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It's no wonder that more and more businesses are interested in SMS marketing. SMS open rates run as high as 98%, compared to 20% for emails. That represents a lot of opportunities to reach and engage with your customers. However, if you want customers to act on the messages that you send, it's important to make sure that you're sending the kinds of SMS messages that consumers want to act with. Check out a few simple ways for your company to improve its SMS marketing strategy.

Pay Attention to Timing

SMS messages are less intrusive than some other methods of marketing, like sales calls, but that doesn't mean that your customers want to receive SMS messages at all hours. For example, you probably wouldn't schedule a marketing message to go out at two in the morning.

However, strategic timing in SMS campaigns is more than just restricting messages to normal business hours. Ideally, you want to send messages at a time when your customer is likely to be thinking about purchasing your product. For example, if your business is a restaurant, you may want to send messages around lunch or dinner time—when your customers are hungry and thinking about food. Or, if you run a mechanic shop, you may want to send messages that correspond to when your customers will need their next oil change. Timing your SMS messages according to your customers' likely needs ensures that you'll be at the top of their mind when it's time to buy.

Keep It Short

Most smartphones have the capability to receive longer messages than in the past, but it's still best to avoid lengthy sales messages. A standard text message is around 160 characters, and it's best to stick to that limit.

When SMS messages go longer than 160 characters, you can't necessarily predict how they will be received. Some mobile networks break longer texts into chunks, which could show up out-of-order on the customer's phone. Some mobile networks may not transmit these longer SMS messages at all, or your customer may only receive the first part. And customers may interpret multiple back-to-back SMS messages as spam and delete them without reading, or even block the number. It's generally best to stick with short, impactful messages that make a simple, easy-to-understand point.

Make It Actionable

If you know anything about marketing, you probably know that it's important to end emails and other types of marketing copy with a call to action. However, sometimes organizations fail to realize that this is important for text message marketing as well.

Make sure that each text message ends with a phone number or with a URL for the customer to follow. You can use a URL shortener to help you stick to your character limit while still giving your customer a link they can follow to get more information or to claim an offer.

With a reliable business SMS service and a solid SMS marketing strategy, SMS can be one of the best ways to bring new and repeat business into your organization.