Guides

10 minutes to read

Sep 18 2024

How to Write SMS Copy That Sells in 2024

Polina Bezrukava

Just writing an SMS marketing copy isn’t good enough. Considering that nearly 9 out of 10 people have owned a mobile phone for quite a long already, they apparently have received hundreds of different texts over time. Your message has the potential to reach billions, so it’s essential to make it eye-catching and action-inspiring.

Crafting a sweet and direct text message at the perfect moment can turn prospects into loyal customers. But if you’re unsure about what makes a great sales text, what it includes, and how to ensure it’s effective, you might think it’s challenging, right? It doesn’t have to be.

We’ve put together this guide to help you master the art of writing high-converting text messages. We also added some handy tips and examples for marketers and businesses to follow and build converting SMS campaign via CPaaS platform. Let’s get started!

Why Sending Sales Text Messages Is Still Effective?

Text messaging service for small businesses and large enterprises is a valuable tool when it comes to customer engagement and business-to-customer communication.

If you’re wondering what makes SMS stand out in business marketing? Here are 8 reasons why:

1. It is relatively cheap to use.
2. Straight to the point due to a lower character limit.
3. It has a higher open rate and read rate than similar channels like email marketing.
4. Anyone with a phone can receive SMS.
5. It is more reliable in delivery.
6. Text messages are trackable.
7. It is more precise in reaching the target audience.
8. SMS marketing is time-saving as you can schedule messages to send at intervals.

Where to Start: Understanding Your Audience

The key to a great message is its impact on the target audience. To achieve this, you need to know your ideal audience for better SMS targeting. Here’s how to do it:

Identify your target audience

Your target audience consists of the people your business serves. They determine the tone and content of your messages. Once you understand your audience, dive deeper into their preferences to serve them better. A quick way to do this is through surveys or asking them to fill out forms about their needs and experiences with your brand. This provides valuable information for future campaigns.

Create a buyer persona

A buyer persona represents your ideal customer, considering their demographics, behavior, and needs. Having a buyer persona template allows you to engage directly with valuable clients and increases your chances of success. Here’s to build your ICP.

• Conduct market research. Gather data on your customers and target market through surveys, interviews, and online research.
• Analyze customer data. Identify common trends and patterns among your customers.
• Segment your audience. Divide your audience into distinct segments based on commonalities.
• Identify key characteristics. Pinpoint essential traits that define each persona, such as age, gender, income, and interests.
• Create detailed profiles. Develop comprehensive profiles, including a fictional name, background story, and photo.
• Outline goals and challenges. List each persona’s primary goals, aspirations, and challenges.
• Map the decision-making process. Examine the steps each persona takes when making a purchase.
• Tailor messaging. Create personalized marketing messages that resonate with each segment.

Personalize your messages

When someone reads a message from your brand, they should feel like you know them well and crafted the message specifically for their needs. Stats show that 80% of people are more likely to do business with a brand that uses personalized messaging.

If you’re using bulk texting services , include first names in your messages to give customers a sense of exclusivity. Additionally, use details like their location and previous purchases to make your texts more relevant and engaging.

Key Components of Sales Texts

Wondering what makes a comprehensive SMS copy? Be sure to include these key components in your messages:

1. Brand Name

Start by including your brand name so customers know who the sender is. Neglecting this crucial detail could make your sales SMS ineffective, as recipients might not recognize the sender.

2. Offers/Deals

Customers are more responsive when a sales text includes an enticing offer. While using SMS as an OTP authorization solution or customer support tool, incorporating a special deal can boost sales.

3. A sense of urgency

Leverage the fear of missing out to encourage customers to act quickly. Time-sensitive offers or flash sales can lead to higher lead generation.

4. Call To Action (CTA)

A CTA prompts customers to take action in response to the SMS. Use phrases like “Shop now” or “Get started” to capture their attention and prompt action.

5. Business details and contact information

Include links to your website or address in the message. Since standard SMS length may not fully convey your business or product information, offering your website or social media handles lets customers learn more about your brand.

How to Write SMS Messages with the Audience & Timing in Mind

Follow these practices before you compose an advertising text message that speaks to the right people.

Length and format of SMS writing

Unlike emails, people prefer shorter text messages. Marketers face the challenge of the 160-character limit per SMS, compared to Viber business messaging’s 1,000-character allowance. Concatenation can combine messages above 160 characters, but they may still be delivered in 160-character chunks, with some parts potentially failing to deliver. Aim to limit your SMS to 160 characters or, at most, 300 characters.

Language and tone

Choose the appropriate language and tone to align with your brand values and entice customers. For instance, selling office equipment requires a more formal tone, as customers are likely key decision-makers. Use proper sentences and avoid abbreviations (abbreviations sometimes work for a Gen Z audience, but rarely for other segments). Ensure the tone effectively conveys the message, like using a cheerful and helpful tone for follow-up text messages to new customers.

Clear messaging and compelling CTAs

Promotional messages should be clear, persuasive, and encourage action. Include all relevant sales or discount details, and use effective CTAs like “Try it now” or “Buy now” to create a fear of missing out.

Optimize Strategic Timing

Effective SMS marketing involves more than sending out bulk texts. It’s about strategic timing and relevant content that speaks directly to your audience. Utilize digital marketing text message techniques to schedule your messages for optimal times when recipients are most likely to read and engage. Keeping your messages concise and impactful, using the short message service (SMS) format wisely, can lead to higher open rates and better campaign performance. Consider these key timing and date factors:

• Weekdays vs. Weekends: Generally, Tuesdays through Thursdays see higher engagement rates for SMS messagescompared to weekends when people may be less connected to their devices.
• Time of Day: Mid-morning (around 9 AM to 12 PM) and mid-afternoon (around 2 PM to 5 PM) are typically the best times to send SMS as these are peak hours when people check their phones frequently.
• Holidays and Special Events: Tailor your SMS campaigns around holidays and special events relevant to your audience. This can enhance relevance and timeliness, making your messages more engaging.
• Before and After Business Hours: Sending messages just before or after traditional business hours can catch recipients when they are likely to have free time and pay more attention to their personal messages.
• Urgency in Messages: For immediate actions like flash sales or last-minute deals, sending SMS closer to the event time can create a sense of urgency and prompt quick responses.

Enhance API SMS Messaging

Leverage API SMS messaging to automate and streamline your SMS campaigns. Broadcast message tools enable you to send out a large volume of messages effortlessly, ensuring your marketing through SMS is efficient and effective. One of wich is BSG CPaaS Platform , which incorporate these technologies to maintain consistency in your messaging, and track engagement through SMS trackertools to refine and optimize your approach over time.

3 Ways to Test and Measure SMS Performance and KPI

To better understand your customers’ behavior and actions, it’s crucial to use measurable SMS KPI data for refining your SMS marketing efforts. So, how do you evaluate the effectiveness of your SMS marketing strategy? Let us walk you through the process.

Utilize A/B testing

Before sending the actual text messages to customers, conduct A/B testing. For SMS, this means distributing various message samples to customers in order to assess their influence on your campaign. A/B testing helps you understand which messaging resonates best with your audience. For example, you can compare SMS and MMS messaging to see which has a higher click-through rate (CTR). Test various CTAs, timing, tone, and message lengths to optimize your strategy.

Track performance metrics

The secret to effective sales is in data. To ensure this, measure your marketing SMS using key metrics such as conversion rates, open rates, CTR, opt-out rates, and revenue. To calculate the conversion rate, use the following formula:

(Number of conversions x 100) / Number of sent messages

Compare these metrics with your goals and KPIs to determine the campaign’s effectiveness.

Employ tools and platforms

Use SMS marketing software with built-in analytics to automate data collection and gain valuable insights. These platforms help you analyze data for future campaigns. Some cloud communications platform s offer the necessary tools to aggregate and analyze SMS performance.

Sales Text Messages to Generate More Sales (15 Examples)

Now you are ready to begin your sales SMS copywriting, here are a few samples of text messages to customers you can use to generate sales and keep your customers engaged.

Welcome Messages

Payment Reminder Messages

Discount Offer

Sales Promotion Message

Loyalty Programs

Sales Follow-up Text Messages

Must-Know Tips for Improving SMS Copy

Here is a rundown of some tips to optimize your marketing text messages.

Analyzing customer feedback

SMS marketing is not only for sales promotion; it is a fantastic way to elicit customer responses. Use a 2-way conversational messaging to get customers to express their opinions on your products or services. You can also ask them to write a view on a particular aspect of your business. These feedbacks are important to improving the quality of your messaging. As a bonus, the customer feels better engaged if you implement his views.

Leveraging data

Data is everything when scaling an SMS campaign. Analyzing the data you collected tells you which SMS text strategy worked, the preferred times for sending messages, and the type of content that resonates with your customers. All these figures give you a better understanding of your customers and how to get them to react to the messages.

Staying up-to-date with trends

People’s tastes constantly change, and you must keep up with these changes to stay relevant. For instance, one trend to know is using SMS chatbots in responding to customer complaints. Another way is to use BSG CPaaS platform for your marketing, which lets you to clean up database with Number Verifier first, then use AI Voice Bot to warm up this database and then send your SMS as a follow-up! It actually will make your campaign stand out and rise the CTR, leading customers through the funnel of sales.

Summing Up

Writing compelling sales texts begins with understanding your customers and their needs. Keep in mind that data is the foundation for success. Consequently, you’ll need a method to gather and analyze results. The BSG CPaaS platform offers tools to elevate your SMS marketing efforts by not only helping you create the most effective sales text messages but also tracking the essential aspects of your SMS advertising. Contact BSG to get started with your top-performing SMS campaign!