Did you know that 71 percent of people check their phone right after they wake up? Sixty-six percent sleep with their phone at night.
During the day, the average person checks it upwards of 160x times, or once every nine minutes.
But even though we’re constantly on our phones, we don’t always want to be bothered by SMS marketing messages—not even those from our favorite brands.
While there’s no perfect time to send marketing text messages, there are certain times when you can reach your customers and increase engagement, and are less likely to bother them.
Whether your goal is to boost your ecommerce SMS marketing revenue, grow your SMS list, or simply try SMS alongside your email campaigns to see if it’s right for your business, here are a few do’s and don’ts to consider. Plus, we’ve included some guidelines to let you know when you should send SMS marketing messages:
Things to consider before sending a marketing SMS
Running successful SMS marketing campaigns requires you to:
Know your customers
Before you contact your customers, you should know the answers to these three questions:
- Who are your customers?
- Where are your customers?
- What do you want them to do?
For example, if you’re a restaurant near a city’s financial district aiming to increase sales during happy hour, the answers to these questions might be as follows:
- Who are your customers? Answer: Business professionals
- Where are your customers? Answer: Working nearby
- What do you want them to do? Answer: Come to your happy hour
The answers to these questions will dictate when you should send your message.
If your happy hour is from 4-6 p.m., don’t send a text message at 3:30.Your customers won’t have time to prepare, or they may already have plans. You’ll probably want to send it between 10 a.m. and noon. It’s not so early that you’re disrupting their morning and gives them ample time to think about that first post-work martini. Also, it’s before lunchtime, so they can prepare to eat light if you’ve got great happy hour food specials.
What type of message are you sending?
Your message type also influences the best time to send SMS marketing texts. Here are a few types of SMS messages to consider, and when you should send them:
Promotional messages
Promotional messages advertise your business by highlighting special services, or offering sales, discounts, or promo codes. The restaurant happy hour example above is a promotional message. These messages are time-sensitive, so make sure your customers have enough time to engage with your offer after receiving your text. Generally speaking, these texts are best confined to regular business hours.
SMS coupons
SMS coupons are similar to promos, but they tend to be less urgent, and are typically sent via MMS (multimedia messaging service). Send them when you launch your campaign, product, or service, and clearly inform your customers when the coupon will expire.
Loyalty programs
SMS campaigns leveraging loyalty programs encourage repeat customers to make a purchase or reach a purchase amount to move up in their tiered program. Airlines do this with reward miles, hotels with points, and Starbucks with stars. The higher your tier, the better your rewards.
Pairing a loyalty program and a promotional message is particularly enticing. Here are a few examples:
- An airline offering 40,000 bonus miles for a limited time if you sign up for their credit card and make $3,000 in purchases within three months
- A casino offering 10x the regular points on Tuesdays for the month of November
- Starbucks is offering 50 additional stars if you purchase three grande caramel macchiatos in the next seven days
The best time to send these messages depends on what you do and what you’re offering. But generally speaking, marketers should send messages highlighting their loyalty program specials the night before or the morning they become available.
Text-to-win promotions
These text campaigns let customers enter a drawing simply by responding to your SMS message. You can offer almost anything when they opt in, whether it’s a clothing discount or a complimentary haircut. Text marketing campaigns offering easy incentives are excellent ways to get new and existing customers to engage with your brand.
Appointment reminders and business hours
Appointment reminders are typically sent 24-48 hours before an appointment. The 24-48 hour rule usually applies to messages about a change in business hours, depending on the nature of your business. For inspiration, here are a few text message examples to get you started.
Segment your time zones
Your SMS campaign will be dead on arrival if you don’t know which time zones you’re sending text messages in. For example, if you’re sending a bulk SMS message on Thursday at 10 a.m. EST about your website’s weekend promos but everyone receives it simultaneously, it’ll reach your West Coast customers at 7 a.m., and your Hawaiian customers at 4 a.m. Talk about a rude wake-up call.
To avoid complaints and opt-outs, use a customer relationship management (CRM) software that can segment your customers by time zone, ensuring everyone receives your message at the intended time.
Understand cultural norms and expectations
Whether your SMS marketing campaign is local, national, or international, you should be mindful of your customer’s preferences. You don’t want to send a promotional text during certain religious holidays, or say something that could be considered culturally insensitive.
Also, be sure to respect the preferences of those with whom you’re communicating. For example, studies show that Germans in particular value privacy, so you should think twice before from sending messages that include names, locations, or other personal data. Meanwhile, a survey geared toward Latin Americans found they prefer visual and video content, so links to videos could boost engagement.
Perform SMS A/B testing
A museum in Minneapolis might see the most success when they send SMS marketing messages at 11 a.m. on Thursday, but a museum a block away might get more engagement at 2:25 p.m. on Tuesdays.
Running A/B tests will help you determine when you should engage with customers. Send the same message to two similar customer groups at two different times, then use analytics gathered from links to discover which time drove more clicks. Experiment with other days of the week, varying message types, and different customer segments to determine which type of messages work best for who, and when.
How many text messages are too many?
Be mindful of text frequency whether you’re A/B testing or just texting your customers in general. Industry guidelines suggest sending 2-6 texts per month is ideal, but that can vary based on intent. As stated in our SMS best practices, there is no set amount of right messages to send, but quality is key.
When is the best time to send SMS marketing messages?
The best time to send text messages depends on the industry and location. As we mentioned in the example above, it even varies by the organization!
In general, here are the best times to send marketing text messages:
Midday
In general, you’ll want to send messages to customers when they’ll most likely be awake and engaged. This tends to be between 10 a.m. and 8 p.m. After 8 pm, you’re competing with nighttime activities like prime time television, web surfing, and lifestyle activities. The most popular time for SMS marketing is 12 p.m., coinciding with the typical lunch break.
You may also find it advantageous to send SMS messages at off times like 11:33 a.m. or 2:38 p.m. Most SMS messages are sent on the hour or half-hour. Breaking this trend can help you stand out and win your audience’s attention. Run A/B tests to see if this strategy works for you.
Weekends
If you’re running a weekend sale or promo, give your customers enough notice to engage. Thursday is a great day to inform your customers about weekend activities, because it’s within their grasp, and they can start making plans.
The morning of your event is also a great time to send reminder SMS messages, especially on Saturdays. Sundays tend to be the least popular day for SMS messaging, generally because it’s seen as a day for families to spend time together without interruptions from brands.
Paydays
Paydays are great times to reach customers because they’re experiencing a serotonin rush for getting paid for their hard work. In fact, customers who have just gotten paid are 3x more likely to buy products they believe will improve their quality of life. The further away from payday, the more financially reserved they become.
Most paydays fall on the 15th and last day of the month, or every other Friday. Run A/B tests on these days and note when engagement and conversions spike. This will be the best indicator of when your customers are getting paid.
Abandoned carts
In SMS marketing, timing is everything. This is especially true of messages regarding abandoned carts.
Carriers only let you send one follow-up message to a cart abandoner, and it must be sent within 48 hours of abandonment. You only have one shot to persuade your customer to continue the purchase via SMS, so make it count!
Here are a few ways to deliver an abandoned cart SMS message that packs a punch:
- Send a friendly reminder: “Hi Kelly, we don’t want you to forget the awesome items in your cart. Get them before they’re gone!”
- Ask if they have questions: “Hey Alex, do you have any questions about the T-shirts in your cart? We’re happy to help you with all your fashion needs!”
- Offer coupons or discount codes: “Hi Lee! We noticed you left a few appliances in your cart. Here’s a code for 15% off. Enter “15OFF” at checkout to activate.”
Also, don’t forget to remind customers who you are, since SMS messages usually come from a number they’re unfamiliar with.
Getting consent
Don’t be fooled! Just because it feels like a more “casual” line of communication, SMS marketing has its own regulations and best practices. In fact, in the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and the Can-Spam Act serve to protect consumers against an onslaught of intrusive texts, while giving them a level of control over what––and how many––messages they receive.
The TCPA requires businesses to get express consent before marketing to consumers via SMS ,and the Can-Spam Act helps protect consumers from receiving unwanted messages. Not abiding by these protocols is not just disrespectful to your buyer, but it’s a quick way to get slapped with a hefty fine.
When a customer signs up for something, they’re aware of and actively engaging with your brand. By ensuring your team is compliant with local and federal marketing regulations, you build a relationship with your customer that is based on trust.
When in doubt, refer to the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) for SMS marketing best practices that align with TCPA rules, and have been created with the help of key industry stakeholders. Their guiding principles include:
- Display clear calls to action: All calls to action must be clearly and unambiguously
displayed. Consumers must be made aware of what they are signing up to receive relating to a specific program. - Provide applicable consent mechanisms: Programs must comply with applicable
consumer consent requirements, giving sufficient control over the messages they receive. - Send opt-in confirmation messages: A consumer’s opt-in must be confirmed in the first message sent. For single-message programs, the confirmation message content may be part of a single message sent after a consumer has opted in. For recurring-messages programs, confirmation messages must include clear opt-out instructions.
- Acknowledge and honor opt-out requests: Message senders must acknowledge and act on all opt-out requests.
Final thoughts on SMS marketing timing
The best time to send SMS marketing messages depends on who your customers are, your intent, and what type of message you’re sending them. There are also tons of other factors to consider, like cultural norms and special occasions.
While some days and times generally yield better results, the best way to figure out what works for your business is to test your messages and see when your customers engage with you.
Are you ready to start SMS messaging? Sign up for MailCharts to discover SMS campaign examples and get inspired!
