---
title: "SMS marketing examples: Use cases for B2C brands, by industry"
description: "SMS marketing examples by industry, with the trigger and journey behind each text, plus when to use RCS, U.S. compliance rules, and how to measure results."
canonical_url: "https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/sms-marketing-examples"
language: "en-US"
datePublished: "2026-10-19T20:43:56.418Z"
publisher: "Braze"
authors:
  - "Team Braze"
tags:
  - "SMS"
---

# SMS marketing examples: Use cases for B2C brands, by industry

SMS marketing examples for B2C brands fall into seven campaign types: order and delivery updates, booking reminders, limited-time offers, alerts, back-in-stock and replenishment alerts, loyalty and VIP rewards, two-way messaging, and churn campaigns.

This article groups them by consumer industry, because the texts that suit a retail brand differ from the ones that suit a financial services company, from the trigger to the timing.

The use cases come from published Braze customer stories, with results where the story reports them and every example is shown in the journey it belongs to rather than in isolation.

### TL;DR

- SMS marketing use cases fall into seven categories: Order updates, limited-time offers, cart recovery, back-in-stock and replenishment, loyalty, two-way messaging, and win-back.
- The right texts depend on the industry. Examples across retail, eCommerce, restaurants and on-demand, streaming, travel, financial services, gaming and betting, and health and wellness show the trigger, message, and journey behind each one.
- A text works best as one step in a cross-channel journey, where a shared customer profile stops channels from duplicating messages or overloading customers.
- RCS adds verified sending, out-of-the-box branding, rich media, and suggested replies and actions, but it needs SMS fallback and its own sender registration.
- Every use case depends on proper consent and proper compliance more broadly.
- Measuring results needs consistent denominators and a holdout group.

## What is B2C SMS marketing and what is it used for?

SMS marketing is the practice of sending text messages to customers who have given opt-in consent to hear from a brand. In B2C SMS marketing, those messages range from order and delivery updates to limited-time offers, sent on a schedule or triggered by something the customer does, like placing an order. An [SMS marketing strategy](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/a-complete-guide-to-sms-marketing) brings them together, deciding which messages each customer receives and when.

Common SMS marketing use cases fall into seven categories:

1. **Transactional and order updates:** Messages triggered by a customer action, such as order confirmations, shipping notices, account alerts, and delivery updates.
2. **Promotional and time-limited offers:** Texts about sales, product launches, and exclusive codes, where a deadline gives the message its reason to arrive now.
3. **Cart and browse recovery:** Reminders for shoppers who left items in a cart or viewed a product without buying, often one step in a wider abandoned cart recovery journey.
4. **Replenishment and back-in-stock:** Back-in-stock alerts for products a customer wanted, and reminders timed to when they're likely to run low on something they bought.
5. **Loyalty and VIP:** Points balances, tier upgrades, reward expiry reminders, and early access for members of loyalty and VIP programs.
6. **Two-way messaging:** Texts that invite a reply and use the answer to shape what comes next, such as asking customers to choose a style or flavor preference, reply with a keyword to claim an offer, or confirm a reorder.
7. **Win-back:** Win-back campaigns aimed at customers who have stopped buying or engaging, with a specific reason to return.

Two constraints shape every use case and separate SMS from email. The first is consent. Explicit permission is needed before most marketing texts can be sent, though each country defines that permission differently. The second is immediacy. Marketing texts arrive straight to your phone and have a [98% open rate](https://www.forbes.com/councils/theyec/2024/02/05/is-sms-marketing-an-affordable-small-business-growth-booster/), with [90% of recipients](https://www.forbes.com/councils/forbesagencycouncil/2019/08/16/why-mobile-marketing-can-be-big-for-your-business-and-how-to-use-it/?streamIndex=0) opening those texts within three minutes of receiving it. That makes SMS a good fit for time-sensitive messages, but also hard to miss if it’s sent at the wrong moment, so timing and frequency capping are important too.

## SMS campaign examples by industry

Which texts customers want, and how often, varies by industry. It depends on how frequently people buy and how time-sensitive the moments are when a text is useful.

The SMS campaign examples below show what prompted each text and how it fits into a wider customer journey. Each one also notes the kind of brand it suits, so you can see whether an idea would carry over to your own business, even if it comes from a different industry.

Note: _Named examples come from published Braze customer stories, and where results reflect several channels working together, the example says so. Where no current published customer story fits, we've combined elements of real use cases to create an illustrative example, and labeled it that way._

### Retail SMS marketing

Retailers with physical stores need to reach customers who shop in person as well as online. SMS only needs a phone number and the customer's permission, so a retailer can reach shoppers who haven’t installed an app or want to connect with customers on an immediate and personal channel.

That makes retail SMS marketing useful for order updates and for promotions that bring shoppers back into the store. Texts can also run alongside email, push, and in-app messages as part of wider [retail customer journeys](https://www.braze.com/solutions/retail-and-ecommerce).

#### Erewhon: Transactional texts for subscription orders

[Erewhon](https://www.braze.com/customers/erewhon-case-study) is a premium grocery and wellness brand with a loyalty membership program and a mobile app for ordering.

**Trigger:** An update on a customer's order.

**Message:** An automated transactional message about the subscription order.

![Four mobile screens demonstrate customer messaging channels for Erewhon: email, in-app messaging, push notifications, and SMS.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/295785e3853cadc783b7f9cdaf68d8d9f2c42995-2400x1200.png)

**Journey:** Erewhon launched a new subscription product that allows customers to make repeat month purchases, which became possible once Braze was handling all of its automated transactional messaging by SMS and email. Order data comes into Braze through APIs and webhooks, which pull in events such as order confirmations. Erewhon has also launched more than 30 customer engagement series across acquisition, engagement, and retention, using all four of its channels: Email, push, in-app messages, and SMS.

**Results:** Automating its messaging in Braze freed up Erewhon's marketing team, cutting the time to build a campaign by around 33% and giving them more room for strategic work.

**Best for:** Retailers launching a subscription or repeat-delivery product who need automated order updates in place from launch day.

#### Illustrative example: Click-and-collect pickup updates

**Trigger:** A store marks an online order as ready for collection.

**Message:** A pickup-ready text with the store location and collection details.

**Journey:** The shopper buys online, chooses in-store pickup, and receives an order confirmation by email. The text follows when staff mark the order ready, giving real-time status without the shopper needing to check the app. If the order still hasn't been collected after two days, a reminder text goes out before the order is returned to stock. Once collected, the journey moves to follow-up messaging: A loyalty reward for the shopper's next visit, or an invitation to an in-store event, sent by email or in-app message rather than text.

**Best for:** Retailers offering click-and-collect who want fewer uncollected orders and a reason for shoppers to come back after they've been in store.

#### Illustrative example: Back-in-stock alerts by text reply

**Trigger:** A sold-out product is restocked, and inventory data shows it's available again.

**Message:** A two-way back-in-stock alert that lets shoppers reserve the product by replying.

**Journey:** Before the alert, the shopper opts in by texting a product-specific keyword shown on the product page or the shelf tag in store. The keyword also tells the journey which product they want. After the alert, the journey listens for a reply. Shoppers who reply RESERVE get a reservation confirmation, and those who don't receive one reminder before leaving the journey. If the product sells out again, the team can update the message so shoppers aren't sent to an empty shelf.

**Best for:** Retailers with limited-run, seasonal, or high-demand products that sell out soon after restocking, especially where shoppers browse in store.

### SMS marketing for eCommerce

Online brands have no store visit to fall back on. Every step from browsing to checkout happens on a screen, and a shopper can drop away at any point.

SMS marketing for eCommerce focuses on those drop-off points: A cart left behind, an offer about to expire, or a customer who hasn't ordered in a while. Texts can run alongside email and in-app messages, so brands can choose which channel each customer hears from, and when.

#### Styli: Cashback program reminders

[Styli](https://www.braze.com/customers/styli-case-study) is an online fashion retailer that launched in Saudi Arabia and the UAE in 2019 and has since expanded across the region, serving young, mobile-first shoppers.

**Trigger:** A cashback program reminder goes out to shoppers in targeted micro-segments, based on factors like country, gender, and language.

**Message:** A personalized cashback program reminder.

**Journey:** Styli previously sent campaigns in one channel at a time. Its cashback reminders now go out by push and SMS, and when shoppers open the app, in-app messages and [Content Cards](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/why-content-cards-are-important-for-your-cross-channel-strategy) follow up on the same offer. Offer details such as the discount, code, and expiry date are stored in a catalog and matched to each shopper's country, gender, and language, so every message reflects the right offer.

![Three smartphones display Styli promotional messages offering an extra 20% off via push notification, WhatsApp, and an in-app pop-up.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/f01417f986c42a895755808cb2bb93a90eb80237-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** A 50% increase in average ROI, a 15% rise in user activation, and a 21% increase in sign-ups. These results cover Styli's cross-channel program as a whole.

**Best for:** Online retailers running a cashback or loyalty program for mobile-first shoppers across several countries or languages.

#### Illustrative example: Abandoned cart recovery

**Trigger:** A shopper adds items to their cart but doesn't check out within an hour.

**Message:** A time-limited cart recovery offer with a unique discount code.

**Journey:** Before the text, the shopper receives an [abandoned cart email](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/abandoned-cart-email) showing what they left behind, with product images and similar items pulled from the brand's catalog. Shoppers who received a marketing message in the past 24 hours are held back so they aren't messaged too often. If the shopper doesn't respond to the email within 24 hours, the SMS follows with a discount code unique to them. If they click the link but still don't buy, an in-app message reminds them the next time they open the app. The journey ends when they buy or the offer expires.

**Best for:** Retailers sending abandoned cart messages on a more immediate and personal channel.

#### Illustrative example: Win-back campaign for lapsed customers

**Trigger:** A customer hasn't placed an order in 60 days.

**Message:** A personalized win-back voucher.

**Journey:** Lapsed customers first move into an email series sent less often than regular marketing emails, so a disengaged audience isn't overloaded. SMS runs alongside it, reaching customers who have stopped opening emails. AI tools such as intelligent timing find the right channel to re-engage lapsed customers, understanding which customers may prefer SMS messages instead of email. This shows which channel brings customers back, and whether the voucher drives orders that wouldn't have happened without it. Customers who order leave the journey and move into post-purchase messaging.

**Best for:** Online brands with a large base of lapsed customers that want to test whether SMS brings them back more effectively than email.

### SMS marketing for restaurants and on-demand brands

Restaurant orders tend to be quick decisions tied to mealtimes, limited-time menu items, and local deals. SMS messages can help QSR brands reach their goals by promoting incremental orders, new menu item trials, and more frequent weekly visits.

SMS marketing for restaurants also has to work across many locations. Franchise brands need central control over the brand, while local stores want to promote offers to customers nearby.

#### Crumbl: Two-way SMS quiz for a product launch

[Crumbl](https://www.braze.com/customers/crumbl) is a dessert franchise founded in Utah in 2017 that has grown to more than 1,000 locations across the US, Puerto Rico, and Canada, with a menu of specialty flavors that rotate every week.

**Trigger:** The launch of a limited-edition dessert collaboration with Martha Stewart, sent to customers who had opted in to SMS.

**Message:** A two-way quiz invitation that matches each customer with a dessert from the collaboration.

**Journey:** The invitation asked customers to reply with a keyword to start. Replying entered them into a journey that sent three questions, one at a time, and branched based on each answer. Customers who didn't reply within three days received a nudge asking if they'd like to continue. The final text revealed their dessert match with a description, an image, and a link that took them straight to the right place in the Crumbl app to order.

![A smartphone displays a Crumbl text conversation recommending Martha Stewart’s Coconut Layer Cake based on a taste quiz, against a purple gradient background.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/8e064ac94f1bcb6f7d787e31020f45d880d5f554-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** A 373% higher conversion rate and a 249% higher click rate than average, with 82% of participants opening the Crumbl app within two days. These results come from the SMS campaign itself.

**Best for:** Restaurant brands with a mobile ordering app that want to turn a new or limited-time menu launch into an interactive experience.

#### Papa Johns UK: Local store promotions run by franchisees

[Papa Johns UK](https://www.braze.com/customers/papa-johns-uk) is a pizza delivery brand with more than 400 franchised locations across the United Kingdom.

**Trigger:** A franchisee schedules a local campaign for a moment such as a big sports event, a new menu launch, a limited-time offer, or a change in the weather.

**Message:** A local store promotion targeted to customers based on the franchisee’s scheduled campaign and built off local customers’ order history and preferences.

**Journey:** Papa Johns UK built a local marketing hub so franchisees, who are business operators rather than marketers, could run their own SMS campaigns. Franchisees choose an audience using customer data like favorite pizza, order frequency, last purchase, satisfaction scores, and postcode. They then pick a pre-built template and schedule the send. Quiet hours are switched on automatically to prevent late-night and early-morning texts, and central controls stop individual stores from overusing SMS. After sending, franchisees see messages sent, confirmed deliveries, conversion rate, and revenue for each campaign.

![Audience creation form named “Pepperoni lovers,” with a dropdown menu highlighting “Favourite Pizza” among customer preference options.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/519525aa5aa527766da96bb78fedcacecc59d4cc-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** A 180% year-over-year increase in SMS revenue, a 170% increase in purchases driven by SMS, and an 18% increase in conversion rate. SMS-related customer complaints fell by 72%. In 2024, franchisees ran more than 6,000 campaigns and sent 13 million texts.

**Best for:** Franchise restaurant brands that want local owners to run targeted SMS promotions while head office keeps control of quiet hours, opt-outs, and send volumes.

#### KFC India: Reward reminders in a gamified campaign

[KFC India](https://www.braze.com/customers/kfc-india-case-study) operates more than 1,000 restaurants and is one of the key growth markets for KFC worldwide.

**Trigger:** A bi-weekly message sent to audiences in the "Bucket It" campaign that were either customers likely to place a new order, or customers who had engaged with the campaign but hadn't responded in seven days.

**Message:** A personalized reward reminder with a coupon code.

**Journey:** "Bucket It" invited app users to play a game and win rewards like free menu items and money off orders. Each channel had its own audience and cadence. Push notifications went out daily, and emails went to users who hadn't redeemed rewards in the past three days. An in-app message went out daily to everyone who hadn't redeemed, redirecting them to the game. SMS targeted customers likely to order again and reminded engaged customers who had gone quiet. Every message included personalized coupon codes and offer details, and paid social and search ads extended the campaign's reach. Ongoing optimization helped adapt to changing user behavior.

![Two smartphones display a KFC Bucket It and Win rewards game and promotional text messages with coupon codes.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/baaba2719ff7cf469a92b6ca3a6c0f534dbc4c7b-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** Across all channels, the campaign produced a 22% increase in average daily orders per store, a 23% lift in daily revenue per store, 22% growth in new users, and 27% growth in repeat orders.

**Best for:** QSR brands running an app-based rewards promotion that want each channel to reach a different audience without duplicating messages.

#### Illustrative example for an on-demand service: First-order activation for a delivery app

**Trigger:** A customer downloads a food delivery app and opts in to SMS but hasn't placed an order within three days.

**Message:** A two-way first-order offer that asks what the customer is craving and replies with a matching discount.

**Journey:** Customers who received a marketing message in the past 24 hours are held back, so the offer doesn't pile on top of other sends. The rest of the audience splits three ways: One group receives the offer by email, one by SMS, and a holdout group receives nothing. In the SMS group, the text asks customers to reply with a number for the type of food they want. Each reply sends a unique discount code for restaurants in that category near the customer's postcode, with a link that opens straight to those restaurants in the app. Customers who don't reply get one nudge the next day, then leave the journey. All texts respect quiet hours. Customers who order move into post-purchase messaging, and comparing the three groups shows whether SMS outperformed email and whether the offer drove orders that wouldn't have happened anyway.

**Best for:** Food delivery and on-demand apps with many downloads that haven't turned into a first order, and that want to prove SMS works before scaling it.

### SMS marketing for media and streaming

Subscribers on monthly plans can leave as quickly as they joined, so streaming brands need to keep giving them reasons to watch. The moments that matter most are often time-sensitive: A premiere starting, a live match about to kick off, or a renewal date coming up.

SMS marketing for media and streaming suits those moments. Consumers are more likely to open texts, making favorite show reminders a great option for this more personal channel.

#### Kayo Sports: AI selects text as the preferred channel as part of 1:1 personalization

[Kayo Sports](https://www.braze.com/customers/kayo-sports-case-study) is Australia's largest sports streaming service, offering more than 50 sports live and on demand.

**Trigger:** BrazeAI Decisioning Studio™ Pro makes a prediction from user behavior. In this case it predicts that SMS is the best channel for a subscriber on a given day, along with the send time, copy, and offer most likely to engage them.

**Message:** A personalized promotion or reminder, with the copy and offer chosen for that subscriber.

**Journey:** Reinforcement learning models analyze each subscriber's behavior, so BrazeAI Decisioning Studio™ Pro recommends the message, creative, channel, timing, frequency, and offer for each person. Kayo set up four separate journeys, one each for email, SMS, push, and in-app messages. When SMS is chosen, the recommendation passes into the SMS journey with the send time, copy, and offer, and personalized from there. On another day, the same subscriber might receive an email or a push notification instead, if that’s what BrazeAI Decisioning Studio™ Pro determines is the channel they are most likely to engage with.

![Microsoft Outlook displays a list of Binge promotional emails and an open message offering $10 off Kayo Sports per month for two months.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/9034a46175596f96e048103c4f3e577a9e698175-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** A 14% increase in customers reactivating within 12 months of churning, an 8% increase in average annual occupancy, and a 105% increase in cross-selling to sister streaming service BINGE. All of this happened while the average subscription price rose by 20%. These results cover Kayo's full cross-channel program, including SMS..

**Best for:** Subscription streaming services with enough subscriber data and message volume to let AI choose the channel, timing, and offer for each person.

#### Illustrative example: Event reminders by text

**Trigger:** A subscriber opts in to a text reminder for an upcoming premiere or live event.

**Message:** A premiere reminder with a link that opens the title in the app.

**Journey:** Before the reminder, subscribers whose viewing history suggests they'd be interested see an in-app message about the premiere, with an option to get a reminder by text. The reminder goes out just before the start time. Subscribers who have push notifications enabled get a push first. If they don't open it within a few minutes, the text follows, and anyone who has already started watching is excluded from both. After the premiere, subscribers who didn't watch receive an in-app message the next time they open the app, pointing them to the title on demand.

**Best for:** Streaming services with scheduled premieres, weekly episode drops, or live sports, where watching at the start is part of the experience.

#### Illustrative example: Renewal offers for subscribers who joined for a big event

**Trigger:** A monthly subscriber who signed up during a major sports event hasn't watched since it ended, and their renewal date is a week away.

**Message:** A personalized renewal offer with a unique voucher code, highlighting upcoming sports content.

**Journey:** The journey starts with an email featuring the offer and content matched to the subscriber's viewing habits, with two versions A/B tested against each other. The brand sends an email first, then follows up with a text for those who didn’t open the email. Those who don't open it within two days receive the offer by SMS, using the same unique code. One final reminder goes out two days before renewal, with exclusion rules so no one receives duplicates. Subscribers who renew leave the journey and move into messaging about the new season's content.

**Best for:** Sports and entertainment streaming services that sign up large numbers of monthly subscribers around major events and need to keep them once the event ends.

### SMS marketing for travel and hospitality

A trip is often booked well before it happens, and the customer's needs change along the way. Before departure, they want confirmations and reminders. During the trip, they need to hear quickly if plans change. Afterward, a relevant suggestion can bring them back for the next one.

SMS marketing for travel and hospitality covers each of those stages, with texts that sit alongside the email, push, and in-app messages travel brands already send.

#### Illustrative example: Booking confirmation and pre-departure reminders

**Trigger:** A customer completes a booking.

**Message:** A booking confirmation with key trip details, followed by pre-departure reminders.

**Journey:** An email with the full itinerary. As the trip approaches, messages tied to the departure date build excitement and share recommendations. A week before departure, a text reminds the customer to check in and download the brand's app if they haven't already. The day before, a final text shares the check-in link and departure details. When app users arrive at the departure point, a location-triggered push notification takes over. After the trip, messaging turns to recommendations for the next one.

**Best for:** Travel brands with days or weeks between booking and departure, such as tour operators, cruise lines, hotel groups, and vacation or home rental platforms.

#### Illustrative example: Win-back campaign for lapsed travelers

**Trigger:** A past customer hasn't booked in 90 days, or has saved a property to their wish list without booking it.

**Message:** A personalized travel suggestion based on the properties they saved and the trips they've taken.

**Journey:** The journey starts with an email featuring suggestions based on the customer's booking history and saved properties. Customers who open the email but don't book within seven days receive a text with a suggestion drawn from the same data. If they click through but still don't book, a follow-up email offers a time-limited deal on their preferred type of stay. Customers who book leave the journey and move into pre-trip messaging.

**Best for:** Travel brands with repeat customers and enough booking and wish-list data to make each suggestion specific to the traveler.

#### Illustrative example: Two-way alerts when travel plans change

**Trigger:** A delay, cancellation, or itinerary change is logged for a customer with an upcoming trip.

**Message:** A two-way travel disruption alert with updated travel details and rebooking options.

**Journey:** The text goes out as soon as the change is logged, with updated details and a link to rebooking options. Customers can also reply with a keyword, such as REBOOK or HELP, and the journey responds with next steps or a support contact. An email follows with the full details of the change. Customers who don't click the link or reply within two hours receive a second text with a direct support number. If plans change again, the brand updates the message automatically using information from their systems to update the contents of the message. Customers who rebook leave the journey and receive a new booking confirmation.

**Best for:** Airlines, rail operators, and tour operators whose schedules can change at short notice, and whose customers need to act quickly.

### SMS marketing for financial services

Customers expect messages from their bank or investment app to be accurate, relevant, secure, and clearly from the brand. Many account moments are also time-sensitive, like a payment due tomorrow or an application left half-finished.

SMS marketing for financial services covers both. It delivers alerts customers rely on, and it helps them finish setting up and get more from the products they already have, all within a convenient, personal channel they use every day and have consented to receive messaging on.

#### Stash: Onboarding nudges based on where users drop off

[Stash](https://www.braze.com/customers/stash-case-study) is a personal finance app that helps Americans invest and build long-term wealth, starting with as little as $5.

**Trigger:** A new user stops at a key onboarding step, such as verifying their Social Security number, signing account agreements, linking a bank account, or making a first deposit.

**Message:** An onboarding reminder specific to the step the user is stuck on.

**Journey:** Stash built two journeys that route users based on where they stopped. The first starts at sign-up. Users who haven't verified their Social Security number receive messages about Stash's safety and security, while those who have verified but not signed the advisory agreement enter an A/B test. One version promotes a seven-day free trial, and the other highlights Stash's AI Money Coach. The second journey starts after verification. Users who signed agreements but haven't linked a bank account hear how simple and secure linking is, and those who linked but haven't deposited learn about Auto-Stash, which automates regular investing. Messages go out across email, push, in-app messages, and SMS.

![Three smartphone screens show a Stash notification, an Auto-Stash setup prompt, and a confirmation page for automatic investing.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/a44d8eaf382593740da2380073ce494594fafed2-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** Increases of 20.34% in first deposits started, 18.71% in deposit setups submitted, and 19.75% in deposits completed, plus a 72% increase in email open rate and a 64% increase in email click-through rate. These results cover the full cross-channel campaign, including SMS.

**Best for:** Fintech and investment apps with multi-step sign-up flows where users can stall before funding their account.

#### Illustrative example: Two-way payment reminders and account alerts

**Trigger:** A time-sensitive account event, such as an upcoming payment due date, a failed direct debit, or an unusually large transaction.

**Message:** A two-way account alert that lets customers act by link or by reply.

**Journey:** The alert goes out as soon as the event is logged, with account-specific details. Payment reminders include a link to pay. Transaction alerts ask the customer to call the brand. Customers who don't act on a payment reminder within a set window receive one follow-up text with support contact details, and an email with the full account details. Customers who pay or confirm leave the journey.

**Best for:** Banks, card issuers, and lenders with regular payment dates and account events that customers need to respond to quickly.

#### Illustrative example: Pre-approved product offers based on eligibility

**Trigger:** Account data shows a customer qualifies for a new product, such as a pre-approved credit card or an option to consolidate their pensions.

**Message:** A personalized pre-approved offer with a link to accept.

**Journey:** Only customers who qualify and are likely to be interested enter the journey. Customers who use the app see the offer first in an in-app message, with details like their name already filled in so accepting takes one tap. Those who don't open the app within 48 hours receive a text summarizing the offer, with a link to the pre-filled application. If they click but don't apply within seven days, an email follows with full product details and terms. The journey ends when they apply or the offer window closes.

**Best for:** Banks and financial services brands with a broad product range and the account data to target offers only at customers who qualify.

### SMS marketing for gaming and sports betting

Timing drives engagement in gaming and sports betting. Limited-time game events, kickoffs, and race starts all come with a deadline, and a message that arrives after it has passed is wasted. A text lands on someone's phone wherever they are, whether they're watching the match on TV or taking a break between games, so it can reach them while the moment is still live, rather than sitting in an inbox until it's over.

The same timing that makes texts useful also makes restraint important. A text works best when it brings someone back at the right moment rather than inconveniently interrupting. For betting brands, restraint in all customer communications is also a legal requirement. Rules vary by country and, in the US, by state, and can cover how consent is collected, who can be contacted, and what messages can include. Every betting and gaming example below assumes customers have opted in under their local rules, and that anyone who has self-excluded is left out.

#### Picklebet: SMS for time-sensitive moments in a tested channel mix

[Picklebet](https://www.braze.com/customers/picklebet-case-study) is an Australian sports betting app founded in 2019, covering sports, esports, and racing.

**Trigger:** A new customer reaches a key moment in their first days on the app, which Picklebet treats as make-or-break for retention.

**Message:** A time-sensitive prompt that drives the customer back into the app, with offers shown only to eligible existing customers in line with local laws.

**Journey:** Picklebet mapped its onboarding journey and gave each channel a job. SMS and push handle time-sensitive campaigns that bring customers into the app, while email and paid search ads carry longer, less urgent messages, and in-app messages keep customers engaged once they're there. The team tested different types of promotional offers and different combinations of channels until it found the mix that met its goals.

![Five mobile ad designs on a purple background promote app updates, deposit matches, bonus cash, and betting offers with caricatured figures and game characters.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/d17b47a98e03bbaa28ce45b0fe65bba0087b0fee-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** A 13% increase in two-month retention, a 116% increase in sessions per user, and a 550% improvement in customer acquisition cost payback. These results cover Picklebet's full cross-channel program.

**Best for:** Sports betting and gaming apps that want to give SMS a clear role for urgent moments, and to test how it works alongside other channels.

#### Illustrative example: Pre-event reminders for followed sports and teams

**Trigger:** A match or race the customer follows is about to start, based on the sports, teams, or markets they've bet on or saved as favorites.

**Message:** A pre-event reminder with a link to the relevant match in the app.

**Journey:** As customers browse, bet, and set preferences, their interests are saved to their profile. Shortly before the event, the journey checks whether each customer is already active in the app, and anyone who isn’t receives a text. Everyone else who has opted in to SMS marketing receives a single reminder with a link straight to the match. Customers who have self-excluded are removed from the audience, and no follow-up is sent to those who don't respond.

**Best for:** Sports betting apps covering live events, where a reminder is only useful in the minutes before the start.

#### Illustrative example: Last-chance reminders for limited-time game events

**Trigger:** A limited-time in-game event is about to end, and a player who opted in to event alerts by text has an unclaimed reward.

**Message:** A last-chance event reminder with a link that opens the game straight to the reward.

**Journey:** When the event launches, players who are active in the game see it through in-app messages, so nobody gets a text mid-session. As the event nears its end, players who haven't opened the game in the past few days and still have a reward waiting receive one text. The link opens the game to a spin-the-wheel reveal, and whatever the player wins is added to their account automatically. Players who have already claimed are removed from the send, and frequency caps and quiet hours apply. After the event, an email recaps what the player earned and previews the next event.

**Best for:** Mobile and live-service games that run time-limited events and want to bring back players who have drifted away without interrupting active ones.

### SMS marketing for health and fitness apps

Health and wellness brands depend on habits. Customers register for a care app, keep visiting the gym, or reorder supplies before they run out. When a habit slips, a text can bring someone back at the moment it matters, without relying on them to find a message buried in their inbox.

SMS marketing for health and wellness also has to feel personal and easy to act on. The examples below show texts that remind people of something they've already started, win back those who have drifted away, and let customers complete an order without leaving the conversation.

#### Sonder: SMS reminders for members who haven't activated

[Sonder](https://www.braze.com/customers/sonder-case-study) is an Australian employee care platform, founded in 2016, that gives employees 24/7 access to health, safety, and wellbeing support through its app.

**Trigger:** A new member views an onboarding email but hasn't registered yet.

**Message:** An SMS reminder to register and download the app.

**Journey:** New members first receive a series of emails explaining what Sonder offers, with a link to download the app. Only members who view an email but don't register receive the text, so anyone who has already signed up isn't messaged again. Sonder also uses SMS for a second, more urgent job: alerting members to a critical incident at their location and letting them know support is available.

![A push-notification composer displays a beach safety message alongside a preview of the notification on an Android phone.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/65f1c8963020a5a34b83a5ec2aa0ad49071ef161-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** A 50% increase in activations and registrations from the automated onboarding flow, a 22% increase in digital product usage, and a 43% increase in retention since switching to Braze. These results cover Sonder's wider cross-channel program, including SMS.

**Best for:** Health and wellbeing apps that need members to register and download the app before they can get value from the service.

#### PureGym: Email and SMS together to win back former members

[PureGym](https://www.braze.com/customers/puregym-case-study) is the largest gym chain in the United Kingdom, with almost 300 gyms.

**Trigger:** A former member enters a rejoin campaign, whether they left a membership in their online basket or let their membership lapse.

**Message:** A personalized rejoin offer.

**Journey:** To get around out-of-date email addresses and phone numbers for former members, PureGym ran its win-back campaign across email and SMS together, reaching more people than either channel could alone. Emails to ex-members had previously gone out daily, which hurt deliverability and engagement, so the team reduced the frequency and added personalization and countdown timers. Former members who opened an email but didn't rejoin received retargeting emails, and discount offers were pulled into messages automatically.

![Marketing software displays an SMS campaign editor and preview alongside a smartphone showing the personalized PureGym text message.](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/b7pblshe/marketing-prod/ef8cc5e29f4aec42e164d9a22c0c172932a064a5-2400x1200.png)

**Results:** Pure gym saw a 206% increase in conversion rates across the campaign. Building the campaign as a single cross-channel journey let PureGym manage sends and retargeting across email and SMS in one place. Discounts were delivered through Connected Content rather than being handed to the development team, and running both channels together removed the work of splitting sends between separate platforms and analyzing the results apart from each other. Together, that cut the time and cost of running a multivariate, cross-channel campaign.

**Best for:** Membership brands with a large base of former members whose contact details may be out of date.

#### Aeroflow Health: Two-way reorders powered by AI agents

[Aeroflow Health](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/ai-agents-customer-relationships) is a healthcare-focused consumer goods provider whose Mom & Baby division helps pregnant and nursing mothers find insurance-covered medical devices, such as breast pumps.

**Trigger:** A customer’s re-order date approaches.

**Message:** A two-way reorder prompt asking whether she'd like the same size again.

**Journey:** If the customer replies yes, her reorder goes through with a simple text. Customers who wanted a different size used to have to visit the website or contact Aeroflow, and the team processed those orders by hand. Now an AI agent built in BrazeAI Agent Console™ handles the reply. It confirms that she wants a size change, interprets her description in natural language, such as "next size up please," and finds the matching product in Aeroflow's catalog. Once she confirms, the agent places the order in the same text thread, so she never has to switch channels.

**Results:** An 8.8% lift in repurchase conversions compared with business as usual. This result comes from the SMS reorder journey itself.

**Best for:** Health and consumer goods brands with recurring orders, where customers often need to change a size, variant, or quantity when they reorder.

## SMS use cases that work as part of a sequence, not on their own

An SMS rarely works best as a standalone message. It's usually one step in cross-channel sequencing – a journey that also includes email, push, and in-app messages. What comes before and after the text decides whether it helps the customer or gets in their way. A text can land after someone has already bought, arrive minutes after an email saying the same thing, or tip a customer over a sensible number of messages for the week.

Each channel suits a different moment. Email works for details customers may want to come back to, push for timely nudges, and in-app messages for guidance while someone is using the app. SMS is best saved for high-priority moments where immediacy matters most. The following journeys show how those roles fit together.

### Abandoned cart recovery: email first, then SMS

In this journey, email does the first round of work, and the journey branches based on what the shopper did with that email:

- A shopper leaves items in their cart for an hour. Anyone who has received a marketing message in the past 24 hours, on any channel, is held back.
- An email shows the items left behind, with similar products pulled from the brand's catalog.
- After 24 hours, the journey checks what happened. Shoppers who didn't open or click the email receive a text with a discount code unique to them. Shoppers who clicked but didn't buy receive a text reminding them of their cart, without a discount, since they've already shown interest.
- The moment a shopper buys, they leave the journey on every channel. Everyone else leaves when the offer expires.

The discount goes only to shoppers the email didn't reach, and nobody who has already bought receives a reminder. Teams can also test the journey itself, for example by trying a shorter delay before the text, or comparing this path against one without SMS.

### App win-back: push first, SMS only if needed

This journey lets push do most of the work and saves more costly SMS for customers push doesn't reach:

- A customer who used the app regularly hasn't opened it in 30 days.
- A push notification gives them a personalized reason to return, based on their last activity.
- If they don't open the push or the app within 48 hours, customers who have opted in to SMS receive a text with the same offer. Customers who have push notifications turned off go straight to the text.
- A small holdout group receives neither message, so the team can see whether the journey brought customers back or whether they would have returned anyway.
- Customers who open the app leave the journey. Those who don't return by the end of the window move to a lower-frequency segment, and re-entry rules stop anyone from repeating the journey too soon.

Texts go only to customers push couldn't reach, and the holdout group shows how many returns the journey actually caused.

### Limited-time sale: email, an in-app mystery discount, then SMS

This journey gives each channel a different job over the course of a sale:

- The sale launches with an email announcing the dates and letting customers know a mystery discount is waiting for them in the app.
- When customers open the app during the sale, an in-app message reveals their mystery discount code, which is unique to them and saved to their profile.
- As the sale nears its end, customers who haven't bought receive a "sale ending soon" text. The text changes depending on what happened in the app: customers who revealed a code are reminded it's still waiting, and those who haven't opened the app get a link that takes them straight to the reveal.
- Customers who buy are removed from all remaining messages, and texts respect quiet hours.

The text is saved for the last hours of the sale, when a reminder matters most, and goes only to customers who haven't bought yet.

Each of these journeys depends on one customer profile that every channel reads from and writes to as customers act. That shared view lets [signals from one channel trigger messages on another](https://www.braze.com/product/journey-orchestration), so [email and SMS marketing](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/email-and-sms-marketing-strategy) can run as one coordinated journey.

The same profile keeps the customer experience in check. Frequency caps count messages across every channel, so the total stays reasonable, and teams can prioritize what matters most. A delivery update, for example, can go out while a promotional email due in the same hour waits. Each text reflects the customer's latest action, like a click on an earlier email, and every conversion is measured against the whole journey, so teams can see which channel brought the customer back.

## When to use RCS instead of SMS

RCS (Rich Communication Services) gives brands more to work with than a standard text, like richer media, verified sending, a branded message thread, and read analytics. Plus, it still reaches customers in their phone's built-in messaging app just like SMS.

RCS adds five things SMS can't offer:

- **Verified, branded messaging:** Brands go through a verification process with carriers, and messages then show the brand's name, logo, and a verification badge at the top of the thread.
- **Richer media:** Messages can include images, GIFs, video, audio, and documents.
- **Richer message types:** Rich cards and carousels can display several products or options in one message, and longer messages aren't split into 160-character segments.
- **Read analytics:** Brands can see when a message has been read, along with click metrics.
- **Suggested actions and replies:** Tappable buttons let customers respond or take the next step without typing.

Those features come with some limitations, since RCS is still a newer channel. RCS depends on carrier and device support, and coverage varies by country and by handset, so SMS fallback is essential. If a message can't be delivered as RCS, it goes out as SMS instead.

Sending RCS messages starts with registering a verified sender, which is not only how your brand appears within the message thread, but also how your messages get sent instead of a short code or long code like SMS. The verified sender carries your brand name, logo, a verification badge, and an optional tagline in some markets, so customers can see at a glance that the message comes from your brand, and not a bad actor.

Deciding which messages to upgrade starts with understanding the full [differences between SMS, MMS, and RCS](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/sms-vs-mms-vs-rcs), from message length to media support. From there, an [RCS marketing strategy](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/rcs-marketing-strategy) helps prioritize which campaigns benefit most from rich features, and [RCS business messaging on Braze](https://www.braze.com/product/rcs-for-business) brings this new, rich channel under the same roof as your email, in-app, and web messaging.

## Consider SMS compliance

A subscriber list built with proper consent is the cornerstone of SMS marketing. It doesn’t matter how well a journey is designed, if a brand gets consent wrong, the compliance risk is substantial.

Several bodies shape [SMS and RCS compliance](https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/eight-rules-for-effective-sms-marketing-compliance-in-the-us) in the United States. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) enforces federal law through the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), and individual states set their own laws. The Cellular Telecommunications and Industry Association (CTIA), a trade association representing the wireless communications industry in the United States, publishes industry-wide guidelines. And mobile carriers enforce their own policies. Each organization has different powers. The FCC can impose fines and bring lawsuits, and breaking CTIA guidelines or carrier policies usually means messages get filtered or blocked.

One the most important parts of SMS compliance is collecting explicit opt-in, or consent. Consent means that you have gained explicit permission from users before sending them SMS, MMS or RCS. It’s your responsibility to keep that information updated and act on changes to consent immediately. That starts with honoring opt-out requests that use standard keywords like “STOP” or “QUIT”, and extends to any inbound message that can reasonably be interpreted as an opt-out like “please don’t text me anymore” and typos like “stopp”. [SMS compliance goes beyond consent](https://www.braze.com/docs/user_guide/channels/sms_mms_and_rcs/compliance_and_delivery/laws_and_regulations#the-seven-rules-to-get-compliance-right), of course. For example, quiet hours must be adhered to, brands must not send certain types of content (i.e., SHAFT), and they must include specific information about the types of messages they plan to send when they do collect opt-in.

Non-compliance doesn’t just mean deliverability issues. It can pose a legal risk too, so check with your own legal counsel before launching or expanding an SMS program, as this is general information about US rules, not legal advice.

## How to measure SMS marketing

The metrics below show how an SMS program is performing. Consistently applying the same formula by which you measure means that your numbers stay comparable from one campaign to the next.

1. **Delivery rate**

The percentage of sent messages that are successfully delivered.

**How to measure it:** Delivery rate = (Number of messages delivered ÷ Total number of messages sent) x 100

1. **Click rate**

The percentage of delivered messages where the recipient clicked a link.

**How to measure it:** Click-through rate = (Number of clicks ÷ Number of messages delivered) x 100

1. **Read rate (RCS)**

SMS can't track reads, but RCS can, as long as the recipient has read receipts turned on, so the rate only reflects those users.

**How to measure it:** Read rate = (Read receipts / number of texts delivered) x 100

#### 4. Conversion rate (CVR)

Purchases or other goal actions divided by number of unique recipients, within a set conversion window.

**How to measure it:** CVR = (Number of conversions / Number of unique recipients) x 100

#### 5. Opt-out rate

The number of people who request to longer receive texts. This is the metric that catches over-sending early, because opt-outs rise as soon as texts become too frequent or a campaign is irrelevant, while the revenue impact only shows up later.

**How to measure it:** Opt-out rate = (Number of opt-outs ÷ Number of unique receipts) x 100

#### 6. Revenue per message sent

Attributed revenue divided by sends.

**How to measure it:** Revenue per message sent = Total SMS-attributed revenue ÷ Total SMS messages sent

### Why a holdout group matters

None of these metrics can tell you whether a text made the sale. Someone who buys after getting your text might have bought anyway. To find out, hold back a random slice of your audience and send them nothing. If the group that got the text buys more than the group that didn't, the difference is what the text actually earned you.

## FAQs for SMS marketing examples

### What are examples of SMS marketing?

SMS marketing examples include order and delivery updates, limited-time offers, abandoned cart reminders, back-in-stock alerts, loyalty rewards, two-way messaging, and win-back campaigns. Most sit inside a wider cross-channel journey.

### What are the best SMS marketing use cases for B2C brands?

The best SMS marketing use cases for B2C brands are time-sensitive moments where immediacy matters, such as delivery updates, abandoned carts, limited-time offers, and reorder reminders. The right mix depends on the business.

### How often should a brand send marketing texts?

There's no single right frequency. It depends on how often customers buy, how time-sensitive the messages are, and what customers were told about frequency when they opted in. A restaurant with weekly deals may suit more frequent texts than a travel brand. A rising opt-out rate is an early sign of sending too often.

### What is the difference between SMS and RCS marketing?

SMS marketing sends plain text messages, while RCS marketing adds verified, branded sending, rich media such as images and video, carousels, suggested replies and actions, and read analytics. RCS depends on carrier and device support, which varies by country, so brands use SMS fallback for messages that can't be delivered as RCS.

### Do customers have to opt in to marketing texts?

Yes, generally. In the U.S., marketing texts require the customer's prior express written consent, meaning a clear agreement to receive marketing messages at that number. Customers can also opt out at any time, including by replying STOP. Rules differ by country, and some allow limited exceptions, so check with legal counsel.

---

*Published 2026-10-19T20:43:56.418Z · canonical lives at https://www.braze.com/resources/articles/sms-marketing-examples*