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    Best Practice
    4 min read

    Best practices for SMS list growth

    Did you know that, according to our marketing consumer sentiment report, 73% of consumers make a purchase after receiving a text message from a brand? Follow these best practices to grow your text messaging subscriber list with this highly effective marketing channel.

    Meet site visitors where they are

    To grow your text messaging subscriber list, use multiple collection methods targeted to the different ways people come across your brand. By making the signup experience an aligned piece of the customer journey, you’ll attract more subscribers and increase your sales.

    List growth strategy #1

    Use a multi-step form

    For all new site visitors, encourage them to sign up for both of your marketing channels. A multi-step sign-up form allows you to collect both email and text consent, while offering distinct signup incentives for both channels.

    Klaviyo multi-step form displaying separate consent fields for email and text messaging

    Configure your form

    Target your multi-step form to only appear to profiles that don’t already exist in Klaviyo. In distinct steps, prompt new site visitors to first subscribe to your email marketing, followed by the option to subscribe to text messaging. Breaking the subscription process into separate steps also makes it clear that subscribing to text is optional.

    Offer a layered incentive

    For example, offer 10% off on your first order when someone subscribes to email marketing. Then, offer an additional 5% off for those who also subscribe to text messaging. This strategy helps position text messaging as a high-value channel.

    Remain compliant at sign-up

    Double opt-in methods are strongly recommended for collecting consent, as they require subscribers to take multiple actions to confirm their subscription. Enable smart opt-in for the text messaging step, and make sure to include your disclosure language with your terms of service and privacy policy.

    List growth strategy #2

    Tempt email subscribers with a targeted form

    You likely have email subscribers who haven’t joined your text list. Use a targeted form to invite them to opt in to receive text messages.

    Configure your form

    Set up your form to ask email subscribers to subscribe only to text messaging. Consider adding a teaser to this form, so email subscribers can return to it later.

    Offer a text-only incentive

    10% off, free shipping on your next order, or access to a text-only VIP program are a few examples of incentives you can use. Offering exclusive perks for text messaging reinforces the value of text for your email subscribers.

    Remain compliant at sign-up

    Use a double opt-in method, like smart opt-in, to ensure your list is made up of engaged profiles. It’s also important that subscribers know signing up to receive text messages is optional, and don’t forget to include your disclosure language with your terms of service and privacy policy on the text message consent collection step of your form!

    Multi-step form showing email and text message consent options in Klaviyo
    List growth strategy #3

    When subscribers are about to place an order, they’re excited about your brand and more likely to sign up for your marketing.

    Marketing consent checkboxes for text messages shown during checkout

    Configure consent at checkout

    Include the consent at checkout checkbox above the CTA for customers to place their order. Use concise copy when labeling your checkbox to communicate the value of signing up for text messaging.

    Configure with an ecommerce integration

    ‍It's important to note that in order to set up consent at checkout, you need to have an active ecommerce integration with your Klaviyo account. Click the hyperlinks on each bullet for clear set-up instructions, specific to each integration.

    If you don't have one of these integrations, explore how to send consent to Klaviyo via Zapier.

    Remain compliant with consent at checkout

    The consent checkbox should default to the unchecked setting. Additionally, include your text message disclosure language with your terms of service and privacy policy near the checkbox, so new subscribers can clearly see it when confirming their consent.

    Pro tip

    Stay in compliance while you grow your list

    By collecting your subscribers compliantly, you protect both your engagement metrics and your deliverability.

    Collect subscribers compliantly

    Include the following items on all of your collection consent methods, and ensure that they’re up-to-date with language about your text message program:

    Additionally, if you are collecting email and text message consent together on a form, clearly state that text subscription is an optional field.

    Popup showing marketing a consent checkbox for text messages, along with terms of service and privacy policy links
    Best practices for SMS list growth
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