We are often asked about good sending times for SMS messages - especially for marketing messages. For that, the answer is not too early, and not too late.
Not too early and not too late
It's no secret that many people sleep with their mobile phone and use it as their alarm clock. If you send your text message too early in the morning, you risk your text message becoming an early wake-up call, causing a negative reaction from the recipient. And in the opposite scenario, if you've chosen to send your text messages at 10pm, your messages may end up being read just before bedtime, too late to elicit a response from the recipient.
Marketing messages are generally best received between 8am - 9pm, no earlier and no later. And it's important to note that this is the time zone of your recipients and not your business. So if you're sending SMS messages across different countries, it's important to remember the different time zones your customers are in.
Now that we know the best time to send SMS messages, we can talk about when to send the messages. Did you know that 90% of all text messages are read within 3 minutes of beeping on the recipient's mobile? With SMS messages being opened so quickly after they are received, it's a good idea not to send your offers too early. There shouldn't be too much time between your SMS being received and the offer being valid. The recipient must be able to react in the moment, so you don't waste your precious talk time with the customer.
Weekend vs. weekday
When it comes to marketing messages, it doesn't matter if the calendar says Tuesday or Sunday. Unsubscribe rates for SMS offers sent on weekends are higher than when sent on weekdays. However, there is no golden rule as to whether it's best to send text messages on weekends or weekdays. That's why it's best to look at what times your business experiences the most cancellations. Look at whether it applies to specific days, specific times of the week or weekends. This is hugely valuable information for maintaining a good SMS customer club and getting the most out of your SMS marketing.
Anniversaries
Especially when it comes to marketing messages, some companies may find it worthwhile to schedule text message broadcasts around special anniversaries.
On days such as payday, child benefit payments, excess tax, holiday pay, etc., people have refuelled their spending budget and the barrier to purchase is significantly reduced. Other obvious days when customers are automatically ready to buy are Black Friday, Cyber Monday, January sales, birthdays, etc. It's on days like these that people happily receive SMS messages with marketing content. They want offers and expect them to be shown to them without them having to actively look for them.
Essentially, it's about not wasting great offers on days when your customers aren't ready to buy, but instead scheduling the SMS messages in an annual calendar so that obvious opportunities aren't missed due to lack of planning.
Good send times for service messages
The answer to when to send your SMS messages - not too early, not too late - still applies when you are the sender of service SMS messages. These are messages with reminders for appointments at the hairdresser, dentist, restaurant, etc. You've probably experienced it yourself; you're lying in bed and have just fallen asleep, suddenly a text message beeps and you reach for your mobile - it could be an important text from your girlfriend - but no, it was just a reminder of your doctor's appointment tomorrow at 10am. If you had chosen to send this SMS either at 8pm the night before the appointment or 8am on the day of the appointment, it would have resulted in an appreciation from the recipient for the appointment reminder and not a rude awakening from an "unimportant" SMS.
Not only the time of broadcast, but also the frequency is important
For optimal impact and response to your SMS messages, it's important to also consider the frequency of broadcasts in your planning.
When talking about the frequency of SMS broadcasts, there are 3 rules that apply:
- Don't send every day.
- Send between 2-4 times a month.
- It's about quality over quantity.
Of course, the above rules don't apply in all cases - for example, if you use SMS as an internal communication channel in your organisation, it's a completely different situation and depends on the needs and culture of the specific company. But if we're talking about SMS messages with marketing content, for example, the 3 rules provide a good framework to navigate within.
In most cases, it's about putting yourself in the recipient's shoes and thinking about when you would appreciate receiving your text messages. And if you're still struggling to imagine when recipients would appreciate the messages, you can look at your data instead. For example, look at when there are the most unsubscribes or which messages had the most link clicks.
