Let’s be clear—personalized SMS marketing in 2025 is about far more than just inserting someone’s name into a standard text. Today’s discerning audiences expect messages that feel truly relevant to their needs, interests, and preferences. A sophisticated approach involves crafting custom text messages based on known information about the recipient, such as their purchase history, location, or personal milestones.
But this raises important questions: How do you gather the necessary data to personalize messages effectively? And once you have it, how do you automate and scale mass personalized text campaigns without losing the human touch?
In this blog, we’ll break down everything you need to know about executing personalized SMS marketing at scale, helping you connect with your audience in meaningful ways and stay ahead in 2025.
Opportunities to Personalize the Contents of Your Text Messaging
Tailoring SMS marketing campaigns to reflect individual preferences, behaviors, and contexts enables you to create meaningful and engaging customer interactions. Here are some key opportunities to personalize your text messages:
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Birthday:
Celebrate your customers’ special days with a thoughtful and enticing message.
“Happy Birthday, [Name]! 🎉 Celebrate with us—enjoy a BOGO steak dinner today only! Book your table now: [link]”
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Pet’s Name:
Show customers you care about their furry friends with pet-specific promotions.
“Hi [Name]! 🐾 Keep [Pet’s Name] cozy this winter with our new line of dog sweaters. Shop now for exclusive designs: [link]”
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Past Purchases or Services Used:
Acknowledge past interactions to recommend related products or services.
“Hi [Name]! We hope you’re loving your [Artist Name] T-shirt from [Store]! [Artist Name] just released a new poster collection we think you’ll love. Check it out here: [link]”
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Geo-Specific References:
Incorporate local events or community pride to make messages feel relevant.
“Hey [Name]! 🎉 Our [Local Sports Team] is in the playoffs! Celebrate with exclusive delivery deals. Use code PLAYOFFS and enjoy the game with your favorites. Go [Local Sports Team]! 🏆”
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Known Hobbies or Interests:
Cater to customers’ passions and activities to drive engagement.
“Hey [Name]! 🏃 Looking for a snack to fuel your runs? Try our new energy bars with a special discount—use code RUNFUEL at checkout. Grab yours today and hit the trail strong!”
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Loyalty Program Status:
Reward loyalty with updates that encourage customers to redeem their points or rewards.
“Hi [Name]! You’ve got [XX] points waiting in your account! ☕ That’s enough for a free extra-large coffee. Stop by and treat yourself today!”
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Abandoned Cart or Incomplete Digital Action:
Prompt customers to complete unfinished actions with a friendly reminder.
“Hey [Name]! Still thinking about that fresh haircut? Let’s book your revamped style now! Finish scheduling here: [link] 💇”
Personalizing SMS content ensures your marketing messages resonate with each customer, driving engagement and fostering loyalty.
Opportunities to Personalize the Driving Strategy Behind Your SMS Marketing
Drive Revenue with Space-Powered Weather Alerts
Weather is the #1 driver of consumer behavior, and now you can harness it for automated SMS campaigns. By combining Tomorrow.io’s proprietary satellite-backed weather intelligence with Voxie’s messaging platform, franchises can trigger hyper-accurate promotional texts that convert weather events into sales opportunities. National chains using this integration have seen 247% ROI and millions in incremental revenue through automated, weather-based messaging.
- Precision Weather Targeting from Space
Tomorrow.io’s proprietary satellite constellation delivers street-level weather intelligence, enabling location-specific SMS campaigns that respond to real-time conditions and forecasts. This unique data source ensures your messages arrive exactly when weather will impact purchasing decisions. - Automated Weather-to-Revenue Workflows
Set up “set-and-forget” campaigns that automatically trigger promotional texts based on specific weather conditions. Whether it’s pushing hot drinks during cold snaps or promoting delivery during storms, the system continuously monitors conditions and sends perfectly-timed incentives. - Weather-Smart Performance Optimization
Track how different weather conditions impact your SMS campaign performance. Our AI analyzes weather patterns alongside conversion data to help you refine triggers and messaging for maximum revenue impact.
Segmenting Audiences For Scalable Targeting
Effective SMS marketing hinges on delivering the right message to the right audience at the right time. Tools like Voxie enable both manual and automated segmentation, allowing you to create and send highly targeted campaigns at scale. By grouping recipients based on shared characteristics, behaviors, or preferences, you can shape your messaging for maximum impact. Here are some examples of audience segments to consider:
- Loyalty Program Status
Segment customers based on their loyalty tier or points balance. For instance, send VIP members exclusive early-access offers while encouraging entry-level members with updates on how to earn more rewards. - Engaged vs. Disengaged
Identify highly engaged customers who frequently interact with your texts and send them exclusive perks to maintain momentum. For disengaged customers, craft re-engagement campaigns offering discounts or reminding them of what they’re missing. - Known Demographic
Write text messages in response to demographic data like age or interests. For example, millennials may prefer concise, emoji-rich texts, while Gen-Xers might appreciate more detailed offers. Learn more about texting millennials here. - Regional Grouping
Segment by location to create geo-specific offers. For example, promote hot cocoa to customers in snowy regions while sharing iced coffee deals with warmer climates. - Number of Purchases
Group customers based on their purchase frequency. Reward loyal, frequent buyers with exclusive discounts while incentivizing one-time shoppers to return with a personalized follow-up message. - Time Since Last Purchase
Target customers based on how long it’s been since their last purchase. Send “we miss you” messages to dormant customers or upsell products to those who recently purchased. - Preferences
Segment by declared interests or preferences. For example, if customers express interest in facials more so than manicures, you’d want to shape the texts they receive to reflect this. While purchasing behavior can give clues to someone’s interests, you can also simply ask using an SMS survey; when someone texts back their response, tools like Voxie can automatically group them accordingly. - Average Spend Per Purchase
Analyzing your customers’ average spend per purchase provides valuable insights to personalize your marketing messaging. For example, if a customer consistently orders four entrees rather than one, promoting bundle deals or family meal packages would align with their purchasing behavior and drive further engagement.
With Voxie’s robust segmentation capabilities, you can scale your SMS marketing without sacrificing the personal touch, ensuring each message resonates with its intended audience.
Enable Drip Campaigns Based on SMS Interactions
SMS drip campaigns are a powerful tool for nurturing customer relationships through automated, sequential messaging personalized to their SMS or omnichannel interactions. By delivering the right message at the right time, drip campaigns can guide customers through their journey—from welcome sequences to re-engagement offers. To learn more, check out this guide on SMS drip campaigns.
Voxie elevates your SMS marketing strategy with the ability to build multi-path SMS flows, enabling you to personalize the customer experience based on their behaviors and feedback. Here are two scenarios demonstrating this capability:
Scenario 1: Link Click vs. No Click
When a recipient clicks on a link in your text, Voxie can trigger a follow-up message, such as a thank-you text with a personalized offer. For those who don’t click, the system can send a gentle reminder or an alternate message to re-capture their interest. This dynamic branching ensures every customer is met with relevant communication based on their actions.
Scenario 2: Feedback Sentiment – Positive vs. Neutral
Consider a survey response: if someone provides glowing feedback, you can follow up with a thank-you message and an invitation to refer a friend. If the feedback is neutral or so-so, Voxie’s AI can detect the sentiment and prompt a personalized response addressing concerns or offering a small incentive to improve their experience.
Voxie’s advanced AI not only enables these tailored responses but also ensures the interaction feels authentic and thoughtful. By dictating the recipient’s post-interaction experience and adjusting communication paths dynamically, Voxie empowers you to craft meaningful, scalable SMS campaigns that truly connect with your audience.
Offering Personalized Promotional Offers
Not all customers have the same preferences when it comes to products or services, so a one-size-fits-all SMS marketing strategy simply won’t cut it. To maximize engagement and conversion rates, it’s essential to segment your audience and personalize deals based on their groupings and past interactions.
For example, let’s pretend you are responsible for marketing a quick-service restaurant (QSR) to two distinct customer segments: one group frequently orders during weekday lunches, while the other prefers evening or weekend meals. By analyzing these patterns, you can offer discounts on items that align with each group’s habits—such as sandwich combos for weekday lunch-goers and family-sized dinner deals for the weekend crowd.
By delivering personalized SMS offers, you create a more meaningful connection with your audience while driving higher sales and loyalty. Tailored incentives not only increase the likelihood of conversion but also make your customers feel understood and valued.
Personalizing the Timing of the SMS Marketing
The timing of your SMS marketing can be just as important as its content. Revisiting the example of the two QSR customer groups—weekday lunchtime diners versus evening and weekend visitors—you’ll want to send your messages when each audience is most likely to act. For instance, a lunchtime promo text might perform best if sent mid-morning, while weekend deals could have higher engagement if sent on Friday evenings.
Data collection plays a crucial role in optimizing your timing strategy. Track interactions like link clicks or coupon redemptions to identify patterns in customer behavior. For example, if most weekday lunch customers redeem their offers between 11:30 AM and 12:30 PM, you can adjust your campaign timing to hit their inbox just as they’re deciding where to eat. Testing and documenting these behaviors will help you personalize your SMS marketing and ensure your messages reach the right audience at the perfect time.
Empower Franchise Owners and Regional Marketing Teams to Localize Their SMS Strategy
One of the greatest advantages of SMS marketing for franchises is the ability for individual franchise owners or regional marketing teams to connect directly with their local customer base. These personalized messages create a stronger bond with the community by offering relevance and a personal touch that resonates with recipients. This localized approach can drive loyalty and increase engagement at the store level.
However, empowering franchisees to craft their own SMS campaigns comes with potential risks to overall brand consistency. Without proper oversight, the messaging could deviate from the corporate tone or guidelines, potentially confusing customers or diluting the brand.
That’s where Voxie comes in. The platform allows admins to assign varying levels of access and capabilities to franchisees, ensuring flexibility without compromising the brand. For example, franchise owners can customize promotions or messaging for their audience while adhering to pre-set guardrails and templates established at the corporate level. This structure allows franchises to maintain a consistent brand identity while still enabling localized creativity.
For more strategies and tools to elevate your franchise marketing efforts, explore Franchise Marketing Strategies and Top Marketing Tools for Franchises.
Ways to Automatically Gather and Distill the Customer Information Needed for Personalized SMS Marketing
Personalized SMS marketing relies upon having accurate and comprehensive customer data. Thankfully, there are efficient ways to gather and organize this information automatically, enabling you to deliver highly targeted personalized marketing campaigns. Here are some strategies to streamline the process:
1. Integrate Your SMS Marketing Platform with Your CRM and Other Software
To create a seamless flow of customer data, integrate your SMS platform with your CRM or any other software where you store critical customer information. This ensures that your SMS campaigns are informed by the latest data, including purchase history, demographics, and engagement trends. By synchronizing systems, you eliminate silos and gain a holistic view of your customers, enabling more accurate personalization.
2. Track Digital Interactions and Motivate In-Person Data Sharing
Leverage your digital channels to track customer interactions—such as website visits, cart activity, or email clicks—and connect this data to your SMS platform. Additionally, motivate customers to provide identifying information during in-person transactions by offering loyalty points.
Encourage customers to enter their phone numbers at checkout to sign up for loyalty rewards. Make this an ongoing part of the checkout process rather than a one-time request, so you continuously capture new data.
Not only does this method build robust customer profiles, but it also contributes to ROI by enhancing segmentation and targeting efforts. In fact, personalized SMS campaigns can significantly boost revenue and efficiency—learn more about maximizing ROI in SMS marketing here.
3. Build Customer Profiles Automatically
By collecting data through loyalty programs and digital interactions, you can automatically segment customers into groups based on shared characteristics. This enables you to send tailored messages that resonate with specific audiences, increasing the likelihood of engagement and conversion.
4. Conduct Surveys
Surveys are another valuable tool for gathering customer insights. Use SMS to send quick, engaging surveys that ask for preferences, feedback, or demographic details. Surveys not only enhance your personalization efforts but also demonstrate that you value customer input, strengthening brand loyalty.
5. Use SMS and Loyalty Sign-Up Forms to Collect More Data
Take advantage of your SMS campaigns and loyalty program sign-up forms to ask for additional information. Details like birthdays, most-frequented store locations, and even hobbies can inform more personalized messaging. For example, you can use birthdays to send celebratory discount texts or reference a favorite store when promoting local events. Keep these forms simple and engaging to encourage participation.
6.** **Use Weather Data to Automate Personal Relevance
Weather is one of the most overlooked yet impactful factors in customer behavior. By integrating hyperlocal, space-based weather insights, businesses can trigger timely, automated SMS messages that align with real-world conditions. Whether it’s a cold front prompting hot drink promotions or a heatwave driving sunscreen sales, weather-aware messaging ensures relevance without manual effort—enhancing engagement and conversions at scale.
Potential Pitfalls to Text Message Personalization
While SMS marketing personalization can significantly enhance customer interactions, there are common pitfalls that marketers should avoid to ensure their efforts remain effective.
1. Not Keeping Subscriber Lists and Related Data Up-to-Date
Outdated subscriber information can lead to irrelevant or even awkward messaging. For instance, referencing a location or product preference that no longer applies could frustrate customers rather than delight them. Regularly clean and update your subscriber lists, syncing them with your CRM or other data sources to ensure accuracy.
2. Referencing Information That Could Feel Too Personal
While SMS marketing personalization is powerful, overstepping boundaries can make customers uncomfortable. Avoid including details that might come across as invasive or overly specific, such as recent purchases they may view as private. Focus on broader, non-sensitive personalization like name, general preferences, or loyalty program status.
3. Overstuffing Personalizations to the Point of Hindering Readability
Too many personalized elements in a single message can overwhelm the recipient and detract from the overall impact. For example, stuffing a text with multiple variables (like name, purchase history, and location) can make it cluttered and hard to read. Instead, keep messages short and sweet, prioritizing clarity and focus. A simple, well-crafted message is often more effective than a verbose one.
4. Not Collecting and Assessing Performance Data
Failing to evaluate which SMS personalization tactics work best is a missed opportunity for improvement. Collect data on open rates, click-through rates, and conversions to gauge the effectiveness of your personalized SMS campaigns. Use A/B testing to compare different approaches and refine your strategy based on what resonates most with your audience.
5. Not Double-Checking Personalizations for Accuracy and Context
Personalization mishaps can damage your credibility and annoy recipients. For example, sending a birthday discount months before or after a customer’s birthday could make your brand seem careless. Always double-check that your personalization logic works as intended and aligns naturally with the message content.
By staying mindful of these pitfalls, you can create personalized SMS campaigns that strike the right balance between relevance and respect, ensuring your messages resonate without alienating your audience. Thoughtful personalization is key to building trust and long-term customer loyalty.
Voxie—The Ultimate Tool for 2025 to Personalize SMS Marketing for Franchises
As we step into 2025, personalized SMS marketing is no longer a luxury—it’s a necessity. For franchises, connecting with customers on a deeper level requires cutting-edge tools designed to streamline, enhance, and scale communication efforts. Franchise Hub, the core component of Voxie, gives franchises the ability to deliver hyper-personalized messages and drive exceptional results.
Here’s how Voxie’s suite of features works together to make SMS marketing personalization effortless and impactful:
- Advanced Audience Segmentation One-size-fits-all messaging is a thing of the past. Voxie empowers franchises to segment their audiences based on critical data points like location, purchase history, demographics, and behavior. Whether targeting frequent buyers, re-engaging lapsed customers, or promoting region-specific deals, Voxie ensures the right message reaches the right audience.
- Dynamic Personalization With Voxie, personalization goes beyond a simple “Hi [Name].” The platform enables you to dynamically incorporate details like past purchases, preferred stores, loyalty points, or even local weather conditions. This kind of hyper-relevant messaging builds stronger relationships and motivates action.
- Drip Campaigns for Long-Term Engagement Voxie helps you keep the conversation going with automated drip campaigns. Create a sequence of perfectly timed messages to nurture new leads, promote limited-time offers, or re-engage inactive customers—all while saving time and maintaining consistency.
- Triggered Automated Campaigns Respond to your customers’ actions in real-time with Voxie’s triggered automated campaigns. These campaigns enable you to send tailored messages based on specific actions—such as signing up for a loyalty program, abandoning a cart, or making a purchase. By guiding customers along their journey with timely and relevant communication, you create a seamless and engaging experience that boosts conversions.
- Two-Way Conversations Modern customers expect brands to listen, not just talk. Voxie’s two-way SMS capabilities allow franchises to respond to customer inquiries, collect feedback, and have real conversations. Whether handled by live agents or AI-powered conversational intelligence, these interactions create a more personal and satisfying customer experience.
- Rich Media Messaging Enhance your SMS campaigns with visuals that captivate. Voxie allows you to include images, GIFs, and clickable links in your texts, making promotions, event invites, or new product launches more engaging and memorable.
- AI-Driven Insights Voxie doesn’t just help you connect with customers—it helps you understand them. With machine learning and AI, Voxie analyzes campaign performance, customer behavior, and engagement trends, providing actionable insights to refine your strategies and maximize ROI.
- Seamless Integrations Voxie fits seamlessly into your existing marketing ecosystem. From CRMs to loyalty programs, Voxie syncs with your tools to ensure data consistency and streamlined campaign execution across all locations.
- Scalable Solutions Built for Franchises Whether your franchise has one location or thousands, Voxie is built to scale. The platform allows you to centralize management while maintaining localized campaigns for each store, ensuring relevance and consistency no matter the size of your operation.
- Unmatched Support Voxie is more than just software—it’s a partner in your success. Their dedicated team offers strategic guidance, campaign optimization tips, and ongoing support to help you achieve your SMS marketing goals.
Maximize Your Personalization Potential with Voxie
In 2025, personalization will define the winners in SMS marketing, and Voxie is the tool to get you there. From advanced segmentation to rich media messaging and AI-powered insights, Voxie provides everything franchises need to connect authentically with their audiences and drive meaningful results.
Ready to transform your SMS marketing? Get started with Voxie today and elevate your franchise’s marketing game!