18 SMS Marketing Ideas to Boost Sales

When it comes to sharing successful promotional messages, SMS marketing is the way to go. With its convenience, high open rates, and instant deliverability, SMS lets businesses reach their target audience quickly and easily. SMS marketing campaigns boost customer satisfaction, retention rates, and sales.

Read on to get 18 text marketing ideas to inspire your next campaign and best practices for success.

18 SMS Marketing Campaign Ideas

From special occasions to new products and events, there are many opportunities for businesses to send SMS marketing messages. Here are 18 SMS campaign ideas for your business with examples and reasons why they work. 

Welcome Message

Your first message to new subscribers often serves as their first impression of your brand and SMS marketing program. You want to make sure their first impression is a good one. Craft a welcome message that makes new members excited to become an SMS subscriber. In the welcome message, you should introduce your brand, share what subscribers can expect, and include an enticing CTA to keep subscribers engaged.

Flash Sale

Encourage your SMS subscribers to act quickly with flash sale promotions. Flash sales instill a sense of urgency with subscribers as the promotion is only available for a limited time. Be sure to emphasize the time-sensitive aspect of the deal or discount in your text message and consider adding emojis or using all-caps to capture your subscribers’ attention.

Seasonal Promotion 

Many occasions throughout the year create promotional opportunities for your business. Whether you’re promoting a new seasonal collection or offering special holiday deals, using SMS is a great way to draw attention to your promotion. Consider adding a fun image with MMS or on-theme emojis to boost subscriber engagement. 

Special Offer

Send your SMS subscribers exclusive offers tailored for them. Your business can create special offers for subscribers by using SMS platform data and basing your discounts on their product interests or previous purchases. By personalizing deals and discounts, your subscribers will feel more special, your offers will be more relevant, and your subscribers will be more likely to make a purchase.

Spin-To-Win

Spin-to-win campaigns are a great way to spice up your SMS promotions. Including an interactive and fun method for subscribers to gain rewards increases the likelihood that they will spend more with your company, resulting in boosted sales. Use SMS to share a link to your spin-to-win campaign.

New Product Launch

Launching a new product is a great way to gain brand awareness while encouraging customer purchases. Use product launch SMS promotions to excite customers about new products and provide special offers to drive sales. 

Loyalty Program

Research shows that 57% of loyal customers will spend more on brands. This makes loyalty programs a great business strategy for increasing customer retention and gaining steady revenue. Use SMS to promote your loyalty program perks, encourage customers to join your loyalty program, and nurture existing members.

Back In Stock Message

Create excitement for previously sold-out products with an SMS promotion. Back in stock alert text messages foster a sense of urgency and encourage customers to buy products before they sell out again.

Abandoned Cart Message

Research shows that $4 trillion worth of merchandise gets abandoned in online carts. To ensure your company doesn’t lose that revenue, use SMS to share abandoned cart reminders. Effective abandoned cart texts remind customers to complete their purchases by providing a direct link to check out, offering incentives, and personalizing the content to subscribers. 

Birthday or Anniversary Discounts

Birthdays and anniversaries are occasions to celebrate! You can use the data collected from subscribers when they first opt-in to mark their birthdays and the date when they first subscribed. Share special SMS discounts to give your subscribers a special treat for their birthday or anniversary with your company. These special occasion SMS promotions help your business boost sales and customer loyalty.

Review Request

Reviews are crucial to gaining credibility for your business. Requesting reviews through SMS is an easy and convenient way to collect customer reviews. With the right timing, your SMS review requests can be even more effective. Be sure to ask for reviews from customers who have recently engaged with your business.

A good time to request reviews would be right after a customer makes a purchase. This increases the likelihood that customers are enjoying your business and are willing to leave a review. 

Include a direct link or path in your SMS message to show your customers how they can leave a review. Consider offering an incentive, and make the process as easy as possible for customers to take action.

Event Promotion

If your business has a new event coming up, use SMS to boost awareness and generate excitement from subscribers. SMS is great for promoting upcoming events like conferences, pop-up launches, or webinars. You can send a few messages leading up to the event to gain anticipation and more attendance. For example, your business could send one text a month before, one a week before, and one a day before the event. 

Surveys and Polls

SMS surveys and polls are quick and convenient strategies for collecting customer insight. Use a survey or poll to discover what your customers think about your brand, understand which products they like or dislike, or gauge interest for new launches.

For example, ask your customers to rate a product or experience from 1- 5 or prompt customers to vote for one product over the other. The information you collect from surveys and polls is valuable insight your business can use to serve your customers better and increase customer engagement and satisfaction.

Booking Confirmation

Use SMS to send customers booking confirmation messages. Your business can leverage SMS platform automations to send an automatic confirmation text to customers after they book travel transportation, hotels, or other events. Booking confirmation texts help your customers feel more secure about their purchases. These confirmation texts can also include links and important details about their booking to ensure customers know all the necessary information.

Appointment Reminder

One of the top reasons why people miss appointments is forgetfulness. Use SMS to remind customers about upcoming appointments and reduce no-shows. Use automations and customer data to remind customers to schedule annual or bi-annual appointments.

You can also include links to forms or other preparations to help customers get ready in advance. When customers are more prepared, appointments go by more smoothly and efficiently. 

Thank You Message and Discount

Your business can use SMS to share your appreciation for your customers. Send your customers text messages letting them know how grateful you are for their business and share special discounts to further show your gratitude. Thank you texts help your business establish stronger relationships with customers, increase customer loyalty, and boost sales. 

Win-Back Campaigns

If you’ve noticed that a subscriber hasn't interacted with your company in a while, send an SMS message to win them back. In your message, let your subscriber know that you miss them and offer personalized incentives to encourage them to purchase from your company again.

Free Trial Promotion 

When people want a business subscription but aren't ready to commit, free trials are a great solution. Regardless of what industry your business is in, you can use text messaging to promote a free trial to your SMS subscribers. 

In your free trial promotion text, include an enticing hook to attract customers and add a link to your free trial sign-up page. Sharing a free trial promotion via SMS offers a quick and easy way for businesses to promote their services and gain more customer engagement.

Best Practices for Successful SMS Campaigns

Now that you’ve got some great SMS marketing ideas, there are some tips to consider to make your text message marketing campaigns effective. Here are the best practices your business should follow to create successful SMS campaigns. 

• Provide incentivized opt-ins. To encourage SMS opt-ins, include an incentive like a discount or special offer to warmly welcome more subscribers.
  
  
• Give clear opt-out instructions. Businesses must provide a clear and easy method for subscribers to opt-out. Make sure your customers know which steps to take and include instructions at the end of your marketing messages.
  
  
• Keep messages clear and concise. Make sure your messages are short and to the point. You should also keep the content relevant to your subscribers.
  
  
• Add a CTA. Include a brief and clear call-to-action that lets your subscribers know what action you want them to take.
  
  
• Be mindful of timing and frequency. Your subscribers will be in different time zones, and nobody wants to receive too many text messages. Make sure you only send marketing messages during business hours and don’t send more than a few texts per week.
  
  
• Personalize your message. Marketing messages are more effective when they are relevant to your subscribers. Use subscriber data to send relevant messages and address subscribers by their first names.
  
  
• Keep tone in mind. Your marketing text messages are reflective of your brand. Be sure your tone matches your brand identity.
  
  
• Track results. To measure the success of your SMS campaign, be sure to track your return on investment, click-through rates, and other essential metrics.
  
  
• Incorporate visuals. To spice up your SMS marketing messages and make them more appealing to subscribers, add eye-catching visuals with MMS. 

Send Engaging SMS Marketing Campaigns With Mozeo

SMS marketing campaigns are effective at targeting your audience, encouraging purchases, and boosting sales. Ready to start sending your own marketing text messages? Mozeo is here to help. 

With mass texting, MMS capabilities, and analytics features, Mozeo has all the tools you need to send and manage successful SMS marketing campaigns. Schedule your demo with Mozeo today.