8 Winning Ways to Increase Your SMS Opt-In Rates in 2024

Do you know you need an SMS marketing opt-in before starting any campaign?

If you think that you can easily throw text messages to everyone and advertise your products or services, you’re wrong. 

There are certain rules that require you to get permission before sending ads to the audience. Apart from using tools like WP SMS that comply with these rules, you need to know some tactics to get consent from your potential customers.

In this blog post, we’re going to introduce 8 best practices to increase SMS marketing opt-in rates.

Why Is SMS Marketing Opt-In Required?

First, let’s see why you need to get permission from your audience before running your SMS marketing campaign.

SMS marketing opt-in is not just a technique to respect your audience but a legal requirement.

In fact, you’re not allowed to send SMS to people in Europe and the USA unless you have their consent. 

There are certain rules, such as TCPA in the U.S. and GDPR in Europe, that you need to comply with if you want to send text messages to citizens.

Obtaining explicit consent from customers is a key requirement of these regulations. Also, you have to let the recipient know why they’re receiving your messages. For example, you have to say you’re sending promotional ads and product updates clearly.

Remember that you might face significant fines if you don’t comply with these laws. So try to understand these regulations, especially those insisting on SMS opt-in requirements to avoid any troubles.

8 Tips to Increase SMS Opt-In Rates in 2024

Now, let’s see how you can increase your opt-in rates in your SMS marketing campaigns:

1. Understand Your Audience’s Preferences

The foundation of a successful marketing campaign is recognizing and targeting the right audience, and SMS marketing is no exception.

If you send an SMS to all people around you, you can’t expect a high conversion rate because many of them might not be interested in your service/product. 

Also, each customer prefers specific content, style, and tone so you can’t talk to all of them in the same way.

So first, you have to recognize your target audience and also segment them into different groups based on important factors like:

• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Income
• Previous purchases

To do that, you can first do comprehensive market research to find out what kind of people might be interested in your products/services. Then, you’d better see what type of offers or content your potential customers value.

Finding and analyzing past campaigns by your competitors can be of great help because they’ve tested various methods.

Moreover, try to monitor your customers’ behavior on your website, chatbots, social media channels, forums, etc. Getting feedback and running surveys is recommended to prepare a rich dataset of your customers’ preferences.

This way, you can expect higher opt-in rates, because you’re targeting a group of people with the maximum probability of subscription.

2. Optimize Your SMS Sign-Up Forms

If you want to convert your website’s visitors into subscribers, you’ve to pay special attention to your sign-up forms.

The sign-up form should have several factors like:

• Eye-catching design: using creativity in your sign-up form and its design can greatly impact your SMS opt-in rates.

• Mobile-friendly: Your sign-up web page should be optimized for mobile screens because the majority of internet users use mobile to visit your website.

• Pop-ups: Use pop-up builders so that the form appears at the best time to encourage people to sign up.

• Short and easy to use: Do not make the process of subscription difficult and time-consuming. Many users leave the form when they see you’re asking for lots of information.

• Optimize placement: You have to put the form in a good position on your landing page so that users can easily find it without bothering them.

Also, you need to work on your CTA so that your audience believes it’s worth trying. 

3. Leverage Incentives and Exclusive Offers

Remember that you can’t expect your customers to subscribe solely because they love your products. You need to offer something enticing in your sign-up forms or subscription text messages.

So try to incentivize your invitation as an effective way to encourage customers to opt into your SMS marketing list.

In fact, you have to offer something valuable in exchange for their phone number. The question is what to offer.

Here are some popular incentives to offer to increase your SMS opt-in rates:

Discounts

Offering a one-time discount or a special deal for new subscribers is a perfect way to encourage them to subscribe.

Here is an example of offering discounts for subscriptions:

In this SMS, you’ll see several items like appreciation, a discount, a VIP code to use the discount, and an opt-out option.

Exclusive Access

Instead of discounted prices, you can give SMS subscribers first access to sales, new products, events, or updates. This way, you’ll reward subscribers with special privileges that create a feeling of VIP and urgency.

Here is an example of offering exclusive access for subscription:

Contests and Giveaway

Offering a chance to win prizes for signing up is another way to increase your subscription rates. In fact, instead of offering something to all people, you can run a contest, which is more exciting.

Here is a contest SMS template for increasing your SMS marketing opt-in rates:

4. Integrate SMS Opt-In Across Multiple Channels

You can’t solely rely on your website’s sign-up form. It’s recommended to use all channels to promote your SMS marketing campaigns and increase your chance of getting subscribers.

For example, you can use your email marketing campaigns to redirect your recipients to your SMS sign-up page. Offering exclusive discounts to email subscribers who also subscribe to SMS campaigns can be a good technique to increase conversion rates.

Social media platforms like Instagram, Telegram, and YouTube can also be great places to promote your SMS marketing campaigns.

For example, you can put this opt-in SMS in your Instagram bio and also send it to your audience as a text message:

5. Build Trust Through Transparency and Compliance

Trust is the foundation of a successful marketing campaign. Apart from discounts, exclusive offers, and incentives, you need to gain the trust of audiences to encourage them to subscribe and then convert them into loyal customers.

If people don’t trust your business, they avoid sharing their phone numbers with you, no matter how much discount you offer.

So try to be as transparent as you can and make the audience believe you’re trustworthy. To do that, you need to first make your campaign believable. Avoid offering something so strange because the majority of people don’t believe it.

Also, try to explain clearly how you will use their information and stick to your promise. If you use the phone number to send other ads, it will dent your reputation.

It’s also good to state the frequency of messages. If they think you want to send SMS day and night, they might reject your request to subscribe. So try to avoid pushing too hard for it.

Last but not least, you need to comply with GDPR regulations to avoid any legal fines in the future and also gain the trust of your audience. This regulation insists on opt-in and opt-out options to make sure about the recipients’ consent.

6. Take Advantage of Social Proof and Testimonials

One of the most important reasons people choose a brand is the opinion of previous customers.

So you need to use every tool that might show the satisfaction of your customers to be able to generate new leads.

Here are some techniques to show your customer satisfaction:

• Customer Testimonials: Share the opinions of your customers on your website. These testimonials include the benefits of your subscription exclusive deals or early access offers of your SMS campaigns.

• Subscriber Counts: Try to update the number of subscribers on your site to show the popularity of your brand and your SMS campaign.

• Social Media Posts/Stories: You can ask your previous customers to act as advocates and share their experiences on social media. You can offer them special discounts if they invite other people to subscribe to your SMS campaign.

7. Create a Sense of Urgency and FOMO

This is another technique to make people sign up for your SMS marketing list.

Fear of missing out (FOMO) is a psychological trigger and it means people don’t like to lose something cool!

In fact, when people see there is a good offer and it might not continue for a long period, they will be motivated to take immediate action. You need to create a sense of urgency and FOMO to increase your SMS opt-in rates. 

Here are some techniques to create such sense:

#1 Limited-time offers

You can offer time-sensitive offers for subscriptions. Here is an example of such limited-time offers:

#2 Countdowns

You can put countdown timers to show the limitations of your SMS subscription offers on your website and social accounts.

8. Regularly Measure and Optimize Your Opt-In Campaigns

Last but not least, you have to analyze your attempts to increase subscriptions. This way, you can find your weaknesses and strengths and optimize your future campaigns. 

You can also use A/B testing in your opt-in campaigns to find the best format for your sign-up SMS and forms. 

Conclusion

SMS marketing has several requirements and opt-in consent is one of them. Without getting consent from your audience, you can’t send ads to them. So you need to try several ways to encourage your audience to opt in and accept your text messages.

You have to use all the available channels from your website, social platforms, and email marketing campaigns to increase your SMS marketing opt-in rates.

We introduced several methods to let you know how to create an opt-in SMS marketing campaign. Of course, it takes time to practice these methods so don’t get disappointed if you don’t reach success in the first attempt.

You can always count on our SMS marketing service, WP SMS, to improve your opt-in campaign. So if you need help in your SMS marketing, don’t hesitate to contact us.

FAQs