[Infographic] How to Write the Perfect SMS Message
Is there such a thing as a “perfect” SMS message?
Yes, there is, but there isn’t just one example of a perfect message. There are so many uses for SMS messages that each of them would have their own perfect example. How many different types are there? Here’s a short list of some types:
- Banking alerts
- Payment reminders
- Appointment confirmations
- Marketing messages
- Promotional messages
- Polls
- Contests
If you think about the list, you’ll probably agree that they could be grouped together into similar categories. I narrowed it down into three: Reminders, Info & Alerts, and Marketing.
Each of those categories has a different purpose and syntax to the messages. But, every message has 3-4 required components in order to be a perfect message. These are common across the three categories (with one extra for marketing) but how they are implemented is different. These components are:
- The identifier. If the message recipient doesn’t know who you are, then the message might as well be spam.
- The details. What is the message about? It needs to be complete and useful.
- Call to action. What should the recipient do when they read the message?
- Opt out instructions. This is required for marketing, but could be included in the others too.
The infographic below looks at the three categories of messages, shows the context of each required component, and provides examples of good and bad messages. Consider it a guide to crafting the perfect message for your organisation or business!
![[Infographic] The Perfect SMS message](https://dox4euoyzny9u.cloudfront.net/images/fastsms/Infographic-The-Perfect-SMS-message-164x1024.png)
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