How To Use Text Message Art To Amaze Your Customers And Increase Sales
Media makes messages stand out! According to the Attentive Mobile Consumer report, 51% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase after receiving a text message with images and other media types. Text message Art is an exceptionally creative piece of graphic that makes your regular texts stand out from the crowd!
Even in the SMS world, audiovisuals are super essential and have such an impact on consumers. An SMS with image content such as a text message art, converts twice as much as a regular SMS. You definitely should use text Art in your SMS campaigns, if you aren’t already.
Regardless of your industry, whether real estate, staffing, automotive, finance, fitness, or other industries, text message art can still significantly boost your your SMS ROI and overall sales. Read on to discover what it is, how it’s made, and most importantly, how to use it to get your audience to take action.
Okay, let’s get to it…
First, What Really Is Text Message Art?
Text message art is also commonly called ASCII art, or keyboard art. It is a unique kind of graphic that is created simply with text symbols. A graphic design technique that creates message art with the keyboard, using the 256 characters of the ASCII standard developed in 1963.
Text message art has a host of uses for businesses. You’ll discover more on that later on. But most small businesses commonly use ASCII art to wow customers and amplify the level of engagement with SMS. It’s one of the many advantages of texting.
Imagine receiving a sales offer from your favorite food brand by SMS. The message has a catchy, carefully designed text art burger at the bottom. You’d most certainly feel the urge to type a reply or click on those links.
You can draw your own text art images from scratch using a simple page editor like notepad, or use an online generator. Several tools allow you to copy and paste your art to your messaging service or social media (E.g. your twitter handle).
A good text messaging service like Smarter Contact allows you to copy and paste art with ease.
The History Of Text Art
To fully understand why text art is so unique and powerful for businesses, it’s important to know its history — where it comes from.
The ASCII symbols were developed back in 1963. This is also the year of birth of the first and oldest sample of text art. Kenneth Knowlton, an employee at Bell Labs was the first man to use Keyboard art for communicating.
He used Text Art as an intelligent and impressive way to prank a colleague, together with Leon Harmon who also worked for Bell Labs. Both men scanned a nude photograph of the dancer Deborah Hay, which they converted into symbols using a program they developed. This produced a printout which they would hang on a colleague’s office as a prank.
The image somehow gained popularity and ended up in the New York Times as Studies in Perception I. This piece of art is the most widely circulated artwork made by a computer.
Back then, printers did not have graphic capabilities. So text art was used as the revolutionary graphic of the time. Thus, ASCII art replaced the already existing graphics marks for creating images.
How To Create Text Art
As mentioned, you can create your own keyboard art from scratch with the help of an editing tool like notepad. This is however a technique that only tech-savvy designers use.
These professionals take the time to experiment on letters, numbers, and special symbols - trying out different configurations to create different visuals that can be sent within an SMS.
Creating ASCII Art From Pictures
If you don’t have all the time to design your own ASCII art, you can always use a quick online tool. There are lots of them available even for free. For most, you’ll only have to upload an image that will be converted into ASCII characters. Such a tool assigns ASCII symbols to image pixels.
The look and feel of your original image is maintained, and the resulting fine graphic is called ASCII art. This gives you cool ASCII art configurations that you can play around with to create your very own message art.
Fsymbols is one of such websites, and offers an in-built editor with which you can design custom-made message art for your SMS campaigns.
Any Templates Available Online?
If you really don’t want to get your hands dirty even with the special tools, there’s another option. The Internet offers a barrow of templates you can try. The ASCII archive is one of such places, with a library of art templates to get you started with your campaigns.
How To Send Text Art
Note that message art isn’t designed to be an image file with a PNG or JPEG format which you can download. Although some tools let you save your ASCII art as png or jpeg files, those can only be sent via MMS or serve you for social media (Facebook, Instagram).
If you actually want text graphics that can accompany your text message campaigns, then you’ll simply copy and paste your designs - from the tool which created your art onto the pages of your text messaging service.
It’s even better with the Smarter Contact messaging service. All you have to do is…
- Create a campaign from scratch or pick a template,
- Open up the text message editor to start typing your message.
- Now copy and paste your text pictures from the source into your text message editor, and you’re ready to send.
- You can even make further modifications to your art since it’s just ASCII characters anyway.
It’s that easy!
Can You Create And Send Text Art On An iPhone?
If you’re using the right text messaging service, then sending a text art using your iPhone is possible. Although it also depends on the tools you use for making text pictures. Real notepad for iPhone? We haven’t seen that yet.
Should You Worry About Character Limits With Text Pictures?
Text art graphics could be designed on a single line, but most often use huge volumes of keyboard characters for the text pictures to actually form. Plus you’ll need to write your own message. This is a bit worrying for business purposes because you’re hanging on the 160-character thread imposed by the SMS service.
But we at Smarter Contact are smarter than that. Our messaging service doesn’t impose the default 160-character limit. So you can copy and paste the most complex text message art unto your message if you want.
Is Text Message Art Worth Your Time?
Let’s say you’ve chosen to boycott the custom-made software tools in order to make your designs utterly to your taste. Then, of course, the time and effort sacrifices must be enormous. And so you may wonder, is it worth it?
Well, text message art has a huge place in SMS marketing. Here’s why…
According to the Experian Marketing services, adults aged 25-34 send and receive over 75 texts a day. We can infer that the average person receives about 40 texts every day.
So believe it or not, SMS is also getting crowded. Now, this is nowhere near the swampy email space, with the average person getting over 121 emails a day. But still, there is a growing crowd around text messaging, and so your texts absolutely need to stand out. That’s where text art comes in.
According to Salesforce, there is a conversation rate of 45% for brands using SMS. That’s good, but with ASCII art, we can get that number up! If customers can anticipate that they’ll be delighted by your new text art designs every weekend, they’re more likely to open up your messages.
So yes, text message art is worth every second of the time you spend creating and sending it.
5 Creative Ways Businesses May Use Text Art
Now discover exactly how to use these creative designs in your campaigns, with the help of examples.
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Holidays And Special Occasions Such As Birthdays
Connecting with customers on Holidays and Special Occasions is one of the most creative ways to use text messaging for business communication. Thankfully, you have SMS to effectively stay in touch with your customers.
To every business, the customer is gold. And so everything that matters to your customers should matter to you as well. Holidays and special occasions are a perfect opportunity to make your customers feel warm and appreciated, SMS being the best possible tool for this.
Here are a few examples of messages accompanied by text arts, which you can explore for inspiration. Let your creativity speak.
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Provide Tips And Advice
SMS along with text art is great for providing helpful tips and advice to customers. Including these text drawings adds a personal touch to your message, and increases engagement. Customers are a little more intrigued about your tip and are more compelled to take action.
Use text drawings to add some element of fun and playfulness, as you get your advice across.
Ex #1: Tips And Advice
“Thank you so much for patronizing us with your purchase today! We recommend downloading and installing the latest version of Windows 10 on your new PC. This will maximize your experience and help you take advantage of the full functionality of your new device.”
_______________ |*\_/*|________
| ___________ | .-. .-. ||_/-_|______ |
| | | | .****. .****. | | | |
| | 0 0 | | .*****.*****. | | 0 0 | |
| | - | | .*********. | | - | |
| | ***/ | | .*******. | | ***/ | |
| |___ ___| | .*****. | |___________| |
|_____|\_/|_____| .***. |_______________|
|_|/ |_|_.............*.............._|________|_
/ ********** \ / ********** \
/ ************ \ / ************ \
-------------------- --------------------
Ex #2: Tips And Advice
“Thanks for choosing to fly with us. Remember to be at the airport at least one hour before departure time. Don’t forget your passport and all the other important documents you’ll need. Enjoy your trip.”
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Sales And Promos
51% of consumers are more likely to make a purchase if they receive a text message with images and media. Text images are sticky and communicate better. Text message art fits perfectly into the image category.
So when you send your next sales offer or promotional message to customers via SMS, remember to add a beautiful piece of text art that immediately grabs their attention and increases your chances of getting a response.
Ex #1: Special Promo
“Hello, Joan! Looking for a new summer outfit? Get 25% off our new single line collection. Place an order before Sunday. Here’s a link to our website [link].”
/| |\ | | | |
( ./ ) ( \ / ) (.\ /.)
\ : / *// \ /
) : ( ))*(( ) . (
/ : \ ///|\ / v \
|__:__| ////|\ /.......\
Ex #2: Flash Sale
“Hi, Mike. This is a limited-time Easter deal: book a table at our restaurant today to receive a 10% discount on the whole menu. Call us +123456 or visit: [short_link].”
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Using Text Pictures For Confirmations And Reminders
According to Zipwhip State, 48% of Customers find appointment reminders the most valuable texts they receive from businesses. When you add a text art to a reminder or confirmation message, the feel is different.
Need to remind a client of a house tour they booked with your real estate agency? Add some text art to your SMS so your client becomes a little more receptive and engaged. With the help of such captivating graphic, your client will be sure to keep that meeting in the back of their minds.
This is a great template for an SMS campaign for businesses that use text messaging for real estate. It’s perfect for client reminders and invitations. SMS and real estate work pretty well together like they were made for each other.
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Using Text Picture Art To Improve Customer Service
According to reports from GSMA Intelligence, 85% of consumers prefer SMS for customer service, over calls or emails. So if you’re not giving your customers the possibility to connect with you via SMS, you’re really hurting them.
Customers want to send you their complaints and even feedback that you so need, via SMS. With text message art, customer service moves to another level. You and customers can use ASCII art to communicate better and engage in deeper conversations while you resolve each other’s problems.
Ex #1:
“Hi, Frank,
Hope all is well! You’ve been using our streaming app for the past [four months] and I’d like to ask if you could provide some feedback on your experience. Meeting our customers’ needs is a priority for us and we always strive to get better at it.”
Imagine the impact you create, when your customer happens to be a Snoop Dogg fan. They’ll never forget your brand, never!
Bonus: Re-engaging Inactive Customers
Abandoned carts are one of the heart-aching problems almost all businesses have to watch out for. SMS has proven effective with tackling cart abandonment, by re-engaging quiet customers.
But perhaps a message that is carefully spiced up with seductive keyboard art can bring life to some inactive customers. When it comes to “bringing back customers to life”, what’s better than text message art?
Make Your SMS Messages Feel Exclusive With Text Art
Did you find all these text images fascinating? They’re all made simply with letters, numbers, and symbols. You too can draw yours.
In a space that’s becoming competitive, being better isn’t always the answer, it’s being different! Adding message Art to your messages makes you unique and special - that’s how customers see you when they can separate your texts from the rest.
Final Thoughts
Text message Art is a creative piece of graphic that sublimely transforms regular SMS into sales machines. A unique way to stand out from the rest. You do not however have all the time to worry about creating text art, whilst struggling to manage your SMS campaigns.
Let Smarter Contact help you manage your real estate, staffing, automotive, finance, fitness, or other industries SMS campaigns effortlessly with one of the most intuitive SMS marketing platforms on the planet. We’re so confident about our service that we’re offering you a 7-day free trial of our tool. Visit our website today to enjoy your free trial.
Dereck
dereck@smartercontact.com
