What is a promotional text message?

A promotional text message is an SMS or MMS message sent to market a product, service, offer, event, or business. Common examples include discount codes, flash sales, product launches, loyalty offers, event invitations, and back-in-stock promotions.

Are promotional text messages legal?

Yes. Businesses can send promotional text messages when they follow applicable consent, disclosure, opt-out, and other messaging requirements. In the U.S., promotional automated texts generally require prior express written consent under the TCPA. Requirements can vary by message type, location, and use case.

What should a promotional text include?

A strong promotional text identifies the sender, clearly communicates the offer, includes a direct call to action, and provides any required opt-out information. The message should also be relevant to the audience receiving it.

How can businesses collect subscribers for text promotions?

Businesses can grow an SMS list through methods such as text-to-join keywords, QR codes, web forms, website popups, and tap-to-join links. Subscribers should be told what they'll receive, expected messaging frequency, and how to opt out.

Can you personalize promotional text messages?

Yes. With SMS marketing software such as SlickText, businesses can personalize promotions using customer data such as names and other profile information and send different messages to targeted audience segments.

Can promotional text messages be automated?

Yes. Promotional messages can be scheduled in advance or triggered automatically based on dates, customer behavior, purchases, list activity, and other data. SlickText's workflow builder supports triggers, conditions, delays, and branching for multi-step SMS automation.

How much does it cost to send promotional text messages?

The cost depends on the provider, monthly message volume, whether you're sending SMS or MMS, and applicable carrier fees. SlickText plans start at $29 per month for 500 message credits, plus carrier fees.

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Text Promotions That Drive Action

Send targeted promotional text messages for sales, product launches, special offers, events, and more. SlickText makes it easy to grow your business with texting.

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SlickText has powered over 124,000 text message programs since 2011.

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Reach Customers at Scale

Whether you need to reach an audience of two or two million, SlickText is the best way to send text promotions to your customers. Our unique carrier partnerships allow us to deliver your texts faster and more reliably than ever.

Maximize Engagement

Inspire your customers to take action with our suite of engagement tools. Personalize campaigns with customer names and contact data, attach a variety of media types, and watch your click rates rise.

Sharpen Your Strategy

From response rates to attribution, our analytics dashboards give you everything you need to evaluate the success of your promotions and tune them for maximum results.

Text Promotions at a Glance

Text promotions are SMS or MMS messages used to share sales, discounts, product launches, events, and other offers with opted-in customers.
Effective promotional texts include a recognizable sender, clear offer, direct call to action, and required opt-out language.
SlickText helps businesses grow their subscriber lists, target the right audiences, automate campaigns, manage SMS compliance, and track results.
Businesses must obtain the appropriate consent before sending promotional text messages.

What Are Text Promotions?

Text promotions are SMS or MMS marketing messages businesses send to opted-in subscribers to promote sales, discounts, new products, events, loyalty offers, and other opportunities.

Promotional texts are one type of SMS marketing. Unlike transactional messages such as order confirmations or appointment reminders, promotional messages are designed to encourage an action such as making a purchase, visiting a location, registering for an event, or redeeming an offer.

Promotional vs. Transactional Text Messages

Promotional text messages are sent to market a business, product, service, event, or offer. Examples include flash sales, discount codes, product launches, loyalty offers, and event invitations.

Transactional text messages provide information related to an existing transaction or relationship, such as order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, or account notifications.

Because promotional texts contain marketing content, businesses should make sure they have the appropriate consent before sending them.

An online shopper gets a text alert with a final reminder to claim a discount

How To Send Text Promotions

Sending text promotions is simple and can be done with little to no technical expertise. Our platform makes it easy for anyone to get started with text messaging.

Grow Your List

There are several methods for opting in subscribers, including website popups, QR codes, tap-to-join links, and text to join keywords. If you already have a list of subscribers who have given explicit consent to receive texts from you, you can upload that list directly into your text promotion platform.

Start Sending Promos

Once you've built your list of contacts, you can start sending text messages. Simply select which list you want to target, type out a message, include an image (optional), and press send. Your text promo will begin landing on mobile devices within seconds.

Questions to Ask When Choosing a Text Promotion Service

When it comes to selecting a text promotion service, you shouldn’t compromise on these features.

Is the service easy to use?

If you can't navigate your way around the platform, you'll end up wasting precious time and money. When picking a service for sending SMS promotions, make sure you can explore the platform before committing. Many services offer free trials so you can see if it fits your needs.

How will you deal with legal compliance?

If you don't follow the right compliance standards, you risk being fined, your number getting shut down, or worse, you could find yourself in legal trouble. The best way to avoid these disruptions is to choose an experienced SMS provider that understands compliance regulations. Ask for their best practices on legal compliance and make sure the platform includes built-in tools to help you remain above board.

What tools do they offer?

Not all SMS marketing platforms are equal. The industry runs the gamut from basic providers who allow you to type and send a message to full-featured solutions that allow you to build a complete promotional text program. A great platform will help you grow your list of contacts, increase customer engagement, understand critical performance indicators, and automate your text marketing.

Will you get help when needed?

If you run into issues with your text promotions, you'll want a support team that knows how to help. Be sure to ask about the level of support that a provider supplies, as well as who will be answering your questions. Will you be able to talk to them over the phone? An email exchange? Or a live chatbot? Ideally, you'll be able to talk to a real, knowledgeable person who knows the platform inside and out.

Will your messages get delivered reliably?

You might assume that all promotional text services deliver your messages with the same speed and reliability. In reality, some don't have a strong enough infrastructure to handle sending mass text messages at scale. If you're only sending messages to smaller groups, this shouldn't be a concern. But if you're regularly sending large text blasts, deliverability is critical.

What are the pricing structures?

Most SMS providers operate on a tiered system, with a certain number of texts available at different price ranges. The majority of your options will have competitive prices, but be wary of services with unusually low costs, as they may lack the functionality, deliverability, and level of support you'll need.

Be sure to ask about additional fees. Not all providers are upfront about their pricing, and some SMS providers pass along fees from the telecom carriers that may not be apparent in their listed price.

SlickText's SMS Promotion Features

SlickText makes powerful SMS marketing easy, with the tools businesses need to grow their audience, automate personalized messages, and turn more conversations into customers.

Grow Your SMS Subscriber List

Collect subscribers with text-to-join keywords, QR codes, website popups, branded web forms, and tap-to-join links.

Make Promotions Stand Out

Personalize promotional text messages with names and other contact details. Add links to drive action, or use MMS to include images, GIFs, video, and other rich media that make your promotions more engaging.

Target the Right Audience

Use dynamic segments to group contacts based on profile data, preferences, engagement, and other criteria. Send each promotion to the subscribers it’s most relevant to instead of treating your entire list the same.

Automate Your Marketing

Build automated campaigns with SlickText's drag-and-drop workflow builder using triggers, conditions, delays, and branching.

Manage Customer Replies

Keep replies organized in a shared inbox where team members can manage one-to-one customer conversations.

Measure Campaign Performance

Track campaign engagement, click activity, subscriber behavior, and attribution to understand what drives results.

Text Promotions and Compliance

Sending text promotions is perfectly legal, but there are certain rules and regulations you'll need to follow to stay above board. In the United States, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) is the federal law that requires you to gain express written consent from subscribers before sending them marketing messages. This is a critical part of any text marketing program, and the software you choose to send broadcast text messages should be able to help you remain in compliance with the TCPA.

In Canada, commercial text messages are regulated by Canada’s Anti-Spam Legislation (CASL). CASL generally requires businesses to obtain consent, clearly identify themselves, and include an easy way to unsubscribe.

In addition to the TCPA and the CASL, the telecommunications industry further regulates text promotions through the CTIA. The CTIA clarifies what constitutes a successful opt-in to receive messages, sets content restrictions, and works with service providers to prevent spam and fraud in text communications. The cellular carriers themselves individually set rules for using their networks. A good SMS marketing service provider must be able to navigate the CTIA and telecommunications landscape on your behalf to help you ensure that you have a compliant sending number and program.

Example of SlickText opt-out intelligence that unsubscribes a contact based on chat sentiment

Common Questions Regarding Text Promotions

What is a promotional text message?: A promotional text message is an SMS or MMS message sent to market a product, service, offer, event, or business. Common examples include discount codes, flash sales, product launches, loyalty offers, event invitations, and back-in-stock promotions.

What is the difference between promotional and transactional SMS?: Promotional SMS is intended to market a product, service, or offer, while transactional SMS provides information related to an existing transaction or customer relationship, such as order confirmations, appointment reminders, and shipping updates.

Are promotional text messages legal?: Yes. Businesses can send promotional text messages when they follow applicable consent, disclosure, opt-out, and other messaging requirements. In the U.S., promotional automated texts generally require prior express written consent under the TCPA. Requirements can vary by message type, location, and use case.

What should a promotional text include?: A strong promotional text identifies the sender, clearly communicates the offer, includes a direct call to action, and provides any required opt-out information. The message should also be relevant to the audience receiving it.

How can businesses collect subscribers for text promotions?: Businesses can grow an SMS list through methods such as text-to-join keywords, QR codes, web forms, website popups, and tap-to-join links. Subscribers should be told what they'll receive, expected messaging frequency, and how to opt out.

Can you personalize promotional text messages?: Yes. With SMS marketing software such as SlickText, businesses can personalize promotions using customer data such as names and other profile information and send different messages to targeted audience segments.

Can promotional text messages be automated?: Yes. Promotional messages can be scheduled in advance or triggered automatically based on dates, customer behavior, purchases, list activity, and other data. SlickText's workflow builder supports triggers, conditions, delays, and branching for multi-step SMS automation.

How much does it cost to send promotional text messages?: The cost depends on the provider, monthly message volume, whether you're sending SMS or MMS, and applicable carrier fees. SlickText plans start at $29 per month for 500 message credits, plus carrier fees.

WHY CHOOSE US

Why You Should Choose SlickText for Your Text Promotions

Fast & Friendly Support

Our customer service is the best in the business, and we'd happily stake our reputation on that. From one-on-one onboarding sessions to responsive technical support and strategic marketing sessions, our team will make sure you know how to get the most out of the platform.

All-in-One Platform

Loaded with easy-to-use features and in-depth analytics, you'll have everything you need to send successful text promotions. Personalize your messages with unique customer information, seamlessly segment your audience, and attach media that surges engagement, all with built-in compliance tools and reliable deliverability.

7,000+ App Integrations

Our platform supports 17+ native integrations, including Shopify, Mailchimp, HubSpot, Salesforce, Slack, Meta, and Kit. Plus, you can connect thousands more apps through Zapier and Make.

Boundless Automation

Work less and achieve more with automated workflows. Automate virtually anything through our drag-and-drop workflow builder, create autoresponders, set up recurring messages, and schedule campaigns months in advance. Our simple setup means there's no coding required.

Start sending text promotions today!

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