SMS Marketing 102: How SaaS Companies Can Write SMS Copy That Converts

If you want customers to act on your SMS marketing offers, you can't settle for a mediocre SMS copy. This can be challenging to achieve, so we prepared some valuable tips to help you express your marketing ideas and offers creatively, compellingly, and concisely.

In this article, we'll explain the five elements of an effective SMS marketing copy, you’ll learn about the best strategies you can apply to text your customers and ultimately boost customer engagement and your conversion rates.

Here's what we'll consider:

1. SMS Marketing Copy anatomy: the five elements
2. Best practices for creating SMS Marketing Copy
3. Getting started on SMS Marketing Copy

SMS Marketing Copy: the five elements

To write an SMS marketing copy that converts, you need to consider the anatomy of a converting SMS Copy.

• Introduction
• Body
• Call to actions
• Hypertext links
• Opt-out

Let's throw light on each of these copy elements.

1. Introduction

The introductory part of your SMS Marketing Copy is what determines whether your customers will read further or not. An introduction that isn't personalized and valuable won't grab your customer's attention.

Once you can't grab your customers' attention then there's a little chance that they'll take your call to action. How can you begin your introduction in a way that compels customers to read further?

• Use attention-grabbing words—use words that can instantly spark interest. For example, you can start by offering discounts, special offer
• Personalize—when you begin your message by addressing your customers, you'll make your message stand out. Studies have shown that 54% of customers are most likely to buy from a brand that personalizes its SMS marketing copy

2. SMS body

This is the main part of your SMS Copy That highlights the main purpose of your message. One thing that can make your SMS body stand out is when it is less about you and more about your customers.

In other words, you need to offer value to customers. For instance, you might send an SMS copy to promote a sales offer, announce a new product feature or remind customers of an event.

That being said, you need to keep your message simple and cut to the chase. Avoid fluff and keep your message under 120 characters.

3. CTA and hypertext link

Your call to action is what drives your customers to convert. If you were able to grab your customers' attention and offer a valuable deal, then you're halfway to driving conversions.

All you need is to show customers how to get your offer via your CTA. You can include a short link that looks something like this:

• Grab your 50% discount now: {short link}
• Try out for free: {short link}
• Visit our website: {short link}

4. Opt-out option

While most marketers wouldn't like the idea of giving customers a chance to opt out, it's an important part of SMS Marketing that you must include at the end of your SMS Copy. Besides, an opt-out option is mandatory in most countries and you must confirm if a specific country falls under this SMS marketing law.

At the end of your SMS Copy, you can include opt-out instructions like Reply STOP to opt out or text STOP to opt-out.

Best practices for creating SMS Marketing Copy

Now that you’ve learned about the five elements that make up a compelling SMS marketing copy, we’ll move on to some of the best practices that will help you create an SMS marketing copy that converts.

1. Define your target audience

You probably know how easy-flowing a conversation gets once you know more about the person you're talking to. Since there's less friction in the conversation, you can easily express your

This same applies to your SMS marketing Copy. When you learn as much as possible about your customers, you'll be able to adjust your message to suit your customer’s needs. For this reason, you need to dig deeper into customer data and use the insights to create customer segments based on different criteria.

With unique customer segments, you'll be able to send personalized SMS Marketing Copy that highlights each of your customer's preferences.

With Engage, you can track how customers interact with your product (platform or app), and use that data to create unique customer segments.

2. Determine the right delivery time

There's nothing worse than sending an SMS to your customers at the wrong time. They might not engage with your message or they might be forced to opt-out. As a result, you'll ruin your SMS marketing goals.

While there's no best time to send text messages to your customers, you can determine an ideal time based on your message's content.

Think about what your customers' day-to-day activities would be like. Some common times to avoid are nighttime or evening after work.

You can send text messages during lunchtime or based on customer actions. For instance, if you notice that a customer has achieved major milestones with a free version of your product, you can send a message with a reasonable discount that encourages the customer to upgrade.

3. Include a sense of urgency

Text messaging is ideal for time-sensitive offers and you can use it to drive a sense of urgency. In this case, you can trigger FOMO (fear of missing out)—a psychological approach that makes customers act on something instantly for the fear that they might miss out on it.

Using this psychological tactic in your SMS Copy can help customers to make faster purchase decisions that'll boost your conversion rates.

Some phrases that inspire FOMO include:

• Limited time offer
• Last chance
• Grab this offer only for today
• Act fast

4. Create room for conversations

One way you can make customers engage more with your brand is by encouraging them to talk to you. You don't need to make your text message close-ended, leaving no room for a response from customers.

You can send your customers different types of text messages that include promotions, reminders, and surveys. In these messages, encourage customers to leave comments or ask questions about your business. Just like this example:

5. Use power words

Using power words in your SMS marketing copy is a great way to convince customers to take your call to action. When used, power words evoke emotions, grab attention, answer questions, and compel customers to take a specific action. You can include words like:

• Free—there's no doubt that customers wouldn't hesitate to grab something at no cost
• Save—when there's a chance to save time or money, people will go for it in most cases
• Guaranteed—guaranteed indicates that there's no room for doubt or risks, therefore people act more
• Because—people need a reason to act, "because" explains why
• Fast—no one likes to waste time on something. So when people believe that an offer an help them achieve their goals fast, they don't hesitate to act
• Best—customers want access to the best products or offers, using best can make customers feel

6. Include automation in your SMS marketing campaigns

When it comes to automation, you'll be able to automatically send messages to your customer base with minimal manual effort.

Rather than sending individual messages to a large customer base, SMS automation cuts down the extra time and effort to send messages that you'll use to send manual messages.

Here are some benefits of using automation in your SMS marketing strategy

• You don't need to manually fetch and transfer customer data. This way, you can save time and focus on other tasks.
• You don't need to constantly engage with customers. All you need to do is set up your SMS workflows with suitable SMS automation software and focus on other tasks.
• You get the opportunity to get long-term consistent messages to your customers. This, in turn, boosts customer engagement and drives more returns for your business

With Engage, you can create automated SMS sequences or workflows to power your SMS marketing campaign and improve conversions.

Getting started on SMS Marketing Copy

SMS Marketing provides a great way to engage with customers and send offers that they will love. Use the strategic tips outlined above to help you create a compelling SMS marketing copy that converts.

Start by understanding your customers, their needs, preferences, goals, and challenges. This way you can create personalized messages that they will easily connect with.

Remember to run A/B testing to learn what works and doesn't work for your brand, so you can optimize your SMS marketing campaigns as you move forward.

Engage is an Email and SMS marketing automation solution that will help you with this and more:

• Track how customers interact with your product,
• Create unique customer segments, and
• Send personalized messages to your customers via Email, SMS, Push notifications, and In-app Messages.

You can gain access to these features for free. Sign up now.