SMS marketing is one of the most profitable and effective channels to attract customers' attention. Eighty-four percent of customers want to texts from businesses — they read those messages instantly and take immediate action.

This form of marketing can be a game changer for your business, but you need to follow these SMS marketing best practices.

1. No cold SMS contact

Rule number 1 i Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) and clarifications made by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) over the years are as follows: Contacts must opt ​​out of receiving communications from your business. You should follow rule #1 – but doing so also creates better customer experiences and leads to more profits for your business.

Let's say I'm a customer and I get a message from you in the dark. This text is my first experience with your company. I'm immediately upset that you messaged me without permission, I'll report you as spam and probably never work with you. This is bad. But making people choose texts it's actually quite easy and sets customers up to have a better experience.

How to get contacts to choose:

On your website contact forms, or wherever you collect contact information, make sure you do two things:

• Ask (or request) people to enter their mobile phone number

• Add “language of choice” to your contact form, something like “By submitting this form, you give us permission to contact you via the information provided. You can opt out at any time.”

You can also use other marketing to get contacts to opt in. For example, you can promote a keyword, like “Text DEAL to get exclusive weekly discounts!” You can also add messages to your current business phone line and then start prompting people to “Text or call us at (this number.)” If someone texts you first, you're good to go.

Connected: 5 ways to use texting to boost your sales and marketing

2. Use an SMS marketing platform

You can do a lot of great things marketing without spending moneybut for both compatibility and functionality, you'll have to shell out a few bucks for one SMS marketing platform so you can do things like:

• Tell each contact how to opt out of SMS if they want

• Send message from existing business phone number

• Send text messages to entire contact lists

• Manage and segment your contact lists for different offers or updates

• Automatically handle exceptions

• Track message delivery and engagement

• Give multiple team members access to view performance

Many entrepreneurs – especially solopreneurs — will try to hack it using their personal smartphone. Do not do this. This will lead to ineffective marketing and also open you up to regulatory issues that an SMS marketing platform would prevent.

3. Create messages you want to receive

A marketing best practice is to put yourself in your customer's shoes. This applies equally to SMS marketing. If you had worked with or bought from this company before, what kind of messages would you like to receive? This may include:

• Updates about business or store hours

• Discount promotions on items you have previously purchased or are considering purchasing

• Notifications and reminders about upcoming events

• Notifications for customer milestones, anniversaries and renewals

• Requests for feedback and sharing your experience

Think about what you want to get and then start creating text message campaigns to match.

Connected: How Text Marketing Can Be Your Most Powerful Customer Engagement Tool

4. Give clear instructions for effective engagement

You don't have to be an expert writer to send effective SMS promotions. of the best ads they all have these things in common:

• Build excitement → NEW!

• Make an offer → Buy one, get one

• Provide a call to action → Follow this link to buy

• Create urgency → Offer ends at midnight!

There's a lot of flexibility in what you can say, even in text messages, but you need to be clear about what you're offering, why they should buy it, and how they can get it. Otherwise, people will see your message but not do anything with it (and that would be a shame).

Pro tip: Adding an image to your SMS campaign can be powerful. Maybe it's a flyer for an event, a product image, or something else that's worth 1,000 words and boosts your promotion. That way, you can keep your texts shorter and still deliver on your campaign.

5. Measure, improve, celebrate

Most businesses that start using SMS marketing see almost immediate returns, but you won't be an expert right away. It's okay! There is a clear path to becoming one.

Do your best to send your first SMS marketing campaign. Look at its performance – how many people click your link or complete the action and how quickly? Pay your attention metric to see what works and what doesn't. Ask friends and colleagues for feedback. Make adjustments, send your next campaign and repeat the process. Before long, you'll be an SMS marketing master and your bottom line will give you something to celebrate.

Connected: How to use business text messaging to lower customer acquisition costs