We are always providing resources and insights for our customers, and this year we wanted to open the doors and share our best SMS marketing tips with you too, in the form of this handy Black Friday messaging checklist.
Plan SMS marketing messages
66% of American consumers are planning to shop Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM) deals this year. Last year, shoppers spent $35.5 billion during Cyber Week—$9.1 billion on Black Friday alone.
It’s a key opportunity for retail and ecommerce companies to serve up deals to the shoppers who want them. And it’s also a very, very busy week for text traffic.
Start by making sure your team has a solid promotional plan in place across all channels, and make sure you have a clean list of opted-in recipients with active phone numbers ready for your messaging campaigns.
Key dates to consider for your SMS marketing campaigns:
- Black Friday November 24, 2023
- Small Business Saturday November 25, 2023
- Cyber Monday November 27, 2023
- Giving Tuesday November 28, 2023
When to schedule SMS messages
- Peak sending times are expected to be 9 AM EST – 3 PM EST. If possible, send before or after this time to avoid message slowdowns or having to compete for network space.
- Send outside of the start of the hour to avoid peak times. Scheduling your messages to send at, for example, 3:14 pm instead of 3:00 pm can help with deliverability.
- Be mindful of your account limits. If you surpass your limits, you’ll run into error codes.
How to ensure high deliverability by message type
Toll-free
- All toll-free numbers should be verified prior to sending on BFCM.
- Toll-free verification applications currently take several weeks to process, so get any unregistered toll-free numbers submitted ASAP. (Bandwidth customers: make sure you’re using our exclusive Toll-free Verification API)
- Check out our Bandwidth toll-free verification handbook for questions on verifying toll-free numbers.
10DLC
- All 10DLC traffic should be properly registered before sending on BFCM.
- Send within your brand’s and campaign’s sending limits.
- Follow our 10DLC messaging best practices for more guidance on registration.
MMS
- Make sure to only send supported file types.
- Stay under the recommended MMS file size (525 KB is the limit for toll-free, but will also ensure better deliverability and quicker sending on long code).
Are you a Bandwidth customer?
Head to our customer Black Friday sending guide for more details.
