Best Practices for SMS Marketing in 2024

In an era dominated by mobile devices, SMS marketing continues to be a powerful tool for engaging with customers directly. As mobile app marketers and product managers, harnessing SMS marketing's potential can significantly enhance user acquisition, retention, and overall user experience. In this guide, we'll explore the best practices for SMS marketing in 2024 to help you maximize its effectiveness.

1. Obtain Explicit Consent

With evolving privacy regulations and increasing consumer awareness about data protection, obtaining explicit consent before sending marketing messages is crucial. Ensure that users explicitly opt-in to receive SMS notifications and provide clear information about the type and frequency of messages they can expect.

2. Personalization is Key

Personalized messages resonate better with users than generic ones. Utilize data from user interactions, preferences, and behavior within your mobile app to personalize SMS content. Address recipients by their name, tailor offers based on their past purchases or interests, and segment your audience to send targeted messages that are relevant to each group.

Check out our personalization best practices to help optimize your messaging performance.

3. Timing Matters

Timing plays a significant role in the success of your SMS campaigns. Avoid sending messages at inconvenient times, such as late at night or during peak working hours. Instead, schedule messages for times when users are most likely to be engaged, such as during lunch breaks or in the early evening. Experiment with timing to determine the optimal schedule for your target audience. Localizing your message timing by time zone will help ensure that you honor users preferences and optimize engagement.

4. Keep it Concise

SMS messages have a character limit of 160 characters, so it's essential to convey your message concisely and effectively. Get straight to the point and use clear language to communicate your offer or call-to-action. Avoid excessive use of abbreviations or jargon that may confuse recipients.

5. Provide Value

Ensure that every SMS you send provides value to the recipient. Whether it's a promotional offer, exclusive discount, useful information, or relevant updates, ensure your messages are worth their attention. Avoid spammy or irrelevant content that may lead to users opting out of your SMS notifications.

6. Incorporate Multimedia

Incorporating multimedia elements such as images, GIFs, emojis, or short videos can make your SMS messages more visually appealing and engaging. However, be mindful of file size limitations and ensure that multimedia content enhances the message without compromising load times or user experience.

7. Monitor and Analyze Performance

Regularly monitor the performance of your SMS campaigns and analyze key metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates. Use A/B testing to experiment with different message formats, timing, and content variations to optimize your campaigns for better results.

8. Maintain Compliance

Stay up-to-date with relevant regulations such as the TCPA (Telephone Consumer Protection Act) in the United States and GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) in the European Union. Ensure that your SMS marketing practices comply with these regulations to avoid potential legal issues and maintain trust with your audience.

SMS marketing remains a valuable tool for mobile app marketers and product managers in 2024. By following these best practices, you can leverage the power of SMS to engage with users effectively, drive conversions, and build lasting relationships with your audience.

Get Started with OneSignal

OneSignal is the market-leading self-serve customer engagement solution for push notifications, email, iOS Live Activities, bulk SMS, and in-app messages. We’re loved by marketers, product managers, and developers alike!

Create relevant, personalized texts easily through the OneSignal dashboard. Add emojis, images, audio, and video to make your messages visually compelling, all with no code. Or, automate personalized messages at scale with the API. Connect with us to add SMS to your engagement strategy and find the OneSignal plan that works for your business.