So, you want to send a text message?
SMS is a great way to communicate with your customers who don't already have your mobile app. While text messages are effective, they are also heavily regulated and monitored by carriers (i.e T-Mobile, Verizon, etc).
In order to ensure you have good deliverability its important to follow some best practices.
When to send SMS Messages
By default, we won't allow you to select anytime that is outside of 8am-9pm. This is to remain compliant with TCPA laws that require you to only send marketing text between these times.
However, if you are sending a message to multiple timezones - its important for you to keep in mind those differences when configuring your campaign. So make sure you're thinking about where your customers are. Also keep in mind that messages (particularly when sending a lot of them) can take some time to finish sending, so try not to cut it too close.
Don't worry - if you have a customer who happens to be on vacation in Hawaii when you're trying to send messages in the morning for your customers in say, Texas, you won't be penalized for this.
What should I say?
Excellent question, and one that we can't answer for you with certainty. However, a better question might be how should I say it.
Carriers read message bodies and look for some red-flags that will make your messages more likely to get filtered. Filtered messages never reach their intended recipients, and even worse, enough infractions and your future deliverability may be harmed as carriers will start looking at your messages with suspicion.
Let's look at a message carriers do not like:
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FREE FOOD! RUSH DOWN HERE NOW ☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️
LIMITED TIME ONLY - DO NOT MISS YOUR CHANCE☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️☕️
CLICK HERE ☕️ bitly.com/98K8eH
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Beyond its obviously obnoxious nature, lets break down what carriers do not like about this message (and why they're more likely to filter it).
1. ALL CAPS - Yes, carriers really do look at all caps as a red-flag.
2. Shortened or “shouty” promo language (“LIMITED TIME ONLY!!!”)
3. Emojis - While carriers don't automatically penalize emojis, stacked emojis (☕️☕️☕️☕️) and more than one or two do set off alarms and can lead to filtering.
4. Shortened link - Carriers are extremely likely to filter shortened links. (This link technically won't work anyway, but more on that later)
5. Missing a brand name - Carriers like certainty, you should always include your brand name in a text.
6. Missing opt-out language - while not technically required for every message. Carriers do like to see opt-out language and omitting it makes your message much more likely to be filtered.
So, armed with our new knowledge, let's rewrite this text to make it better.
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CRISP COFFEE: ☕️ You've got a free coffee waiting! Come by anytime in the next 7 days and get a free coffee with any other purchase. Click here to learn more. https://crispnow.com
rply STOP to end
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Ah, much better. The important improvements being:
1. We've dropped almost all of the ALL CAPS language
2. We've changed our "shouty" promo language to a clear description of a "7 day" offer
3. We've reduced our emoji usage to a single, tasteful, ?
4. We've gotten rid of our shortened link in favor a full URL (that will actually work in a text message)
5. We've added our brand name to message
6. We've added opt-out language (reply STOP to end)
While this message is very likely to go unfiltered, there's a few last minute tweaks we can make it the best version of itself.
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Crisp Coffee: You've got a free coffee waiting ☕️
Come by anytime in the next 7 days and get a free coffee with any other purchase. Click here to learn more. https://crispnow.com
reply STOP to end
---
While the differences are subtle, we've completely eliminated our ALL CAPS text, and we've added our emoji after a meaningful message, rather than before or instead of one. We've also fully written out reply, which isn't a huge deal - but this gives carrier the feeling that this is a very human, non spammy communication.
You mentioned something about links?
Correct, there are a few things to know about links in text messages.
1. As mentioned, carriers really do not like shortened links as they present a lot of uncertainity.
2. Branded short links (cri.sp/link) perform slightly better, but are still subject to filtering.
3. Links with a lot of redirects are also not appreciated - so try not to setup anything too complicated.
Importantly, you must format your links with https:// at the beginning.
Links in SMS messages are actually interpreted by the message client (messages for iPhone for example) and the way that they recognize these links is from the https:// designation in front of your link.
It will also help message apps read the link if the link appears directly after punctuation, and isn't "next" to any other character.
So examples of links that may be misinterpreted by message apps are:
click herehttps://crispnow.com -- touching other characters
click here ☕️https://crispnow.com -- touching other characters
click here https://cirspnow.com -- no leading punctuation
click here. crispnow.com -- no leading https://
and a properly formatted example
click here. https://crispnow.com
Happy texting!
Next you can read our article about what exactly are SMS segments?