The Ultimate Guide to SMS Marketing

I get fundraising texts from politicians. I get appointment reminder texts from doctors’ offices. Some companies, like SiriusXM, use text messaging for their online customer support. Zappos texts me shipping updates. Google sends texts for user authentication. Random numbers text me spam. But I can’t remember the last time a legitimate business sent me an enticing marketing or sales message — even though I’ve shared my phone number countless times, downloading content, requesting free demos, and as part of the checkout process. Intuition would tell us, then, that marketing and sales texts aren’t effective; obviously, every company would send them if they were, right? Wrong. Approximately 100% of people read all their text messages, and more than half consider text their preferred communication method. Yet, only 39% of businesses use SMS marketing. Since, in contrast, more than 70% use social media and more than 80% use email, text message marketing represents a significant, nearly untapped opportunity. (And MMS marketing is even more powerful.)

A Brief History of SMS Marketing

Today, texting is a regular part of everyday life. It didn’t exist when I was born. In fact, it took another 11-plus years for 22-year-old British engineer Neil Papworth to send the first SMS text. On December 3, 1992, Papworth used his computer to text his friend, Vodafone Director Richard Jarvis, “Merry Christmas.” Jarvis, of course, couldn’t reply because his phone book-sized mobile phone didn’t have a QWERTY keyboard. 

The year before, Congress had already enacted the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) to protect consumers from receiving unsolicited calls or messages; under the TCPA, all marketing calls, faxes and text messages are subject to government regulation, and businesses must obtain consent and provide disclosures to be in compliance. This, of course, didn’t dissuade some marketers from fully embracing the practice. 

Here’s what’s happened since.

1992: The first mobile phones that can send and receive SMS text messages go to market (the first text messages are free and can only be sent between people on the same mobile network); Unicode is adopted as the international standard

1993: Nokia presents a new SMS feature, an audio beep indicating a new incoming message

1994: IBM releases Simon, a mobile phone with touchscreen that many consider the first smartphone

1997: Nokia introduces the Nokia 9000i Communicator, the first mobile phone with a QWERTY keyboard (the iconic T-Mobile Sidekick wouldn’t come out for another five years); J-Phone (now SoftBank) releases the SkyWalker DP-211SW mobile phone with the world’s first known emoji set, including one of the most iconic emoji characters in the Unicode Standard, the ‘pile of poo’ emoji

1999: Mobile phone providers start selling smaller phones, and mobile service providers begin offering more affordable phone contracts; texts can now be sent between people using different carriers; Japanese mobile phone operator NTT DoCoMo introduces its integrated mobile internet service ‘i-mode,’ with 176 emojis created by Shigetaka Kurita — sparking the global emoji phenomenon

2001: Linguist David Crystal coins the term ‘textspeak’ (e.g., LOL, SMH, etc.), calling text messaging “one of the most innovative linguistic phenomena of modern times;” many disagree, but the popularity of texting skyrockets

2002: 250-billion text messages are sent worldwide 

2003: Five- and six-digit short codes for use with text marketing are introduced; and major brands like Nike and General Motors launch the first enterprise-level SMS marketing campaigns

2006: Google begins to convert Japanese emojis to Unicode private-use codes

2007: Apple releases the first iPhone in the US, setting the standard for modern smartphone design; Blackberry’s BBM drives the rise in text messaging, as users engage in encrypted conversations; unlimited mobile data plans are introduced; and, for the first time, the average number of texts sent per month exceeds the number of phone calls made

2009: The first Unicode characters explicitly intended as emojiS are added to Unicode 5.2; Google releases ‘Extra emoji,’ an add-on providing access to more than 1,200 emojis (Google’s press release still refers to emojis as emoticons)

2010: The verb ‘text’ is added to the dictionary; the emoji is finally standardized by Unicode (6.0), allowing brands like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and Twitter to start creating their own universal emojis

2011: Apple introduces an instant messaging service exclusively for macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and watchOS, including an emoji keyboard; 35% of consumers own smartphones

2016-2019: Mobile shopping sessions grow 70%

2020: Omnisend customers (for instance) send 378% more SMS messages than in the previous year; SMS conversion rates also increase 102% year-over-year

2021: 94% of consumers use mobile to shop online, and 57% shop on mobile primarily

Texting Your Customers: What is SMS Marketing? What is MMS Marketing? (SMS vs. MMS)

Short Message Service or SMS marketing refers to the strategy of using text messaging to deliver marketing (and sales and CX) communications to subscribers and/or customers. Multimedia Messaging Service or MMS marketing refers to the strategy of using text messaging with ‘media’ to deliver your communications; as T-Mobile explains it, “Whenever you send a text with an attached file, like a picture, video, emoji… you’re sending an MMS.”

There are many benefits to MMS marketing, or including non-text/rich media elements in your text marketing:

• Whereas you’re limited to 160 characters with an SMS text (or 306 characters with ‘extended messaging’), you can include up to 1,600 characters per MMS message
• Whereas you’re nearly entirely limited to Unicode text with SMS marketing (and images appear as links), you can send images, videos, gifs and even audio that appear embedded in MMS messages
• MMS messages provide a 52% higher CTR
• MMS messages are 800% more likely than SMS messages to be shared on social media or forwarded to friends and family

Unfortunately, there’s always a catch — and MMS marketing is more costly than SMS marketing. (Ask SMS marketing platform providers (list below) about their fees.)

The Top 10 SMS Marketing Ideas

Like email marketing, the only limit to what you can do with your texts is the extent of your imagination. You can send texts as soon as someone signs up. You can send texts when a user abandons the cart, or opens an email but doesn’t click. You can send texts to provide updates. You can send texts with coupons, gifs and videos. You can even send a series of texts (an SMS drip campaign) to nurture new leads into paying customers and brand ambassadors. Here are some of the most common examples of SMS marketing texts, common because they work:

1. The Welcome Message

It’s one thing to welcome a new subscriber or customer by email; it’s another thing entirely to send a personalized text, which consumers are 450% more likely to open.

2. The Opt-In/Disclosure Message

Yes, text message marketing is legal — but not if you don’t adhere to the requirements established by the TCPA. So, follow up your welcome message with a text that includes: 

1. A description of the program in which they enrolled
2. The approximate number of messages they should expect to receive in a defined period
3. A link to the full terms and conditions of the privacy policy
4. Instructions on how to opt out from receiving messages (STOP), as well as how they can get help information (HELP)

3. Alerts 

Since 98% of consumers open all their texts, SMS is an ideal solution for alerting subscribers and customers about final offers, limited inventory and account issues.

4. Order and Shipping Updates and Confirmations 

If you’ve ever ordered online, you know that what often follows is a somewhat tense period of uncertainty — until the order confirmation and shipping confirmation come through. Since we check our phones every four minutes, there’s no better method of communicating this important information than text.

5. Time-Sensitive and Limited-Edition Drops

There’s no more immediate or urgent channel than text (90% of consumers respond to texts within three minutes), so text is the optimal medium for announcing new, time-sensitive and limited-edition releases.

6. Exclusive Offers

One of the most effective ways to generate new leads (in addition to offering gated value-add content) is to promote membership-only discounts and freebies — and, with a 45% open rate, SMS marketing is the best way to send coupons and exclusive links.

7. Special Occasions

Today’s sophisticated consumers expect much more than sales pitches from their favorite brands, and one of the most fun ways to personalize your messaging is to ask new subscribers/customers for important dates (like birthdays) so you can deliver truly personalized, even intimate experiences direct to their phone.

8. Triggered Texts

We all understand the effectiveness of sending automated, personalized emails triggered by user/subscriber actions (like abandoning cart) — and, with text marketing conversion rates exceeding email rates by about 300%, there’s no reason not to incorporate triggered texts into your sales funnel.

9. Drip Campaigns

I’m a strong proponent of email drip campaigns because, when done correctly, they can guide your contact from initial curiosity all the way to brand ambassador. Of course, with SMS marketing’s higher open and click-through rates, there’s no reason you shouldn’t experiment with text-based drip campaigns as well. Chances are, they’ll perform better.

10. Customer Service Messages

As I repeat ad nauseam, customer support does not stand alone. To achieve customer success and build long-lasting customer relationships, you need to provide an empathic, transparent customer experience throughout the customer lifecycle, from reach and acquisition to conversion, retention and loyalty — and text is the easiest way to communicate with those seeking pre-sale customer and post-sales tech support.

The Top 10 SMS Marketing Best Practices

Whether you’re sending text-based messages or texts with rich media, there are certain rules that weren’t made to be broken:

1. Never send a text to anyone who has not opted in
2. Always include options for opting out
3. Always identify yourself — there’s no guarantee your subscribers have added you to their contacts
4. Always personalize your messages — and use a CDP to segment your audiences
5. Always use proper grammar — as enticing as it is to use ‘textspeak’ in your marketing messages, don’t (emojis are OK!)
6. Always send your texts at the right times — with area codes, it’s easier to optimize message timing; A/B test to confirm
7. Always keep it short — in addition to being limited by character count, text messages should also adhere to standard content marketing best practices, and unnecessary words, flowering language and fluff fail to achieve desired results
8. Always include a call to action (CTA)
9. Always incorporate your MMS/SMS marketing into your 360-degree marketing strategy, leveraging the channel at optimal times and for the most appropriate customers
10. Always use an SMS marketing platform or other marketing, sales and/or CX tool to optimize and deliver your messages (more on this below)

6 Steps to Creating a Successful SMS Marketing Strategy

Before you sign up with an SMS platform and start shooting off texts, you need to develop an SMS marketing strategy. This should come as no surprise: as part of your 360-degree digital marketing strategy, you need a content marketing strategy, an email marketing strategy, a social media marketing strategy, a digital advertising strategy, and so on. To ensure your texts arrive at the right time, only on the right devices, with only the most effective content, start here.

Step 1. Define your SMS marketing-specific brand voice, value proposition and intent

1. Will we speak differently via text than we do, for instance, on social media or on our website?
2. Will we speak differently depending on the segmented audience receiving the message?
3. What are the benefits we’ll be offering those who provide their phone numbers and opt in to receive messages?
4. What do we hope to achieve through our SMS marketing strategy? Is it better brand awareness? Streamlined user authentication? More sales? 

Step 2. Identify your audiences

1. Use your zero-, first- and third-party data to learn as much as you can about your existing customers, subscribers, website users and social media followers
2. Use an SEO tool to identify your key competitors, and who/what they’re targeting
3. Use any feedback your CX and sales teams have logged to identify gaps and opportunities
4. Use surveys and focus groups to learn more about what customers, prospects and the general public think of your brand, products/services and messaging
5. Develop user personas, including personal background; professional background; user environment; preferred content types; attitudes, interests, motivations, needs, goals and pain points; buying motivation(s), or what the user hopes to accomplish by purchasing; and buying scenario(s), or the context in which a user is likely to purchase
6. Map out the customer journey, outlining all the paths a consumer might take toward making a purchase; the thoughts, feelings and actions of prospects/customers at each stage of the customer lifecycle; your existing strategies for retaining, upselling and breeding loyalty among customers; which types of SMS marketing messages you should be sending; and where in the customer lifecycle you should be sending text marketing messages. 
7. Use a CDP to organize and manage all your customers and prospects, segment audiences based on your user personas, and personalize your SMS marketing

3. Establish your SMS marketing goals

1. Define goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-based (SMART)
2. Start with your overall business goals, proceed to your long-term strategic marketing goals, and conclude with your overall SMS marketing and campaign-specific SMS marketing goals
3. Identify the digital marketing and CX KPIs against which you’ll measure your content’s performance
4. Outline your expectations for each stage of the customer lifecycle

4. Audit your existing content

1. Is our content up to date?
2. Does our content meet the requirements for the intended stage of the customer lifecycle or sales funnel? 
3. Does our content have a clear target audience?
4. Does our content include an appropriate CTA?
5. Is there any existing content that can be repurposed for SMS marketing messages?
6. Is there any existing content that can be used to inspire new SMS marketing strategies or tactics?

5. Outline your SMS marketing content development and distribution processes and channels

1. Who are our text content creators?
2. Who are our text content reviewers?
3. Who are our text content marketers?
4. Who are our text content marketing analysts?
5. How are the content themes and subjects determined?
6. What types of content are being created? And what unique step(s) does each type require?
7. At what cadence is the content released?
8. How are the content deadlines determined?
9. What type of project management style (e.g., agile) are we adopting?
10. What project management software are we using (e.g., JIRA, for agile)?
11. What type of SMS marketing platform or other marketing, sales and/or CX tool are we using to create and distribute our text messages?

6. Develop your editorial plan and incorporate it into your content calendar

1. Interview internal stakeholders on topics their past work suggests would appeal to your audience(s)
2. Look back at your content audit and identify the topics with the best performance
3. Ask your high-value clients and influencers what inspired them to visit your site, request a demo, make a purchase or promote your brand — as well as what types of messages they prefer to receive via text
4. Spy on your competitors — sign up to get their texts and discover what concepts or content types they’re using that you aren’t
5. Identify gaps and opportunities related to your user personas, funnel or lifecycle stages, and content types — with the goal of covering them all, as well as interconnecting related pieces of content to direct users down the funnel/lifecycle and toward your desired actions
6. Add all steps, projects and deadlines related to your SMS marketing efforts to your master calendar — and be sure to consider the thin line between active, engaging messaging and aggressive, overcommunicatio
7. Create a timeline for each SMS marketing campaign, project and assignment
8. Assign all roles from development to approval and from distribution to monitoring, analysis, iteration and optimization

Once you’re ready to start texting, it’s time to find the right text messaging marketing software for your unique business needs and goals.

The Top 14 SMS Platforms (in alphabetical order)

Following are the best SMS apps. Some do text only. Some do a lot more. Your homework is to review each text messaging service and request a demo from the ones that look best.

1. ActiveCampaign
2. Attentive
3. ClickSend
4. Drip
5. EngageBay
6. EZ Texting
7. ManyChat
8. Omnisend
9. Sender
10. Sendinblue
11. SimpleTexting
12. SlickText
13. TextMagic
14. Twilio

Then, during your demo, ask the text marketing app vendors the questions that matter.

9 Questions You Have to Ask Your Prospective SMS Platform Providers

1. How are your prices determined?
2. Are there any on-site services included?
3. Is your SMS software ‘satisfaction guaranteed?’
4. Is your SMS software customizable to my business?
5. Is your SMS software scalable with my business?
6. What type(s) of technical support do you offer?
7. What is the average turnaround time for bug fixes?
8. How often are updates released? And when and how are users alerted?
9. What is the installation process? How long does it take? What are the most common hurdles and disruptions?

Image Credits (in order of appearance)

1. Photo by Pradamas Gifarry on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/889Qh5HJj4I
2. Photo by Quino Al on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/8gWEAAXJjtI
3. Photo by Shawn Fields on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/zsppCWsxJy0
4. Photo by Andrew Neel on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/o93echtXf84
5. Photo by Chris Henry on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/kfjR8DZm55Q
6. Photo by Patrick Fore on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/5YU0uZh43Bk
7. Photo by Guzel Maksutova on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/B30XL_m3fso
8. Photo by bruce mars on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/photos/FWVMhUa_wbY