New to SMS Marketing Campaigns? How to Get Started

Don’t be deceived—when done right, SMS marketing is about more than merely blasting out a promotion via text. Success requires tactical list management, a system of measurement and analysis, and creativity, of course.

What’s more, the potential applications are surprisingly diverse. Yes, SMS marketing works when trying to move inventory, but it can also be used to improve no-show rates, accrue online reviews, address customer questions, and more.

Here, we’ll cover SMS marketing basics and how to lay the foundation for future evolution.

Your SMS Marketing Setup Starts With Your Platform

Your SMS platform is the foundation on which all other strategic elements will build. Choose SMS-specific software like Voxie, and you’ll find that it comes with a number of helpful features to help kick-off your program, including:

• Pop-ups
• Landing pages with sign-up form
• QR codes
• Two-way communication with Conversational AI
• Automated list segmentation
• Drip campaign creation
• Quick Blast AI Message Assistant
• Text campaign analytics

When vetting various SMS platforms to support your new marketing program, inquire about:

• Does the platform offer varying levels of admin access and flexible approval chains
• What kind of integration support does the company provide
• How does the platform handle opt-in and opt-out compliance with relevant regulations
• What performance metrics and comparisons are offered by the platform
• What level of customer support is offered
• Can the platform handle multimedia messaging (MMS)
• What security measures has the SMS software taken to protect customers’ data
• What automations are built-into the platform
• How does the payment package scale as your team or number of users grow

→ Curious About Voxie?

Determine Your Goals and Use Cases for SMS Marketing

SMS can benefit businesses in numerous ways, such as:

• Promoting sales or new products
• Reminding clients of upcoming appointments
• Managing loyalty program communications
• Enabling a new customer support channel
• Gathering customer feedback through surveys or polls
• Running contests and promotions with immediate entry via text
• Answering clients questions via two-way texting
• Onboarding new customers with a series of welcome messages
• Recovering abandoned carts with targeted reminders
• Delivering digital coupons or discount codes directly to phones

Well-defined primary goals for setting up an SMS program will help shape the language you use when recruiting new SMS subscribers and future measurements of success.

→ Find Creative Ways to Use Text Message Marketing

Build and Manage Your SMS Marketing Lists

Tactics to help build up your SMS marketing lists

Now that you’ve established the basic framework and objectives for your SMS marketing, the next step is to acquire subscribers. After all, your campaigns only work if people actually see them. Ways to grow your SMS marketing list include:

• Website pop-ups and banners
• Social media calls to action
• Point-of-sale opt-ins
• Cross-promotion with email and direct mail
• Contests and giveaways requiring SMS opt-in

Not every recruitment tactic will be equally effective. Tools like Voxie help you segment audiences by how they enroll, such as in-store QR code versus a website call-to-action. In turn, you can accurately track not only which method yields the most subscribers, but also which method attracts subscribers more likely to engage. Such insights can help evolve your approach and strategically allocate your budget.

Create a plan for organizing your SMS marketing lists

Chances are, your audiences fall into a few different buckets. Perhaps they’re differentiated by geography, buying frequency, product interests, or loyalty member status. Identify such classifications and segment your SMS marketing lists so you can craft content that better aligns with each recipient. Explained in Effectively Segment SMS Lists - Tactics for Greater Engagement, there are multiple ways you can gather information to automatically sort subscribers, including:

• Details shared during the subscribing process
• SMS survey responses and interactions
• Integrations with other components of your marketing stack

However, list management is about more than audience segmentation for tailored content delivery; it’s crucial to staying legally compliant! As touched upon in TCPA Compliance SMS Checklist for 2025, opt-out requests must be processed immediately or within 24 hours, meaning lists need to be updated in real-time to reflect those who have unsubscribed. Furthermore, regularly updating contact lists and using resources like the FCC’s Reassigned Numbers Database are essential to avoid sending messages to numbers that now belong to someone who hasn’t provided consent.

Implementing automated list-cleaning protocols ensures outdated or unverified numbers are removed, significantly reducing the risk of TCPA violations. SMS-specific tools like Voxie automatically include such functions.

Crafting SMS Marketing Messages that Work

You’ll find a full guide to the topic with Craft the Perfect Marketing SMS - Content Writing Tips. However, to summarize important takeaways on how to write SMS content that actually works:

• Prioritize clarity over cleverness - Humor and brand personality can help differentiate your SMS marketing, but at no point should you be witty at the potential cost of clarity.
• Embrace language that sparks excitement - When compared to email and its alternatives, SMS is the supreme vehicle for time-sensitive, last-minute deals. Lean into this with phrases that evoke urgency or excitement, such as “LAST CHANCE,” “TODAY ONLY,” “Limited time,” or “Act now.”
• Use emojis and all-caps sparingly - A word of caution—use a lighter touch when featuring words in all-caps, limiting yourself to 1-3 per text. Additionally, consider if emojis and all-caps are appropriate for the message you’re sending, as well as the receiving audience.
• Keep texts concise and scannable - The SMS marketing messages that work best are those that are shorter, making every word count. Include the core value proposition, basic details, any restrictions (like expiration dates), and a clear call-to-action with a link.

Evolve Beyond the SMS Basics – Next Steps

Set Up SMS Localization

Local marketing is when a brand crafts its messaging to resonate specifically with audiences in a specific geography, whether that be a country or a city. You can apply these principles to your SMS strategy, which is ideal for multi-location businesses and franchises.

A prerequisite to starting localized SMS marketing is consistent list segmentation. Assuming that’s kept up-to-date within tools like Voxie, your brand can execute such strategies as:

• Promotions timed to local weather and circumstances - Be timely and relevant by linking your messages to local weather patterns or seasonal changes. For example, a pizza shop could text subscribers about discounted delivery during a thunderstorm in their area, rather than sending the same promotion during a sunny evening when people might prefer to dine out.
• Referencing local happenings and interests - Join in on the buzzy topic within the community by shaping SMS messaging around local sports teams and events.
• Showcasing local characters - Highlight what makes individual locations special, like local staff or community involvement, to build stronger connections.

→ Want more ideas? Read Localize SMS for Targeted Marketing.

Build SMS Drip Campaigns

Voxie enables users to map out multi-step marketing text interactions with diverging branches based on how recipients respond. Moreover, crucial integrations with other software enables you trigger drip campaigns based on non-SMS interactions, such as having someone attend a digital event or fill out a form for information.

Marketing teams find many uses for this feature, such as:

• Nurturing prospective leads, especially for service-based industries like assisted-living facilities or fitness centers.
• Poignant responses to initial satisfaction survey requests, based on the provided responses.
• Appointment reminders that seek confirmation.
• Respond to recipients’ personal milestones, such as their birthday.

Deepen Your Personalization Capabilities

Enabling real-time data sharing between your SMS platform and tech stack opens up a world of personalization possibilities. To help jumpstart your own SMS ideas, you can reference:

• If recipients are overdue for services
• Products that could interest the recipient based on past purchases
• Remind about items abandoned in online carts
• The recipient’s birthday
• Their loyalty program status and accrued number of points
• Personalized thank you texts

Measure SMS Campaigns to Make Improvements

Optimizing your SMS strategy and achieving better results hinges on understanding message performance. Tracking key metrics offers insights into audience resonance, allowing data-driven refinements for continuous enhancement.

To determine the success of your SMS program, kick-start tracking for:

• Open rates - Monitor how often recipients open your messages to gauge the effectiveness of your subject lines and timing.
• Click-through rates (CTR) Track how many recipients click on links within your SMS to assess engagement and interest in your offers.
• Opt-out rates - Keep an eye on how many recipients unsubscribe from your messages to understand if your content is resonating with your audience.
• Conversion rates - Measure how many recipients take the desired action (such as making a purchase or booking an appointment) after receiving your SMS.
• Response rates - Track the number of replies or interactions with your SMS, which indicates how effectively you’re fostering engagement.
• ROI - While arguably the most important metric, this is also the most complex. To understand it in greater detail, we suggest reading, SMS ROI & Expected Costs for Text Marketing.

When conducting analysis, draw comparisons whenever possible and try to discern patterns. Did certain groups respond better to texts sent in the evening rather than afternoon? Did certain promos generate more clicks than others? All such observations can lead to further testing and, eventually, improving.

Additional Pro Tips for Setting Up SMS Marketing

• Subscribe to others’ SMS programs to learn from competitors.
• Continue to evolve your text content and experiment to gather new intel and keep subscribers’ interest.
• Collect feedback from team members that have the most interaction with customers, such as franchisees.
• Reflect on how your SMS can boost other direct marketing efforts and social media, as well as vice versa.
• Conduct social listening to effectively tap into what interests and concerns your target audiences the most.