SMS & MMS Marketing: Image Use Best Practices

Simple images can convey powerful messages—a fact that SMS and MMS marketing techniques leverage to create captivating images that encourage recipients to engage with a brand. However, there might be times when the typical 160 SMS character limit is not enough to build an accurate representation of an idea in the mind of a recipient. SMS marketing images can solve that dilemma by helping to create a specific picture of the desired message.

SMS marketing images may seem easy to use, but they can add a layer of complexity to your marketing campaign. The image you choose for each text instantly becomes the center of attention and can mean the difference between a recipient moving on from your message or being engaged and inspired by it. In order to optimize the use of SMS marketing images as part of your text marketing campaign, it is important to become familiar with the following 7 best practices.

1. Choose Simple and Powerful Images

If there is one piece of advice to follow when selecting your image, it is this: simple images can put forward a powerful message. Using simple images in MMS marketing messages builds a vibrant representation of your brand which will immediately capture the recipient’s attention. To-the-point content helps build better conversion rates and reserves valuable characters for the name of the establishment and contact information. Just remember, what looks good on a computer screen might not translate well to a phone screen, so choose your images carefully.

2. Add Attention to MMS Messages With a Subject Line

MMS messaging allows you to include an eye-catching subject line that adds power to the image in your message. This subject line can further enhance a customer’s experience and encourage greater customer engagement. The subject line should feel personalized and give the reader a sense of urgency to act on the offer in the message, potentially swaying more customers towards your brand.

3. Use the Text Body to Compliment the Image

The body of the marketing message should be short and directly support the strong heading and photo you have selected. If something is of vital importance, include it in the text. Redirecting potential customers might cause them to lose interest in your message. Simply worded messaging that surrounds the selected image is best—remember, the primary focus of an MMS text is always the image. 

4. Integrate Incentives Into Your Texts

Including clearly visible incentives in MMS texts have been proven to improve marketing text response rates. Here are three common areas to place these valuable incentives:

• Add a text-back code to the offer you are promoting. For example, send a photo of your daily special with the following message attached: Text “Lunch” to receive a 20% discount from 11-1.
• Include MMS coupons that make special offers easy to redeem and understand. 
• Add a scannable barcode or scannable QR code for easy mobile coupon redemption.

Supporting images with incentives can boost response rates and MMS promotion engagement numbers.

5. Create Focused Audience Groups

Sending out MMS marketing texts does not necessarily mean sending them out to every person on your contact list, nor does it mean that the same image will be attractive to all of your customers. By creating distinct groups to account for your different audiences, you open the door to increased promotion engagements while lowering the risk of recipients tapping the unsubscribe link. 

6. Become Familiar With Fair-Use Requirements

Before using images in your marketing texts, you must have permission to use or own the image you are about to send. While there is no shortage of free-use images on the internet, some of these come with fine print that prohibits their use in business media. Taking the time to familiarize yourself with the basics of image copyright will save you potential copyright issues later.

7. Ensure Proper Image Viewing on Mobile Devices

In order to ensure that images appear correctly on a recipient’s device, it is important to consider the overall quality of the image during the selection process. Keep in mind that smartphones default to an image size of 600px, although in some cases 320px may be ideal. The file size of the image should ideally be kept to a size less than 600KB, although some older phones may still be limited to a 300KB size for MMS images. 

Introduce SMS Marketing Images Into Your Text Campaign

Today’s typical customer has a short attention and is not loyal to any particular brand. Using SMS marketing images helps you capture this type of customer’s attention, ensuring they are quickly and easily engaged with your product. 

Jeff Winaker

Jeff Winaker is the CEO of NorthText. He’s passionate about helping clients reach their customers faster with SMS marketing. He resides in the Bay Area with his family.