Effective Promotional Message Examples You Need to Try

Promotional message examples are everywhere, from the automated chat box messages that pop up when consumers visit an ecommerce store, to the personalized alerts companies send buyers about new products via WhatsApp. By far, the most common and effective way to send marketing messages to customers, however, is with promotional SMS.

After all, SMS is the best way to connect with millions of customers anytime, anywhere. SMS also delivers some of the best conversion rates around.

However, not all promotional messages are alike. If you want to avoid spamming your customers with annoying, irrelevant messages that actually drive them away from your company, you need the right plan. That’s why we put together this guide.

Here we’ll share some of the best promotional message examples you can learn from, and our top tips for making your text message ads stand out.

What is a Promotional Message?

A promotional message is simply a message that advertises a deal, sale, special offer, or product. It’s any message you send to your customers with the intent of convincing them to buy something. For instance, you might send promotional texts to customers introducing them to your latest product, letting them know about a flash sale or offering them a deal.

The difference between promotional messaging and something like transactional messaging, is that your primary intent as a company is to sell something.

However, that doesn’t mean your promotional campaigns should be overly salesy. In fact, being too aggressive with your texts can actually reduce conversion rates, lead to customer turnover, and put you at risk of non-compliance with CAN-SPAM Act text messaging guidelines.

The Benefits of Promotional Messages

Sending text promotions to your customers is complex. You’re exposed to different rules and regulations than you would be when using transactional or conversational messaging strategies. Plus, it takes a lot of work to determine what kind of promotional campaigns really drive results.

However, the right strategy can also deliver exceptional results. After all, SMS has a world-leading open rate of 98% and a click-through rate of 36%.

That means you have a higher chance of customers engaging with your text than virtually any other type of message. Plus, with the right strategy, you benefit from:

• Versatility: You can use texts to welcome new customers to your business, run flash sales, upgrade loyalty programs and so much more. The options are endless.
• Direct connections: Companies don’t have to wait for customers to log onto an app or check an email to connect with them via text. You can reach anyone, anywhere.
• Low competition: With an A2P texting platform you won’t be fighting competitors for customer attention like you would be with social media or digital content campaigns.
• Data insights: The insights you gather from your promotional campaigns can help you understand your audience, and find new ways to increase conversions.
• Cost effective advertising: Sending promotional messages can be a cost-effective and efficient way to increase audience engagement.

16 Promotional Message Examples to Learn From and Use

So, how can you use your SMS strategy to optimize your marketing results? Here are some of the best promotional message examples we’ve seen from major brands, and our top tips on how to use them effectively in your strategy.

1. Mobile Coupons

Nothing gets customers eager to shop quite like a great deal. With promotional SMS, you can send coupons and discount codes straight to a customer’s phone, along with a link to whatever you might be offering. This is a valuable strategy for increasing conversions, particularly now that around 79% of smartphone users make purchases directly from their mobile.

The key to success with this strategy is making it easy for customers to use the coupon with an attached link or image. Additionally, make sure you explain the full details of the deal in the text, so customers aren’t confused.

2. Product or Service Announcements

If your company launches a new product or service, a mass text broadcast is a great way to ensure all of your existing customers and leads are aware of it. Use texting not just to inform customers when a new product has arrived, but also to generate hype when it’s about to be released.

You can even add a promotional coupon to these texts, to boost your chances of customers buying your new items as soon as they’re made available.

3. Sales Alert

No one likes missing out on a great offer, so make sure your customers are well-aware of upcoming sales and limited-time deals before they expire with a text blasting service. This is a great way to increase your chances of high conversion rates during a sale.

Plus, promising your customers immediate notifications about new sales and discounts can actually help to convince them to sign up for your SMS blasts in the first place. This means you have more leads you can nurture in the long-term.

Make sure your sale SMS messages include insights into what’s discounted, for how long, and links to shop the sale.

4. Bundle Promotions

Any company using SMS for ecommerce will know that promoting bundles is a great way to increase average order values and conversion rates. You can either bundle relevant or similar items together into a package users can buy for a discount price, or you can bundle a deal with another promotion. For instance, you might give customers 20% off and free delivery for their first offer.

Again, make sure it’s easy for customers to take advantage of your bundle with an included link, and draw attention to the benefits of the deal (such as how much they’ll save).

5. Holiday Promotions

In 2023, US holiday sales figures reached an incredible $950 billion dollars. During seasonal periods, such as Christmas, Valentines Day, and Mother’s Day, people are keen to shop. Use your promotional messages to drive them straight to your store.

Include a personalized recommendation where possible based on your customer’s previous purchases, and a sales code if you want to increase conversion rates. It also helps to include an image of your products to grab attention.

6. Flash Sales

Text promotions are excellent for flash sales, because they offer the most effective way to reach your customers instantly. With a bulk SMS service, you can send thousands of texts to customers, promoting an item you want to get rid of quickly (like something that’s about to go out of season).

The great thing about flash sales is that they generate excitement and engagement from your audience, making them more likely to pay attention to future texts, in the hope they’ll get more deals. Ensure you include a deadline for the sale to boost urgency in your customers.

7. Daily Deals

Daily deals are a lot like flash sales, in that they’re only available for a limited time. However, they focus on driving customers to your store on a constant basis. Although these campaigns are great at increasing sales, they’re difficult to get right.

If you send a promotion text message to your customers every day, and most of the time they’re not interested in what you’re promoting, they may unsubscribe from your list. With that in mind, use segmentation to your advantage, keep your messages short and sweet, and give your customers the option to stop receiving daily texts, but remain on your list with account controls.

8. Welcome Promotions

A welcome promotion is a fantastic choice if you want to convince customers who have recently subscribed to your list that they’ve made the right choice. Use your SMS lead generation software to track new subscribers, and welcome them to the family with an exclusive offer or discount.

You could also take this opportunity to suggest some of your top-selling products, with a link or an image in your text.

9. Pre-Sale or Pre-Launch Promotions

As mentioned above, you don’t have to wait until you launch a new product, service, or deal to start engaging your customers with SMS. Sending promotional text messages in advance is a great way to generate hype and excitement among customers.

Let them know when your deal or new product is going to drop, and consider offering them the option to ask for an alert as soon as it’s live. This will boost your chances of rapid conversions.

10. Birthday or Anniversary Offers

The best promotional message examples often work because they make customers feel special. Nothing quite shows your customers how much you value them than celebrating special dates. An obvious choice is to learn how to schedule a text message to send an offer to your customers on their birthday. However, you can use other meaningful dates to your advantage too.

For instance, why not send your customers deals celebrating the anniversary of the first time they purchased something from your brand.

11. Event Announcements

Events are a fantastic way to connect with your customers on a deeper level. You can host online events talking about your latest products or market trends. Or invest in SMS for retailers to drive customers to events happening in-store, like workshops and demos.

Make sure you share all the details your customers will need to attend the event, as well as a link to a registration form. When customers register, keep them up to date with event announcements about new guest speakers and sessions.

12. Content Promotion Texts

Sending promotional messages doesn’t always have to mean drawing attention to products and services. Sometimes you can shine a light on content too. This is a brilliant way to introduce your customers to blogs, videos, and other content they might find valuable.

The more content your customers consume, the more they’ll trust your brand and be likely to buy from you in the future. Plus, they might share your content with their friends too.

13. Loyalty Program Invites

Loyalty programs and referral programs are an excellent way to increase customer lifetime value, reduce acquisition costs, and boost conversions. After a customer makes a purchase with your business, consider sending them a text asking them to join a loyalty program.

Let them know the benefits of getting involved (like what kind of rewards they’ll access), and make it easy for them to sign up with a quick link.

14. Abandoned Cart Reminders

The sad truth is that customers can often add products to their cart then forget all about actually purchasing them. The average rate of shopping cart abandonment on most ecommerce sites is about 70%. However, if you have your customer’s phone number, you have an extra chance at conversion.

Send a message letting your customers know what they forgot about (with a link to your website and an image if possible). You can even include a special deal to push them towards the checkout.

15. Offer Texts

Aside from sending voucher codes and discounts to customers with your text promotions, there are various other offers you can draw attention to as well. For instance, you might promote a buy-one-get-one-free offer to customers to help increase sales around slow periods.

Alternatively, you could draw attention to some simple benefits of shopping with you, such as reminding customers they can get free delivery if they spend a certain amount on your store.

16. Competition Messages

Finally, why not make interacting with your company a little more fun for your customers, with giveaways, competitions, and sweepstakes? You could ask your customers to text a specific word or phrase to your number to be entered for a chance to win a prize.

This is a great way to get an insight into how many customers are willing to engage with your business. Plus, it can help to encourage new customers to opt-in to your contact list, so you can send them promotional messages in the future.

Top Tips for Better Text Promotions

Now you have plenty of great promotional messaging examples to inspire your upcoming campaigns, but before you dive in, there are a few best practices to keep in mind. Here are our top tips for making the most of your promotional text messages.

1. Stay Compliant

First, it’s important to adhere to text messaging compliance guidelines when you’re using SMS for marketing purposes. You’ll need to ensure you’re always receiving explicit consent from customers to message them before you start sending any texts.

If you want to avoid any additional compliance issues, make sure that you schedule your texts to arrive at “appropriate” times for your customers (not in the middle of the night). This will help to boost your deliverability rates too.

2. Be Consistent

Sending texts regularly, at a frequency that aligns with your customer’s preferences is important for maintaining high levels of engagement. However, this doesn’t mean you should be spamming your customers with several texts every day. Be cautious about how many messages you send.

Part of being consistent is also using the same language and tone throughout your messages. Keep your messages light, concise, and casual, and make sure they reflect your brand’s unique identity. You can boost your chances of maintaining consistency by using SMS templates with bulk messaging tools like Clerk Chat.

3. Deliver Genuine Value

In general, all of the promotional messages you send should deliver something valuable to your customers. Don’t just send them constant messages letting them know about the products you want them to buy. Inform them of upcoming sales, share coupons and discount codes, and provide links to valuable content they might be interested in.

Pay attention to your engagement rates, open and click-through rates, using the analytical tools in your messaging platform, to find out which messages customers really want to see.

4. Personalize the Experience

71% of customers expect all businesses to deliver a personalized experience. Just because you’re sending mass messages to thousands of customers at once doesn’t mean your contacts should feel like part of a crowd. Personalize messages with custom fields so you can include their names.

Add information about recent orders and products they’ve purchased in the past, making sure you still adhere to regulatory guidelines. The more personalized your messages seem, the more likely they are to convince customers to purchase whatever you’re selling.

5. Create a Sense of Urgency and Include a CTA

If you want to adhere to TCR guidelines and CAN-SPAM mandates, you shouldn’t be too pushy with your text messages. However, you can still create a sense of urgency. Tying offers and deals to a specific time frame will help to convince customers to act faster.

Remember you should always include a CTA (call to action) in your messages too. This could mean directly asking them to visit your store or register for an event.

6. Be Honest and Transparent

This is another important step for making sure you can earn your customer’s trust and adhere to guidelines set by groups like the TCPA and 10DLC registration. Be transparent in your messages. Share your business’s name and any information customers might need straight away, along with giving them the option to “opt out” from text messages regularly.

Additionally, don’t over-hype your offers or deals. Don’t promise customers more than you can actually give, as this will degrade trust. It’s also best to avoid using capital letters and words like “Free” and “Now” too often, as this can cause your messages to be filtered as spam.

Send Powerful Promotional Text Messages with Clerk Chat

If the promotional message examples and tips above have inspired you to launch your own SMS marketing strategy, all you need now is the right software. Fortunately, Clerk Chat is here to help. Our platform makes it easy to create comprehensive SMS marketing campaigns, schedule texts, and even customize each message with templates and custom fields.

What’s more, we can help you build on your SMS strategy with transactional messages and AI assistants too. Clerk Chat is an easy-to-use and convenient platform that even integrates with the tools you already use for collaboration and customer relationship management.

Plus, we can help you stay compliant with industry standards, with end-to-end encryption, and integrations with leading SMS archiving tools.

Discover the ultimate way to launch your SMS promotional strategy today. Sign up for a demo or contact our team to learn more.