This is an excerpt from the e-book "The Car Washer's Guide To Text & Email Marketing." Download the full e-book

While email marketing and text messaging have their own nuances, some best practices reign over both
formats. These guidelines will help ensure you use them to their full potential.

Choose the Right Channel

Email and text messaging have unique strengths that make them powerful separately and together. Email is the ideal choice for delivering detailed, informative and visually rich content that customers may want to refer back to. Consider it for customer newsletters, big promotions and customer testimonials. Texting, then, is better for short, quick messages. Think limited-time promotions and quick announcements, such as your wash being closed for weather.

Finally, they work great together as part of a cohesive campaign strategy. You can use text messaging to reinforce key points of an email and create urgency. For example, you could email about a big promotion and follow up with text reminders.

Be Compliant

Several laws govern text and email messages, particularly with federal regulations such as the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) for text messaging and the CAN-SPAM Act for email. It’s essential to understand and comply with these laws. While regulations vary, most include some version of the following:

• Get written consent to send messages, usually through a form on your website.
• Provide a straightforward way to opt out. Process opt-out requests quickly.
• Don’t attempt to mislead your audience with any element of your message, including subject lines, “from” addresses or others.
• Limit the frequency of your messages.

Get the Audience, Message, Timing and Channel Right

Customers will be more interested in timely, relevant messages delivered through their preferred channel. Getting it right requires a little homework.

• Analyze Past Campaigns: Identify which messages have the highest open, click-through and conversion rates to determine what resonates with your audience.
• Gather Customer Feedback: Use surveys or feedback forms to determine their preferences.
• Leverage Point-of-Sale (POS) Data: Your POS has a wealth of data regarding customers’ purchase history, behavior and preferences. Use it to segment your audience and deliver highly-targeted messages.

Make it Personal

Greeting your recipients by name is great, but it is even better to personalize the message and other based on their past interactions with your business. For example, “Hi [Name], we noticed you recently enjoyed our premium wash! We want to offer you a 50% discount off your first three months of a premium wash membership!”

Keep It Short and Clear

SMS text messages have a 160-character limit, but even when you’re not limited, you should strive to keep messages short and to the point. People are busy and may not want to take the time to read a long message. Include just enough information to make your point or drive action. Also, avoid unnecessary jargon or complex language.

Make sure each message provides a special offer, helpful tips, a timely reminder or something else of value. Recipients won’t read if they don’t quickly understand what’s in it for them.

Include a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

Whether you want them to visit your website, redeem a coupon or sign up for a wash plan membership, the CTA should be clear, prominent and easy to follow.

• Use action-oriented language (“Redeem Offer,” “Join Now,” etc.)
• Place it conspicuously in the message
• Make sure it’s easy to click, especially on mobile devices. 

Maintain a Consistent Brand Voice

Consistency in your messaging helps reinforce your brand identity and ensures that your communications feel cohesive across all channels, helping to build brand trust and recognition.

Monitor and Optimize Your Campaigns

How do you know if your marketing efforts are worth your time? You don’t unless you are checking key performance indicators and adjusting based on what you see.

Messages That Work

Following these best practices can create effective and engaging marketing messages that enhance your car wash marketing efforts. Remember, the key to success is to be responsive to your customers’ needs and preferences.