The Full SMS Strategy To Run In 2026

Hey it’s Max from The Inbox Newsletter.

Today I’m dropping the full SMS masterclass for 2026.

SMS is still the most underrated channel in ecom… but set it up right and it can be of the highest ROI setups you can have to convert more of your subscribers into actual buyers.

By the end of this newsletter you’ll know how to effectively setup your pop-ups, flows, campaigns, segmentation and everything in between.

So take a quick break from the doom scrolling, and let’s get into it!

1. Growing Your SMS List

Starting from the top, SMS list growth almost entirely comes down to one thing…your pop-up form.

And because SMS is a more expensive channel per send, you have to make sure every subscriber you’re pulling in is actually engaged.

Here are the pop-up best practices every brand should be running:

1. Keep the design simple with minimal copy and no distractions on the pop-up. All you want the user focused on is the offer and the input field they’re filling out.

2. Have your offer front and center on the pop-up. Whatever discount or incentive you’re giving should be the first thing anyone sees when the pop-up fires, not buried under a bunch of copy.

3. Only ask for one input per step. If you ask for someone’s email, SMS, birthday, and first name all on one screen, they’ll close out of the pop-up almost immediately. Ask for email first, then SMS on the next step.

4. Add a quiz-style question before you ask for their email/sms. This is one most brands skip but it’s an easy way to bump opt-ins. Instead of asking for an email on step 1, ask a quick question like “what are you shopping for?” first. Once they click an answer they’re way more likely to follow through and enter their email on the next step. We’ve seen brands go from 4.6% to 11% opt-in rates just from adding this one step.

5. Rewrite your SMS step copy to focus on completion, not benefits. Most brands write something like “sign up for SMS for exclusive access” which doesn’t give the user any reason to actually opt in… Instead frame it for something like “finish signing up with text to activate your discount”… Because user already handed over their email so they’re way more likely to follow through on the SMS step too.

Once you’ve got the main pop-up dialed in, the SMS step is where you’ll pull most of your actual SMS subscribers from.

The Second Pop-Up To Add

This one is a sleeper many brands skip on… but if you want to prioritize SMS it is a necessity.

All you do is take the same pop-up you built above, remove the email step, and just ask for SMS. Then target it to show only to people where you have their email but not their phone number. The whole setup takes about 10 minutes.

Btw we use Alia for all of these pop-up setups across our client roster. 

You can build the quiz pop-ups natively, swap them across different offer windows in a few clicks, AND set up the SMS-only retargeting pop-up to show to your existing email subscribers. It’s basically hands-off once it’s built so all you need to worry about is tweaking the copy and offer across different seasons.

I suggest you check them out!

2. The Core SMS Flows

Now that we’ve got the pop-up setup covered, we need to make sure every subscriber coming into the list is getting hit with the right flows at the right time to actually convert them into buyers.

Flows are where most of your SMS revenue is going to come from… ss et them up once and they’ll run in the background 24/7 driving sales for your brand.

Here are the copy-and-paste SMS templates we use:

Welcome Flow

This is where you’ve got the warmest leads coming in since they just signed up and extremely interested. They key is to send daily until they either convert or hit the last chance messages!

Welcome SMS 1 (Send instantly from opt-in)
Welcome to [brand name]! Here’s your [discount] off your first order. Use code [CODE] at checkout.
Shop now: [link]

Welcome SMS 2 (Wait 1 day)
[Quick brand story or ingredient highlight]. Still have your [discount] off waiting to be redeemed.
Shop now: [link]

Welcome SMS 3 (Wait 1 day)
Meet our favorites. These are the ones everyone’s grabbing. Still have [discount] off waiting for you.
Shop now: [link]

Welcome SMS 4 (Wait 1 day) — Last Chance
Last call on your welcome discount. Expires at midnight tonight.
Shop now: [link]

Site Abandon Flow (Wait 3 hours from event)

You’ll want to split this flow between past buyers and non-buyers. Non-buyers get a reminder of their welcome discount since they haven’t used it yet, and past buyers get a lighter touch without any discount since they’ve already bought from you before…

For non-buyers:
Don’t forget your welcome credit. Use code [CODE] to redeem.
Shop now: [link]

For past buyers:
Anything catch your eye? Your next order is waiting.
Shop now: [link]

Browse Abandon Flow (Wait 1 hour from event)

It’ll be the split logic for this. Just makes sure link goes back to the exact product they viewed!

For non-buyers:
Your [product] choice is still available. Use code [CODE] to redeem your welcome credit.
Keep shopping: [dynamic product link]

For past buyers:
Still thinking it over? Your [product] is waiting.
Keep shopping: [dynamic product link]

Cart / Checkout Abandon Flow (Wait 30 minutes from event)

The copy on these two flows should be the most aggressive out of your entire flow set. These are the warmest buyers you’ll ever have since they made it all the way to checkout before dropping off.

Cart / Checkout Abandon SMS 1
Your order is ready to ship. It’s packed and awaiting final confirmation.
Finish your order: [link]

Post-Purchase Flow (Send 2-3 days after purchase)

This flow helps your new customer get the most out of their first order and keeps them engaged for a second one later on. A quick SMS with a product pro tip and an open invitation to reply with questions works really well here.

Post-Purchase SMS 1
[Product] just landed. Pro tip: [quick use tip]. Questions? Just reply to this text.

Winback Flow (Fire 4 months after purchase)

This flow is for customers who haven’t bought in a while and need a push to come back. Send 2 SMS over 2 days paired with an aggressive discount offer to actually get them to reactivate.

Winback SMS 1
Hey, it’s been a minute. Here’s 20% off your next order. Flash sale, 24 hours only.
Code: [CODE]
Shop now: [link]

Winback SMS 2 (Wait 1 day)
Last call on your 20% off. Expires at midnight tonight.
Shop now: [link]

Espresso Shot Flow

An underrated flow.. but this one triggers for anyone who’s been on your site 2-3 times in the past 30 days without actually buying anything. A tight aggressive offer with a short expiration window is usually enough to seal the deal.

Espresso Shot SMS 1
Thanks for checking us out. Seal the deal and claim 15% off. Available for only 3 hours.
Code: [CODE]
Shop now: [link]

2. The SMS Campaign Strategy

So we’ve got the pop-up setup covered and our flows are built out. Now it’s time for the fun part… campaigns!

Campaigns are the manual sends you push out to your list on top of your flows. These are the sends you’ll use to drop flash offers, surprise restocks, new product launches, and really anything else exciting happening at your brand.

SMS campaign sending is pretty similar to email in terms of weekly cadence…

For 7-figure brands, aim for 1-2 SMS per week to your base engaged segment. For 9-figure brands, you can push up to 4-5 SMS per week since you’ve got more going on to justify the frequency.

The key here is to make sure you’re not over-sending. SMS unsubscribe rates are way higher than email, so you have to balance how often you’re sending with how fast you’re growing your list back.

One important note on content: SMS is meant for exciting content, not educational content.

The reason is you’re going to be spending way more on SMS than email per send. Plain SMS alone costs around 1 cent per message, and MMS costs 3x that. So every single send needs to actually be worth it.

That means no long storytelling SMS or product deep-dives since character counts matter on this channel and overage costs you double credits. Save that long storytelling stuff for email where you’ve got the space to run with it.

A great split to aim for on your sends is 80/20… 80% plain text SMS and 20% MMS with an image. The plain text sends are way cheaper and drive most of the revenue, and the MMS sends add in a visual touch to break up the rotation when you need to.

Then when it comes to WHO you’re actually sending to, we like to use this exact engaged segment definition:

• Subscribed to text marketing in the last 90 days

• Clicked a message in the last 180 days

• Active on site in the past 60 days

• Placed an order at least once in the past 365 days

Any profile that hits any one of these criteria gets included in your engaged segment.

Finally, for campaign ideation, the easiest move is to just take your best 1-2 email campaigns from the week and turn those into SMS. You don’t need to come up with completely custom SMS calendars from scratch. Just take your best email concepts, condense them down to an SMS, and push them out.

On top of those, layer in one SMS-only event per month (flash sale, early access, secret restock) and you’ve got a complete SMS calendar that your subscribers will actually look forward to.

And that’s really all you need to run a complete SMS setup in 2026 and beyond! Pull what fits for your brand and get it all live asap…

Or my team can install this all for you… book a call here.

Email Inspiration Of The Day

Brand:
MUDWTR

Email Design:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GtN_k5IUv3UBUeLY1KTQmkoPYlXZvAnb?usp=drive_link

Notes:
Really cool 🎃 email that’s setup to where you need to play the game to get the discount. Keep playing = you earn more…

Reply to this email if you have any questions or further content you want covered.

Cheers,

Max Sturtevant

P.S
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