With summer sales and back to school discounts flooding the phones of your customers this July, it is now more important than ever to level up your SMS marketing game. Your competition is bringing their A game, and you can too. Check out this month’s edition of the Do’s and Don’ts of Text Message Marketing, where we’ve highlighted tips and tricks to help your company stand out, one text message at a time.

The Do: A Lifestyle Retail Company offering a Discount

This Retailer does a great job with messages that are….

1. Witty: This clothing brand, generally catered towards teenagers and young adults, was able to market a 4th of July sale by using a popular pop song reference, one that is familiar to the majority of their target audience. The wittiness of the message helps it stand out from other companies doing 4th of July promotions, while still getting the message across that a seasonal sale is in session.
2. Concise: This message is direct and to the point– making it an optimal length for a customer to be able to skim over without missing out on the key details. It contains information about the store, the discount, and a link directly to the online shopping portal. Nothing extra, nothing missing.
3. Urgent: Customers are more likely to react to a message from a retailer like this if a sense of urgency is instilled. The “40% OFF ENDS tonight” can motivate a prospective customer to click on the link, and convince an existing customer to potentially check out the items they abandoned in their cart. In addition, the retailer strategically timed this message being sent out midday, giving the customer just enough time to shop around and commit to a purchase by the time the sale ends.

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The Don’t: A Network Provider Offering a Trade-in

This Network Provider could improve by sending texts that are…

1. More Direct: Full paragraphs will likely work against you when it comes to text message marketing. Customers are likely to skip over messages that take longer than a second or two to absorb. Present them with a shorter message that gets to the point quickly to improve customer conversion rates.
2. Less Detailed: While arming your customer with lots of information may seem like the best course of action, presenting your customer with only the most important details to get them to take the first goal action is proven to be more effective. Draw out two or three of the most important details, and give your customer the opportunity to learn more if they are interested. This is often done with a CTA link at the bottom of the message.
3. Better Formatted: Because customers often skim over messages, it is important to have details in your texts that make important points stand out. This can include using bullets and line breaks, incorporating emojis, highlighting the promotion in all capital letters, breaking the message down into multiple text message segments, or even including an image that grabs the attention of the customer. Try and steer clear of lengthy, monotonous formatting like the provider used above.

Have you received a good or bad text from a company that you think we should feature next month? Text us your example at (617) 553-6631!

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