Top 4 Tips for Business Text Messaging Uncovered after Surveying 9M Texts

We recently shared the patterns we see in some of the lowest-performing texting templates. Some lessons learned from these texts are:

• don’t use passive voice
• don’t ignore when you send the message
• don’t use links
• and don’t ask customers to call you in the text message

After surveying 9M texts sent this past year with close to a 90% deliverability rate, we found the best-performing messages shared similar traits.

Apply these 4 techniques when sending your next business text message or campaign

1. Use Personalization

Users want to be recognized and enjoy personalization instead of being treated like user number 14032. We’ve seen from text responses that people are more inclined to respond to a real person instead of a bot. You can achieve personalization without having to sacrifice the planning and effort it takes to do so by using the TextUs tokens to personalize both the recipient and sender. We know that links can get flagged as spam or look suspicious to users, and the same is true for putting signatures in your text. Instead of embedding a full signature with links to your website and cell phone (which also discourages responses), you should use a token to simply insert your first name to show that you are a real person.

Example: Hey {{contact.firstName}}, how is the new job going? Shoot me a text or give me a call anytime with an update. Have a great day! – Sheryl @ABC Staffing Group

2. Ask Questions

Questions are key in creating engagement in text messaging and encouraging responses. You can ask questions like “does 3 pm work for you?” or “can you please reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to confirm” to help increase engagement. Texting templates allow you to create a customer journey with meaningful conversations and space out your communications with authentic questions to collect information and keep track of your responses. Asking questions via text is also a polite way to have a conversation since users are able to reply on their own time and in a convenient manner.

3. Balance Your Tone

Business texts should find the balance between direct, informative, and friendly. You can sprinkle in a single exclamation point or single emoji (don’t go overboard)! Including texts as a prime communications tool for your business allows you to give and receive the information needed while building relationships with your users. We have seen TextUs customers use national holidays relevant to their industry to send a text message as a point of celebration and touchpoint. These templates can be planned for certain holidays to reach your users differently so they know you don’t only text when you need something.

Example: Hi {{contact.firstName}}, happy birthday! I just wanted to take a moment to wish you an amazing day! -Sheryl @ABC Staffing Group

4. Keep Texts Shorter

TLDR (too long didn’t read). Did you ever receive a very long email and only skim it or not even read it at all? Text messages have higher read and response rates than email. One reason for this is that people don’t want to read tons of paragraphs. Don’t follow this email trend and think that more is more when less is more. We have found that users are replying with less than 250 characters but people are sending messages greater than 250 characters. This discrepancy could be holding you back from properly engaging with users and improving your communication with them.

Remember: texting has many benefits compared to phone calls and emails — don’t let bad habits from those tools carry over into your texting journey!

Save the infographic below to improve your communications and relationships with users.