Holiday SMS marketing best practices for 2024 and beyond

Holiday SMS marketing best practices for 2024 and beyond

The Halloween decorations are down, trees are going up, and Thanksgiving is around the corner—which means Christmas will be here before you know it. The holiday season is a golden opportunity for businesses to boost their growth, and SMS marketing is one of the most effective tools to make this happen. 

Why? Because it puts your message directly into the hands of your customers! Done right, a strategic holiday campaign can drive sales, elevate your brand's visibility, and cultivate customer loyalty.

While the last few months of the year can be chaotic, we’re here to help you get your SMS campaigns set up successfully so you can sleigh your holiday marketing just in time for Black Friday and Cyber Monday.

Why do you need a holiday marketing strategy?

A holiday marketing strategy for SMS is crucial because it ensures your messages are timely, relevant, and effectively capitalize on the heightened attention customers are paying to brands. SMS sending peaks during the holidays, so having a well-crafted SMS approach can cut through the noise to reach your audience.

A solid holiday marketing strategy allows you to target specific segments with personalized messages, increasing the likelihood of conversion. Proper planning also helps in managing inventory and promotions efficiently. It also enables you to measure success through predefined metrics, informing future campaigns with valuable insights.

Holiday SMS planning tips

The holiday season is a busy time for both businesses and consumers. Planning ahead allows you to get ahead of the chaos and easily switch gears if needed. Here are some things you can do when planning your holiday SMS marketing campaigns.

1. Set your goals early 

While we make gift wish lists and hope for the best during the holidays, we have far more control over our marketing campaigns. Clear objectives are fundamental to crafting a successful holiday SMS campaign that delivers the result you want. Start by defining the goals you want to achieve—whether it's boosting sales, enhancing brand awareness, or increasing customer engagement. Each objective will guide your strategy and messaging. 

For instance, if increased sales are your focus, tailor your messages to include special holiday discounts or limited-time offers. For brand awareness, share engaging stories about your brand or festive greetings that resonate with the holiday spirit. 

To measure success, determine the key performance indicators (KPIs) such as conversion rates, click-through rates, or customer response times that are most important to you. These metrics will help you evaluate the effectiveness of your campaign and make data-driven adjustments to maximize impact.

2. Understand (and segment) your audience

Marketing campaigns are rarely one-size-fits all. You want a holiday SMS campaign that truly resonates with your customers, which is why you need to segment your target audiences based on their previous behavior and preferences. This segmentation allows you to tailor your messages to distinct groups, ensuring relevance and increasing the likelihood of engagement. 

For example, you might want to send loyal, frequent buyers exclusive VIP offers, while new subscribers get introductory promotions. Personalizing messages by using the recipient's name or referencing past purchases tends to boost engagement rates, making your holiday SMS campaign way more effective and memorable.

3. Craft compelling messages

Writing text messages that capture attention is both an art and a science. Don’t just send a happy holidays text with a promo code and call it a day—really hone in on the festive season.

While you want to have clear and concise language to ensure your message is easily digestible, you might also want to incorporate a sense of urgency. Elements like countdowns or deadlines can prompt immediate action from your SMS recipients without coming off as too gimmicky. If you need a starting point, check out these holiday text templates to get your creative juices flowing. 

It's also essential to balance creativity with compliance, ensuring all messages adhere to SMS marketing compliance. This includes obtaining consent from recipients, providing clear opt-out options, and adhering to time restrictions. A thoughtful blend of these elements creates engaging messages that drive desired outcomes while maintaining trust.

4. Don’t be too late–or early–to the party

While many folks like to wake up early on Christmas morning to unwrap gifts, they may not have the same enthusiasm for 3 am text messages from a brand.It’s important to research the peak shopping days and times and plan ahead on sending. 

Using your insights, develop a comprehensive SMS calendar for the holiday season and strategically send out text messages—ensuring you’re sending just the right amount without overdoing it. You don’t want to make a sale at the cost of losing a loyal text subscriber! 

10 holiday marketing strategies for SMS campaigns

As you’re gearing up to send your holiday texts, there are some strategies you can capitalize on to get the most out of your campaign. 

1. Decide your special offers 

With increased social media use across generations—namely TikTok—we’re seeing a lot more quickly evolving trends. These trends can clue you in to what the hottest items of the current season are. 

Decide what you want your special offers to be by keeping a pulse on the latest trends. For example, consider bundling popular products with complementary items and provide a discount your customers can’t ignore.

2. Step into the role of personal shopper

The best part about segmenting customers is that you already have an idea of what they already have and what they might like to purchase. By leveraging customer insights on preferences, behaviors, and past purchases, brands can curate a selection of products that fit individual tastes and needs. 

Reduce decision fatigue by sending strategic product recommendations. Also, consider including product images and direct shopping links to increase conversions. 

3. Share user-generated content

They say your fans are your best marketing. Incorporating user-generated content (UGC) into your SMS campaigns can be a game-changer. UGC feels more authentic and is effective at fostering a community around a brand. By encouraging customers to share their own festive experiences with your products or services—whether it's through photos, testimonials, or reviews—you can build a sense of belonging and excitement. 

By featuring this content in your SMS messages, you not only showcase the genuine joy your brand brings during the holiday season but also empower your subscribers to become ambassadors. This strategy not only strengthens brand trust but also drives organic reach as customers share their positive experiences with their networks.

4. Personalize your messages

Many brands are fighting for attention during the holiday season. And many consumers are sifting through the same ole messages from companies they barely remember engaging with. 

Personalization is a great way to stand out in the barrage of messages consumers are receiving. By tailoring messages to individual preferences and purchasing histories, brands can deliver relevant content that speaks directly to each subscriber. 

Whether it's offering exclusive deals on their favorite products, sending personalized holiday greetings, or providing customized gift suggestions, personalized SMS creates a sense of intimacy. This targeted approach not only enhances the customer's shopping experience but also builds stronger brand loyalty and trust.

5. Test and optimize your campaign

While we think we know everything about our customer thanks to the data we collect over time, it’s still important to test your message to ensure they resonate with your audience. By conducting A/B tests with different message variations, you can identify which ones capture the holiday spirit and engage your subscribers most effectively. 

Analyze the outcomes of these tests to adjust your messaging strategy accordingly, ensuring that your campaign stands out and connects with customers.

6. Use technology and tools wisely

It’s a busy time of year, and some of us may be behind on our own holiday shopping. Consider using the many efficient tools and technologies at our disposal to make holiday sending efficient. For example, you can send mass SMS marketing messages and optimize deliverability and ROI with tools like Twilio’s SMS API. 

By leveraging SMS marketing platforms for text automation and scheduling, brands can effortlessly manage and deploy timely messages that align with key moments of the holiday season. These tools ensure that your messages reach subscribers at optimal times. 

7. Integrate with other channels

While SMS is a great marketing channel, it shouldn’t be the only one you rely on. Take a multi-channel approach to your holiday marketing by integrating with email and social media. This allows your brand to engage with audiences across different touchpoints.

By ensuring consistency and synergy across all marketing channels, companies can create a unified brand message that resonates, reinforcing key holiday themes and promotions. This integrated marketing strategy ensures that marketing efforts complement each other.

8. Send abandoned cart reminders

When shopping carts overflow with gift options, sending abandoned cart reminders via SMS can reignite interest. These timely nudges serve as gentle reminders to customers that they have left items behind. 

You can take it a step further by offering an exclusive discount to the customer to push along the conversion. This strategy not only recovers potential lost revenue but also strengthens customer relationships by demonstrating care and attentiveness. 

9. Give text subscribers first access to sales

Giving text subscribers first access to sales can greatly enhance customer loyalty and ensure your SMS list continues to grow. By offering exclusive access to promotions and limited-time offers, brands create a sense of exclusivity and appreciation among their most dedicated customers. 

This strategic move not only generates excitement and anticipation but also incentivizes more customers to join the SMS list, expanding your reach.

10. Include transactional texts

The customer journey doesn’t just end when they place an order. Incorporating transactional texts into your holiday SMS marketing strategy means your customers get time-sensitive updates about their purchases. 

These messages, which may include order confirmations, shipping notifications, and delivery updates, offer peace of mind during the busy holiday period when timely gift arrivals are crucial. By ensuring customers are informed every step of the way, brands can reduce anxiety related to order fulfillment and demonstrate transparency.

Managing post-holiday retention

So you survived the holidays—congrats! You’ve gotten through the tough parts of running a successful SMS holiday campaign. Now, it’s time to handle the post-holiday churn. 

Managing post-holiday retention starts with a thorough analysis of campaign performance, specifically by reviewing key performance indicators and metrics after Cyber Week. This will help you pinpoint which strategies captured your audience’s love and attention and which ones fell short. By analyzing metrics such as open rates, click-through rates, and conversion rates, you can gain valuable insights into your consumers’ behaviors and preferences.

Then, you can refine your messaging, optimize future campaigns, and continue engaging customers beyond the holiday rush to maintain momentum.

Customer follow-up and engagement

In the aftermath of the holiday season, keep the lines of communication open with your customers. Send personalized thank you messages via SMS to reinforce customer appreciation, making your customers feel valued and recognized for their patronage. 

Couple these messages with exclusive follow-up offers to entice repeat purchases and maintain shopping momentum. Additionally, you can encourage feedback and reviews through thoughtful prompts. These insights can provide guidance for refining products and services. 

You may even notice an increased rate of unsubscribes or junk reports–this could be because your subscribers were shopping for family and friends just for the holiday season. To combat these unsubscribes, consider segmenting your SMS audience list by sign-up date so you know who may opt out of texts. 

Then, you can implement one (or all) of these strategies:

• Re-engage those subscribers with non-holiday SMS campaigns and offers

• Initiate a follow-up SMS campaign communicating your brand value

• Send fewer texts

Start preparing your holiday SMS marketing campaigns

No matter where you are in your planning, it’s never too soon (or late!) to start preparing your holiday marketing campaigns. SMS is a powerful tool for reaching customers wherever they are in the world. Twilio’s Messaging API can help you send messages to your customers at scale.

Ready to start spreading holiday cheer? Sign up for a free Twilio account. Or, talk to sales today.