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Marketing text timing can be the difference between consumer engagement and marketing success

SMS or short message services is a technology that has been around for a long time, yet it remains one of mobile marketing’s most effective channels. It’s immediate, and more than 70% consumers who subscribe to receive text messages from businesses that they prefer are instantly attracted by it.

The timing of marketing messages is crucial to engagement rates. Vibes The mobile engagement platform warns retailers and advertisers that they will be ignored if they text their customers at the wrong time or on the wrong day.

Vibes Cofounder Alex Campbell says that brands who rely on SMS to keep customers engaged often don’t realize that the scheduling cycle can determine whether they are successful or not with every message volley.

To cut through the noise of holiday advertising, brands can use SMS to establish a direct relationship with their customers. The timing of the message can have a different effect on how consumers will digest it.

97 percent of text messages are read in the first three seconds, which means that people read text differently than they do email or social media. Campbell told E-Commerce Times: “This is especially true when it comes to major holiday purchases.”

Vibes’ Black Friday marketing report from last year revealed a dramatic increase in SMS advertising. However, these messages were not always opened immediately by the recipients, so their success rate was more like that of marketing emails, and largely dependent on timing.

Vibes then urged its customers to adjust their frequency of sending and scheduling to improve engagement.

SMS Scheduling to Improve Engagement

During Black Friday, and other holidays, the average person receives 30 text messages. The industry began to see patterns in the optimal and non-effective times of message delivery.

Marketers used to think that sending a text message at 10 a.m. was the best time. Campbell noticed that engagement rates were lower at 10 am compared to the other hours of day.

According to Vibes engagement rates are affected by two factors: the day and time of the week. The data indicates that people will read text messages almost immediately when they arrive at a certain time. Messages that are sent outside of the optimal time frame may not be read or will be deleted immediately by consumers.

“The afternoon engagement rates were almost twice as high as the morning rates. This was interesting, because we hadn’t really seen this in the past. Campbell added that a second piece of advice was to not send the email at the top hour.


He advised that as Black Friday approaches, the start of the year-end 2023 holiday shopping season is on November 24, marketers should begin their texting campaigns mid-month.

AI-Powered Patterns

Vibes used artificial (AI) intelligence to help find optimal engagement patterns. The AI model used by the company analyzes marketing data in real-time to determine the best engagement schedule. AI models recommend the best times and days for engagement based on its observations.

Campbell claims that Vibe’s tracking information of marketing efforts by its customers is used to create the AI model. According to Campbell, the best engagement days have been Saturday and Sunday immediately following Black Friday as well as Cyber Week (which this year begins on November 27).

Our models suggest that we do not make any purchases during the week prior to Thanksgiving. This was something we found very interesting. Campbell stated that it is evident that the shopping habits at this time of year are different.

Text Marketing is Effective When Done Correctly

Campbell says that the retailers’ marketing efforts are less effective because they have a lower level of engagement. Bulk email rates for business tend to be expensive and often end up in spam folders. Email marketing is a much lower form of advertising, with an open and read rate between 20-30%.

Further analysis revealed SMS messages to have an open rate between 97% and 98%. This is the highest rate of any marketing channel. According to studies, 90% of recipients of texts read them in three minutes.

“Someone receives my text messages. It’s the difference that makes it so special. I can’t control when someone reads an advertising email I sent out. He said, “I actually have brand control when a person sees my SMS message. That’s a big deal.” “Text messages are relatively clean and spam-free.”

Sending out targeted text messages is worth cents on the dollar. Campbell emphasized that AI models have taught us this lesson.

Leveraging AI in Time-Sensitive Advertising

Bottom line, AI-controlled text marketing does not lead to higher profits by increasing sales. Campbell noted that AI models can improve efficiency and increase engagement.

AI informed Vibes, for instance, that one of their marketing customers sent ten text messages every day to the consumers of the retailer. The retailer targeted new mothers. Vibes alerted marketing about optimizing delivery times and recommended only sending messages between 7:00 pm and 7:15 pm.


The retailer began doing this and saw the response double. Why? The new moms put their children to sleep at that time to go shopping. Campbell gave an example to show the effectiveness of AI. “AI looked at data and found what you should do,” Campbell said.

Another discovery that AI has offered in marketing suggestions is a consumer preference for liking the word “save” over “sale” — and other language nuances, he added.

“We’ve seen great success in shifting to time-optimization and achieving this. Engagement rates have increased by 26%, which is huge. “I see that it is working,” Campbell said.

Real-time optimization of text marketing tactics

Vibes’ AI-driven platform helps its customers to improve the content of their marketing texts. It provides suggestions for changes in the strategy of how and when marketers create their advertising campaigns.

It is not just a software that you install once and then forget about. The software runs continuously, analysing the marketing activities and engagements of customers.

“AI can do it much more quickly, because it looks at engagement response and other nonhuman feely factors. It updates itself constantly. Each message is fed into the model, which makes the next step even better.