SMS examples and strategy
SMS opt-in examples
Inspire your SMS campaigns with examples from top brands.
Explore all text messages
Sign-up for MailCharts to discover campaigns and get inspired!
-
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.
Pro tip: Scroll down for hand-picked emails.
SMS Opt-In Examples
How often have you been happy to receive a marketing email or promotional SMS without ever having signed up for the brand’s list? The answer is probably “never.”
We want to feel in control of the marketing messages we receive, and the same goes for your customers. So before you excitedly start sending them text messages, make sure you have their consent and they know what they’re signing up for.
Communicating the latter is the job of your opt-in text message. It holds all the information you’re legally required to present new subscribers with and demonstrates you respect the chance to land in your recipients’ inboxes.
Let’s have a look at what that entails before we jump into some great SMS opt-in examples.
What Is an SMS Opt-In Message?
An SMS opt-in text is the first message you send a customer after they’ve given you written permission to send them marketing text messages. It needs to include your company’s name, the sign-up offer if any, your message frequency, whether carrier costs apply, and how subscribers can receive help and opt out again.
The tricky thing is that to be legally compliant, you cannot get this permission by asking for it via SMS. You need to get it before sending your first text.
We’ll discuss a few ways you can get that permission further down this page but first, let’s have a look at some opt-in text message examples.
SMS Opt In Examples
Opt-In Text Messages: Strategic Tips
Want to explore emails?
Sign-up for MailCharts to discover campaigns and get inspired!
SMS Opt In Examples
Ask for extra confirmation
Once customers have given you permission to send them text messages, you can send your opt-in message, and then you’re good to go. However, you can also choose to play it safe and use your opt-in message to ask them to confirm their subscription like Forever 21 does in the example below.
This opt-in text message example contains all the required elements:
- the company’s name.
- the sign-up offer.
- the message frequency.
- that there may be costs involved to receiving messages.
- how to receive help
- how to opt out.
But first, it asks the recipient to “Reply ‘Y'” to confirm their opt-in. This strategy is similar to sending a double opt-in email. While you may lose some new subscribers at this stage, you can be sure that the ones who confirm really want to engage with (and buy from!) your brand.
Sign up free for curated examples
Forever 21
Implement a double opt-in
Another way to implement a double opt-in is by letting your first message ask only for permission to text. Once you have that confirmation, you can then send all required information in a second opt-in message. That’s the approach Aurate takes.
This is their double opt-in message:
“Aurate: Reply Y to subscribe to recurring automated personalized marketing alerts (e.g. cart reminders) from Aurate.”
And once the recipient confirms, they receive the actual opt-in text message:
“Aurate: Welcome! Msg & data rates may apply. Msg frequency varies. Reply HELP for help, STOP to cancel. Privacy: attnl.tv/p/15nAurate: Fancy seeing you here. Click here to auto apply your 10% off discount TIMEFOR10: https://aurate.attn.tv/l/p72/4qQcR and stay tuned as we announce a new winner of free gold monthly via txt. Side note: As long as you’re subscribed, you’re auto entered every month. Yay!”
Sign up free for curated examples
Aurate
Say thank you
One word is all it takes to turn your dry opt-in information into a warm message. Aveda thanks its new subscribers for signing up, and we can sense their appreciation through the exclamation mark. It’s such a small thing, but it makes a huge difference when most opt-in messages jump straight into the practical information.
Sign up free for curated examples
Aveda
Invite them to shop
This opt-in SMS example from Bellami Hair does quite a bit more than providing the legally required information. It’s personalized, and it thanks recipient Catherine for participating in the brand’s giveaway. It also lets her know when the winner will be announced.
To entice her to start shopping, the text message invites her to the store where she can pick out her potential prize. Of course, Bellami hopes that if Catherine doesn’t win, having a product waiting for her in her cart might just be enough to get her to buy it anyway.
Sign up free for curated examples
BELLAMI Hair
Celebrate
This text message from Bulletproof is another great example of how you can add some emotion to an opt-in message. “You’re in!” makes the recipient feel like they’ve accomplished something by signing up for the brand’s messages.
The phrase also implies that there’s a Bulletproof club or community that the recipient is now part of. Creating this sense of belonging is a smart marketing tactic as it makes subscribers less likely to opt out again. After all, don’t we all want to belong to something?
Bulletproof
Want to explore emails?
Sign-up for MailCharts to discover campaigns and get inspired!
Opt-In Text Messages: Strategic Tips
Make it easy to opt in
Sending an opt-in message is step two. The first step is getting people to opt in for your SMS list. One way to let customers opt in for SMS marketing is by letting them check a box whenever they give you their phone number.
You can also set up an email marketing campaign to ask them for their phone numbers and consent to message them or include a keyword in your communications that customers can text to your number to opt in.
Stay compliant
Fines can run up to over $18,000.
Each text sent without permission is a separate violation.
Following the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) guidelines, your first message to a customer should contain:
- your company name.
- how often you’ll message them.
- any type of offer you made the customer to get them to sign up.
- the warning that SMS cost may apply when receiving text messages from your brand.
- instructions for how to opt-out.
If you’ve offered your customers something like a discount or loyalty points as an incentive to opt in, you also need to include how they can redeem that reward in your first SMS.
Failure to comply with TCPA regulations can result in fines of hundreds to thousands of dollars. Each text message you send without having permission to do so is seen as a separate violation. That means fines can add up fast.
Maybe even worse than getting fined is the brand damage you’ll suffer when texting customers without their consent.
Try to stay on brand
It’s not easy to let your brand voice shine through when you have to communicate so much practical information in one text message. But if you succeed, your opt-in SMS will surely stand out from that of your competitors.
If you tend to communicate in a very casual way, you can write your opt-in text message in a more conversational way. If you sell luxury products, you could test creating a sense of exclusivity by using words such as “VIP” and “exclusive.”
Use clear language
That being said, you don’t want to take your branding so far that your messages become illegible. Only use slang, jargon, or abbreviations if you’re sure that your audience will understand them. There can’t be any doubt about the information you’re sharing… or the action you want them to take.
Keep it short
Texts that are longer than 160 characters get split during sending and while they’re stitched back together to form one text in the recipient’s inbox, each separate message will trigger a message notification.
This can be a bit annoying—not how you want to come across when sending someone a first message. Limit your opt-in text message to 160 characters and stick to sharing the necessary information. You can get more creative in later messages.
Start the Conversation the Right Way
Just like with email marketing, it’s important to let your SMS subscribers know what they’re signing up for, how they can receive help for you, and how they can opt out again. Providing them with that information is not only good form, it’s also a legal requirement.
While opt-in messages need to mention quite a few things in a limited space, the SMS opt-in examples in this post show that you can still craft them in a way that makes your brand voice stand out and that elicits an emotional reaction for the recipient.
Want more examples? Then sign up today and be among the first to get access to our curated database of ecommerce SMS marketing campaigns when it launches soon!
Want to explore emails?
Sign-up for MailCharts to discover campaigns and get inspired!