Texting Best Practices

Text with consent, personalize messages, avoid spam, limit mass texts, and use AI for tailored chats. Maintain account health for better engagement.

Sending text messages to leads is an important part of building relationships with your contacts. With additional requirements for how you can go about doing this put in place by US mobile carriers in 2023, it is important to know what you should or should not do to make sure your messages make it all the way to the consumer. Below are a series of best practices to help avoid being marked as spam or have your messages filtered.

Express Consent for Texting Leads
1. Legally, you are only permitted to text leads who have provided express written consent by explicitly opting in to receive texts from your business. This consent must be confirmed through a digital form where they opt-in to texting.
2. Texting leads from imported lists requires documented consent to continue texting them through 3rd party systems/CRMs of which the lead was not originally sourced. For example, texting imported leads via your Real Geeks platform requires documented consent from each lead. Failure to provide proof of consent could result in fines ranging from $500 to $1500 per text.
3. Recommendation: When importing leads into Real Geeks, if you are uncertain that express consent with your business has been provided, utilize the option to send them a Welcome Email which includes a link for them to update their communication preferences and opt-in for texting, and do not text until they have created an account on your site.
Mass Messaging to Leads
1. Sending identical messages to large groups of leads raises red flags to carriers, potentially leading to messages being blocked as spam and reducing your reputation score with telecoms which can impact the deliverability of all your texts.
2. This caution also applies to texts through Drip Workflows; repeated identical content to large numbers of leads increases the risk of triggering spam filters.
3. Recommendation: If mass messaging is necessary, vary the wording slightly between batches and keep groups under 100 leads to minimize the risk of being flagged as spam.
Avoiding Spam-Like Content
1. Do not text links for destinations outside of your website URL or services that are not related to your website property search, both of which trigger compliance scrutiny.
2. Refrain from using special characters, especially in mass messages.
3. Avoid typing in all caps, particularly in mass messages.
4. Be cautious with certain words and phrases like "FREE" or "VIP access," as they may trigger spam filters when used frequently or in mass texts.
  1. More examples: #1, FREE, lower your mortgage rate, no catch, not spam, it may have gone to your spam/junk, 100% free, expire, free quote, VIP access.
5. Send messages that you would personally find engaging. Remember, your sender reputation is at stake; unappealing messages may lead to opt-outs or being marked as spam.
6. Keep messages clear and concise.
7. Personalize messages to each lead to increase engagement and reduce the likelihood of being flagged as spam.
8. When texting, know that telecoms are looking for evidence that your communications are tailored as 1:1 conversations, and not mass marketing.
Mindful Texting Automation
1. Ensure that additional texts aren't being sent alongside Geek AI or Drip Workflow messages, as this may confuse leads and appear spammy.
2. Be sure you periodically audit any text messages you have built into Drip Workflows. Because the same content is used again and again, it is important to make sure those messages do not contain spam content and are changed periodically.
Frequency and Cadence
1. Avoid excessive texting to older leads or to leads who have not responded to multiple texts to prevent unsubscribes. A high opt out rate triggers telecom compliance scrutiny. Be mindful of the relevance of your content to each lead.
2. If a lead hasn't responded after several attempts, give them a few days before trying again.
Utilizing Geek AI
1. Leveraging Geek AI offers several advantages over mass texting and drip campaigns.
2. Our AI is continuously learning and supervised by experts to enhance conversations.
3. Generative AI produces more robust and unique conversations tailored to each lead, reducing the likelihood of triggering spam filters, which also engages leads over the long term with appropriately spaced drip messages.
4. Geek AI streamlines lead information gathering, preparing for agent-led conversations seamlessly.
5. Geek AI takes all the guesswork and maintenance out of texting.
Account Health Check
1. Periodically consult with Real Geeks Support to evaluate your account's health, including deliverability and opt-out rates, to identify areas for improving sender reputation.