Sending SMS Campaigns Based on Timezones

A perfectly timed text message can be the difference between a successful campaign and a bust. Timing matters which is why brands should be strategic when using customer time zones to get the most click-throughs and conversions. 

‍

What is SMS Time Zone Sending? 

Time zone sending enables you to send a campaign to all your subscribers at a scheduled time in each subscriber's local time zone. For example, if you schedule a campaign to be sent out at 9:00 AM, all the subscribers in your segment will receive the campaign at 9:00 AM in their local time. Time zone sending allows you to send perfect messages at the perfect time for your whole subscriber list. 

‍

When Should SMS Campaigns Be Sent by Time Zones? 

We took a look at our clients, consisting of leading retail and D2C brands, and found the best-performing times for SMS. Of course, these trends could always change, or different strategies may work better for your target market, but this is a good place to start. 

Across Voyage clients, we’ve noticed the following trends:

• Wednesday: Highest click-through rates (CTR)
• Tuesday and Thursday: Highest conversion rates (CVR)
• Weekdays: Early AM and lunchtime are the most effective
• Weekends: Late morning through the early afternoon is the most effective

Once you have found the perfect time to send campaigns to your subscribers, you will want to use that time across all time zones. Without time zone sending, you could be sending at lunchtime on the east coast and morning on the west. 

‍

Helping You Stay Compliant 

SMS compliance is crucial for your brand’s reputation and success. One of the key factors of SMS compliance is the TCPA mandate that limits SMS to regular business hours, defined as 8:00 AM to 9:00 PM. 

Brands that are thoughtful about the timing of their texts and the frequency of their messaging find the most success with their campaigns by putting their subscribers first.

‍

Automatically Comply to Quiet Hours with Voyage

Voyage helps brands avoid mistakenly sending texts during regulated quiet hours by automatically holding those sends. Your scheduled texts are automatically paused and placed in a queue to be sent when quiet hours are over, ensuring strict compliance. Unlike other SMS platforms, Voyage does not allow overriding of quiet hours so no mistakes can be made that jeopardize your reputation.

‍

When Should You Not Send SMS Campaigns Based On Time Zones? 

Sending general SMS campaigns based on the time that works best for your market base is great! But you want to avoid using time zones with time-sensitive SMS. For example, back-in-stock messages allow you to capitalize on the popularity of your products and improve the overall customer experience. These messages want to be seen as soon as the product is in stock. You don’t want to disappoint a customer by sending them a message three hours later because they are on the west coast. 

Another time-sensitive SMS campaign is abandoned checkout recovery. According to Bolt, the average checkout abandonment over the past ten years has fluctuated between 60 – 80%. And as more consumers shop from their mobile devices, abandoned checkouts can go even higher as increased distractions (or poor mobile-friendly site design) cause shoppers to move away from checkout. Brands using live agents that reach out to customers that have abandoned checkouts within 30 minutes are recovering 30% of abandoned checkouts with SMS. 

Time-sensitive SMS campaigns should be based on a trigger event, not on time zones. 

‍

Time Zone Nuances 

‍

How is the Time Zone of a Subscriber Determined?

The time zone of a subscriber is determined by the area code of their phone number. This means that in rare instances, subscribers that change time zones and keep their phone numbers will receive messages according to the time zone of their phone number.

‍

What Happens if a Subscriber is Outside Sending Hours?

Before your campaign is sent, Voyage’s system double-checks your segment to ensure that no subscribers receive messages at inconvenient hours of the day. In the exceptional case that a subscriber is located in a distant time zone (e.g. Nova Scotia), they will automatically be excluded from the segment when your campaign is sent. 

‍

Voyage Gives You All The SMS Tools You Need 

Taking a compliance-first approach to your SMS marketing program also means you’re taking a customer-first approach. This is why we're deeply committed to compliance here at Voyage. After all, our mission is to create the most delightful experiences for you and your customers— so it's fundamental and necessary to prioritize compliance. Unlike other companies that offer SMS marketing solutions, Voyage has never received a legal citation from any regulatory body.

‍

Our dedication to compliance is just the beginning. Get a demo today to see what else the most powerful SMS marketing and message commerce platform in the world can do.