SendingSMS messages to thousands of contacts in your customer database, or to prospects in a specific geographic area, is an effective way to quickly grow your business and increase your revenue. However, for the use of an online bulk SMS service to be truly profitable, you must follow a few rules when preparing the texts you intend to send. We will outline the key guidelines to follow to ensure maximum engagement and the success of your online campaign.

SMS messages are short and must be quick to read

SMS messages are limited to 160 characters, and it is essential to strictly adhere to this limit when drafting your texts. This limit was not set by chance; it was established in 1985 by the Global System for Mobile Communications, based on the average number of characters typically used in a postcard or a Telex. This character limit was therefore considered optimal for quickly conveying marketing information on a mobile phone.

It is very important to strictly respect this limit when drafting SMS for your marketing campaigns, because a longer message will be delivered as two separate marketing SMS messages. Furthermore, since the second part arrives after the first, the user will read the message in reverse, starting from the end, and may fail to understand the services you are offering.

Identify your company in every message

It is important to include your company name in all SMS messages sent for your marketing communication campaigns via an SMS platform. Contrary to what one might think, with a limited number of characters, some companies forget to include their business name. However, incorporating your company name into the messages you send is not only mandatory in France but also essential for the success of your campaign. The easiest approach is to start each of your professional SMS messages with your company name, so your contacts can quickly identify your business and the product being offered to take advantage of your promotion or offer.

Optimize the impact of your offer

Regardless of the service offer you intend to send to a customer's phone, there is a simple solution to improve its impact and increase the response rate from a platform. Promotional messages consist of two different components: the offer, "get a free drink," and the condition, "with the purchase of a pizza meal." To ensure your message(s) have the maximum impact, it is best to place the offer as close to the beginning of the message as possible. The goal is to immediately capture the reader's attention and entice them to read the professional message to the end.

Include an opt-out function

When sending marketing SMS messages to your prospects' phones, French law requires you to use a service that allows users to unsubscribe from mailing lists upon receipt. Typically, the person simply needs to reply "STOP" to the SMS to be automatically removed from the mailing list via the platform. In France, upon receiving a text, the contact must also be able to easily request the full contact details of the company sending the professional text. To do this, they must be able to send the keyword "CONTACT" to obtain all the company's contact information.

Be careful with your hyperlink

Phones expand the possibilities offered by text messages, as their internet connection can be used with a hyperlink to direct the prospect to a website or a dedicated landing page. A rich SMS offers almost endless possibilities, as it can be used to direct customers to an e-commerce page, a video, an online survey, the company's mobile blog, the company's Facebook page or Twitter profile, or indeed any other social network on the internet…

However, for the hyperlink to work correctly and drive as many users as possible to the targeted page or site, certain rules must be followed.

• To start with, you need to make customers want to click the link by clearly explaining why it is in their best interest to do so.
• Make sure that the site or page you are directing users to is properly optimized for mobile phone users.
• To insert a hyperlink into a message, you must of course use a link shortener or a short link generator. There are several available online, but it is very important to test the link you get on different mobile phones. Not all smartphones and mobile browsers recognize every type of short link. It would be a real shame if your prospects couldn't see the page or site you have prepared.