I plan and run SMS marketing for UK retailers and local service businesses: bulk text campaigns to customers who have agreed to hear from you, automated reminders that bring people back, and the consent records that keep every send within PECR. The aim is a small number of well-timed texts that people act on, rather than a stream of offers that gets your number blocked.
What SMS is good for, and what changes when it is run properly
A text is short and lands on the phone people carry all day, so it tends to be read soon after it arrives. That makes it strong at a narrow set of jobs: a reminder, a deadline, a time-limited offer, a note that an order is ready to collect. It is weak at explaining anything complicated, and every message costs money to send, so it rewards restraint far more than volume.
- Every number has a known source. You can show where each contact came from and what they agreed to, so a complaint has a straight answer.
- Texts go to the people they suit. A lapsed customer, a regular and someone who only bought once get different messages, or none at all.
- Each text leads somewhere useful. Links go to a page built for that message, tagged so you can see the visits and sales it produced.
- Opt-outs work without anyone remembering to process them. A customer who replies STOP is never texted again, from any system you use.
Who this suits, and who it does not
It suits businesses whose customers come back and where timing matters: salons and barbers, dental and physio practices, private clinics, garages with MOT and service reminders, gyms, restaurants and takeaways, independent shops, and online retailers with a base of repeat buyers. If you already collect mobile numbers at booking or checkout and do little with them, there is usually something worth testing.
It is a poor fit for a long B2B sale, where a text from a supplier feels intrusive, and for anyone without numbers they are allowed to use. I will not send to a bought or rented list of mobile numbers. If you have very few customers on file, the first job is getting found and getting enquiries, which a digital marketing strategy plans before any text goes out.
What the work covers
Consent and data check
I go through where your numbers came from: online checkout, booking system, paper forms, the till, a competition. For each source I note whether people gave clear opt-in consent to texts, whether they qualify as existing customers under the soft opt-in, or whether they cannot be marketed to by text at all. Numbers in the last group stay out, however many there are.
Sign-up points that collect numbers properly
Checkout fields, booking forms and in-store sign-ups are rewritten so the wording says that texts will be sent, what they will be about, and how to stop them. The tick box is left unticked, and the record of when and where someone signed up is kept with their number.
Platform setup
I choose or review the sending platform, connect it to your shop, booking system or CRM, set up the sender name, and make sure opt-outs feed one shared suppression list so a STOP reply in one tool blocks the number everywhere. The account stays in your name and you pay the provider directly.
Campaign planning and writing
Each campaign starts with who should receive it. Recent buyers, lapsed customers and people who only ever take up discounts are separate audience segments, and they rarely need the same text. I write to the limits of the format: 160 characters fits one standard message, but a single emoji or a curly apostrophe pasted from Word switches it to a mode that allows only 70, and longer texts are billed as several messages.
Automated texts
Some of the most useful texts are triggered rather than scheduled: appointment reminders, a note that an item is back in stock, a nudge to rebook after six weeks, a basket left at checkout. I set these up with sensible limits on how many any one person can receive, and I keep genuine service messages free of promotional content so they stay outside the marketing rules.
Tracking and reporting
Every link carries UTM parameters, so visits and sales from each text show up as their own source in GA4. Before the first send I check that purchases and bookings are actually recorded, using the same steps as in my guide to testing whether conversion tracking works. Where two versions of a message are tested, I use an A/B test significance calculator before calling a winner, because small lists produce noisy results.
UK rules that shape every text
Marketing texts fall under the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations (PECR), which the Information Commissioner’s Office enforces. The main points I build the work around:
- Consent or soft opt-in. You need prior consent to send marketing texts to individuals, unless the soft opt-in applies: you got the number during a sale or a negotiation for one, you are marketing your own similar products or services, and you offered a way to refuse when you took the number and in every text since.
- Sole traders count as individuals. A mobile number belonging to a plumber trading in their own name gets the same protection as a consumer’s.
- A free, simple way out in every message. Replying STOP should cost no more than a normal text, and it has to work.
- Service messages are different. An appointment reminder or delivery update is not marketing, until someone adds an offer to it.
- The number is personal data. UK GDPR applies to how you store, share and keep it, and your privacy notice should say you send texts.
- The content is advertising. The CAP Code covers what a text claims, so a sale that “ends Sunday” has to end on Sunday.
UK mobile users can forward unwanted texts to 7726, and the networks share those reports. A single careless campaign to a list of doubtful origin can generate complaints quickly, which is why the data check comes before any send.
How I run it
- Introductory call. We talk through your customers, where the numbers came from and what you want texts to do.
- Data and consent check. I review the sources, sign-up wording and current platform, and tell you which contacts can be texted.
- Setup and testing. I configure the platform, opt-out handling and tracking, then send test messages to real handsets on different networks, iPhone and Android, to check how they display.
- Plan and first campaigns. You approve a sending calendar with a cap on frequency, the automated texts and the first campaigns before anything goes to customers.
- Monthly review. I report on what each text produced, prune what is not working and adjust timing and audiences.
Problems I see most often
- Numbers collected at the till or on a booking form with no record of what the customer agreed to.
- Texts sent from a business name, which cannot receive replies, that still say “reply STOP”.
- Opt-outs held in one tool while another keeps texting the same person.
- A 300-character message with an emoji, billed as five texts per recipient.
- Links that go to the homepage instead of the product or booking page the text was about.
- Sends at 7am on a Sunday, or the same offer three times in a week.
What you receive
- A short written consent review: which contacts can be texted, on what basis, and what to change at each sign-up point.
- A configured sending account in your name, with opt-outs, suppression and tracking tested.
- A sending calendar and the copy for each campaign and automated text.
- A monthly summary of sends, clicks, opt-outs, cost and the sales or bookings each campaign led to.
What it costs
There are two costs. The platform charges per message, billed to your own account, so the total depends on list size, message length and how often you send. My fee for setup and ongoing management is quoted in pounds sterling after a first call, together with an estimate of the sending costs, and agreed in writing before you commit.
Next step
Book a free 30-minute call through my contact page. It helps to have a rough count of the mobile numbers you hold, where they came from and which system they sit in. I will tell you whether SMS is worth testing for your business and, if it is, which text I would send first.