to develop the ways that enable them to do it.

Fortunately, there are quite many of them – check out the list below for inspiration.

1. Come up with a memorable keyword and promote it

Keywords are one of the most common ways to get more people to subscribe to your SMS campaigns. It's usually an easy-to-remember word that people can text to a company's shortcode and become a part of their SMS subscriber list.

What’s great about keywords is that they can work anywhere – both online and offline, which provides more options for businesses and is also convenient for the customer.

For instance, you can showcase your SMS marketing keyword in-store, if you have one, put it on your printed ads, posters, and flyers that you send with each order. It then becomes easy for visitors or your customers just to text the keyword to your shortcode if they want to opt-in for your SMS messages.

2. Add a sign-up form on your website

Another popular way to grow both email and SMS marketing lists is by adding a sign-up form on your website. People who visit your website are already interested in what you have to offer and might be as well willing to stay updated in the future.

There are several ways to do it:

• Pop-up form. It's probably the most attention-grabbing way to engage customers and let them know about the possibility of signing up for SMS. You can use traditional pop-ups (pop-up window) or take them to a new level by gamifying the experience with "spin to win" wheels, a reel of coupons, and so on (incentives will sure be an extra nudge to opt-in!)
• Website footer. Wherever on the website your visitors are, the website footer always stays there. That’s why it’s a great place to add a sign-up form and make it convenient to join the list when they feel like it.
• Sign-up page. You can also dedicate a separate page to highlight the benefits of joining your SMS program so that your visitors can make an informed decision.

3. Inform your email subscribers about your SMS program

If you already have an email subscriber list, don’t hesitate to use it to grow your SMS list. Among your email subscribers, there can be people who don't even know about an option to get your text message updates but wouldn't mind signing up.

Besides, it can bring you an excellent opportunity to combine email and SMS marketing for even better results.

Suppose you honestly read the newsletters you get yourself. In that case, you might have noticed that companies that use SMS marketing put a friendly reminder at the bottom of their emails (whether it’s a casual update, promotions, or order confirmation email), inviting them to subscribe to text messages.

This way, you can enrich your list with people who are genuinely interested in your offers.

4. Invite customers to opt-in at the checkout

Someone’s already reached the checkout – great, you’ve earned their trust! Is there a better time to ask for their phone number to nurture this relationship in the future?

Usually, customers have to fill in their contact details for delivery at the checkout, including their phone number.

The easiest way to try and add that number to your SMS subscriber list is to leave a checkbox below it, offering an incentive in exchange for digits.

5. Use social media

Social media is another channel that should not be overlooked when collecting phone numbers to grow your SMS subscriber list. Most of your potential customers are there, making it a good place to promote the benefits of opting in for your text messages.

One way to do it is to use social media to promote previously mentioned text-to-win competitions.

Another way is to encourage customers to sign up by regularly using posts and stories. For instance, by using Instagram stories, you can make subscribing effortless for the user, allowing them to simply swipe up and join the program.

Of course, this will also require you to offer something valuable in exchange (e.g., a 20% discount) to encourage your followers to act.

6. Organize a text-to-win competition

Competitions are one of the most effective ways to collect phone numbers since usually, people are willing to sign-up if they can really benefit from it. That‘s the key thing to remember when organizing such competitions – you have to offer something valuable which will make it worthwhile for people to enter.

Then, by simply texting your chosen keyword to your shortcode, your prospects and customers become a part of your contact list and get a chance to participate in the contest.

Ensure that they know what they‘re signing for – stay transparent about your future communications and promotional offers that you‘ll be sending using text messages.

7. Generate QR codes

The use cases of Q.R. codes for collecting phone numbers are very similar to keywords as they are also easy to include in all your printed materials, promote online or in-store. It's a quick and convenient way for your prospects and customers to opt-in for your text marketing by simply scanning the Q.R. code with their smartphones.

Once they scan the code, a pre-filled SMS message appears on their screen, and all that’s left to complete SMS sign-up is to send it.

3 key tips for growing and maintaining your SMS subscriber list

Be transparent about the frequency of your messages

One of the main reasons why subscribers opt-out is that they get too many messages that they don’t want to receive. To avoid this, use a welcome message to make it clear how often you'll be texting (e.g., 4-5 times per month) so that it wouldn't come as a surprise, leading to frustration and disappointment.

Choose the right timing

SMS is a very personal channel. If people trust you by giving access to it, make sure your marketing messages don't come when they least expect it, such as late at night or on weekends.

Stick to the business hours to increase the chances of people acting on your offers and maintain good relationships.

Offer value with every SMS

Every message you send to your subscribers should offer them some kind of value – whether it's in the form of a discount or useful tips.

Varying between different message types and incentives will keep your customers engaged. On the contrary, if you fail to provide value or your messages are simply irrelevant, they will no longer see a point of being subscribed to your SMS program.

Should you fear SMS opt-outs?

It’s important to understand that SMS opt-outs are normal. There will always be people who decide to unsubscribe for a wide variety of reasons. That doesn't mean you did something wrong – interests and customer behavior constantly change, naturally, so do their choices.

Besides, for you, as a company, this can even help to “filter” your audience, meaning that you will be communicating to people who really want to hear from you, therefore, are more likely to act on your offers. Tracking opt-outs can also help you identify what's working and what doesn't, allowing you to improve your SMS campaigns. Additionally, you can also use a phone validator that can run a verification check on your contact list to figure out which numbers are invalid.

However, if you notice a sudden drop in the number of subscribers or your SMS opt-out rate starts increasing uncontrollably, you’re probably doing something wrong. Here's where you can begin a closer investigation.

For instance, make sure you're not sending too many messages at the wrong times, slang and abbreviations don't hurt your brand image, your texts are relevant to your subscribers and come with different incentives that help keep them engaged.

Sit back and watch your SMS list grow

SMS compliance laws shouldn’t stop you from adding text messages to your marketing mix. SMS is a great way to reach customers, stay on their radars, and encourage them to act on your deals.

Sure, it might sound complicated at first, but all you need to know is that consent is a must and get familiar with the ways you can get it. And there is more than one – so you can choose whichever suits your business or organization best and watch your SMS list grow.

Your SMS campaigns can vary a lot based on your company’s needs. Text messages are a great way to reach customers with the latest promotions, send alerts, updates, and reminders, win back lost customers, or keep the loyal ones engaged.

One thing that is common for them all is SMS links that can direct your subscribers to your desired location where they can act – whether it’s placing an order on your online store or rescheduling a dentist appointment.

The problem is that long URLs take too many precious characters in text messages, don’t look very professional, and can even be considered spam.

That’s why it’s best to shorten them, and below you will find 5 of the best URL shorteners for SMS marketing that can help you do it.

What is a URL shortener?

A URL shortener is a tool that you can use to turn a long URL into a shorter one – as simple as that. It helps you create unique SMS links for your text communications and easily redirect your customers to a specific page on your website, for instance.

Brands use shortened links in text messages to not only achieve their goals (increase sales, boost customer engagement, provide information, etc.) but also track the results and measure their SMS marketing performance.

What are the benefits of using an SMS URL shortener?

Let’s dive into more benefits that using a URL shortener can bring to your business.

You can track the performance of your campaigns

The majority of URL link shorteners offer some kind of analytics that enables you to see how well your campaigns are doing. Meaning that you will be able to access information about clicks, locations, channels, specific times, and so on, and make future decisions accordingly.

You can brand your SMS links

To avoid any confusion, misunderstandings and increase trust in the content you share, most URL shortener tools allow users to brand their links. This way, subscribers can instantly see the destination of the link they’re about to click and that it’s coming from the sender they’re familiar with.

Short links are easier to trust

Admit it – seeing a long, bulky link containing random letters and is longer than the actual text message can raise some eyebrows. It can prevent your subscribers from clicking on them since it might not feel safe, or the link itself can simply be cut in half due to the SMS character limit. Your goal is clean, short, preferably branded links, exactly those that URL shorteners help you deliver.

URL shorteners let you get the best out of character limits

With SMS, you have only 160 to spread your message, and you definitely don’t want to waste them on long, unruly links. By turning a messy URL into a cute little one, you get to use the rest of the characters to say what's important without compromising your chances of getting people to click through.

5 best link shorteners for SMS marketing you should consider

1. Bitly

Bitly is probably one of the best-known URL shorteners, widely used for various purposes, be it social media, email marketing, or – you guessed it – SMS marketing.

Bitly’s clean interface and well-thought-out features make it an easy-to-use and valuable tool both for beginners and professionals. This URL shortener gives you access to a ton of data, like the performance of your links (clicks, shares, etc.), your audience, referral sources, all neatly organized into graphs.

Key features:

• Short branded links
• Custom domains
• Mobile deep links
• Easy link redirection
• UTM parameters
• QR codes
• 700+ integrations
• HTTPS encryption
• Campaign management and analytics

Bitly pricing: Free plan available. The Basic plan costs $29/month (or $348 annually); for Premium, you'll be billed $199/month ($2,388 annually).

2. Rebrandly

Rebrandly is often considered one of the Bitly alternatives that provides its users with a variety of features, allowing them to take care of short URLs from the moment they’re created to measuring their success.

Besides link management, Rebrandly provides a platform where teams can easily collaborate (share links, create workspaces, set specific access levels for teammates, etc.) and learn to get the best out of this tool using Rebrandly’s knowledge base, video tutorials, or even receive direct training tailored for specific teams.

Key features:

• Custom URL slugs & editable destination URLs
• QR codes
• Branded link export
• UTM builder
• Team collaboration
• Traffic routing
• GDPR privacy
• Multiple domain names
• HTTPS (SSL) encryption
• Training and support
• Analytics

Rebrandly pricing: Free plan available. You can also choose from three paid plans: Starter - $29/month; Pro - $89/month; Premium - $499/month.

3. BL.INK

BL.INK is a feature-rich URL shortener that provides marketers with an opportunity to always stay compliant, collaborate with other team members when managing links, and track link activity.

Although aimed at the bigger enterprises, beginners will also find BL.INK beneficial and not that complicated to use. This URL shortener comes with everything you need for effective link management, options to connect it with the tools you already use, automate specific processes to streamline workflows, and more.

Key features:

• Fully editable and trackable links
• Branded links
• Dynamic link routing
• In-depth analytics
• Wide integration options
• Automation possibility
• Solutions for highly-regulated customers
• Flexible paying options
• Reliable customer support

BL.INK pricing: BL.INK offers four different pricing plans that vary from $48/month to $599/month.

4. TinyURL

It may seem that TinyURL has been there forever, but it doesn’t mean that this URL shortener or its features are outdated. In fact, it’s still a strong player in this whole link shorteners competition, which also brings many valuable functionalities to the table.

The best thing about TinyURL is that it's straightforward and easy to use. You'll get your links shortened in a couple of clicks and get to manage them in one centralized place. Just like other link shorteners, TinyURL also enables you to create branded short links and enables SMS link tracking. Real-time data will help you better understand your customer behavior and improve your next campaigns.

Key features:

• Branded and customizable short links
• Custom domains
• No link expiration date
• In-depth data monitoring and analytics
• Easy to use

TinyURL pricing: Free plan available. Pro plan's pricing starts from $9.99/month (depending on the number of active URLs); the Bulk plan's pricing starts from $99/month.

5. Replug

Replug is not just a simple URL shortener that allows you to manage the SMS links. This tool goes one step ahead by offering an option to add retargeting pixels, embed call-to-actions, and even create bio landing pages for social media.

Of course, you can analyze how your links are performing by using such KPIs as click performance, conversion, visitors by country/source, and more. Replug URL shortener can also be integrated with many SMS marketing platforms for effective execution.

Key features:

• Branded and custom short URLs
• Custom domains
• Deep linking
• QR code short links
• Traffic routing
• A/B testing
• Retargeting and lead generation (with branded CTAs)
• Social media bio links
• Analytics (10+ data points)

Replug pricing: Basic plan costs $19/month. For the Professional plan, you'll be billed $49/month and $79/month for the Agency plan.

Important: are short links always safe?

Although short links are nothing wrong in general, some SMS marketers and even regular consumers are skeptical about using those in text marketing communications. The main reason behind this is that short links are not that difficult to compromise, making them a powerful tool for scammers.

Take FedEx, for example. A few years ago, the company had to put out some fires as the text message, claiming to contain a FedEx package, has been sent to thousands of phones. Here's how it looked:

If you aren't careful enough and happen to order something online recently, it's easy to follow the link without much thinking. But that should never be the case, especially when the link contains no information related to the company itself – just a bunch of random characters. That's when you can start considering it being spam.

Because of such situations, it's best to use branded short links or – even better – your own links, if possible. For instance, instead of using bit.ly/58fhs7J to direct your customers to your return policy, take advantage of customization options and use yourbrandname.com/returnpolicy instead.

Short links for the win

Shorts links can bring many benefits to your company, no matter what you do. Being able to analyze the performance of each message you send can give you a better understanding of your subscribers’ habits and inspire necessary improvements for further growth.

With a link shortener, this whole process becomes easier to manage. Branded links are also less likely to raise questions between your recipients, decreasing the chances of negatively affecting your click-through rates.

Have you chosen your favorite one yet?

It is good to know that success in digital marketing is feasible for businesses of all models and sizes, regardless of their budget. However, the scope of digital marketing is extremely broad.

If you don't know what you're doing, it's easy to get lost in the shuffle, wasting your time and effort with little to show for it. On the other hand, if you handle digital marketing correctly, you can quickly grow your customer base, stay long in business, and even thrive.

The tactics listed below encompass everything you need to know about digital marketing for startups and increasing your company's online presence.

Where do you start with digital marketing for startups?

1. Educate yourself

Before you get started, you should educate yourself and learn as much as you can about digital marketing for startups.

Some of the world's most successful people never stop learning. With online courses and resources from reputable institutions, you can improve your digital skills and grow your career. Invest your time and money on learning as a result. You should also have a good understanding of the industry.

PPC (pay-per-click marketing), SEO (search engine optimization), email and SMS marketing campaigns, and building online funnels are some of the ideas you'll need to grasp. You should also be familiar with graphic design and content marketing. Once you're done learning, you'll want to get and start with hands-on experiences.

2. Find your niche

Irrespective of the "why's" behind a company, a follow-up question arises: "Who?"

Small companies thrive because sufficient people trust in them, support them, and spread the word about them. Before committing time, cash, and energy in further creating a company concept, procuring supplies, or raising finance, startup managers must identify who they are actively attempting to attract and sell to with their business pitch. Understanding and evaluating the target audience isn't only a nice-to-have component of any business strategy.

Of course, identifying your unique audience and the intended audience is a critical first stage. From there, you'll be in a stronger position to improve your future marketing initiatives. Don't be disheartened if your original assessment of interest levels turns out to be inaccurate. Even the most obviously reliable statistics can fall victim to this. People's brains, attitudes, belief systems, and finances change all the time, which doesn't imply your earlier knowledge was erroneous.

Rather, it merely signifies that it's easy to shrug off your computer, do a more complete fresh study, and fine-tune your plan. As long as the goal of better understanding your clients remain at the center of every advertising move you make, you'll be well on your way to joining the exclusive startup club characterized by the 10% that thrive.

3. Learn about your competitors

When beginning a new business, you'll want to know how you'll compare to your competition. When you investigate your competition, you'll be able to figure out how to outperform them. To do market research, utilize the same SEO terms/keywords that your company would use online. Reduce your competition to around 10-15 opponents.

Once you've identified your competitors, investigate how they're selling (obtaining their revenue). Then you may learn about their approaches and what works for them.

4. Develop your brand

In every business, branding will always play an essential role. Branding helps businesses in communicating and signaling to clients through an established identity and engaging in activities that reinforce their message and vision.

Branding is important since it not only leaves a lasting effect on consumers but also tells them about what to anticipate from your company. It's a way of distinguishing yourself from the competition by articulating precisely what you have to offer that makes you the superior choice. Your brand is intended to authentically reflect who you are as a business and how you wish to be viewed.

Develop your brand by using colors, typography, and logo design that speak of your business. Then, reinforce it by using the same designs and elements throughout your marketing channels and campaigns. Frequent advertisement, client service, community involvement, and reputation management will also build a brand. Each of these strategies (and many more) work together to produce a distinct and (hopefully) attractive business profile.

5. Know what tools you can use

Companies today rely on online marketing tactics to keep solvent. Doesn't it sound callous? Consider, however, that a robust tech stack enhances development and implies that people are not wasting time on repetitive activities. On the contrary, neglecting to use advanced marketing strategies may cause your company to fall behind its competitors.

The good news is: there's no scarcity of tools available to help you with your marketing to-dos.

It is critical to have the correct collection of software solutions to handle data insights, material, and content marketing. But without the right parts, you probably wouldn't be able to develop a strategy that attains out to potential consumers and follows them via the consumer journey, providing perspectives into client wanderings, personalities, converting rate enhancement, and a slew of other digital metrics critical to staying abreast of rivals.

The following are the most important tools you will require:

• Tools for social media marketing
• Tools for SMS marketing
• Email marketing software
• Tools for SEO
• Conversion optimization software
• Analytics tools
• Marketing automation tools
• Tools for lead enrichment
• Tools for landing pages and lead capture

6. Launch a website

A company's digital footprint, irrespective of business, could have a substantial influence on its success. Some organizations still fail to comprehend that in our time and technology, the majority of their customers will examine their site before completing a purchase.

A great internet presence, particularly a website, can make or break your ability to generate additional cash. Yes, the quality of your website has an impact on your outcomes, but the point of this post is to emphasize the importance of having one.

You should consider content and business rivals before launching your website. You must also select how you will discover clients for your company. Your site will thereafter require domain registration and hosting service.

7. Learn SEO

SEO is the abbreviation for "search engine optimization." Simply put, it refers to the process of upgrading your website in order to boost its exposure when consumers use Google, Bing, and other search engines to look for products or services linked to your business.

The better the visibility of your web pages in search engine results, the further you will be to be able to draw attention plus fresh and insightful consumers to your organization.

SEO is the cornerstone of a well-rounded marketing strategy. When you know what your website visitors desire, you can use that knowledge for your paid and organic efforts, your website, and your social media assets, among other things, or you can find SEO expert that will help.

8. Find/Outsource content writers and copywriters

It takes time to research, prepare, and distribute high-quality content. If you want to produce well-researched and informative content, even a full-time writer may not be able to handle more than one item every day.

As a result, outsourcing content creation is the way to go if you want to post more frequently without losing quality. It will help you scale up by allowing you to simply increase your budget and outsource as much material as you need.

When you outsource content writing, you avoid the expense of hiring content writers and providing them with all of the job-related benefits. Furthermore, during high seasons of the year, your company does not need to hire seasonal personnel to meet demand.

9. Create official social media accounts

When your site is complete and your digital marketing strategy is established, the very next stage is to get on a social media management bandwagon and begin increasing brand recognition.

One of several major benefits that social media has always had to offer entrepreneurs is increased brand recognition. Which is, in reality, the most successful digital marketing method for promoting your company, goods, and services.

How can you use social media effectively to market your brand? You can use a lot of social media platforms and tools on your end, like tools for manual photo editing, or professional picture editors. Having a sizable number of subscribers aids in social validation and is the initial step in developing a network around your company.

Maintain social media profiles. Develop your content marketing plan so you'll have the stuff to share with social media, but first, ensure all existing social media profiles are active.

10. Join digital marketing communities

The entire concept of community development is to establish spaces where experts can gather to speak, share advice, make queries, and enhance their expertise. It is critical to understand that a group is not really a venue to gather leads. Instead, it is a forum for knowledge exchange so any marketing advantage is only indirect.

No group can indeed be successful — that is, support the success of the sponsorship — unless it is an enjoyable and fascinating destination to be. A few companies have established communities that are so desirable that people are paying to become a part of them. Others have grown their groups as well as, as a consequence, their companies by utilizing social media, vintage discussion rooms, and live broadcasts.

• Reddit

Reddit is another strong social network for connecting with individuals who share your interests, discussing ideas and opinions, and, certainly, sharing fantastic stuff that the public finds valuable. Reddit, which was founded in June 2005, currently has 430 million active users every month and receives a total of over 18 billion website hits every month.

If used correctly, Reddit may bring a massive quantity of traffic directly to your website. There's a special focus on utilizing correctly since if you don't abide by the regulations and standards of both the subreddits users join, you'll get reported by administrators and, in severe situations, banned.

• Facebook groups

Facebook groups may be quite beneficial to online marketing. They're a great way to learn various ideas, network, share material, locate offers and career possibilities, and have your questions addressed.

Facebook groups are not simply beneficial to the people who join them; they're equally beneficial to the businesses or individuals that organize them. They provide a possibility to publicize your name, establish a favorable reputation, and promote your information, skills, and/or items with a big audience.

Remember, that these are still Facebook communities, so you may meet various sorts of bigotry when you're on every social media network. To decrease prejudice and unconscious prejudice, the SEO sector has a long road ahead. As a result, we are forced to sound an alarm like this.

Takeaway…

Being effective with digital marketing remains challenging, especially given the fierce competition, notably on social networks as well as in content creation.

It requires a great deal of effort and patience to perfect online marketing with startups. However, if you begin with the correct plan, the appropriate mentality, and some essential digital marketing recommended standards, you'll be far more positioned to stick out and achieve actual benefits through digital platforms.

The end of the year tends to be the most intense for many retailers, making a quiet January a perfect time to wind down a little. But don’t feel tempted to do it just yet.

Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and it’s another great opportunity to both show some love to your customers and boost your sales.

Sending Valentine’s Day text messages for customers can be a great way to engage with them wherever they are and effectively promote your deals. Besides, it’s a perfect opportunity to show some love and appreciation, strengthening the bond you already have.

Continue reading this post to learn why you shouldn’t skip Valentine’s Day sales this year, find out about ongoing trends of this holiday, and benefit from 14 ready-to-use Valentine’s Day SMS templates that you can adjust to your business.

Valentine’s day in numbers: an unmissable business opportunity

People say that you should celebrate love every day, which is true; however, Valentine's Day still seems to be a special occasion that takes this thought even further.

As love fills the air on February 14th, businesses start reaping the benefits of the commercial side of this celebration.

Here are some numbers you should be aware of.

Where are people shopping for Valentine’s Day?

In 2021, the most popular Valentine’s Day shopping destination was online (38%), according to NRF. As people got quite comfortable with this shopping method during the pandemic, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this trend continuing in 2022.

29% of customers preferred going to department stores last year, followed by discount stores (28%). 17% of Valentine’s Day shoppers bought their gifts in specialty stores; for the first time since 2015, small and local businesses also made it to the top 5 shopping destinations (17%).

Valentine’s Day TOP gifts

Candy remains the most popular gift on Valentine's Day (54%), followed by greeting cards (44%) and flowers (36%). 41% of NRF survey respondents planned a special dinner at home, and only 24% had plans for an evening out.

More people bought gift cards, compared to the previous year (19% vs. 21%), while gifts related to clothing maintained a steady position (20%). Jewelry has still made it to the list of the top gifts, although only 18% of people chose it as a gift last Valentine’s Day (compared to 21% in 2020).

Spending habits

Most importantly, Valentine’s Day spending in the US has been steadily increasing over the years, until it reached $27.4 billion in 2020, up by more than 33% from 2017.

Although it dropped to $21.8 billion last year, it's still a lot of money and potential clients for businesses to ignore.

So how to get your piece of the pie by sending Valentine’s Day text messages for clients this year?

3 key tips for professional Valentine’s Day messages

1. Build the buzz early

Valentine’s Day is no different from Black Friday or Christmas campaigns – to make your text messages work, you have to carefully plan them and get on the customer’s radar as soon as possible.

Building the buzz early means teasing your customers a bit, growing their curiosity and anticipation by giving them a sneak peek at your offers. It’s important that they know what to expect and where to find it when the time comes, and this is how you win more sales.

2. Make it personal

Valentine’s Day is about expressing love and appreciation, and it’s best done personally. One-on-one conversations are usually more sincere and intimate, which you should also aim for when sending your Valentine's Day messages to clients.

And it’s not really a situation that you can call easier said than done. The right tools can help you address each customer by their name, tailor your offers based on their previous behavior, location, gender, and so on. Be it email or SMS marketing, you can still use personalization to engage customers better, even if you send thousands of messages.

Making it personal and as relevant to specific people as possible can increase your chances of them acting on your offers.

3. Don’t just try to sell

Crafting your Valentine's Day promotion ideas is essential, but this day shouldn’t be only about selling.

This Valentine’s Day, make sure to say thank you, give a gift or two, and show your customers that you value them. Keep the primary intention of this holiday in mind and be sincere – your customers will love it.

14 Valentine’s Day SMS templates and ideas to spread some love to your customers

Template #1: General greetings

Roses are red, violets are blue, we LOVE what we do because of people like you! Warm wishes from all of us at [company_name] this Valentine’s Day!

Template #2: Thank you message

Happy Valentine’s Day, [customer_name]! We’re happy you’re always on our side. As a thank you, use code THANKS40 to get 40% off your next order. Shop here: [short_link].

Template #3: Building awareness

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner! 3 days left until our extra fun flash sale – save the date! Choose your present before it's live: [short_code]

Template #4: Ideas

Not sure where to bring your date this Valentine’s, [customer_name}? Here’s a quick list of the most romantic places in [location] for inspiration: [short_link]

Template #5: Personalized promotions

Hi, [customer_name]! Hope you’re enjoying your new [product_name] you purchased [date]. Imagine how well it’ll go with a [related_product] that you can purchase with a 30% discount this Valentine's Day – shop now: [short link]

Template #6: Exclusive offers

[Brand_name]: Love is in the air! This Valentine’s Day, we have a special deal for our subscribers only. Use code ITSME50 to get half off on your whole cart! Shop now: [short_link]

Template #7: Events

May your heart be full of love and… music, [customer_name]! Join a special online concert at 8 PM tonight – log in with a code FEB14 to watch: [short_link]

Template #8: Contests

[customer_name], we’ve got something really special for you this Valentine’s Day! Reply with IAMIN and participate in the giveaway – winners will be announced tonight! More info: [short_link]

Template #9: Gifts

Happy Valentine's Day! Only today, with every order over $30, you'll get a sweet gift packed with love! Visit the shop: [short_link]

Template #10: Reminders

Hi, [customer_name] – just a quick reminder about your reservation tomorrow evening 7 PM at [restaurant_name]. Please reply YES to confirm, NO to cancel.

Template #11: Confirmations

Thank you for your booking, [customer_name]! We look forward to seeing you on February 14th, 2022, at [hotel_name]. You can find more info on our cancellation policy here: [short_link]

Template #12: Flash sale

Hurry up! Only 3 hours left until the end of our special Valentine’s Day sale – most items from His & Hers collection now 30% OFF! Shop now: [short_link]

Template #13: Galentine’s day

[customer_name], show some love to your galfriends this Valentine’s Day! Check the selection of gifts that we’ve prepared to make them extra happy: [short_link]

Template #14: Self-love

Date or no date, treat yourself this Valentine’s Day! Browse our catalogs and use code SELFLOVE to get 14% off every item in your cart! Buy now: [short_link]

Connect with your customers through Valentine’s Day text messages

No better day than Valentine’s Day to show your customers how much they mean to you. And no better channel than SMS to connect with them on a really personal level.

Start the new year on a great note by getting the best out of this heartwarming day – use the SMS templates above to spread love to your customers or take them as an inspiration to craft your own.

It’s an opportunity not to miss! Happy Valentine’s Day!

Have you ever made an impulsive purchase just because you were offered a good discount? Or felt encouraged to buy from a brand that is new to you but offers something cheaper?

Whichever it is, you’re a part of the majority since 67% of customers have made a purchase they weren’t originally planning to make at least once solely based on the deals available.

It’s no wonder that discounts drive purchases and can be an effective way to acquire new customers and nurture existing ones. What’s challenging though is to craft a compelling offer and distribute it effectively so that it would bring the results you desire.

Enter SMS discounts.

Being such a concise and personal channel, SMS is one of the best ways to promote your sales. Besides, to send discount messages to customers, you must get their permission, meaning that those who subscribe want to hear from you, therefore, are more likely to act on your offers.

In this post, you’ll learn how to put a great text message offer together, discover some tips to make them more effective, and examples for inspiration.

3 key tips to follow before sending SMS discounts to customers

There are some regular do’s and don’ts of SMS marketing that you should always follow when sending promotional messages to your customers.

Failing to meet these tips and requirements can determine the success of your SMS marketing campaigns, so before crafting one, make sure you:

Have consent to send the message in the first place

People have to opt-in to receive messages from you before you can start sending text messages to them. You can get their consent in several different ways, like asking to fill a form on your website, encouraging them to send a keyword to a business number, or even signing up at a physical location, if you have one. Besides, it’s important to keep the opt-out option easy.

Think about the timing

It's crucial to choose the right time to send your SMS discounts to increase the possibility of your subscribers acting on your offers and avoid annoying them. No one wants to get disturbed with promotional material at midnight or during family dinners - try to stick to the business hours.

Provide value with every message

Consumers get pickier by day, making it more important than ever to provide real value instead of bombarding them with irrelevant information. Make sure your sales messages to customers are tailored to their needs, and you offer something that they can really benefit from - otherwise, there’s no point for them to opt-in for your SMS marketing messages.

How to write a discount offer message that encourages customers to act?

Although SMS format seems simple enough, you shouldn’t underestimate the importance of a good SMS copy.

Ideally, you want to grab customers’ attention instantly and encourage them to take your desired action now. To achieve that, consider the following when putting together your text messaging deals:

• Address subscribers by their names. Personalized messages are more engaging and feel more relevant to the reader.
• Highlight the benefits and exclusivity of your offer. Simply offering a discount might work, but you can increase your chances of shoppers acting on it by highlighting what’s in it for them and making them feel special. You can do this by choosing the right words and phrases such as “we have just the thing for you” or “exclusive deal for our most loyal customers.”
• Benefit from a sense of urgency. If you want to make a sale, the offer must be enticing. Make it clear that the time of the offer could be running out any minute. SMS is great for limited-time offers!
• Use power words and images. While images help to draw attention, power words can nudge readers in the right direction. For your text messages, you can try using Save, Act now, New, Guaranteed, More, and, of course, Free.
• Include a strong call to action. Call to action is one of the key parts of your message that tells readers what you want them to do next. Without it, no one will likely put their time and effort into searching how they can benefit from your offer.
• Provide subscribers with a link you want them to visit. Directing your potential customer to the exact place where they can claim their discounts is important - this way, you can simplify their shopping journey and make it easier for them to place the order.

SMS discount message examples that your customers are looking for (+ templates)

The text message offers that your customers are likely looking forward to the most after opting-in are cash discounts, fixed percentage deals, and free shipping. Such deals can help you attract new shoppers as well as strengthen your relationship with returning customers.

Here are some discount message examples to help you get started with your campaigns.

1. Abandoned cart offers

The cart abandonment rate worldwide for online shopping orders was 88% in March 2020, according to Statista. Some of the reasons why people abandon their carts are:

• 80% of shoppers abandon their carts because of the lack of a good return policy
• 59% of visitors are not ready to make a purchase
• 55% of shoppers are surprised by hidden extra costs
• 27% of customers leave because of the complicated checkout process
• 25% of customers consider the prices to be too high

Take this information and make it work for you. Evaluate your site’s performance, clearly showcase all the necessary information, and simplify the checkout process. Most importantly, if the visitor placed items in their cart but hasn't completed the purchase, send them an SMS reminder with an enticing offer - it can help win them back.

Template #1

[store_name]: Are you sure you haven’t forgotten anything, [customer_name]? Get back to [store_name] before your items sell out! Finish your shopping now & receive FREE shipping: [short_link]

Template #2

[store_name]: Wanna spice up your wardrobe? With our free return policy, there’s no room for hesitation! Complete the purchase and receive a 10% discount: [short_link]

2. Product bundle proposals

Product bundling means selling several individual goods or services together as a combined package. Such bundles are offered at a lower price than they would cost if purchased separately.

Some examples of product bundles are shampoo and conditioner sets, value meals at restaurants, certain items of clothing, such as scarves and gloves, etc.

Using customers’ data can give you an overview of what they are looking for and give you the option to suggest something that fits in well with their order. As cross-selling can increase revenue up to 30% just by recommending adding an additional item to the cart, offering a discount on the additional item can be even more rewarding.

Template #3

We have just the right thing for you, [customer_name]! Choose a new handbag and get a pair of classy sunglasses for just half the price: [short_link]

Template #4

Hello, [customer_name]! Interested in purchasing a new phone? Browse our brand new stock of phone accessories to go with it and receive $15 off at the checkout: [short_link]

3. Royalty rewards

Make sure you don’t forget about your most loyal customers and take extra good care of them as they are the ones willing to spend. In fact, 43% of customers are happy to spend more on the brands they are loyal to.

Every now and then, surprise them with something special that feels exclusive. You could offer an extended discount that can be used with the next purchase. Or give out rewards in the form of text message coupons for their purchase, which will incentivize customers to come back to your store and increase the average order value.

Template #5

Thank you for being with us, [customer_name]! Here's a little something to brighten up your day. Use code TNX with your next order and receive a 20% discount: [short_link]

Template #6

[customer_name], You have collected 400 loyalty points that you can use with your next order to receive a special discount or a gift. Redeem them now: [short_link]

Ready, set, go!

Time to craft your discount message and see how it will affect your sales. Always analyze your results and then readjust your campaigns accordingly. But keep in mind the golden rules of SMS marketing such as careful timing, clear CTA-s, and, of course, having permission to send the message in the first place.

And don’t overdo the discounts. Do the math to understand and figure out how such campaigns will be profitable to you.