Blog
Stephanie Yoder
Text messaging is one of the most powerful communication channels for directly engaging with your customers. Compared to email, which has a 20% open rate, 82% of people say they open every text message. Even more compelling: 90% of SMS messages are read within three minutes of receipt.
However, simply getting customers to open your text messages isn’t enough. The real challenge lies in encouraging meaningful engagement: recipients clicking your links, responding to your calls to action, and ultimately spending more money with your company. Many SMS marketing and communication teams struggle with this second crucial step, sending messages that are opened but ultimately ignored.
The key differentiator between SMS campaigns that drive action and those that fall flat is personalization. Today’s consumers expect targeted and bespoke communications rather than generic mass messages. Personalized messages resonate more and convert at higher rates.
In this article, we’ll explore six proven strategies to boost SMS customer engagement through effective personalization techniques, helping you transform your text messages from simple alerts into powerful conversion tools.
1. Branded short links: Build trust and recognition
Bad actors are increasingly exploiting SMS’s highly personal nature by sending spam or phishing messages to obtain customer data. These malicious campaigns usually impersonate legitimate brands but utilize generic link shortening services to mask the destination of their URLs, making it difficult to distinguish legitimate messages from potentially harmful ones.
Unfortunately, this makes many consumers wary of clicking links they receive via SMS. But it’s also an opportunity for legitimate marketers to stand out by incorporating branded short links into their SMS campaigns.
Unlike generic shortened URLs, branded links visually connect your links to your company’s branding and reputation. For example, instead of:
GenericLink.com/32423532
You could be sending:
YourBrand.shop/yourorder
Using branded links leads to
- Higher CTR: branded links generate a 39% higher CTR than generic links.
- Instant brand recognition: SMS messages are restricted to 160 characters, making every character precious. Branded short links maximize this limited space while reinforcing your brand identity with each message.
- Improved deliverability: Mobile carriers are increasingly implementing sophisticated filtering systems to protect users from SMS spam. Messages containing generic shortened URLs are more likely to trigger these filters. Branded links help your messages reach their intended recipients by signaling legitimacy to carrier filtering systems.
Wonder Cave, a one-to-one text message automation platform, partnered with Rebrandly to transform their clients’ messaging effectiveness. By implementing branded short links in their advocacy and political campaigns, Wonder Cave helped their clients achieve CTR improvements of 60% or more compared to previous campaigns using generic links.
Check out the complete Wonder Cave case study to learn more about their implementation strategy.
2. Dynamic link routing: Personalize the destination
A mass text message encouraging everyone to visit the same page regardless of their unique circumstance can alienate many loyal customers. Unlike a traditional link, which just routes people from one destination to another, dynamic link routing customizes the link destination based on information about the recipient. This creates a tailored experience that significantly improves customer engagement.
Customize your links to route by:
- Location/region: Direct users to location-specific content, such as the nearest store, regional promotions, or local events. This geographical personalization makes your message immediately relevant to each recipient’s surroundings.
- Language preference: Automatically direct users to content in their preferred language, creating an instantly welcoming experience for multilingual audiences without requiring separate campaigns.
- Time of click: Adapt content based on when users interact with your link. During business hours, highlight “call now” options and emphasize self-service resources or scheduling tools after hours.
Dynamic routing creates personalized content journeys without complex campaign segmentation.
Learn more about implementing dynamic linking strategies.
3. Personal information: Make every message feel custom
Including relevant personal information in your SMS messages transforms generic broadcasts into conversations that feel individually crafted for each recipient. Recognizing each customer individually is a simple yet powerful way to ensure your message resonates.
Effective ways to incorporate personal information:
- Include their first name: Open SMS messages with the recipient’s name to establish a connection immediately. “Hi Sarah, your order has shipped!” performs significantly better than a blunt: “Your order has shipped.”
- Provide account-specific information: Include relevant details from the customer’s account to add immediate relevance. Reference their loyalty points, subscription status, or account milestones: “You’re just 50 points away from your next reward!” This practical personalization provides value while encouraging action.
- Reference to past purchases or interactions: Acknowledge your shared history by referencing previous purchases or interactions. “Since you enjoyed your last purchase of [product], we thought you’d like…” This approach demonstrates that you’re paying attention to their preferences and behaviors, strengthening the relationship.
When implementing personal information in SMS, ensure your data is accurate and up-to-date. Incorrect personalization can damage trust more than no personalization at all.
4. Timing optimization: Deliver messages when they matter most
Even the most perfectly crafted message fails if it arrives at the wrong time- anyone interrupted by a phone call at dinner or a text at 3 AM knows that. Timing optimization ensures your SMS communications reach customers when they’re most receptive to engaging with your content.
Key timing strategies that boost engagement:
- Right message, right time: Align message content with relevant moments in the customer journey. Send order confirmations immediately after purchase, delivery notifications as packages arrive, appointment reminders, and follow-up surveys after service completion. This contextual relevance dramatically increases engagement rates.
- Scheduled messages based on time zones: Respect your customers’ locations by delivering messages during appropriate local hours. Nobody wants promotional texts at 4 AM. Most SMS platforms allow scheduling based on recipient time zones to ensure optimal delivery.
- Link expiration for time-sensitive offers: Create urgency with links that expire after your promotion ends. Rebrandly allows you to set automatic expiration dates for links, encouraging immediate action while preventing customer disappointment from clicking on expired offers later.
- Analytics to determine optimal send times: Use link analytics data to identify when your target is most responsive. Test different send times and analyze open and click rates to discover your optimal windows for future campaigns.
Effective timing transforms SMS from interruptions into welcome, valuable communications, significantly improving engagement metrics and customer satisfaction.
5. Segmented messaging: Create specific SMS campaigns
One-size-fits-all SMS messaging rarely delivers optimal results. Segmented messaging allows you to craft distinct SMS campaigns for different audience groups, ensuring your communications resonate with each recipient’s specific situation and needs.
Effective segmentation marketing strategies:
- Different messages for different audiences: Create unique content based on demographic data, interests, or customer value.
- Customer lifecycle stage (new vs. loyal): Tailor communications based on where customers are in their journey with your brand. Welcome new customers with introductory offers, and acknowledge loyal customers with exclusive rewards or early access.
- Purchase history segmentation: Leverage past interactions with your customer to inform your messaging. Recommend complementary products, offer refills at appropriate intervals, or highlight new items in categories they’ve shown interest in.
- Behavioral segmentation (engaged vs inactive): Customize messages based on engagement patterns. Send re-engagement campaigns to inactive customers, while nurturing already engaged customers with more in-depth content.
Effective segmentation transforms generic broadcasts into personalized conversations that acknowledge and address each customer’s unique relationship with your brand, dramatically improving response rates and ROI.
6. Contextual deep linking: Seamless experiences for mobile devices
Standard links often create friction in the mobile customer journey, especially when transitioning between SMS and apps. Using a tailored SMS message just to send users to your homepage, a login screen, or a download page wastes time and money.
Contextual deep linking eliminates these barriers by connecting customers directly to specific in-app destinations, creating fluid experiences that boost engagement and conversion rates.
How to use deep linking to boost engagement:
- Link directly to specific app sections: Instead of forcing users to navigate from your app’s homepage, deep links connect them directly to relevant product pages, account sections, or features.
- Pre-filled forms for easier conversions: Contextual deep links can carry user information, enabling automatic form population that significantly reduces abandonment rates.
- Seamless transitions between channels: Deep linking bridges the gap between SMS messages and your app experience. When users click a deep link in your text message, they’re immediately directed to the appropriate location within your app if installed, or guided to install the app first (deferred deep linking).
By implementing deep linking in your SMS marketing strategy, you remove barriers between message and action, creating frictionless pathways that guide customers precisely where they need to go and significantly improving the effectiveness of your mobile messaging campaigns.
Boost SMS customer engagement with the right tools
A stronger emphasis on personalization can transform your SMS communications from generic broadcasts into engaging customer relationships.
A comprehensive link management platform like Rebrandly centralizes many of these personalization capabilities in one intuitive dashboard, making sophisticated personalization accessible to SMS marketing and customer communication teams of any size. By creating branded short links, implementing dynamic routing rules, scheduling and expiring links, and establishing deep linking connections—all with unified analytics—you can deliver the personalized experiences customers expect while achieving the engagement metrics your business requires.