Free SMS Marketing Guide
Quick tips & examples to unleash your inner SMS marketing guru!
SMS has a 98% open rate and 90% of messages are read within 3 minutes. It's the fastest way to reach your audience right where they are - on their phones.
Cut through the noise. Reach everyone at once!
Scroll down for tips and tricks or download the PDF version to read at your leisure!
Essential SMS Best Practices
Keep It Short & Sweet
Your message should be quickly scannable to a busy person on their phone. Get to the point. No waffle!
One Strong Call-to-Action
CTA means what do you want them to do now? Focus on ONE action, e.g. go to your website or socials page. Multiple CTAs will confuse people and reduce response rates.
Include Your Business Name
Always identify yourself. Recipients should immediately know who sent the SMS so they can trust you. With so many scammers nowadays, it's essential!
Time It Right
Marketing SMS should only be sent between 9am-6pm on weekdays. Avoid early mornings, evenings and weekends unless you need to contact people urgently e.g. cancellation, update.
Personalise When Possible
Use first names and relevant details. "Hi Sarah, your car is ready" beats generic messages! Personalisation field, also called 'merge' or 'dynamic' fields, are available.
Create Urgency (Honestly)
Limited time offers and deadlines can indeed drive action, but only use real urgency to maintain trust.
Winning SMS Campaign Examples
Restaurant Promotion
Why it works: Clear business name, compelling offer, urgency, easy action, includes opt-out.
Service Business Appointment
Why it works: Personalised, confirms details, allows easy response. Note replies won't work if you have a word custom Sender ID. In that case add your phone number so they can call you for changes
Club Meeting Reminder
Why it works: Community feel, agenda preview, encouraging tone.
Event Reminder
Why it works: Personal tone, specific details, encourages community participation.
Retail Store Sale
Why it works: Personalised, relevant to customer interest, clear deadline, send them to your website and track responses SMS Express also has a URL Shortener plus Landing Pages with click trackers!
Real Estate Agents
Why it works: Personalised, relevant to a real estate buyer. SMS works very well with real estate.
Australian Spam Act Compliance
Important: Under the Australian Spam Act, if you are sending MARKETING MESSAGES (e.g. sales, promotions, deals) you must:
- Only send to people who have opted in to receive messages
- Include an easy way to unsubscribe in every message
- Clearly identify your business in each message
Good news: SMS Express automatically handles opt-outs for you keeping you compliant with Spam laws. By including, for example: To optout rply STOP in your message, the platform will process unsubscribe requests automatically. Or if you have a custom Sender ID, simply insert the Opt-out URL into your message (in the Send Message - Message box).
Campaign Strategy Checklist
Advanced Tips for Better Results
Linking Strategies
Always include a way for recipients to take action:
- Website links: Use short URLs like bit.ly or our URL Shortener in your account for tracking and space-saving.
- Social media: Drive followers to your Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn.
- Phone numbers: Make it easy to call by including your phone number with area code if it's a landline.
- Physical locations: Include your street address so they can look you up in Google maps.
Message Timing & Frequency
Strategic timing can double your response rates:
- Restaurants: Lunch promotions at 11am, dinner deals at 4pm when stomachs are open to suggestions!
- Retail: Weekend promotions on Friday afternoons.
- Services: Appointment reminders 24 hours before.
- Events: Initial invite 2 weeks out, reminder 2 days before.
Segmentation for Better Results
Send more relevant messages by grouping your contacts:
- New customers: Welcome series and onboarding.
- Regular customers: Loyalty rewards and special offers.
- Inactive customers: Win them back with an SMS campaign containing an offer.
- Location-based: Local events, store-specific promotions, community fundraisers.
Measuring Success
Track these key metrics to improve your campaigns:
Delivery Rate
Should be 95%+. Lower rates indicate list quality issues or carrier problems.
Click-Through Rate
If you have 'tappable' links in your message, start benchmarking against previous campaigns or compare with email.
Response Rate
Measure replies, calls, or specific actions taken. Good campaigns see 10-30% response. Track which messages and offers perform best.
Conversion Rate
The ultimate measure - how many recipients took your desired action (purchase, booking, etc.).
Ready to Start Your SMS Marketing?
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