Did you know that about 500,000,000 SMS messages are sent daily (which translates into more than 180 billion annually)? This number grows with the number of global cell phone and smartphone users, so it’s safe to predict that it’ll continue to increase in the next years.
Moreover, many businesses use SMS marketing to reach their audiences, because the response rate of a text message is higher than in such popular marketing channels such as emails and social media.
As a result, mobile has become increasingly pervasive and indispensable, with businesses and customers all around the world embracing its potential.
According to ProTexting, 80% of the mobile phone subscribers keep their phones with them at all times, and 96% of all text messages are read. This means that you can reach the most part of population if you promote your services and products through text messages.
One of the most important factors that contribute to the effectiveness of SMS marketing is the marketing message. Since businesses have only about 160 characters to fit into an SMS, they do their best to carefully craft every message to communicate an offer in an engaging way.
In this article, let’s review six copywriting tactics that represent the best practices of communicating a marketing message in SMS.
1. Keep it Short and Concise
As it was mentioned above, you have to fit your message into 160 characters, which could be challenging. Expanding your text beyond this limit is not recommended because there is a good chance that your message won’t be delivered fully, so keeping things concise is a must.
Forget about copywriting practices that you’ve used for other marketing channels because you don’t have a lot of space to work with here. In fact, the best tactic here is to get straight to the point right away so the viewer knows what you’re trying to offer as soon as possible.”
2. Include a Clear CTA
Due to the limit of characters in one SMS, your message may essentially be a call to action (CTA) that also includes the most important details of the offer. For example:
Get 10 percent off your next purchase with code A123! More here: website.com/offer
Also, you can introduce the CTA with a few words at the beginning or the end of the message.
CTA at the beginning: Click here to get a 20 percent off your next purchase today only!
CTA at the end: Hi Kyle! The Penny sale is happening now! Click here to see our offers!
3. Segment Your Audience
Any good marketer knows that personalization is critically important to engaging maximum customers. The same rule applies to SMS marketing as well: research your audience to make sure that they receive relevant offers.
For example, here are some tips on personalization in SMS marketing:
- If possible, address the recipient by name. Text messaging is a personal way of communication between a brand and a customer, so try to use this personalization technique as often as you can
- Give new customers such offers as free shipping and discounts to encourage buying and becoming a regular customer
- Give loyal customers early access to exclusive products and invite them to your rewards program to keep them engaged with your brand.
4. Use Professional but Natural Language
Unless it’s an essential part of your branding strategy, unprofessional text such as abbreviations, slang, and acronyms isn’t a good way to address your audience.
Using “text slang” such as C U L8R and LOL is not recommended because it makes you look like a senior trying to pretend that they’re a teen.
Even though 160 characters may not seem like a sufficient number to fit a marketing message even for top writers, you could do it if you follow the tips we’re describing here.
5. Create a Sense of Urgency
This is a popular marketing technique used by most brands today. A good example is an email announcing a sale that ends in 24 hours.
You can use the following word combinations to instill a sense of urgency:
- Today only
- Expires soon
- Valid until
- Ends tonight.
6. Take Advantage of Exclusive Offers
If your business makes exclusive offers to your customers, using SMS is a good way to share them. For example, wouldn’t you love to receive a message like this one?
Hi Brian! You earned a $15 reward for your loyalty! Offer good until Saturday. Thanks for being with us!
One Last Thing
Feel free to use these tips to improve the quality of your SMS copywriting and get better marketing results.
The last thing that you need to know at this point is that you should always test your copies and see what versions perform the best.
Happy messaging!
