Mastering SMS Deliverability:

Balancing Engagement and Compliance to Avoid Spam Filters

Introduction

Effective SMS marketing requires continuous vigilance in monitoring analytics, interpreting subscriber behaviors, and optimizing message content/send times to avoid being blocked by users or caught by carrier spam filters. Read on to find actionable tips for improving your SMS program's deliverability, brand reputation, and subscriber retention, along with the reasons why the suggested practices are important.

Monitoring Analytics and Deliverability

Delivery Rates and Error Code Monitoring

Monitoring delivery rates and error codes together provides a comprehensive understanding of why messages are not delivered and can indicate potential spam filtering or other issues. A sudden drop in delivery rates can signal that messages are being blocked or filtered by carriers due to spam complaints.

Understanding Delivery Rates

1. High Performance (95% and above)

• ?? Excellent deliverability, reflecting efficient SMS campaign management.

2. Acceptable Performance (90-95%)

• ?? Generally good performance with minor areas for improvement.

3. Moderate Concern (80-90%)

• ?? Potential issues that need addressing, such as message content, timing, or list quality.

4. Serious Problems (Below 80%)

• ?? Significant issues requiring immediate attention.

Common Error Codes Indicating Potential Spam Issues

1. Message Blocked

• Explanation: Indicates that the carrier or recipient has blocked the message, likely due to spam filters. This suggests issues with message content or frequency that need to be addressed to avoid being flagged as spam.

2. Carrier Violation

• Explanation: Implies the message violated carrier rules or regulations. Frequent violations can be a sign that the messages are being flagged as spam due to non-compliance with carrier standards.

3. Unreachable Destination Handset

• Explanation: Often means the recipient's device is inactive or actively rejecting messages. A sudden increase in unreachable handset errors may signal recipient blocking.

4. Unknown/Invalid Destination Handset

• Explanation: Suggests users may be signing up with false numbers or the list is outdated. High numbers of unknown destination handset errors indicate a need to clean the subscriber list.

Action Steps for Effective Monitoring

1. Consistent Review

• ?? Regularly review delivery reports from your SMS platform to understand overall performance and identify trends.

2. Analyze Error Codes

• ?? Monitor and analyze error codes to distinguish between issues like blocked messages, carrier violations, unreachable devices, and wrong numbers.

3. Investigate Deviations

• ??? Promptly investigate significant deviations from normal delivery patterns to address urgent issues affecting delivery rates.

4. Interpret Error Codes

• ?? Learn how to interpret error codes to understand your SMS program's health and take appropriate actions to improve deliverability and compliance.

Engagement Metrics (CTR, Opt-Out Rates, Response Patterns, and General Engagement Levels)

Monitoring engagement metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), opt-out rates, response patterns, and overall engagement levels provides valuable insights into recipient behavior and the effectiveness of your campaigns.

Key Engagement Metrics

1. SMS Subscriber Lifespan

• ? Importance: This metric tracks the duration a subscriber remains active on an SMS marketing list. It helps you understand how long subscribers find value in your messages before deciding to opt out, providing insights into the effectiveness and relevance of your SMS campaigns.

2. SMS Click-Through Rate (CTR)

• ?? Importance: Measures the percentage of recipients that clicked on a link in your message. This provides insight into whether your message and call to action (CTA) are effective.

3. SMS Conversion Rate

• ?? Importance: Measures how many of your texts generate a desired outcome, such as clicks, subscriptions, or sales. This metric tells you whether your SMS campaigns generate the practical results you want.

4. SMS Unsubscribe Rate

• ?? Importance: Measures the percentage of texts that lead recipients to remove themselves from your list. This indicates whether your campaign generates counter-productive results or puts you at risk of spam complaints.

5. SMS List Growth Rate

• ?? Importance: Measures how fast you gain subscribers over a given time frame. This metric tells you how effectively you attract new subscribers and indicates the success of your marketing campaigns.

Action Steps for Effective Monitoring

1. Consistent Review

• ?? Regularly review engagement metrics to identify trends and adjust strategies accordingly.

2. Segment and Analyze

• ?? Segment your audience based on demographics, behavior, and engagement levels.
• ?? Analyze engagement metrics for each segment to tailor your messaging effectively.

3. Experiment and Optimize

• ?? Conduct A/B testing on different message elements (e.g., CTAs, timing, content) to determine what resonates best with your audience.
• ?? Use the insights gained to continuously optimize your SMS campaigns.

4. Gather Feedback

• ?? Implement methods for gathering direct feedback from subscribers, such as surveys or follow-up messages.
• ?? Use this feedback to refine your messaging strategy and improve overall engagement.

5. Track Opt-Out Rates

• ?? Investigate spikes in opt-outs to identify possible causes, such as message content or frequency.
• ??? Adjust your messaging strategy based on feedback and trends.

6. Monitor Response Patterns

• ?? Track changes in response types and adjust your approach accordingly.
• ? Respond promptly to negative feedback.

7. Monitor CTR and Conversion Rates

• ?? Track CTRs on embedded links in your messages.
• ?? Experiment with different call-to-action (CTA) phrases and placement to optimize engagement.
• ?? Monitor conversion rates to see how effective your campaigns are at driving desired actions.

By closely monitoring and analyzing these engagement metrics, you can make data-driven decisions to enhance the effectiveness of your SMS campaigns and maintain a strong relationship with your audience.

Carrier Feedback

Carrier feedback is not commonly volunteered, making it less accessible but potentially valuable in specific circumstances. Working closely with your SMS provider can help you obtain this feedback when needed, especially for recurring issues that are not easily resolved through standard metrics.

Importance of Carrier Feedback

1. Deeper Insights for Recurring Issues

• ?? Carrier feedback can provide deeper insights into recurring deliverability issues that are unclear even to your SMS provider and their aggregator's compliance or deliverability team.

2. Supplementary Information

• ?? While delivery rates, error codes, and other key metrics typically provide the necessary information, carrier feedback can supplement these metrics when additional insights are required.

Action Steps for Requesting and Utilizing Carrier Feedback

1. Collaborate with Your SMS Provider

• ?? Work closely with your SMS platform and/or aggregator to request carrier feedback for specific, unresolved issues.

2. Analyze and Apply Insights

• ?? Review the feedback to identify underlying causes of recurring issues.
• ??? Implement changes to your messaging strategy based on these insights to improve deliverability.

3. Use as a Supplementary Tool

• ??? Consider carrier feedback as a supplementary tool rather than a primary source of information.
• ?? Rely primarily on delivery rates, error codes, and key metrics for routine monitoring and issue resolution.

By understanding the role and limitations of carrier feedback, you can effectively leverage it as a supplementary tool for improving your SMS deliverability and addressing complex issues.

Other Methods to Reduce Spam Filtering

Reducing spam filtering is essential to ensure high deliverability and engagement in your SMS marketing campaigns. Here are some key methods to achieve this:

Follow SMS-Specific Regulations

• ?? Importance:

. . . Compliance with regulations helps ensure that messages are not flagged as spam.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Ensure compliance with regulations like the CTIA, TCPA, CASL, and the CAN-SPAM Act, especially regarding opt-in and opt-out requirements.

Implement Double Opt-In

• ?? Importance:

. . . Reduces spam reports and invalid numbers, both of which contribute to higher deliverability.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Require recipients to confirm their interest in receiving SMS messages.

. . . . . ?? Example: After an initial sign-up, send a confirmation SMS asking recipients to reply with "YES" to confirm their subscription.

Avoid Public URL Shorteners

• ?? Importance:

. . . Public URL shorteners are often blocked by carriers as they are associated with spam.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Avoid public URL shorteners such as bit.ly, goo.gl, and tinyurl.com. Use custom or branded URL shorteners that reflect your brand identity.

. . . . . ?? Example: Create a branded URL shortener like "yrbrnd.ly/offer" to ensure better deliverability.

Handle Opt-Out Requests Properly

• ??? Importance:

. . . Ensuring easy opt-out processes helps maintain compliance and reduce spam complaints.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Ensure recipients can easily opt out by replying with "STOP" and re-subscribe by replying with "START" or "UNSTOP."

. . . Honor all opt-out requests, even when not in the form of a keyword, like "Please don't text me anymore."

Optimize Message Length

• ?? Importance:

. . . Keeping messages within 160 characters ensures better deliverability and adherence to carrier preferences (T-Mobile, specifically).

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Keep SMS messages within 160 characters for standard GSM-7 encoding and 70 characters for UCS-2 encoding - the allotted amount for a single SMS message/segment. Anything over the limit will be split off and sent as an additional message segment (concatenation).

. . . . . Note: Longer messages are possible, but not preferred for multiple reasons including that any link straddling the character limit will be broken, any disclosures in the content should be all together in a single message for clarity, and message segments can arrive out of order, at different delays, or only one could be delivered. All of these are poor user experiences for the recipient.

Use Urgency and Scarcity Sparingly

• ? Importance:

. . . Overuse of urgency and scarcity tactics can appear spammy and discredit messages.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Avoid overusing urgency and scarcity language in messages.

. . . . . Example: Instead of "ACT NOW! LIMITED TIME OFFER!" use "Exclusive offer for you. Available until Friday."

Adhere to the Acceptable Time Range for SMS Marketing

• ??? Importance:
• . . . Sending messages within acceptable time frames helps avoid recipient annoyance.
• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Send SMS marketing messages between 8 AM and 9 PM in the recipient's time zone.

. . . Segment subscribers by time zones when sending campaigns nationwide to avoid sending too early or too late and to ensure relevance when including time-specific content like "Good morning" or "Today's lunch special."

. . . . . Note: Due to state-specific regulations, using 9 AM to 8 PM is recommended to ensure compliance.

Minimize the Use of ALL CAPS and Emojis

• ?? Importance:

. . . Excessive use of ALL CAPS and emojis can make messages look spammy and unprofessional.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Use ALL CAPS and emojis sparingly, mainly for keywords like HELP, STOP, and common acronyms.Avoid textspeak and maintain a professional tone.

. . . . . Example: Instead of "GET YOUR DEAL NOW!!! ????" use "Get your deal now."

Provide Clear and Professional Content

• ?? Importance:

. . . Clear, relevant, and professional messages are less likely to be perceived as spam.

• ??? Action Steps:

. . . Avoid using spammy words and ensure messages are clear and relevant.

. . . Maintain a professional tone and avoid informal textspeak.

. . . . . Example: Instead of "Congratulations!!! You WON a FREE gift!! Click here NOW!!" use "Congratulations, you’ve been selected for a special offer. Visit our website to claim your reward."

Common Email and SMS Spam Words to Avoid

Spam words can trigger filters, reducing deliverability and engagement. By avoiding these spam words, you enhance the professionalism and trustworthiness of your messages. Spam words often imply exaggerated claims, financial incentives, or urgent actions that can seem too good to be true or manipulative. Using them can lead to messages being flagged as spam.

• Financial Gain Spam Words

Best price, save up to, billions, cash, cheap, discount, lowest price, money back, offer, prize

• Freebies Spam Words

Free access, free gift, free info, free membership, free money, free quote, free trial

• FOMO & Sense of Exclusivity

Take action, urgent, while supplies last, one time, act now, limited time, order now, new customers only, you have been selected

• Miracle Workers

Removes wrinkles, reverse aging, miracle, guaranteed, risk-free, instant, cures, fantastic, satisfaction guaranteed

• General Use Spam Words

Increase sales, increase traffic, click here, important information, bulk email/SMS, direct marketing, multi-level marketing, meet singles, mass email/SMS, no obligation, no hidden fees

For further reading on avoiding spam words, explore the Textmagic Blog on Avoiding Spam Words.

Avoid Overuse of Stop Words

Definition:

Commonly used words like "the," "and," "is," "in," etc., which are often filtered out by search engines and text processing algorithms.

Impact:

• Spam Filters: Excessive use of stop words can trigger spam filters.
• Content Quality: Messages packed with stop words may appear less relevant and informative.
• Readability: Messages that overuse stop words can become cluttered and harder to read.

Best Practices:

• Content Optimization: Use concise, informative language, and minimize unnecessary stop words to improve clarity and relevance.
• Testing and Analysis: Regularly test message variations to see which have the highest deliverability rates. Analyze the content to identify and reduce stop word usage.

When Marketing Tactics Cross the Line into Spam

1. Permission-Based Marketing vs. Unsolicited Messages

Even if your messages are engaging and personalized, if they’re unsolicited, they violate the recipient’s expectations and trust. Permission-based marketing respects the user’s choice and increases engagement quality.

• ?? Don't: Send messages to recipients who have not consented to receive them. Unsolicited messages are often perceived as spam, no matter how well-crafted they are.
• ? Do: Build your marketing strategy on permission-based principles. Ensure that every recipient has explicitly opted in to receive communications.

2. Personalization with Substance

Superficial personalization can feel insincere. True personalization involves understanding and addressing the recipient's unique needs and interests, which builds trust and engagement.

• ?? Don't: Use generic personalization that feels superficial. Names alone don’t create a personalized experience if the message content is not relevant.
• ? Do: Use meaningful personalization that goes beyond using the recipient's name. Tailor content to their preferences, past interactions, and behavior.

3. Value-Driven Content vs. Aggressive CTAs

Aggressive CTAs can make recipients feel pressured and uncomfortable, leading to negative perceptions. Value-driven content fosters a positive relationship and naturally encourages engagement.

• ?? Don't: Overwhelm recipients with aggressive CTAs that push for immediate action. Avoid making every message a hard sell.
• ? Do: Provide valuable content that addresses the recipient's needs and offers genuine solutions. Soft CTAs that invite further interaction are more effective.

4. Frequency and Relevance of Messages

Over-messaging can lead to fatigue and annoyance, causing recipients to disengage or mark messages as spam. Under-messaging can lead to unwanted, unvalued messaging (which is considered spam, even if consent was once received). Relevant, timely messages are more likely to be welcomed and engaged with/acted upon.

• ?? Don't: Bombard recipients with frequent messages, especially if the content is not highly relevant.
• ?? Don't: Message so infrequently that recipients seek the value they expect elsewhere, begin to lose interest in your messaging, or start to consider your brand unreliable.
• ? Do: Maintain a balanced frequency that aligns with the recipient’s expectations. Ensure every message is relevant and timely.

5. Transparency and Trust

Transparency builds trust. Recipients appreciate knowing who is contacting them and why, and they value the ability to control their communication preferences.

• ?? Don't: Use deceptive tactics, hidden agendas, or make it difficult for recipients to unsubscribe.
• ? Do: Be transparent about who you are, what users are signing up for, why you’re messaging when you message, and how recipients can manage their preferences or opt out.

6. Emotional Connection vs. Manipulation

Emotional manipulation can backfire, leading to distrust and negative associations with the brand. Genuine emotional connections foster loyalty and positive engagement.

• ?? Don't: Manipulate emotions to provoke an immediate response, especially using fear or guilt.
• ? Do: Create an emotional connection by addressing real issues and showing empathy. Offer genuine support and solutions.

Conclusion

?? Main Takeaways:

• Focus on permission-based marketing.
• Personalize with substance.
• Provide value-driven content.
• Maintain balanced messaging frequency.
• Be transparent and build trust.
• Create genuine emotional connections.

??? Key Strategies:

• Monitor analytics and engagement.
• Follow regulations and implement double opt-in.
• Handle opt-out requests properly.
• Optimize message content and formatting to avoid spam filters.

?? What strategies have you found effective in improving SMS deliverability?

Share your thoughts in the comments!