SMS examples and strategy
Automated Text Messaging
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Forever 21
Forever 21: Reply 'Y' to confirm your opt-in and receive 20% OFF your next purchase! 10 msgs/mo, Msg & data rates may apply. Reply 'HELP' for help 'STOP' to cancel at any time.
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Automated Text Messaging: Top Tips and Examples to Efficiently Keep Your Customers Engaged
The majority of consumers prefer receiving updates from brands via SMS over any other channel. But how do you effectively and efficiently engage with a growing list of SMS subscribers without having your team glued to their phones 24/7?
The answer is automated text messaging.
What is Automated Text Messaging?
Automated text messaging consists of automatically sending pre-written SMS based on a pre-determined trigger or schedule. Scheduled automated text messages are prepared beforehand and automatically sent at a time of your choosing.
Triggered automated text messaging follows the logic of “If X, then send SMS Y” where “X” is a fulfilled condition.
Say that a brand texts its SMS subscribers to ask if they want to receive updates on special holiday promotions. It ends its text with “Reply YES to sign up.” A subscriber replies with the keyword “YES” and immediately gets a message back from the brand saying “Congratulations! You’re signed up to receive updates on our special holiday promos.” That is an example of automated text messaging: when the subscriber replies “YES”, it triggers the confirmation SMS to be sent.
The Benefits of Automated Text Messages
They save you time
The best thing about automated SMS messages is that you don’t need to take time out of your day to send them manually. You don’t even need to click a button to bulk send them. Simply schedule them in your automated SMS service and the software will take care of the sending for you.
They improve the customer experience
Another benefit of automating your SMS marketing is that it improves the customer experience. Automating text replies means that your customers will never need to wait to hear back from you when they reply “YES” to be added to a segment or to get more information about a product.
You’re able to get back to them when they’re still feeling engaged with your brand, which leaves a good impression.
They don’t need to cost much
Most SMS software providers have different types of plans, which means you can get started with automated SMS marketing even when your SMS list is still small or you don’t plan to send a lot of automated text messages.
They keep you top of mind
Just as automated email marketing campaigns keep you top of mind by regularly popping into your subscribers’ inboxes, automated SMS allows you to regularly get back in touch with your customers.
They help you stay on-brand
Imagine it’s Tuesday evening, 10 minutes before you’re about to sign off for the day, and suddenly you realize you still need to remind your SMS list of your sales that are starting tomorrow. Chances are the message you’ll craft in a hurry won’t entirely be in line with your brand voice.
Inconsistency can also occur when you have several people creating your text messages.
When you automate your SMS marketing, everyone knows how much time they have to create a campaign and they can allocate time to make sure every message follows your brand’s style guide and voice.
How to Send Automated SMS Messages
There are plenty of automated texting services that allow you to set up SMS automations. Which automated text message service is best for you depends on your brand’s needs and budget. We’ve listed some of the more popular ones to help you with your research:
- Twilio
- SlickText
- Textedly
- MessageMedia
- SMSGlobal
10 Examples of Automated Text Messaging
Automated Text Messaging Done Right: Strategic Tips
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10 Examples of Automated Text Messaging
You can use automated SMS for more than just sending replies. Automated text messages can help you:
- Unsubscribe people
- Segment your SMS list
- Confirm subscriber details
- Record and respond to customer feedback
- Send promotional campaigns
- Gather competition entries
- Send abandoned cart reminders
- Let customers pick a delivery time frame
- Send an out-of-office message if subscribers text outside your business hours
and more.
We’ve hand-selected some great examples of automated texts to inspire you.
Opt-in and welcome automation
When someone signs up for Forever 21’s SMS list, a text message asking them to “Reply ‘Y'” to confirm their opt-in and get a 20 percent welcome discount is automatically triggered. Once that person replies with “Y”, another SMS is triggered. It welcomes them to the list and shares all the required information, as well as a link that includes the promised 20 percent discount already added to their cart.
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Forever 21
Abandoned cart automation
When someone who’s on Casper’s SMS list abandons their cart, an automated text message is triggered to remind them that they’ve left something behind. As an incentive, Casper offers the shopper up to 15 percent off if they come back and complete their purchase the same day.
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Casper
Automated promotional SMS
This SMS by Knix is an example of a scheduled promotional SMS. It invites the subscriber to replace their old underwear with comfy Knix and throws in a package deal as an incentive.
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Knix
Automated birthday SMS
The trigger for an automated text message doesn’t always need to be an action. In this case, Jennifer Miller Jewelry knows when Jessica’s birthday is, and it’s scheduled a happy birthday message to go out on the right day. The 20 percent discount acts as a little birthday present and is paired with a 7-day expiration period to urge Jessica to shop fast.
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Jennifer Miller Jewelry
Segmentation automation
If you’re planning an intense promotional campaign, you might want to ensure it only goes to subscribers who are interested in your sales. That’s what Peter Thomas Roth does here. Subscribers who reply “PTRSUMMER” will automatically be added to the brand’s summer flash sale segment and will get an automated SMS back to confirm they’ll be kept in the know about the summer sale.
This is a good tactic to avoid unsubscribes from people who don’t want to get too many promotional messages.
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Peter Thomas Roth
Another way you can use automated messages to segment your SMS list is by asking your subscribers about their interests. In this example, Brooks Brothers asks the recipient if they want to receive information about menswear, womenswear, or both. Once the recipient replies with “A”, “B”, or “Both”, they’ll get an automated message back to confirm that the brand registered their selection.
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Brooks Brothers
Automated shopping assistance
Because of their limited length, SMS doesn’t allow you to create smart gift guides like email does. This text message by Coach offers an alternative approach. The brand asks the recipient what type of gifter they are and based on what the recipient replies (A, B, C, or D), they’ll get an automated message back with gift suggestions.
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Coach
Alala uses the same tactic to help subscribers shop for themselves. It asks the recipient to choose between three of its biggest shop categories and based on their replies, automatically sends back some recommendations.
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Alala
Support automation
While nothing beats one-on-one support, you can still automate how shoppers get in touch with your support team. Cotopaxi asks its SMS subscribers to send their questions to a specific phone number, after which its support team will receive a notification that they need to get in touch with this person.
By asking the recipient to text their actual question, the support team can easily forward that question to the most qualified person to answer it. This increases efficiency on their end and provides a better experience for the customer.
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Cotopaxi
Automated unsubscribe option
One type of SMS automation every ecommerce brand should have is the automated unsubscribe. Most brands use the keyword “STOP” to let subscribers opt out of promotional messages. When a subscriber replies “STOP” to any of the brand’s messages, they’ll automatically be opted out and they’ll also receive an automated confirmation of their unsubscription.
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Brooklinen
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Automated Text Messaging Done Right: Strategic Tips
Choose concise keywords
Automated SMS marketing relies heavily on keywords that subscribers need to text back to the brand in order to trigger an event. Often-used keywords include “STOP” to trigger an unsubscribe, “HELP” or “SERVICE” to trigger a connection with the customer support team, and “YES” to confirm sign-ups.
Using short and clear keywords is the way to go. They save you space and they make sense in the context of your message, making them easier to remember and text back.
If, for example, your subscribers indicate they’re mostly interested in buying menswear or womenswear, asking them to text back the keyword “MEN,” “WOMEN,” or “BOTH” makes sense.
Use personalization tags
Everyone loves hearing reading their name, so include your subscribers’ names in your text messages when it makes sense. You can easily do this by starting a message with {FIRST NAME}}, *rest of the message.*
If you text a lot and don’t want to include names in every message, do it in those messages that are a little bit more personal or individual in nature, such as abandoned cart messages, VIP offers, and birthday messages.
Include one clear call to action
With SMS marketing, you only have 160 characters to get people to take action, so you want to make sure they take the right action. Have your message build up to a single CTA followed by a link to your store (or wherever you want to guide them).
The one caveat to this is that you always want to mention that subscribers can reply “STOP” (or something similar) to opt out.
Experiment with your send frequency
SMS is a very different channel than email, so you can’t just follow the same send frequency. Experiment to figure out the best times and cadence for sending different types of promotional text messages especially.
Create SMS templates
There’s no need to start from scratch each time you develop a new SMS campaign. Use the examples in this post and on our SMS marketing examples page to build your first templates, and keep improving them by running A/B tests.
Segment your audience
Not everyone on your SMS list will want to receive messages at the same frequency, nor will they be interested in the same type of promotional offers or even respond well to the same type of copy. Split your list into different segments when it makes sense, and adapt your automations (and templates) to each of these segments.
Keep your messages short
SMS that go over the 160-character limit will be cut up into several messages during sending and then put back together in your subscribers’ inboxes. You might think, “Great! I can send them as much information as I want!”
In theory, yes, but it’s not ideal.
Not only will it increase your cost significantly if you spread your message over multiple SMS, it can also be overwhelming for the recipient, as you don’t have any of the nifty design elements you have in email marketing that allow you to break a text up into pretty blocks with images, different-sized headings, and CTA buttons.
Invest in good copy
When you only have 160 characters to convince someone to take action, those 160 characters need to consist of some solid copy. Don’t settle for the first version of your message. Come up with various iterations and keep testing what works best for your audience while staying true to your brand.
Engage through Automation
Automated text messaging helps you engage with your subscribers in a much more efficient way than if you tried to manually text everyone on your list. It also releases you from having to keep an eye on your customers’ every action, as pre-defined triggers ensure that everyone gets the right message at the right time, whether that’s an abandoned cart reminder, a happy birthday SMS, or a feedback survey.
At MailCharts, we’ve gathered automated SMS marketing messages from hundreds of ecommerce brands so you can see exactly what type of text messages your competitors are sending. Ready to get inspired by SMS campaigns inside and outside of your industry?
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