7 Tips for Your Welcome Text to New Customers

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 and the onboarding experience 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 send a welcome 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, use your welcome text to remind them what they signed up for. It also helps if you let them know what they will receive from you, and when. It also helps if you let them know what they will receive from you, and when. 

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 text. It automatically sends anytime new customers subscribe to your text marketing.

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 opportunity to show off your customer service skills.

Simply put, welcome texts should 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. It shows that your text marketing program is valuable. Finally, it also increases the chances that they’ll purchase your product or service. It’s a win-win-win. 😁

5. Think Outside the Alphabet

Consider adding images to your welcome message for customers 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.

Today 4:30 PM

Thanks for signing up for our Swell VIP club texts. As an official VIP, you get access to products and unique promos. Check them out and be sure to share our VIP program with your squad.

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, and you’ll build a long term and profitable relationship with customers.

Today 4:30 PM

We love you. Not just ‘cus you signed up for our texts, but also we suspect you’ve probably already had our amazing plant-based milk and that means you care about the planet. We think that’s cool.

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. You could send links to a blog post, ask them to follow you on social media, or try out different calls to action.

Drip campaigns are particularly powerful when combined with our segment and data collection features.  Here’s an 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. It’s worth getting right–the open rate of SMS marketing campaigns is 98%. That’s a lot better than email marketing, no matter how much time you spend on subject lines.

You can continue to tweak it, using the real-time insights our analytics dashboard provides. You can change the welcome text easily in SimpleTexting. 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.