A customer just signed up for your text messages, and a hearty handshake isn’t possible, so now what? Send a warm and carefully crafted welcome message.
Let’s face it: People have given up on the sanctity of their email inbox. They handout their email address for any reason–when a pop-up ambushes them unexpectedly on a website or to download an e-book that they might never read.
The same can’t be said for phone numbers. Even though 80% of consumers want businesses to text them more, it doesn’t mean that they are going to start handing out their digits like there’s no tomorrow. So, when you do get a customer’s phone number, it’s essential to get your welcome message right.
Don’t squander the opportunity to wow them, to reassure them that the single best decision they made all day, heck all week, was signing up for your text messages.
Okay, maybe we are getting a little carried away. You get the point, though. Welcome text messages are worth getting right. But–like eating your vegetables every day–just because you know you should be sending a stellar welcome text message doesn’t mean you are.
In this post, we cover the top seven tips to help you write the perfect welcome text.
1. Remind People What They Signed Up For
When a customer subscribes to receive your text messages, it’s essential to use your welcome text to remind them exactly what they signed up for, what they will receive from you, and when.
On top of this, there is a compliance element to welcome text messages. Thankfully, SimpleTexting simplifies the compliance bit so you can spend more time focusing on making new subscribers feel welcome. How do we do this? We send a free best practice compliance message as a separate standalone text anytime new customers subscribe to your text marketing.
We are currently the only SMS marketing company that offers this. Other companies either don’t send out an automatic compliance message at all, or they include it within your welcome text, which means you get a lot less than 160 characters to welcome new subscribers. The standalone compliance text provides the following information:
- Frequency of messages
- The option to seek help
- Offers the ability to opt-out
- Lets them know that–in rare cases–message and data rates may apply.
2. Be Prompt
We often get asked the question, when should I send new subscribers their welcome text? The answer is simple: right away.
If someone signs up to receive your text messages and they don’t hear from you for a week, or even several days, when you do eventually get around to texting them, they might not remember why they signed up in the first place and then unsubscribe.
3. Don’t Forget Your Manners
Unless you were raised by a pack of wolves in the wild, at some point in your life, you’ve learned that it is good manners to say “Thank You.” Your welcome text message is a great time to practice gratitude.
Welcome texts should recognize the connection and thank the customer for signing up.
4. Offer a Discount Code
Offering a discount code in the welcome text is a triple-whammy: it makes a great first impression, demonstrates that your text marketing program is valuable, and also increases the chances that they’ll purchase something from you. It’s a win-win-win. 😁
5. Think Outside the Alphabet
Consider adding images to your welcome message by sending MMS messages. We found that texts with a photo led to a 52% higher click-through-rate than SMS. If you want people to engage with your texts, sometimes it can be best to show and not tell.
6. Ensure It’s On Brand
Texting is an intimate way to connect with your customers–it’s how people communicate with people and friends. Don’t be afraid to let your brand’s personality shine through in your welcome message so that your message doesn’t come across as awkward. The fear of fitting into a character count can often drive brands to sound a bit dull.
Of course, if your brand is professional and not known for its witty, LOL-inducing wordplay, then best not to get carried away here. The key takeaway here: you do you.
7. Send a Series of Welcome Texts
Not only are subscribers typically most engaged when they first sign up to your text messages, but the experience they have in the first few weeks will also set the tone for the rest of their time on your list.
That’s a lot of pressure to place on one text. As with any relationship, it can take time to understand each other, to build trust, and know what to expect. So, why not send a series of welcome text messages as opposed to just one?
Our drip campaigns feature allows you to do this, sending out several text messages at intervals that you define and can stretch from one hour to several weeks, or even months.
Drip campaigns are particularly powerful when combined with our segment and data collection features. To learn more about the kind of campaigns you can run, we recommend reading this useful article on creating text message drip campaigns using segments and autoresponders.
As you plot out the perfect welcome text, know that it’s more of an art than a science. You can continue to tweak it, using the real-time insights our analytics dashboard provides. Change the welcome message as required, and remember if in doubt, the most significant piece of advice here is to create content that you would open.
If you wouldn’t open it, your customers won’t either.
