The holiday shopping season is one of the biggest opportunities for businesses to boost sales, and SMS marketing has become a go-to channel for reaching customers instantly.

For instance, Eat Sushi achieved a 22x ROI, generating 69 821€ across 29 locations with SMS.

Whether it’s Black Friday, Cyber Monday, or any other shopping holiday, a well-planned SMS campaign can drive engagement and conversions—if done right.

Here’s a step-by-step guide to set your SMS campaigns 

1. Collect Numbers and Opt-Ins in Advance

The first step to any successful SMS campaign is having a quality contact list with legitimate consent. Without consent, sending messages is not only non-compliant but could damage your reputation.

Start gathering numbers and opt-ins at least two weeks before the campaign to ensure a sufficient, qualified contact list.

2. Check Your Phonebook Number Formats


Before launching your campaign, check that all numbers are correctly formatted and legitimate.

  • Ensure each number has a valid country code and no extra characters (e.g., avoid spaces, parentheses, or letters).

  • Use a phone validator or a number lookup API to confirm each number is active and belongs to a real device.

This helps reduce delivery issues and increases the reliability of your messaging efforts.


3. Review Country-Specific Regulations

Some countries have specific rules for SMS campaigns, such as prior registration, approved content, and a registered sender name.

  • In the United Kingdom, UAE, USA, and Czech Republic, the content you send must be registered beforehand. Otherwise, it risks being blocked or sent with a generic sender name.

  • In France for instance, you are not allowed to send campaigns outside working hours, on Sundays and on French public holidays.

Double-check with your provider for specific regulations to avoid compliance issues that could lead to your messages being filtered or blocked.

4. Know Content-Related Restrictions

Certain regions restrict specific types of content in SMS messages.

  • Gambling or religion-related content, for instance, may be prohibited in some areas.

  • Additionally, certain countries might restrict links or prohibit shortened URLs like Bitly and Tinyurl, so make sure you have custom links.

  • You must provide an opt-out option in your content, either a link or a two-way message “STOP”.

The last thing you want is for your content to be filtered out because of a shortened link or prohibited wording.

5. Check Character Limits

Make sure your message stays within the GSM character set to avoid unexpected costs.

  • Some special characters can increase the message length, which may turn a single SMS into multiple parts, tripling your costs.

  • Use an SMS length calculator to stay within the 160-character limit and keep your budget on track.

6. Notify Your Messaging Provider

Inform your provider about the upcoming campaign so they can help you with the setup. This can involve:

  • Verifying routes

  • Confirming registrations

  • Reviewing content and budget

  • Testing message delivery and providing tips to enhance performance.

7. Run a Test Campaign

Before sending your campaign to thousands of contacts, send a small test batch to assess delivery and engagement.

A sample of 10 messages can reveal any potential issues without the risk of harming your entire campaign.

You can run a test campaign through the Messente Dashboard. Get in touch with our team!

How To Succeed

A well-prepared business messaging campaign can be the key to a successful holiday shopping season.

Our top recommendation? Connect with your provider and have them review your campaign to ensure it’s optimized for reach, compliance, and impact.

Follow these steps, and you’ll be ready to close out the holiday rush with maximized ROI and stronger customer engagement.

We’ve also created a checklist with all the essential info—share it with your team to keep everyone on track for success!

Download the SMS Marketing Campaign Checklist 2024