Most business texting is the same handful of messages over and over: the appointment reminder, the closure notice, the promotion, the event confirmation. Writing each one fresh every time means inconsistent wording, more typos, and a slow drift towards whatever you happened to type that morning.
Write them once, properly, and reuse them.
The structure that works
An SMS is read in about two seconds, from a notification, usually while doing something else. That constrains the shape:
1. Who you are. First, and non-negotiable. Your recipients see a phone number. If you are not in their contacts they have no idea who is texting, and an anonymous message asking them to click something looks exactly like a scam. In several jurisdictions identifying the sender is also a legal requirement.
2. The point. One sentence. The notification preview shows roughly the first 40 characters, so if the point is in line three it will not be read.
3. What to do. Reply, call, come in, click. One action only — two actions means neither happens.
4. The way out. For anything commercial, a clear opt-out. Required in most jurisdictions, and it also protects you: people who can leave easily complain far less. See consent and opt-out.
Length
Keep it inside one SMS part where you can: 160 characters of plain Latin text, or 70 if the message contains an emoji or, in some encodings, an accented character. Going over does not fail — it splits into parts, and many plans bill per part. On 400 recipients, a message that quietly became three parts is 1,200 messages.
Two things to watch when templating: the substituted name varies in length, so check with the longest name on your list, not the shortest. And a link consumes 20–30 characters, so budget for it.
Templates worth having
Appointment reminder
Hi {name}, reminder from Studio Rossi: your appointment is tomorrow
at 15:00. Reply to reschedule.
Closure notice
Hi {name}, Bar Centrale here — we're closed Monday 25 for the holiday.
Back to normal Tuesday. See you soon!
Promotion
Hi {name}, it's Studio Rossi. This week only: 30% off all treatments.
Book by replying to this message. Reply STOP to opt out.
Event confirmation
Hi {name}, you're confirmed for Saturday's workshop, 10:00, via Roma 12.
Reply CANCEL if you can't make it.
Urgent notice to a team
{name}: training tonight is cancelled — pitch flooded. Next session
Thursday as usual. — Coach
Seasonal greeting
Hi {name}, everyone at Bar Centrale wishes you a happy Christmas.
Thank you for this year — see you in 2027!
Note what none of them do: no ALL CAPS, no triple exclamation marks, no “CLICK NOW”. Those are the visual signature of spam and they get messages ignored, reported, and eventually filtered.
Tone
The medium is personal. Text messages come from friends and family, so a message written in the register of a corporate email lands badly.
Write it as though you were texting one customer you know reasonably well. Contractions are fine. Warmth is fine. What is not fine is manufactured urgency — “ACT NOW, LIMITED TIME, DON’T MISS OUT” — which reads as desperate in a channel this intimate.
The one exception is the legally required boilerplate: the opt-out line can be flat and functional. It is doing a job, not selling anything.
Maintaining a template library
- One template per purpose, named so you can find it in a hurry.
- Review them once a year. Prices, opening hours, addresses and phone numbers go stale inside templates and nobody notices until a customer arrives at a closed door.
- Keep the ones that work. If a particular wording produced replies, do not rewrite it because you are bored of it — your customers are not.
- Attach the template to the schedule so a recurring send always uses the approved wording rather than whatever gets typed at the time.
Step by step
- List the messages you send more than twice a year — that set is your template library.
- Write each one to the structure: who you are, the point, one action, the way out.
- Check the length including a long substituted name and any link.
- Strip the spam signals — caps, multiple exclamation marks, manufactured urgency.
- Save each as a named template in the app and attach it to any recurring schedule.
- Review the library once a year for stale prices, hours and addresses.
Questions people ask
How long should a business SMS be?
Under 160 characters if you can, which is one message part. Beyond that it splits, and many plans bill per part.
Do I have to identify my business in the message?
Yes in several jurisdictions, and it is good practice everywhere — recipients see only a number and will ignore or report an anonymous message.
Should I include a link?
Only if it is genuinely necessary, and use a normal readable URL. Aggressive link shorteners are a spam signal and some carriers filter them.
Are emoji a bad idea?
They cost you: one emoji drops the per-message limit from 160 characters to 70. Occasionally worth it for a seasonal greeting, rarely worth it otherwise.
How often can I text customers?
Less than you think. Monthly is comfortable for most businesses, weekly is pushing it, daily loses you the list. Frequency complaints are the main driver of opt-outs.