Guide to Bulk SMS: Sending Messages People Want to Receive
This guide will help you:
- Understand some of the rules that apply to SMS marketing (US and Canada).
- Maximize the impact of SMS for:
- Client responses
- Marketing opt-ins
- Appointment conversions
- Closing sales
Composing Your Message
Compliance in your SMS body:
- Seek consent from your text recipient before including them in your SMS campaign.
- Always identify yourself and your business by name.
- If it’s the first time you’re messaging a contact, OR if it’s been 90 days or more since your last message, include an unsubscribe clause at the end of your message:
- “Reply STOP to opt out.”
- “If you’d like us to stop texting you, just reply STOP.”
- If someone opts out, remove them from future SMS campaigns.
Strategic Best Practices
- Greet each contact using their first name with the custom value →
{{contact.first_name}}
. - Send sparingly, no more than once per month.
- Respect your recipients' time by sending during specific time windows, avoiding personal time.
- Use a strong offer for measurable results.
- Keep your message clear and concise to reduce unsubscribes.
- Offering something for free can boost interest and responses.
- Minimal commitment now = more conversations later, building trust throughout the sales process.
- Keep messages short, exciting, and avoid unnecessary punctuation.
- Match the casual tone of a typical text message conversation.
Conversation starters:
- Live conversations create direct connections, building trust and momentum.
- Ask a direct question to prompt responses, but keep it to one question to avoid confusion.
- Avoid overusing emojis.
- Avoid sending links; this can cause deliverability issues and limit engagement in conversations.
Respond promptly:
- Only send messages when you can respond quickly.
- Delayed responses can make your message appear as spam, while fast replies encourage conversions.
Expect unsubscribes:
- Some people will always opt out. Respect their wishes by marking them as DND (Do Not Disturb) and move on.
Example of SMS
Bad Example: “Hello, this is Ashley from Bob’s Fitness ?? We’re the best gym in town! All our members are models! It’s ? $175/month ? to join and there’s an extra $150 new member fee ?… We have a lot of spots to fill so we hope you can afford it! We also have personal training, group classes, a 6-week challenge, nutrition plans, sauna, ice baths, an inner circle club, work-trade spots available, and many other add-ons!”
Good Example: “Hi {{contact.first_name}}, this is Ashley from Bob’s Fitness. We’re giving out a few 10-day passes and I wondered if you’d like one? If you’d like for us to stop texting you, reply STOP.”
Technical Setup and Execution
- Select the contacts you’d like to message.
- Click the "Send SMS" button.
- Click "Ok, Proceed."
- Type your message.
- Title the action for internal reference.
- Choose your message delivery option:
- Send all at once: Sends immediately to all contacts. Best for 1-way announcements with no expected responses.
- Send all at scheduled time: Schedules a future message. Best for 1-way announcements to be sent later.
- Send in drip mode: Slowly delivers messages over time, ideal for conversations or response-generating messages.
Drip Mode Setup:
- Start On: The day and time when messages start sending.
- Batch Quantity: Number of messages sent per batch.
- Repeat After: Time interval between batches.
- Send On: Days of the week to send messages.
- Process Between Hours (optional): Set a timeframe for daily message processing.
Example of a Drip:
- Action: “Database Reactivation: Black Friday Weekend Promo.”
- Start On: November 29th.
- Batch Quantity: 10.
- Repeat After: 3 minutes.
- Send On: Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat, Sun.
- Process Between:
- Start From: 10:30 AM.
- End At: 11:00 AM.