Whether it's a seasonal sale or a new product drop, you'll want to get straight to your offer when texting your subscribers. This gives you the best chance at getting someone to click your link and purchase something from your website. Going over 200 characters can impact the number of people who read your entire text.

Three times you should absolutely send your marketing texts are:

1. Immediately after someone signs up to receive texts. This is called an after-signup text and it's important to welcome new subscribers with an offer to nudge them toward their first purchase.
2. When someone abandons their cart. You should automate these texts to send when someone leaves items in their cart to encourage them to complete their purchase.
3. When people get paid. Data tells us shoppers are more likely to purchase something when they receive their paychecks. This means that the last week of the month could be a great time to hook them with an attractive offer via text.

Three times you should absolutely not send your marketing texts are:

1. During quiet hours. Due to SMS marketing compliance, you won't be able to send text messages between 8pm and 9am in the recipient's timezone. Any messages scheduled during this timeframe will be queued to send after 9am.
2. On Saturdays. In-person shopping typically peaks on Saturdays and throughout the weekend. You may see a lower conversion rate when sending texts during this time.
3. On holidays. Sending texts when people are with family or friends is certain to see a low conversion rate. Send these promotional texts far ahead of time during holiday seasons to maximize your sales.

We've talked with a lot of ecommerce merchants who worry that texting their customers will seem annoying or intrusive, but the data suggests otherwise. Nearly 40% of consumers would like to receive texts 2-3 times a week from brands they signed up to hear from. Just remember to lead with value and keep it short and sweet.

Email and SMS don't have to be mutually exclusive. In fact, brands will see the most success when they balance the two channels together.

Email: Newsletters, blogs, company announcements, or promotions that include multiple products are best suited for email. You have more space to work with, plus you have more design flexibility.

SMS: The instantaneous nature of text messages, along with their short character limit, makes them ideal for quick, time-sensitive communications. When you want someone to take action now, send them a text.

It's never a bad idea to add personalization fields to your text messages. Even adding someone's first name to an after-signup text can make them feel like the offer was personalized for them. Just remember that these personalization fields eat into your recommended 200 character limit, so use them wisely!

SMS lists are gold, so when someone signs-up, you should make it worthwhile so they'll keep coming back for more. Some ideas for welcome offers include:

• A generous discount. If you planned for a 25% or more discount offering, now is the time to do it!
• Free shipping. Covering someone's shipping costs can encourage them to add more items to their carts.
• Free items. Offer to throw in a free item if someone purchases X dollar amount from your store. This will make a lasting first impression.
• Early-access. If you don't have a rewards program, you can use your SMS list as an early-access group. This gives a sense of exclusivity and may encourage more people to sign-up for your text marketing.

Because phone numbers are more personal than email addresses, growing your SMS list will require some creative thinking. Below are a few ideas that will help you boost your SMS sign-ups:

• Run a contest for subscribers exclusively on your SMS list and let your site visitors know. For example, sign-up to our text list for a chance to win a $300-off promo code.
• Add phone number capture fields to your popups. Using Privy, adding this capture field can be done in seconds, and you can even make it optional.
• Make SMS offers your best ever. This level of exclusivity will encourage more of your email subscribers to consider opting-in for text messages. 

Phone carrier policies mandate that only one abandoned cart text can be sent per cart abandonment. Privy will not send any text messages that do not follow this policy.

Offering coupon codes every time isn't a great strategy in the long run for your text marketing program. Instead, steal some of these ideas for sustained SMS sales:

• Flash sales. The spontaneity of flash sales can nudge someone toward a purchase, especially if these texts are personalized to your subscribers and their interests.
• Back-in-stock alerts. These are a great way to build FOMO, especially if you let people know that supplies for this item are limited while they last.