SMS Marketing Guide: Tips, Examples and Tools (2024)

SMS marketing is one of the most effective ways to communicate with customers, boasting high engagement and conversion rates. It’s also more cost-efficient and personal than many other marketing channels, nurturing stronger customer relationships without draining your budget.

This blog post will guide you through the basics of SMS marketing, with some best practices and examples to help you build an effective SMS marketing program.

What is SMS marketing?

Short message service (SMS) marketing uses text messages to build relationships with customers and communicate promotional information. The goals of SMS marketing include generating leads, persuading recipients to click a link, and sharing information about a customer’s order or profile.

SMS marketing messages often contain copywriting, emojis, eye-catching images, links, and other easy options for making a purchase. They are typically sent to large lists of subscribers.

How SMS marketing works

Strategically, email and SMS marketing are similar. The goal of SMS marketing, like email marketing, is to sell, educate, or build loyalty. SMS is an owned marketing channel—the sender fully controls the list of phone numbers and distribution—and businesses can send one-to-one or one-to-many messages, depending on their goals.

Just like email marketing, you should ensure you’re capturing consent from customers before sending a marketing message via SMS.

Shopify makes it easy to collect SMS consent during checkout. To turn this feature on, follow these steps.

Once you get permission from a subscriber, you can test different SMS marketing campaigns:

• New product announcements 
• Special offers like limited-time sales and free shipping
• Subscriber-exclusive offers 
• Flash sales
• Text-to-win competitions
• Loyalty programs
• Product drop alerts

SMS marketing requires a shortcode, the SMS equivalent of a company email address. A shortcode is an abbreviated, easy-to-remember phone number of five or six digits.

To opt into receiving your SMS messages, buyers text a keyword (like HOTSAUCE) to this shortcode. Because subscribing to SMS messages requires this deliberate act, it’s a good way to build a high-intent subscriber list with few bogus numbers: 

Before you start sending promotional messages in a mobile marketing campaign, you’ll need to build a list of phone numbers with opt-in consent to send. 

Typically, this list is gathered from prospects and customers, so if you aren’t generating traffic to your website, it may be too early to consider SMS marketing. First, invest your time in building a contact list.

Here’s an example of how athleisure brand Alo Yoga builds its SMS subscriber list, by offering new website visitors a discount:

SMS marketing works well during peak shopping seasons when email spam is high, paid advertising is expensive, and consumer attention is strained. It’s also a great way to automate your customer communications. Write a text and set up a trigger, then let your marketing tool send out texts at the perfect moment.

9 examples of good SMS marketing messages

Let’s look at some examples to inspire your SMS marketing strategy. 

1. The flash sale message

A short and snappy SMS is a great way to promote one-off flash sales or major promotions. Because you’re communicating with voluntary subscribers, there’s a good chance that most recipients will be responsive.

Line breaks, emojis, and product images make sure the promotion can be easily understood.

2. The hype-up text

Don’t launch a flash sale without some hype. A couple of promotional text messages, sent a few days before the event, can help with conversion. Many people like to think about their purchases ahead of time, so it’s wise to give your favorite customers a heads-up before your sale goes live.

3. The feedback message

SMS is an appropriate format for conversational commerce, making it an effective way to increase interactions with customers.

For example, when developing new product ideas, you could send an SMS to customers asking their opinion. If they reply, there’s an opportunity for a valuable 1:1 discussion that brings them behind the scenes and makes them more likely to make a purchase.

4. The back-in-stock message

This message informs customers about the availability of sold-out inventory. It’s a gentle yet effective way to re-engage past visitors. Encourage engagement by combining it with a free shipping offer or option to pre-order a product. Transactional messages are impactful and simple to automate. 

5. The giveaway message

If you want to get more leads from your SMS marketing efforts, host a text-to-win giveaway or contest. These types of lead generation strategies expand your customer base with minimal effort on your part.

Some studies suggest that up to 46% of contestants will share contests without any extra incentive, but you can increase organic sharing of your giveaway by offering a reward, such as additional entries.

You can set up a giveaway quickly across your current marketing channels. Just add your shortcode to any of the following:

• Ads (print and digital)
• Social media accounts
• Product packages
• Webinars
• Blogs or feature articles
• Landing pages on your website
• In-store signage 

When a user signs up for your giveaway, they automatically become a subscriber whom you can reach with future campaigns.

6. The BFCM message

Schedule messages around popular shopping dates and events, such as Black Friday shopping season. Time-sensitive campaigns jump on the excitement surrounding an event and encourage recipients to act fast before the sale is over.

7. The welcome message

Whenever someone signs up for your list, you can send them a series of welcome messages. Use short, concise language to tell them about your products, provide links to further content or popular products, and give them a coupon.

Access to discounts and coupons rank among the most common reasons to sign up for marketing text messages. Data suggests that a 10% discount is a sufficient incentive to capture most subscribers.

8. The abandoned cart message

An abandoned cart SMS is sent to people who added products to their cart but did not complete the purchase.

You can use SMS or email to follow up with abandoners and encourage sales. However, since people are more likely to see an SMS push notification than notice an email in a crowded inbox, abandoned cart SMS messages may lead to better results. 

9. The cross/upsell message

Strategic upselling and cross-selling can improve your average order value and customer lifetime value. It involves sending recommendations to customers based on their past purchases, a common tactic in email marketing you can replicate through texts.

SMS marketing best practices

Get permission

If a prospect or customer doesn’t give you consent to text them, you could face legal problems. SMS text marketing is regulated under US law and marketers must follow codes of practice enacted under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act and CAN-SPAM Act. Moreover, texting without permission feels spammy—not a good look for your company.

People often forget when they sign up for mailing lists, so make sure you keep a record of opt-in agreements. 

Make it easy to opt out

More than any other channel, SMS marketing requires buyer trust. This trust can be built by making it easy for customers to opt in and out of your SMS list. 

While accessible unsubscribe options can reduce your number of recipients, they also ensure that those who remain are genuinely interested in your offerings. This leads to a more engaged audience and, ultimately, better conversion rates.

Seek to inform, not (always) to promote

Since it’s easy to opt out of promotional SMS messages, it pays to be considerate of your buyers’ patience. Most of your messages should be informational—related to orders and noteworthy dates or events. Promotional messages should be few and far between, ideally no more than once per week.

Keep context in mind

When designing SMS marketing campaigns, resist the urge to send random messages to subscribers. Contextually relevant texts are more likely to generate clicks without draining subscribers’ goodwill.

For example, if you have a promoted event on Friday night, send a text on Friday afternoon. If you want to run a bar special, send your message at 3 or 4 p.m. on a workday. Keep it simple—you’ll avoid getting pinged as spam, and you’ll see better results.

Personalize

Many SMS marketing tools harness the data you collect about your customers to segment your SMS list and personalize messaging. Segmentation can be based on past purchases, browsing behavior, location, or even the time a customer usually shops. By segmenting your list, you can send more personalized messages that are likely to result in higher engagement and conversion rates.

If you run a clothing store and know that a group of loyal customers previously bought summer dresses, you could send them a text when your new summer collection arrives. Or, if you have a group of customers who usually shop in the evenings, you could schedule your texts containing promo codes to send when they’re likely to be browsing.

SMS marketing vs. email marketing

Email and SMS marketing are both powerful tools in your marketing arsenal, but they serve different purposes and are effective in different scenarios.

When to use email

Email is a versatile medium that allows for rich content, including text, images, and links. It’s ideal for sharing detailed or extensive content, such as:

Depending on your audience’s preferences, you may want to include this content in the email body for immediate consumption and mobile accessibility. For a more streamlined experience, however, use the email to present an overview and include a link to the full content on your website.

Moreover, email is great for nurturing leads over time. You can create a series of emails that guide a potential customer through the buying process, providing them with incr easingly promotional information at each stage.

Email also allows for more branding and design elements than SMS, helping to reinforce your brand identity.

When to use SMS

Text messages are typically read within minutes of being received, making SMS perfect for time-sensitive communications. For instance, you could use SMS to send flash sale alerts, appointment reminders, or delivery updates.

SMS is also optimal for sending short, impactful messages that require a response, such as a one-day discount code.

In addition, SMS marketing can be more personal and interactive. Customers can easily reply to your messages, creating a two-way conversation that can turn a prospect into a sales lead. While replies are possible with email, it’s not standard practice and may feel less natural to your subscribers.

Both email and SMS marketing have their strengths. The key is to use each channel strategically, based on your goals and your audience’s preferences.

SMS marketing software

For Shopify store owners, getting started with SMS marketing is simple, thanks to a range of purpose-built apps.

All direct marketing apps available on the Shopify App Store have built-in compliance features. Here are four popular options:

• Postscript. Use Postscript to build automated and personalized mass SMS messages. Pricing varies by usage. 
• Klaviyo. Send SMS texts to audience segments with Klaviyo’s triggers that use historical and real-time data.
• Attentive. Big brands with hundreds of thousands of subscribers use Attentive, including Sephora, Coach, and Williams-Sonoma.
• Yotpo. With pay-as-you-go pricing, Yotpo is a popular SMS marketing app.

4 benefits of SMS marketing 

1. High engagement rates

Across marketing channels, SMS has some of the most forgiving open rates and click-through rates. Since SMS marketing requires customers to opt in, your list will only include customers who wantto hear from you.

Shopify merchant Bushbalm has been using SMS marketing for years to generate engagement. Its automated series of welcome messages regularly sees click-through rates of more than 50%.

In comparison, the brand typically achieves 25% open rates with marketing emails, and only 2% click-through rates.

2. Easy to write

Anyone who’s written a mass email to customers knows the painstaking effort required, whether to craft the perfect subject line or the right copy that gets people clicking. 

With such a small SMS window on mobile devices, there’s only room for a couple of lines, and perhaps an image. Design and brand elements are replaced with emojis and GIFs—simple!

3. Strengthen customer relationships

SMS marketing helps build more personal, loyal relationships with customers. Texts are inherently easier to respond to, encouraging real dialogue. Marketing SMS messages have an average response rate of 45%, which is many times higher than email.

Messaging is no longer a one-way street. Your customers expect to hear back from you quickly and want the option to engage in conversation. This two-way conversation goes far beyond traditional customer service. Use a chat support app to:

• Learn more about customers to recommend relevant products
• Upsell and cross-sell to increase average order value
• Guide customers to related products if one is out of stock
• Help customers make a payment

4. Customers prefer SMS communication

The instantaneous and personal feel of SMS marketing makes it attractive for large and small businesses—and customers. After email, SMS and other types of smartphone messages are the preferred way to hear from businesses.

Using text message marketing in your ecommerce store

Many online marketers steer away from SMS marketing because they assume it’s expensive and intrusive. Not so. If you apply the principles above, you’ll cut through the noise, increase your conversion rates, and improve customer loyalty in the process.

Illustration by Pete Ryan