Let’s Talk About Deliverability

Is every text message sent actually delivered? Nope! Here’s what you need to know.

Ok you know which you’ll read first… but is every text message sent actually delivered?

Text messaging has a leg-up on email in several regards. Open rates are exponentially higher, reply rates are remarkably high, conversations are two-way and feel personalized, and your text message inbox is much less crowded.

However, just like email, text messages are subject to filtration by carriers who are attempting to limit the deliverability of spam.

It’s important to know what is most likely to trigger a block on your phone number so you can increase the likelihood that your Hustle messages all make it safe and sound to your contacts.

Here are the top culprits:

1. Including a link in the invite script (the first text sent in a goal).
   Use of links in invite scripts creates a 12x increase in filtration rates. We *highly* recommend sending a text first and a link in your follow up message after the contact replies.
2. Not including contact name and agent name in your scripts.
   Including contact and agent names is an easy way to ensure there is variety in the content of each and every text your agents are sending out which is less likely to trigger a block at the carrier level.
3. Text scripts that are too dang long.
   Golden rule: texts are NOT email! There are usually only two types of text messages that have character counts over 400 characters: A) people arguing or B) someone that typed that text message on a computer. Don’t be B and don’t use Hustle for A! You want your contacts to read the whole message and feel engaged, not talked at. Messages under 160 characters enjoy a 10x decrease in filtration rates versus messages over 160.

Which one did you read first?

Deliverability best practices are also mimicked in terms of engagement (your response rate).

Here are some average Hustle engagement rate levers to keep in mind:

• 2.5x decrease in engagement rates from invites messages that include links
• 1.7x increase in engagement for scripts under 160 characters v. those over 320 characters.
• 1.8x increase from scripts using <contact name>
• 1.3x increase from scripts using <agent name>
• 1.7x increase in engagement for scripts under 160 characters v. those over 320 characters.

Remember: the more that text messages feel like text messages, the lower the complaint rate and the higher the deliverability rate.

Happy Hustling!