How to Write Targeted Holiday SMS Messages

The holiday season is a prime time for your business to connect with customers and boost sales. SMS marketing is a powerful tool for reaching your target audience. 

But to make your holiday SMS campaigns successful, you need to write targeted messages that actually resonate with your customers. Well-targeted text messages have higher open and click-through rates, which leads to higher conversions and revenue.

Here are some tips to help you write well-targeted messages that’ll increase your holiday sales. 

Segment Your Audience

The first step to writing targeted SMS messages is to segment or group your audience. Go beyond generic text blasts by basing your segmentation on specific criteria. 

You might create text messaging segments for people who:

• recently purchased specific items
• scheduled an appointment within the last X weeks/months
• showed interest in a specific product or service but not purchased
• previously purchased but haven’t engaged with your brand in X weeks/months
• bought a subscription to a product/service

If certain people love one product and don’t care about anything else, receiving promotions about stuff they’re not interested in feels contradictory. By segmenting your audience, you send more personalized messages that are more likely to appeal to each group. 

Use Relevant Holiday Words and Content

When writing your SMS messages, use relevant words that are related to the holiday season. Holiday keywords capture your audience’s attention and increase the chances of your messages being opened and read. 

For example, you could use words like “gifts,” “stocking stuffers,” or “holiday deals.” You could also use keywords that are specific to the holiday you’re celebrating, such as “Christmas,” “Hanukkah,” or “Kwanzaa.” 

Beyond using holiday words, make sure your content is relevant to the campaign you’re running. For example, if you’re talking about holiday deals, the content or rest of the message should highlight the exclusive deals or discounts in a cohesive message. 

Aligning your content with the keywords you’re using enhances the message’s relevance and reinforces the value you’re presenting to your audience.

Create Urgency and FOMO

The holiday season is a busy time for people, so you need to create a sense of urgency in your SMS messages to get them to take action. This can be done by offering a limited-time discount or by using phrases like “Don’t miss out!”, ‘Today only!”, or “Limited quantities available!”

Consider incorporating exclusive access to early bird discounts for text subscribers to create the feeling of exclusivity and urgency that motivates customers to purchase before the opportunity passes.

You could also use a countdown timer to create a sense of urgency and FOMO (fear of missing out). For example, you could send a message saying, “Only 24 hours left to get our special holiday discount!”

Telling someone they have a limited time to do something or get something triggers that FOMO feeling. This motivates recipients to open your messages quickly. People who feel they might miss out on something valuable are more likely to act.

Personalize Your Messages

Personalizing your holiday SMS messages is one of the best ways to make them more effective. This is done by using the recipient’s name (but that’s just the bare minimum) and by referencing information like their favorite product, most recent purchase, past interactions, etc. (In Skipio, use Custom Fields and CRM integrations to automatically pull in this information even when messaging large groups.)

Tailor messages to address the specific needs and interests of each segment. For instance, if you’re targeting a group interested in stocking stuffers, your content should highlight gifts made specifically for that purpose. You can tailor your messages in ways like this no matter what industry you’re in or what type of products or services you offer. 

Include a Clear Call-to-action

Don’t ask your audience to do too many things. Include one clear call to action that tells the recipient exactly what you want them to do. Avoid overwhelming recipients with unnecessary details that may dilute your message.

Make sure your call to action is easy to understand and follow. If applicable, add a link to make it even easier for the recipient to take action.

Create Better Holiday Text Campaigns

Each of these aspects contributes to the overall success of your holiday text message campaigns. By incorporating these principles into your messaging strategy, you create SMS messages that stand out and capture your audience’s attention. 

Need some more ideas for writing holiday text messages? Check out these holiday text templates!

Start sending marketing texts with Skipio. Engage leads faster and keep customers longer with automated, conversational text messaging. Schedule a demo today to see all of Skipio’s features.