Good texts = great results!
SMS marketing is booming, and when done right, it delivers open rates email marketers only dream about. But when it’s sloppy or spammy? It turns customers off instantly. How will you spend your 160 characters?
Leaving aside the scammy texts asking for political donations or offering to buy your house for cash, a concise, well-crafted text message sent at the right time can be a powerful tool to engage customers and drive real revenue.
What separates the good from the excellent in SMS?
Let’s look at one I recently received:
Get photo-ready! FavoriteMedSpaEver’s November holiday Glow Specials are here: Glow by the Mistletoe $650- 2 HydraFacials + Chem Peel & IPL ($350 savings) | Morpheus8 Chin $1200 | Free Chin w/ Large Area Series ($1200 value) | $500 off Pure Plasma | $150 off Lip Filler | Free Body Contour (new Weight Loss clients) + 15% off skincare with any treatment. Book now longbookinglink.website.com/techSpeak/services What went right
Lots of things work well here! Let’s have a look:
Sent at an appropriate time of day.
Company name is front and center for instant recognition.
Price anchoring clearly shows the deal value.
Clickable booking link for quick action.
What went wrong
While nothing here is a deadly sin, they could be showstoppers when we want scrollstoppers!
The view is what we call a “wall of text” (SMS must be instantly scannable).
Most people won’t read it.Too many offers dilute urgency; stick with one main promo.
Pipe symbols (“|”) and extra spaces waste characters and add visual clutter.
URL isn’t shortened, wasting room and looking messy.
Missing opt-out notice, which can erode trust and compliance.
What I recommend
Just a few small tweaks can make this more readable, more engaging, and more effective.
Personalize whenever possible. Include first names as a warm greeting, just be SURE to clean your data!
Format for readability. Space is your friend.
Shorten your links. Tools like TinyURL or Bitly save space and let you track results. Crucial!
Focus your offer. One clear call-to-action (CTA) per message—quality beats quantity. Pick your favorite, OR issue your CTA as “Visit our Specials Page”.
And finally… always always always…
Test before sending. Broken links and typos can kill a campaign instantly, and we’ve all experience word blindness while editing!
Great SMS marketing is part art, part strategy—and every word counts.
If you’re ready to stop guessing and start converting, let’s talk about how I can help you build SMS campaigns that actually drive results.
