Email & SMS / SMS Marketing
Email gets filed. A text gets read.
Texting is the most direct line a business has to its customers — and the easiest one to ruin by overusing it. We run SMS with the restraint it demands: short messages people actually want, consent handled properly, and every reply answered until it becomes a booking.
What's included in SMS Marketing
Campaign texts, written and sent
Offers, openings, last-minute availability, and seasonal pushes — written the way a text should be written: short, specific, and worth interrupting someone for. You approve every campaign before it sends. A text reaches people within minutes, which makes it the right channel for anything with a clock on it.
What ships
- Campaign texts drafted in your voice and queued for approval
- A sending calendar built around your offers, capacity, and seasons
- Send timing matched to your customers' hours — no 7 AM promotions
Two-way conversations, not a megaphone
The point of a text is the reply. When a customer answers — a question, a 'how much?', a 'can you do Tuesday?' — the conversation keeps moving until there's an answer given or an appointment on the calendar. Anything that needs you personally gets routed to you with the full thread.
What ships
- Replies answered and carried toward a booking
- Routing rules so real conversations reach you immediately
- Every thread visible to you — nothing happens out of sight
Consent and compliance, handled
Text marketing is regulated — in the US, the TCPA (the federal law governing marketing texts) requires clear permission before you message anyone, and carriers enforce their own rules on top. We build the opt-in properly, honor every opt-out instantly, and keep records — so the channel stays open and you stay out of trouble.
What ships
- Compliant opt-in flows on your website, forms, and intake
- Automatic opt-out handling with documented consent records
- Quiet-hours and frequency rules baked into every campaign
Appointment reminders and confirmations
A no-show costs you the slot and the revenue. Confirmations go out when the appointment is booked; reminders go out before it happens; a reply reschedules instead of disappearing. It's the least glamorous text you'll ever send and one of the most profitable.
What ships
- Confirmation texts triggered the moment an appointment is booked
- Reminder sequence timed to your booking window
- Reschedule handling that recovers the slot instead of losing it
List growth that earns the number
A phone number is more personal than an email address, so people give it up only when there's a reason. We build the reasons — offers worth opting in for, capture points at checkout and booking, keyword opt-ins on your marketing — and the list grows with people who genuinely want the texts.
What ships
- Opt-in capture wired into your website, booking flow, and ads
- Keyword opt-in setup for signs, mailers, and social posts
- One organized list, segmented by customer type and history
Reporting in replies and bookings
Texts produce conversations, and conversations produce customers — so that's what we count. The monthly report shows sends, replies, bookings, and opt-out rate, the honesty metric that tells us whether the cadence is right.
What ships
- Monthly report: campaigns sent, replies handled, bookings produced
- Opt-out tracking as an early warning on frequency and relevance
- What we're sending next month and why
How it works
Consent and setup
We wire the compliant opt-in, register your sending number with the carriers, and organize the customers who've already given permission. Skipping this step is how businesses get their texts blocked — so it comes first.
Write and approve
The first campaigns and the reminder flows get written in your voice. You approve everything before the first send. Setup to first campaign typically takes days, not months — carrier registration is usually the slowest piece.
Run and report
Campaigns send on schedule, replies get answered, reminders run on their own. The monthly report shows what the channel produced and what the opt-out rate says about cadence. Texts that work get repeated; texts that don't get retired.
Why Spec Social for SMS marketing
The hardest part of SMS isn't sending — any tool can blast a list. It's restraint: knowing what's worth a text, writing it short enough to respect the channel, and answering what comes back. We treat your customers' phones as borrowed space, because one careless campaign costs opt-outs that never return.
SMS also works best wired into everything else we run. The lead your ad captured gets a text follow-up, the missed call gets texted back, the lapsed customer gets a reason to return — one system, one conversation history, one monthly report. You're not buying a texting tool; you're adding the most direct channel to an engine that's already running.
Expect honesty on speed: setup and carrier registration take days, the first campaign can produce replies the same afternoon it sends, and the list itself compounds over months as opt-ins accumulate. We'll tell you which is which in every report.
Pricing
SMS marketing is included in retainers from $2,500 a month — scoped to your list and sending volume on the discovery call.
- Month to month.
- Compliant opt-in and carrier registration handled in setup.
- You own the list, the number, and every report we produce.
Questions, answered.
Is text message marketing legal?
Yes, with permission. US law (the TCPA) requires clear consent before a business sends marketing texts, and carriers add their own registration and content rules. We build the opt-in correctly, keep consent records, and honor every opt-out instantly — that's what keeps the channel open.
How often is too often to text customers?
For most businesses, two to four marketing texts a month is the ceiling — transactional messages like confirmations and reminders don't count against it. The opt-out rate tells the truth: when it climbs, the cadence or the content is wrong, and we adjust. We'd rather send less and keep the list.
Can customers reply to the texts?
Yes — that's the point. Replies get answered and carried toward a booking, and anything that needs you personally gets routed to you with the full conversation. A text channel that can't hold a conversation is just a noisier email.
What happens when someone opts out?
They stop getting messages, immediately and permanently, and the consent record updates. It's handled automatically — replying STOP works on every send. A clean opt-out experience protects your sender reputation and keeps you compliant.
Does SMS marketing work for my kind of business?
It's strongest for businesses with appointments, repeat purchases, or time-sensitive offers — clinics, contractors, salons, restaurants, retail. If your customers book, return, or respond to 'this week only,' texting earns its place. If your sales cycle is long and considered, email usually carries more of the load, and we'll tell you that on the call.
How much does SMS marketing cost?
It's included in Spec Social retainers, which start at $2,500 a month. The exact number depends on your list size, message volume, and what else we're running alongside it — you'll have it by the end of the discovery call.