Want a quick and convenient way to share information with hundreds of people? Then it’s time to learn how to send a blast text message. Text blast, sometimes referred to as a “mass text” or “bulk text,” give you a convenient way to reach your audience fast, wherever they are.
Not only can you send the same notification to hundreds (or even thousands) of people at once, but with SMS, you can benefit from better engagement levels and open rates too. Remember, texts have an average open rate of around 98%.
Here, we’re going to show you not just how to send blast text messages, but also how to optimize the results of your blast campaigns and minimize compliance risks.
Let’s dive straight in.
What is a Text Blast? The Basics
Text Blast
A text blast is a single text message you send simultaneously to a large group of people, such as your subscribers, prospects, customers, or even your team members. It’s the ideal way to send information, such as promotional SMS campaigns or alerts to lots of contacts at once.
Notably, a text blast isn’t the same as a “group message” – even if you are contacting a lot of people at once. Group messaging bundles all of your recipients into a single “chat” space. Mass texting, or text blasts, ensure you can reach multiple contacts with individual messages.
People can’t send text blast messages using a standard smartphone – the messaging applications you get from Google or Apple aren’t equipped to handle mass texting. Instead, you need a bulk SMS platform that supports carrier-verified message delivery and A2P 10DLC texting.
Want to move beyond manual text messaging and get your message out faster?
Use Cases for Business Text Blasts
Before you learn how to send a blast text message, it’s worth making sure you know when it makes sense to send these types of texts. Text blasts aren’t ideal for every messaging use case. For instance, they’re usually not a good option for transactional messages or customer service.
The most common applications for text blasts include:
- Promotional messages: Text blasts can be a great way to send promotional messages about offers, deals, or new products to hundreds of customers at once. Used correctly, they can significantly increase your sales and revenue.
- Alerts and updates: If you need to reach hundreds of people at once with an announcement about a product issue, an update on an event, or an emergency notification, text blasts are a great way to distribute information fast.
- Non commercial promotions: With an SMS blast service, companies can promote all kinds of things besides products. They can draw attention to an upcoming community event, a fundraiser, or simply share company news updates.
- Requesting feedback: If you want to gather lots of reviews, testimonials, or feedback from customers at speed, use a text blast. You can even include a link to a location where customers can leave a review, or allow them to respond directly.
- Reminders: Text blasts are great for reminding a lot of people about upcoming events or important dates. For instance, a high school could use a school text service to remind parents of re-opening days or when the facility will be closed for training.
Why Send Blast Text Messages?
Blast text messages are excellent for businesses in all industries to quickly and efficiently communicate with a large audience. Unlike other forms of mass communication, like social media posts and emails, texts don’t rely on your customers having an internet connection.
They also give you an easier way to reach customers in bulk than attempting to call every member of your audience individually. Text blasts deliver:
- Better customer experiences: People generally prefer texts to other forms of communication. For instance, 74% of customers in one study had no unread texts, compared to only 17% who had no unread emails. SMS gives you a way to reach your customers through the channel they feel most comfortable with.
- Versatility: As mentioned above, you can use text blasts for a range of different use cases, from text messaging marketing to alerts and reminders. You can even just use text blasts to share recent news with your subscribers.
- Personalization: Just because you want to send a text to hundreds of people at once, doesn’t mean you can’t personalize the message. You can use SMS template options to add names and other unique details to messages.
- Fewer limitations than group texts: Group texts limit how many people you can contact at once, as well as how many messages you can send. The right SMS broadcast software removes these limitations, giving you more scalability
- Cost effective communication: Sending a text blast can be more cost effective than messaging every customer individually, making endless phone calls, and investing in other marketing strategies, like paid ads.
How to Send a Blast Text Message: Step by Step
The good news is that learning how to send a blast text message is pretty straightforward. All you need is a contact list, a strategy, and the right software. Here’s your step-by-step guide to sending blast texts.
Step 1: Building and Growing a Text Blast List
First, you need to create a list of contacts you’re going to reach with your mass texts. Keep in mind, many text compliance standards do require companies to obtain explicit consent from customers before they send them promotional messages. You need to make sure your audience actually “opts-in” to hearing from you so don’t run the risk of simply buying contact details.
There are many different ways to build a contact list. You could use SMS lead generation tools, like landing pages and forms on your website, that ask customers to share their contact details with you in exchange for a discount or a free gift.
You could also invite your existing customers to send SMS opt-in texts straight to your company’s business number. Many customers will be happy to share their details if it means they can get access to exclusive vouchers, sales, and helpful updates.
Step 2: Choosing a Text Blast Service
Next, you’re going to need a text blast service – or a platform that actually allows you to send mass texts to your customers. There are plenty of different mass text messaging services out there, but they don’t all offer the same features and benefits.
If you want the best results, consider Clerk Chat, the number one SMS broadcast software, custom-made for business messaging. Clerk Chat stands out in the messaging industry, by giving companies access to everything from mass texting to two-way texting services in one package.
With Clerk Chat, you get customizable SMS templates, support for unlimited messages, and the option to choose and use your own carrier or number. Plus, Clerk Chat offers:
- Personalization options: With Clerk Chat, you can create personalized text messages for every customer, creating dynamic cohorts for each segment of your target audience, and using data from your CRM and SMS analytics to enhance engagement over time.
- Scheduling and automation: Rather than just allowing you to send blast text messages instantly, Clerk Chat also allows you to schedule text messages to reach customers at specific times, this helps you boost engagement rates and adhere to compliance standards.
- Integrations: Clerk Chat integrates seamlessly with all the tools your business already uses for collaboration, sales and customer service. There are SMS integrations for CRMs like Salesforce, archiving tools like Smarsh, and UC tools like Microsoft Teams.
- Security and compliance: Clerk Chat adheres to 10DLC SMS regulations, offers end-to-end encryption, and gives you complete control over your data, reducing your risk of fines and reputational damage.
Additionally, Clerk Chat also has built-in AI tools to help you automate replies to customers and dive deeper into marketing analytics and reports. Plus, the platform is affordable, easy to use, and scalable.
Want to move beyond manual text messaging and get your message out faster?
Step 3: Choose your Business Number
In the past, the only way to send text blasts was through a short code phone number. Now, you have a range of different number options to choose from, depending on your specific requirements. With the right platform, you can even start sending texts from a computer with a virtual number or select a specific 10DLC number for your company.
Research your number options carefully, and ask yourself whether you want to use the same number for text blasts that you use for other things, like customer service texting. Your platform provider should be able to guide you through the process of setting up your number.
Step 4: Creating Your Text Blast Messages
Once you’ve chosen your enterprise text messaging platform, the next step is crafting the perfect message. Take advantage of the templates on platforms like Clerk Chat to create messages that consistently showcase your brand in a positive light.
Make sure you keep your messages short and sweet, and use CTA links to drive customers to the next step in their journey. Additionally, don’t forget to personalize your texts. Make sure you add dynamic custom fields so you can reference each customer’s name when you send them a message.
Think about segmenting your contacts into different groups based on their location, interests, or previous purchases, so you can target customers with more relevant messages.
Step 5: Sending Your Text Blast
With the right software, actually sending your text blast message should be pretty straightforward. With Clerk Chat, all you need to do is choose the people you want to send your message to (you can select everyone, or just a specific cohort), and hit send.
Alternatively, if you don’t want to send your blast message instantly, you can schedule your message to be sent at a later date. For instance, you might decide to schedule a message promoting a new product for the day before it’s set to be released on your website.
Remember to be cautious when you’re scheduling your messages. Make sure you take customer time zones into account, so you’re not messaging them at inappropriate times.
Step 6: Tracking Your Results
Finally, dive into your mass messaging software’s analytical tools and track the results of your campaigns. Pay attention to things like your SMS deliverability rates. Are your messages bouncing for some reason? This could be a sign that they’re being identified as “spam.”
Look at your average open rates, how many people respond to your text blasts, and how often customers take additional actions like clicking on links or purchasing products. Use the data you gather to upgrade and optimize your future campaigns.
How to Send Blast Text Messages the Right Way: Quick Tips
Learning how to send a blast text message is one thing, but figuring out how to get the best results from your campaigns is another beast entirely. Here are some quick, powerful tips you can use to make the most of your SMS blast campaigns.
- Get the timing right: Remember, the best time to send a text blast will depend on the audience you’re trying to reach, and the type of message you’re sending. Avoid sending messages during inappropriate times, such as late at night or in the early hours of the morning. Track your response and engagement rates as you experiment with timing.
- Personalize every message: Combine your CRM with text messaging software so you can easily segment your contact list. This will help you to create more personalized and relevant messages for everyone you want to reach.
- Deliver value: Make sure you’re sending messages that your customers will appreciate. Don’t just bombard them with information. Keep them updated with relevant news, exclusive offers, and great deals.
- Use a strong CTA: Give your contacts an insight into what they should do after receiving your message. Tell them to visit your website, register for your next event, or just leave a review with a clear call to action.
- Keep it simple: Avoid overwhelming your contacts with too much information in any text message. Remember, SMS messages should be quick, and to the point. Use as few words as possible, while still showcasing your company’s unique personality.
Text Blast Challenges: Troubleshooting Common Issues
Learning how to do a text blast doesn’t have to be complicated. However, there are a few challenges you might encounter when you first launch your new campaign. Here are a few common issues you might face, and how you can overcome them.
High Unsubscribe Rates
Getting customers to join your contact list is just half of the battle. You also need to convince them to continue receiving your texts. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give customers the option to “opt out” – instead, you should give them a good reason to stick around.
If your unsubscribe rates start to increase, find out the core reason behind the issue. Are you sending irrelevant messages to the wrong audience? Try segmenting your contact lists. Maybe you’re sending messages too frequently – if so, try experimenting with different schedules.
Deliverability Issues
Deliverability issues with text blasts can happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, a poor deliverability rate is a sign that your customers aren’t sharing valid numbers with you. Other times, you might be exposed to carrier restrictions because you’re using the wrong business number, or a carrier has identified your messages as spam.
Clean and update your contact list regularly to remove invalid numbers, and make sure you’re using a reputable text blasting service to boost your chances of better deliverability. Make sure you’re following best-practice guidelines too, such as keeping your messages short, and removing any spammy words or phrases from the content.
Low Engagement
Texts in general typically have higher engagement rates than other forms of business communication. However, your engagement levels could suffer if you’re not investing enough time and effort into sending highly personalized, valuable messages to your audience.
Assess your messaging strategy carefully, and make sure you’re sending messages your customers are going to appreciate. For instance, in ecommerce, SMS text blasts could be a great way to delight your audience with product launch announcements, early access to sales, or promotions. Don’t forget a strong CTA too, to drive your customers to the next stage in their journey.
Compliance Issues
When you’re learning how to send a blast text message, it’s important to be aware of the compliance standards you need to adhere to. While it’s perfectly legal to send mass text messages to customers, there are regulations you need to follow.
For instance, TCPA compliance requires companies to receive express, written consent from customers before sending any promotional texts. You also need to ensure that you allow customers to easily opt out of receiving messages from you. Failure to comply with these standards can lead to huge fines, and damage to your reputation.
Make sure you’re familiar with all of the compliance standards that might affect your messaging strategy, from TCPA, to CAN-SPAM, and industry-specific regulations.
Send Blast Text Messages with Clerk Chat
Text blasts offer companies a quick and easy way to reach a large number of contacts, customers, and clients at once. Now you know how to send a blast text message, and why they’re so beneficial to your company, all you need to do is choose the right software.
Clerk Chat is the ultimate solution for mass business texting, with intuitive tools for personalized SMS campaigns, two-way messaging, AI-powered customer service and more. Our intuitive platform can integrate with the tools you already use for collaboration, relationship management, and archiving. Plus, we make it easy to optimize your strategy over time with messaging analytics.
Dive into the world of bulk texting with Clerk Chat today.
