CONDENSE YOUR MESSAGES

When you send text messages online, it's a good idea to keep your messages short and sweet - they'll be more cost-effective, as well as quicker to read.

• The maximum length of a regular text message is 160 characters.
• Focus your texts to have one clear message or offer.
• Cut out words where possible; avoid repetition and use of unnecessarily long words.
• Use abbreviations to save on characters.

That said - if you need to send longer messages, Message Hero allows you to send multi-part messages of up to 459 characters (3 x 153).

CUSTOMIZE YOUR MESSAGES

It's a good idea to customize your messages to make them more personal to the customer, as well as reinforce who the message is from.

• Use a custom 'From' label so your customers know who the message is from. 'From' labels can be 11 characters or less, so you may need to abbreviate your business name.
• When you compose a text in Message Hero, you can use @@firstname to customize your messages to send to your contact's names i.e. Hi Alex...
• Use a brief description to remind your customers what your business offers.

TIMING YOUR TEXTS

If you send your messages too often or at the wrong time, your customers may unsubscribe. Choose your times carefully and avoid texting too often.

• Try to send texts during business hours, between 8am and 8pm (see graph opposite).
• Never send texts at night or early in the morning.
• Think about what your customers might be doing - avoid rush hour or busy Monday's after the weekend.
• Remember, not too often! Send a max of 1 per week per customer. Consider breaking your contact lists into smaller groups and sending messages on rotation to minimise opt-outs.

INCLUDE MULTIPLE CLEAR CALLS TO ACTION

Including calls to action asks your customers to take action to respond to your offer. Whether you want them to call and book or buy online, it's important to tell your customers how they can avail of your offer.

• Include more than one call to action to give your customers options e.g. Drop In, Phone, Email, Web Link.
• Include important supporting information to your CTAs e.g. Opening Hours, Booking Line Hours etc.

STAYING DATA-PROTECTION COMPLIANT

It's important when you send sms online to make sure you are compliant with the data protection rules for your country. Message Hero makes it simple to manage your opt-ins and opt-outs.

• You may not send a message to someone unless they are currently or have been your customer in the last year.
• You must provide your customers with a simple, no-cost way to opt-out at the time of data collection and also at the time of each communication. Message Hero provides a simple 1-click way to add opt-out info to your texts. When someone opts-out from your list, Message Hero will automatically remove them from future communications.
• Your messages should be about similar products to those involved in the original sale.
• For full data-protection compliance rules in the UK, please visit: http://ico.org.uk/for_the_public/topic_specific_guides/marketing/texts

OPTIMIZING YOUR TEXT MESSAGES

Once you have sent a few text messages, you can gauge which ones had the best response based on reports and bookings or sales. You can then optimize future messages based on the best performing messages.

• Message Hero's reports will show you how many opt-outs your message received (if any).
• Try A/B testing your messages - divide your contacts into groups and use different wording/CTAs for each one.
• Try sending your messages on different days or at different times.