Overview
Include a brief overview of the help doc
This guide will:
- Help you understand some of the rules that apply to SMS marketing (US and Canada).
- Help you maximize the impact of SMS for:
- Client responses
- Marketing opt-ins
- Appointment conversions
- Closing sales
Composing your message
Compliance in your SMS body
- Seek consent from your text recipient before including them in your SMS campaign.
- Always identify yourself and your business by name.
- If it is the first time you are messaging a contact, or if it has been 90 days or more since you last messaged them, add an unsubscribe clause at the very end of your message.
- “Reply STOP to opt out.”
- “If you’d like us to stop texting you, just reply STOP.”
- If someone opts out of receiving future texts, remove them from your future SMS campaigns.
Strategic best practices
- Greet each contact by using the first name custom value → {{contact.first_name}}.
- Use sparingly, no more than once per month.
- Respect people’s time and attention by sending within specific time windows that are least likely to disturb personal time.
- For measurable results, use a strong offer.
- Make your message clear and concise to avoid turning people off and increasing unsubscribes.
- Consider offering something for free to maximize interest or responses.
- Minimal commitment now can create the most conversations that build trust throughout the sales process.
- Keep messages short and exciting.
- Think about how your message will make the average contact feel.
- Avoid needless punctuation, especially overuse of exclamation points, to increase reading speed.
- Avoid formal writing styles and match the casual tone of a typical text message conversation.
- Spark conversations.
- Creating live conversations creates a direct connection with a potential customer.
- It builds trust.
- It can increase sales momentum.
- It can build your reputation.
- Ask a direct question to prompt responses.
- Do not ask more than one question, as this can cause confusion.
- Do not overuse emojis.
- Avoid sending links.
- This can cause deliverability issues.
- It also neglects the benefits of chat conversations.