Sales success depends on reaching customers where they are—and increasingly, that means on their mobile devices. SMS marketing offers a direct, personal, and high-engagement channel that can drive measurable revenue across industries, from retail to service providers and B2B organizations.
With open rates exceeding 90% and most messages read within minutes, SMS is uniquely positioned to deliver timely offers, nurture leads, and keep your brand top-of-mind. But to truly maximize its potential, you need a strategy that aligns with your sales goals and customer journey.
This article explores how SMS can be leveraged to boost sales across three key sectors—food and retail, consumer services, and B2B—while providing practical examples and insights into why this channel is so effective.
How to Leverage SMS to Boost Food & Retail Sales
For restaurants, quick-service brands, and retail stores, SMS can be one of the most effective tools for driving foot traffic, increasing online orders, and encouraging repeat purchases. While SMS can be used year-round, there are certain moments when it becomes especially powerful. These are the perfect opportunities to launch targeted sales messaging via SMS:
- When customer engagement is slipping — Re-engage lapsed customers with personalized offers or exclusive perks to bring them back. If loyalty members show diminishing average engagement, the right SMS sales messages can reignite interest.
- During slower business periods — Use added incentives to fill tables, boost store visits, or increase online orders during off-peak hours or days.
- When there’s something “shiny and new” about your offering — Let customers know that your inventory is far from stale by highlighting new offerings, whether that’s fresh menu items, hot fashion trends, or broader color selections.
- When you need to compete during peak shopping seasons — Certain times of year, like the holidays and “back to school,” your customers are ready to open their wallets. Use SMS to promote generous deals, fending off competing discounts from your competitors.
- You have seasonal or excess inventory — Want to move products quickly? SMS is the perfect vehicle for announcing targeted clearance or end-of-season promotions.
Feed the Immediacy of Text With Limited Time Off Messaging
Flash sales, seasonal promotions, and limited-time offers are perfect for SMS because texts are read almost instantly, creating a sense of urgency that can drive same-day sales. For example, a restaurant might send a message reading, “Today only! Buy one entrée, get one free at your local Grill House. Show this text at checkout.” The immediacy of SMS ensures that the sales messaging reaches customers when they are most likely to act.
For more reading on how to strategically craft SMS sales messaging around flash sales, read:
- SMS Flash Sale Promotions – Text Templates & Examples
- Promotional SMS Examples: Creative Text Ideas for Your Brand
- Marketing to Existing Customers - Comparing Tactics
Build Interest Around New Product Offerings
SMS is a powerful way to spotlight something new or reintroduce a product that deserves more attention. Because messages arrive directly in a customer’s personal space, they create a natural opportunity to share what’s fresh, different, or worth another look. For example, a bakery might text, “We’ve added a new artisan sourdough to our menu—crafted with locally milled flour and baked fresh every morning. Stop in and taste the difference.” This type of message works equally well for a brand-new launch or for bringing a long-standing product back into the conversation, giving it renewed visibility and a chance to connect with customers who may have missed it before.
Tactics to Crafting SMS Sales Messaging for Food and Retail
- Establish brand guidelines: Should you use all-caps for certain words? Include or exclude emojis? Steer clear of certain phrases? Decide on message length limits, preferred punctuation styles, and whether to use abbreviations. All these guidelines should be made clear to anyone composing texts, whether that’s your marketing team or franchisees, to ensure a consistent customer experience across every location.
- Test and improve brand guidelines: Even the best sales text guidelines should evolve over time. Test and compare variations in tone, formatting, and content structure to see what resonates most with your audience. For example, test whether including an emoji increases click-through rates, or whether a more conversational tone drives higher LTO redemption rates. Document these findings and update your guidelines so they remain data-driven and effective.
- Make sales messaging relevant through audience sub-grouping: Instead of blasting the same promotion to your entire contact list, segment your subscriber list into smaller groups so each group receives offers and product announcements aligned with their specific interests. A sporting goods retailer, for instance, might promote new hiking gear to outdoor enthusiasts while showcasing the latest running shoes to avid runners. By tailoring content to what each sub-group cares about most, your messages feel more personal and valuable—significantly increasing the chances of engagement and conversion.
Click here to find tips for writing effective sales text messages
How to Leverage SMS to Boost Sales of Consumer Services
Many of the SMS sales messaging tactics that work for retail also apply to service-based businesses. However, service-industry businesses offer additional opportunities to leverage SMS to achieve sales goals.
Reduce No-Shows with Automated Appointment Reminders
Missed appointments can be costly for service-based businesses, but automated SMS reminders offer a highly effective solution. Instead of relying on a single notification, sending a series of well-timed text messages—such as a confirmation when the appointment is booked, a reminder a few days before, and a final prompt on the day of the appointment—keeps your business top-of-mind for customers.
SMS is far more effective than email for these reminders because text messages are delivered directly to a customer’s mobile device and are typically read within minutes. Emails, on the other hand, can easily get lost in crowded inboxes or overlooked until it’s too late. To dive deeper into this crucial element of service sales, read Appointment Reminder Texts - Sample Templates & Tips.
Nurture Long Sales Cycles with Drip Campaigns
For services with longer decision timelines—such as marketing assisted living facilities, home renovations, or financial planning—SMS drip campaigns can help nurture sales leads over weeks or months. A thoughtful sequence of messages can keep your brand top-of-mind without overwhelming the recipient. For instance, after a tour of an assisted living facility, a follow-up text might read, “Hi John, thanks for visiting Sunny Acres Assisted Living. If you’re interested, here’s a link to customer testimonials: [Link]. We’re here to answer any questions.” Over time, these sales-driven SMS messages can mix educational content with promotional offers, gradually moving the lead toward a decision.
Increase Order Value with Upsell and Cross-Sell Messaging
Service providers can also use SMS to upsell or cross-sell. After a customer books one service, a follow-up text message can suggest a complementary offering. A carpet cleaning company might send, “Thanks for booking your carpet cleaning! Add upholstery cleaning today for 20% off. Reply YES to upgrade.” This type of targeted, timely messaging can increase average order value and strengthen customer relationships.
How to Leverage SMS to Boost B2B Sales
B2B sales cycles are often longer and more relationship-driven, making consistent, relevant communication essential. SMS can be a valuable tool for staying connected with prospects, driving event attendance, and following up effectively.
Use SMS Messages to Boost Sales Event Attendance
Sending reminders to event attendees can significantly improve turnout. An SMS message like, “Reminder: The Tech Growth Summit starts tomorrow at 9 AM at the Convention Center. Click here for parking information: link!” ensures that your event stays top-of-mind and provides attendees with the details they need.
Keep Engagement Going Post-Event Using SMS
Post-event follow-up is another area where SMS can shine. After meeting a prospect at a conference or networking event, a personalized text can help continue the conversation. “Great meeting you at the Marketing Leaders Summit! Here’s the case study I mentioned: [link]” is a simple yet effective way to re-engage and provide value. Because SMS feels more personal than email, it can help you stand out in a crowded inbox.
Why SMS Works for Sales Across Industries
The effectiveness of SMS messages in driving sales comes down to speed, reach, personalization, and automation. Messages are read within minutes, work on any mobile device without requiring an app, and can be tailored to customer behavior, location, and preferences. With the right platform, SMS can be automated to trigger based on specific actions, such as a purchase, a missed appointment, or a lack of engagement over a set period. This ensures that your messages are always timely and relevant, increasing the likelihood of conversion.
Measuring the Success of SMS on Sales – Attribution & ROI
Attributing sales directly to SMS campaigns can be challenging, especially since some text messages function more like digital billboards—designed to build awareness or prompt consideration rather than drive an immediate, trackable action. For instance, a customer might receive a promotional text, remember your offer, and later make a purchase in-store or online without any direct interaction with the message itself. This makes it difficult to fully capture the impact of an SMS message on sales, as not every conversion can be clearly linked back to a specific campaign. Additionally, SMS often delivers intangible benefits—like increased brand trust or improved customer loyalty—that are valuable but hard to quantify in financial terms.
However, there’s still some actions brands can take to gain some understanding of attribution, such as using trackable links with UTM codes, unique discount codes, and other digital markers within their SMS messages. Integrating SMS platforms with payment systems or loyalty programs can further enhance tracking, helping brands to associate in-person transactions with their messaging efforts and build a more complete picture of campaign performance.
Ultimately, determining the ROI of SMS sales initiatives requires a holistic approach. Marketers should track key metrics such as subscriber growth, open rates, click-throughs, and attributed revenue, while also considering the broader impact on customer engagement and retention. By analyzing these data points and comparing results across different campaigns and channels, businesses can gain actionable insights to refine their SMS strategy, optimize spend, and maximize the return on investment for their sales messaging efforts.
How Voxie Helps You Turn SMS Into Sales
Voxie is the only SMS platform created exclusively for franchises and multi-location brands. We offer industry-leading automation alongside specialized controls that address the distinct team structures and operational challenges of franchise organizations. We help franchises to safeguard their brand while simultaneously enabling individual franchisees to leverage best-in-class SMS capabilities. Moreover, our franchise-level analytics make it easy to measure performance across locations, identify top performers, and replicate successful strategies.
Whether you’re a restaurant chain, a service provider, or a B2B brand, Voxie helps you turn SMS into a high-ROI sales channel while maintaining compliance, brand consistency, and scalability.
If you’re ready to see how SMS can drive your next sales initiative, schedule a demo with Voxie today and start converting more customers with the power of text.