Finding the right way to communicate with your customers is essential for a business. SMS marketing can help you build a loyal customer base regardless of business size by offering immediate, personal, and efficient communication.
An SMS marketing strategy is a direct line to your customers. Understanding SMS marketing can help businesses build a connection with customers to foster loyalty and drive action. Effective SMS marketing campaigns give customers the most relevant information and deliver messages they’re likely to see.
Integrating SMS into your marketing strategy ensures your brand stays on top of customers’ minds. But what is SMS marketing, and how does it work? Keep reading to learn how to leverage text message marketing for your business to improve your digital marketing strategy.
Before getting started, what are some effective SMS marketing strategies? The top strategies include promotional alerts, flash sales, and friendly appointment reminders. Businesses also send transactional messages like shipping updates to build trust and SMS surveys to collect quick feedback. Together, these tactics spark immediate engagement, help drive sales, and build strong customer relationships over time.
What is SMS marketing?
Also known as text message marketing, SMS marketing involves sending text messages to engage directly with consumers. It’s similar to email marketing, but rather than sending an email to an inbox, you’re sending a text message to a customer’s smartphone. Brands use these texts to share deals, order updates, and reminders with customers who opt in.
SMS messages are short texts and limited in length, which requires every word to convey value and relevance. Despite being concise, SMS can effectively communicate offers, updates, reminders, and more. Short messages help customers quickly understand key information, making SMS a highly effective tool for building relationships and communicating with your target audience.
The purpose of SMS marketing
SMS marketing aims to provide businesses with a direct line to their customers. Customers typically read SMS messages quickly, making them ideal for time-sensitive communications like promotions or order updates. They allow for highly personalized interactions, like product recommendations based on past purchases.
With the right SMS marketing automation strategies, businesses can tailor campaigns and messages to individual preferences to ensure relevance and foster loyalty. For instance, SMS marketing automation strategies can include sending text messages for cart abandonment after a certain period of time to capture lost sales.
Examples of SMS marketing
SMS marketing campaigns are versatile and can cater to many businesses’ needs and various customer touch points. Once your customers sign up to receive SMS communications, you can determine the types of messages you’d like to send to them.
Examples of the best SMS marketing strategies include:
- Promotional alerts
- Flash sales and limited-time offers
- Reminders
- Transactional messages
- Feedback
Promotional alerts
Promotional SMS messages about special deals or discounts are some of the most common SMS marketing messages sent. A simple message like “Hey, Tom! Enjoy 15% off sitewide. Use code SAVE15 at checkout. Offer valid until Tuesday!” can encourage customers to act immediately.
Keep your offer front and center so readers get the deal at a glance. Add an expiration date to create urgency. Then, include a short, branded link so customers can shop in a single tap. Branded links also help your text avoid carrier spam filters.
Flash sales and limited-time offers
SMS marketing strategies that use messages to promote flash sales can create a sense of urgency and drive sales through limited-time promotions. A message like “Flash sale alert! Get 30% off select items for the next 24 hours! Shop now: [link]” encourages customers to buy before time runs out.
Urgency works, and texts drive real sales. In Vibes’ 2026 Mobile Consumer Insights survey, 65% of consumers indicated they had bought something from a brand’s text message in the past year. Limited-time offers give customers a reason to make those purchases sooner rather than later.
Reminders
An SMS marketing strategy can also be used for appointment reminders. For instance, an apartment leasing office might text, “Hi Alex, just a reminder about your tour with us tomorrow at 3. Reply ‘C’ to confirm.” Messages like this remind customers about services they won’t want to miss out on.
Reminders go beyond appointments, too. Text customers before a subscription renews, a reward is about to expire, or a bill is due. These quick messages prevent surprises and build customer loyalty over time.
Transactional messages
Transactional SMS messages can improve communication between businesses and customers. For instance, ecommerce customers typically like to know when their package will arrive. Your business can send a message like “Hi, Mark! Your package will arrive tomorrow by 9. Track your order: [link]” to provide essential information.
Shipping notifications are some of the most welcome texts you can send. Customers expect them, so they tend to open them fast. These updates build trust after a purchase, especially when paired with a follow-up email checking in after delivery.
Feedback
Sending customers an SMS survey allows them to provide immediate feedback on their experiences, products, or services. For instance, you can send SMS customer service feedback requests asking them to rate their experience. Businesses can quickly gather feedback by integrating quick, simple questions and a rating scale.
Plus, since text messaging is convenient for your customers, you can typically expect responses more often. To maximize response rates, keep surveys to 1 or 2 questions so customers can reply in seconds. Then, add their answers to your customer data so future texts feel even more relevant.
Why is SMS marketing important?
Keeping up with SMS can help your brand stay connected as more customer communication moves to text. And brands are moving fast. Marketing SMS use jumped 34% worldwide from 2025 to 2026, according to Infobip’s “2026 Messaging Trends Report.” Texts feel personal, land instantly, and spark quick replies, so your text message marketing efforts pay off quickly.
SMS marketing strategies allow businesses to communicate directly with customers in the most convenient way for them. Cost-effective and adaptable, SMS marketing strategies can be tailored to various industries and target audiences. The benefits of using texts to communicate with customers include:
High open rates
Some emails (especially those without catchy subject lines) can end up unopened. But SMS messages have an exceptionally high open rate, making SMS a highly effective channel for reaching your audience fast. In fact, people read 90% of text messages within 3 minutes, according to “The State of SMS Marketing in 2023” report by Validity.
Direct communication
Text messages offer immediacy and intimacy. Since they end up directly with the recipient’s other text messages, they’re a more personal and direct form of communication. This directness often results in faster action on their part, whether clicking on a promotion or replying to your message.
Wide reach
SMS marketing offers a reach similar to that of email marketing. Regardless of internet connection, most mobile phone users can receive and read text messages, making it a convenient and accessible marketing medium. Remember that, much like sending bulk email campaigns, you must obtain the recipient’s permission before sending bulk SMS marketing blasts from platforms like Mailchimp.
Cost-effectiveness
Compared to traditional advertising or other digital marketing channels, SMS campaigns can be cost-effective. With low per-message costs and bulk sending, brands can reach large audiences while keeping campaign costs down. Combining SMS with email can also help control costs by saving paid text messages for more urgent communications.
Mobile-friendliness
Texts work naturally on mobile devices, ensuring your marketing message arrives in the right format and is easy to access on the go. Customers don’t need an app, a login, or even WiFi to read them. SMS also makes double opt-in easy, helping you build an engaged list and aim for near 100% SMS campaign deliverability rates.
Increased engagement
With their concise and direct nature, SMS messages drive higher levels of engagement. Whether it’s a feedback request, flash sale, or loyalty reward, the immediacy of these messages often spurs recipients into action. Plus, people keep their phones close and notice texts fast.
Time-efficiency
Creating an effective text message is typically faster than designing intricate digital marketing campaigns or elaborate advertisements. This efficiency allows brands to react to customers in real time by sending promotions, updates, or alerts using SMS automation software. That means you can jump on trends while they’re still hot.
SMS vs. Email: How Do They Compare? | ||
SMS | ||
Open rate | ||
Reach | Reaches mobile phones directly, without internet access needed | Requires an email address and internet access |
Cost | You typically pay per message | Usually priced by plan or list size |
Immediacy | Emails can sit unread for hours or days | |
Message length | Short, about 160 characters per text | Lots of room for images, links, and longer copy |
How to create an SMS marketing strategy
Crafting an effective text message marketing strategy ensures each message resonates with your intended recipient and prompts action.
By leveraging the immediacy and intimacy of SMS, businesses can build deeper relationships with customers to keep them loyal and engaged. To create a successful SMS marketing strategy, follow these steps:
Step #1: Define goals and objectives
Before launching an SMS campaign, you should understand your goals and objectives. Do you want to boost sales through limited-time promotions, or are you looking to gather feedback? Defining the precise objectives of each individual SMS marketing campaign can help you compare metrics.
As you work, make each goal specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). For example, your SMART goal might be to grow sales by 10% during a 2-week promo. Clear goals make SMS marketing success easy to spot and easy to repeat.
Step #2: Understand your target audience
Your messaging must be precise and relevant to your target audience. Whether using mobile marketing automation strategies like reminders, cart abandonment messages, or promotions, you should understand who you’re speaking to.
Past purchase patterns, product preferences, and feedback allow you to tailor your SMS campaigns to different audience segments based on their preferences. The resulting personalized messages make every offer feel more relevant. And you can apply these insights across digital channels to create a more consistent experience for each audience segment.
Step #3: Build a quality subscriber list
Whether sending an email or an SMS message, you must build a subscriber list of people who have explicitly consented to receive your texts. To build a quality list, use social media, email, or website opt-in campaigns to encourage customers to sign up for communications and SMS alerts.
Offering incentives like deals or access to sales can help encourage signups. But focus on quality over quantity. A smaller list of opted-in subscribers outperforms a bigger list of people who don’t care. Engaged subscribers open your texts, click your links, and are more likely to buy.
Step #4: Segment your subscriber list
Not every SMS message you send will be relevant to every subscriber. Segmentation allows you to divide your list based on factors like purchase history, demographics, or engagement to target the right audiences at the right times.
Segmentation also allows for deeper personalization, allowing you to create content most relevant to your SMS subscribers. For example, you might send VIP perks to your top buyers and a winback offer to quiet subscribers. SMS marketing works best when you speak directly to the needs and preferences of each customer.
Step #5: Create compelling content
SMS messages must be concise, and you don’t have supporting images to help encourage customers to take action. A clear call to action (CTA) ensures that every message tells customers what to do next. In addition, you should use urgency, exclusivity, and emotion to make your message stand out.
If you do want visuals, use MMS to add images, GIFs, audio, or video to your text. They cost more per message, so save them for your biggest promotional SMS marketing moments. Either way, keep every word working toward your CTA.
Step #6: Choose the right timing
With SMS automation tools, you can ensure your texts reach the right customers at the right time. Consider where your SMS subscribers live and avoid sending texts at odd hours, such as early in the morning or late at night.
Time zones matter, so schedule sends for each subscriber’s local time. Also, match timing to the message, like sending reminders a day ahead. Not sure when to hit send? Try send time optimization. This feature uses past engagement data to deliver each text when a subscriber is most likely to act.
Step #7: Test and optimize
SMS marketing strategies enable you to test and learn from real data to continuously improve. You can use A/B testing with different messages, timings, or CTAs to determine what elements work best. You can also encourage feedback on your SMS campaigns to refine your strategy.
Want the bigger picture? Try cohort analysis. Compare SMS subscribers to non-subscribers to see how texting affects their shopping over time. For example, check whether subscribers buy more often or spend more per order. Use what you learn to fine-tune your next campaign.
What are the best practices for sending SMS marketing messages?
The top SMS marketing best practices start with consent. Get a clear opt-in and make opting out easy. From there, you want to keep messages short and relevant, choose a reasonable sending frequency, and personalize texts when appropriate. Also, track your results to learn what works best for your audience.
SMS marketing can be an effective strategy when done right. However, like email marketing, you should aim to use the best practices to ensure consistent communication that complies with regulations. Plus, it helps improve deliverability. Mobile carriers may filter texts that look like spam, so they never reach your subscribers.
Ensuring your SMS campaigns drive results and respect the preferences and privacy of recipients is crucial as well. Follow these best practices for sending SMS marketing messages:
Obtain consent
You must obtain consent to send customers marketing texts. Before sending promotional messages, get explicit opt-ins through a signup form, subscription code, or other clear and understandable method. In addition, you must have an easy opt-out process that allows recipients to stop receiving your messages with a single text.
Consent keeps your marketing communications legal and builds trust from the very first text. Double opt-in adds an extra layer of protection by asking subscribers to confirm their signup before receiving marketing texts.
Keep messages concise
Messages should be clear and concise. Ensure the main offer, CTA, and other relevant information is up front and easily understandable. Avoid fluff, like unnecessary words or information that can influence the impact of your message.
A standard SMS fits about 160 characters, so every word counts. Lead with your brand name, then the offer, then the CTA. Skip all caps and piles of exclamation points since carriers may flag them as spam. Few communication channels reward short, punchy copy like SMS does.
Comply with regulations
Start by learning about regulations like the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) or Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR). You may also need to register the phone number you use to send marketing texts.
In the United States, businesses may use short codes, toll-free numbers, or 10-digit long codes (10DLCs). If you plan to text customers from a 10DLC number, you need to complete the application-to-person 10DLC registration process.
Beyond that, you should regularly update your subscriber lists to remove any customers who have opted out of receiving your texts. If you’re using SMS marketing automation strategies, your software should automatically remove those who have opted out from receiving further communications.
Avoid text message fatigue
Like email marketing, SMS marketing should provide value. Don’t bombard recipients with multiple text messages throughout the day because it can increase opt-outs. Instead, consider how often to send messages and test your strategy to find an optimal frequency based on your audience and offerings.
Let subscribers choose how often they hear from you. A simple preference option, like weekly deals or VIP-only alerts, puts them in control. This helps reduce opt-outs, which means longer relationships and a higher customer lifetime value.
Personalize content
Personalizing content can significantly enhance engagement and conversion rates. In fact, 83% of Americans say they’d like shopping experiences tailored just for them, according to the 2026 State of Personalization in Retail by Amperity.
To make that happen, address recipients by name whenever possible to make the message feel more personal. You can also tailor offers based on behavior or purchase history, sending deals and promotions based on the recipient’s preferences. For example, text a restock alert when a favorite item comes back, or send a birthday discount to make someone’s day.
Maintain consistency
Each message should offer value while maintaining brand consistency. Ensure the tone of your SMS campaigns is consistent with your brand’s voice and other marketing channels. You can also incorporate branding elements like a signature, hashtag, or consistent phrasing.
Always include your business name in every text, so customers know who’s messaging them instantly. That builds trust and helps your texts get past carrier spam filters. Also, take the time to incorporate SMS into your brand style guide so your tone, formatting, and messaging stay consistent across campaigns.
Analyze performance
Analyze the performance of each SMS campaign you send to determine how successful it was. Measure engagement metrics like click-through rates (CTRs) for messages with links or redemption rates for those with promo codes.
Then, compare your CTRs and other metrics to industry benchmarks to see how you stack up. Klaviyo reports an average SMS click rate of 5.6%. Yours might be higher or lower depending on your audience, products, and campaign goals. You should also track your results over time to see whether your SMS performance improves.
Improve engagement with effective SMS marketing campaigns
SMS marketing is a direct and personal form of communication between businesses and their customers. Text messages are convenient and fast, providing essential information that’s easily digestible. When used effectively, it can lead to improved engagement, immediate responses, and improved relationships.
Use Mailchimp SMS marketing tools to create effective text message campaigns. Create automated campaigns, segment your audience, and track performance metrics. Want even better results? Pair your texts with email. Mailchimp users saw up to 2 times higher click rates when they used both email and SMS.
Frequently asked questions
What are some effective SMS marketing strategies?
An effective SMS strategy mixes promotional text messages, transactional SMS messages, and conversational texts. You can also use SMS personalization to make texts more relevant and timely. Always keep each text short with a clear CTA. The best SMS program also works alongside your other channels to support your overall marketing strategy.
How much do SMS campaigns cost?
Costs depend on your SMS marketing platform, list size, and how many texts you send. Most tools charge per message or sell monthly credit bundles. Rates vary by country and message type. Basic SMS messages cost less than MMS messages, which include images or GIFs. Start small, track results, and scale as your returns grow.
Do people need to opt in to join my SMS subscriber list?
Yes. You need explicit consent before anyone can receive SMS messages from you. Use double opt-in to confirm SMS consent to keep your list clean and compliant. With this setting, a new subscriber enters their phone number, then replies to a confirmation text. Find new SMS subscribers through website pop-ups and your existing email subscribers. Always make opting out easy.
How often should you send SMS messages?
Many brands start with a few texts per month and adjust from there. Sending multiple messages a day can annoy subscribers and spark opt-outs. Space out your promotional marketing while sending transactional SMS messages, like order updates, as needed. Watch your unsubscribe rates and dial it back if you see the numbers climb.
How do I measure the ROI of my SMS marketing efforts?
Measure your SMS ROI by tracking sales from unique promo codes and custom click-through links. Divide the revenue earned by your total campaign costs. Remember, SMS works best as a personal touchpoint rather than just another broadcast channel. Track repeat orders and customer retention to reveal your true long-term value.
Is an SMS marketing program worth the effort?
Yes, for many brands. An SMS program can turn one-time shoppers into repeat buyers. In a 2024 survey by Klaviyo and Recharge, 86% of respondents made 2 or more purchases from SMS messages in the last year. That’s up from 55% in 2022. Within that group, 30% made 4 or more purchases and almost 10% made 6 or more.