Are you ready for Halloween?
Halloween is just around the corner, and we know you're probably busy getting your costume ready, planning your party and making sure you have enough candy to last you through trick-or-treating.
But did you know that sending out a spooky SMS campaign can help boost your sales?
Here are some tips for creating a successful Halloween SMS campaign:
- Promote your Halloween party or special event
- Offer scary good deals
- Offer a limited-time coupon code
- Send out a gift card
- Use spooky emojis
- Organize a costume contest
- Host a pumpkin carving contest
- Turn your SMS into a poll or quiz
- Get the timing right
Plus, at the end, we are going to show you some examples how to utilize your campaign with SMS templates!
Why use SMS marketing on Halloween?
There's no better time to do business than on Halloween. Okay, maybe Christmas or Black Friday…
Either way, it's one of the most influential days for online shopping, so if you have a business that sells products or services, SMS can be very effective during this period.
Why SMS marketing?
Because it's a great way to engage with customers on Halloween in a style that feels personal, fun and spontaneous.
Did you know that SMS marketing is the most effective form of marketing? It's true - SMS has a 98% open rate and a whopping 19% average click-through rate. But there are more reasons why to use it.
In a nutshell:
- You can target your audience easily
- People like receiving messages on their phones
- It’s cost effective
- It’s fast
- It has high return on investment (ROI)
- It’s easier than sending an email
- Your customers are already familiar with it
But besides its benefits, SMS has a great utility too!
It is a great way to send short, fun messages to your customers or potential customers from your smartphone or computer. Plus it's super easy.
The best part is that it can be used for any type of business or organization. All you need is some creative ideas on how to use SMS marketing for Halloween. And we can help you with that too!
1. Promote your Halloween party or special event
Halloween is all about the costumes, the candy and the scaring, but it's also about gathering with your customers and potential customers! So why not take advantage of the opportunity to promote your Halloween party or special event with a little SMS marketing?
Here are some ideas for how you could use SMS to boost attendance to your Halloween party or event:
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Send out SMS campaign with the date, time, and place of the event, as well as details about what they can expect to see at the event.
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Offer a discount or special offer if they sign up by a certain date, and provide an incentive for them to share information about their friends’ interest in attending with you.
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Send SMS reminders so that customers do not forget about your Halloween party or special event!
2. Offer scary good deals
Halloween is the perfect time to send out scary good offers!
And SMS marketing has a tool in its shed that can help you do just that.
It's called Bulk SMS campaigns and it's great for sending out lots of messages at once. That makes it perfect for sending out offers and coupons to your customers. This way, bulk SMS campaigns can help you bring customers to the door of your store or service and increase your sales.
The best way to do this is by offering them a deal or a discount on something they want. Once you get their attention and show them how much money they can save with your Halloween SMS campaigns, they are going to be excited!
Plus, it can help you build an audience of loyal customers who will keep coming back year after year.
One important thing to remember, though. It's important that these offers are tailored specifically to Halloween - you don't want people getting texts about sales during Christmas or Valentine's Day.
3. Offer a limited-time coupon code
Getting a customer to buy your product or service is difficult. Asking them to do so at a discount, however, is much easier. But offering a limited-time SMS coupon code at Halloween can work wonders for you, and help you stand out from the competition.
If you want to encourage customers to buy now, create urgency by giving them a reason not to wait any longer and shop elsewhere. Your goal should be convincing people that they won't be able to get what they want if they don't act fast.
That is why it is a great idea to spark excitement by sending a text that says “ Time is running out! ” or “ Halloween special ends soon!” or better yet “Tomorrow’s the day!“ These texts will get your customers excited about your event or sale without being overly pushy.
The best way is by sending a countdown text message with a link that takes them straight through to where they can find out more information about the special Halloween offer. This will help create urgency in their minds so that they'll feel like they need to act quickly before the offer is gone!
Make sure that you send these texts only to those who want them - don't spam everyone on your contacts list with an advertisement! Also make sure that any links in these texts lead directly back into your Halloween website so that customers can easily find what they're looking for there (and not somewhere else).
4. Send out a gift card
You can also send out a gift card to your customers via a text message. Make sure it is relevant to Halloween, your business and your customers.
For example, you could send a prepaid gift card for an eating place near them. Or if you are selling costumes or makeup, then perhaps you could offer a gift card for one of those items as well.
Make sure that the value of the gift card is high enough so that people will want to claim it from you!
This is also an opportunity for more advanced marketers who want to create targeted ads based on demographics such as age, gender and location!
5. Use spooky emojis
If you want to add some spooky spirit to your messages, emojis are the way forward. They're fun and playful, and they can help you stand out from the crowd. Use emoticons or emojis that match the theme of your promotion.
There are plenty of spooky emojis available - you can choose from witches, ghosts, pumpkins, bats and black cats. Your customers will love them! If you're not sure what to pick out, here's a list of some emojis for you:
🎃 👻 😨 😱 🔮 👾 🩸 🧛 🐈⬛ ⚰️ 🕯️ ⛓️ 🦇 🕷️ 🕸️ 🎁 🍫 🍬 🏚️ 🌕 ⛓️ 🗡️ 💀 👹 ⚱️ 🦉 🍂
6. Organize a costume contest
Have a costume contest. This can be as simple or elaborate as you want, but it’s a surefire way to get your customers engaged. You could give away a prize for the most creative costume - a product or a discount, for example.
You could use SMS marketing to promote the contest and combine it with your social media where your customers could post their pictures.
Make sure to include rules, prizes and how to submit the pictures - make sure they include a hashtag (#CostumeContest, for example) in their tweets or instagram posts so people can find them!
7. Host a pumpkin carving contest
The same could be done with a pumpkin carving contest.
Send out Halloween SMS campaign and combine it with your social media to engage your customers or potential customers on all the channels.
Offer a prize to the winner, as well as bragging rights for being the best pumpkin carver around!
This is also a great way to promote your business and market yourself if you're in the Halloween industry (e.g., costume designers or retailers). You can even do this outside of Halloween season-many people love seeing their pumpkins on display at home, too!
8. Turn your SMS into a poll or quiz
If you want to get really creative and are looking for a new and interesting way to use SMS to promote your brand, why not turn your messages into a poll or quiz? This is a form of two-way messaging.
SMS poll or quiz is a great way to engage your customers on Halloween! These can be as simple or complex as you like.
The main benefits of using an SMS poll or quiz as part of your Halloween marketing campaign include:
- It's easy for customers to take part in. All they need to do to enter the Halloween quiz is by responding to your text with a given keyword (e.g. HALLOWEEN). You will then use their response to send an automated follow-up text or question;
- The customer is more likely to be interested in taking part as opposed to just passively receiving certain information;
- Increased sales! By adding this element, customers will feel more motivated to complete the task because they want something in return - to win a prize! (e.g. discount code);
- A follow-up text could be sent out once the results of the contest have been calculated (or even before). This gives brands another opportunity for engagement with potential customers.
9. Get the timing right
This is a great tip for you to follow if you want to get the timing of your SMS campaigns right.
The best time to send a text is when people are most likely to read it. In general, the best time on weekdays is between 10 am - 12pm, and 3 pm - 8 pm because most people are at home by that time. This can vary depending on where you live though.
It's also worth noting that weekdays are better than weekends if you want to reach your audience without being annoying or intrusive.
When you want to send out reminders about a special event, like your Halloween special party, then 24 hours before the event is best.
On the other hand, you want to start with your SMS campaigns a few weeks ahead, so your customers are aware of your scary good deals! Here, frequency matters. You want to resend the offer more than once, let’s say every week from the first time, so your customers are constantly reminded of what is coming.
Examples of Halloween SMS campaigns
Now it's time to start thinking about how you're going to make your Halloween SMS campaign the best it's ever been.
But we know it can be challenging to come up with ideas for SMS templates - especially if you've been doing this for a while and feel like your ideas have all been used up!
So we've put together some examples of SMS templates for Halloween:
SMS template #1
AHHHHHHHH! 😱 Want to turn your fear of the dark into a fortune? Get a free gift card from us! Just text "HALLOWEEN" 🎃
SMS template #2
Happy Halloween! [Company Name] is giving away a ton of limited-time coupons - text "HALLOWEEN" to get yours!
SMS template #3
We have a special time-limited offer for you. [product] is on sale for 30%. Hurry up, it'll be gone before you know it! From the grave to you! ⚰️
SMS template #4
Boo! Now it's time to get spooky! Get 50% OFF on your order today! Click here to find out more: [insert short link]
SMS template #5
[name], we want you to celebrate Halloween with a gift card from us! We're giving away 1000 of them at random, so sign up fast! 🗡️
SMS template #6
Trick or treat? 🦇 Treat! We're giving you a limited-time coupon for $15 off your next food order. Just text back "Halloween", and we'll give you the code.
SMS template #7
Halloween is coming soon, [name]! Let's celebrate with a costume party 🧛 We're giving away 50% off all costumes. Just use code "HALLOWEEN" at checkout.
SMS template #8
Don't be a ghost this Halloween and join us at our haunted house this Friday night! 🏚️ Remember to bring your costume.
SMS template #9
We know you've been looking forward to our Halloween special for months. Enter a contest and win a prize! Respond “YES” to enter and get scared! 😨
SMS template #10
Happy Halloween! We've been busy making our haunted house extra terrifying this year. Come check it out and win a free [product] just by showing up early! 🔮
How to get started with SMS marketing on Halloween
It's not too late to add SMS marketing to your Halloween arsenal. You can get started right now and start delivering spooky texts to your customers. The benefits of this type of marketing include:
It's easy to get started - there are plenty of SMS solutions out there - such as SMS gateways, SMS APIs or SMS integrations - that could be easily implemented into your communication strategy.
It’s fast and personal - businesses prefer SMS over other forms of marketing because they text messages are delivered fast to your audience and are very personal.
It's effective - people love receiving texts from brands that provide information they need and value, especially during busy times like Halloween. This translates into sales.
SMS marketing is the best way to get your brand in front of consumers and build relationships with them.
It's affordable and can be integrated with other marketing channels like chat apps or social media, email or others.
You can even target people by location or demographic - meaning you're only reaching those who are most likely to buy your product or service.
If you're convinced that this is the right form of marketing, here are the steps to start sending Halloween SMS campaigns:
- Plan your strategy
- Create and schedule your messages
- Launch your campaign
- Monitor performance and tweak as needed
Conclusion
As you can see, there are a lot of fun options when it comes to Halloween SMS campaigns.
You can use them to send out messages that add a little bit of spookiness and fun to your brand's marketing campaign. The texts we've discussed will definitely help you engage with your customers on this special occasion!
One last tip. If you want to make your Halloween SMS marketing campaign a success, it’s important that you don’t take yourself too seriously.
Don’t be afraid to get creative with your content and think outside the box when it comes to sending out messages and replies. Spice things up!