SMS messaging can help you reach your customers and feel confident they’re reading your messages. The rise in popularity of smartwatches creates another opportunity for your business—more than 402 million of these devices are expected to ship by 2027.
By sending texts to smartwatches, you can reach your audience more intimately and personally than ever. Plus, recipients are more likely to see your messages, even when they aren’t using their phones. Discover how to create the ideal smartwatch SMS and make the most of the smartwatch boom.
What Are Smartwatches?
Smartwatches are wearable devices like standard wristwatches, but they do much more than tell time. They let the wearer track their steps, monitor their heart rate, observe their sleep quality and duration, and more.
While health and fitness are key motivators for consumers to wear these cutting-edge watches, the biggest reason for purchase is to have easier access to smartphone functions. Smartwatches are typically linked to a person’s smartphone through Bluetooth, allowing them to receive notifications from various apps directly to their wrists.
Can You Send Texts to Smartwatches?
Whether an Android or iOS device, a smartwatch connected to a smartphone can receive texts. As long as users have linked their watches to their phones and have their notifications turned on, they’ll get your messages. Depending on the make and model of the smartwatch, recipients can also reply to texts by voice dictation, prewritten responses or typing a brief message.
Unlike other messaging apps, which require users to download the app to their watch to receive and respond to messages, SMS is native to the operating systems and doesn’t require downloading. There are also very few third-party messaging apps available for smartwatches, so sticking with SMS is the most reliable option.
How Smartwatch Text Messaging Increases Customer Engagement
Standard text messages already offer several benefits to businesses compared to other communication methods like email. For example, people are more likely to open and read texts. In fact, texts have an open rate of 98%. However, they may just let an email sit in their inboxes—or worse, delete it unread.
If your customers also have smartwatches, they can receive your messages anytime and anywhere, even when they’ve left their phones in another room. Integrating smartwatches into your marketing strategy can reshape how you engage with your customers.
- Increased screen time: On average, Americans check their phones 144 times daily, and Australians look at their mobile screens almost every eight minutes. As smartwatches are wearable devices, these numbers could increase dramatically.
- Enhanced access: Although most people believe checking your phone when spending time with friends and family is impolite, many would agree that occasionally looking at your watch is acceptable. As a result, smartwatches can offer businesses more access to their customers.
- Optimized customer service: Texting is an excellent way to provide customer support, especially when sharing time-sensitive reminders and confirming appointments. One advantage of using SMS to send this type of information is that messages get real-time customer attention and quicker responses—76% of Americans check their phones within 5 minutes when receiving a notification, and checking a watch is typically simpler than checking a phone that may be stowed away in a pocket or purse.
How to Craft the Perfect Smartwatch Text
If you’re already using texts to connect with your customers via their mobiles, you don’t have to do anything different for your messages to appear on their smartwatches. However, you should think about the types of messages you’re sending for easy readability—both on the phone and the watch. The screen on a smartwatch is much smaller than the typical smartphone screen. To ensure people read your entire message, it pays to be brief.
Follow these tips for crafting text messages for smartwatches:
- Be concise: Try to be short and succinct by keeping your messages under 160 characters, which is considered one text in the SMS world. The less scrolling, the better.
- Make responding easy: While people can reply to messages using their watches, it’s more complicated than on a phone. Additionally, different models have different capabilities. Make it convenient for customers by asking for short and simple replies. Instead of requiring them to type out “YES” or “NO” to confirm or cancel an appointment, have them reply with “Y” or “N.”
- Time it wisely: Timing is everything when sending messages. Whether they are reading your SMS on their phone or smartwatch, send them at hours that suit the recipient—avoid sending texts at midnight or during rush hour in their timezone.
- Get personal: Personalization is an absolute must when writing marketing texts—71% of customers expect brands to deliver personalized communications, and 76% get frustrated when businesses don’t meet this expectation. this expectation isn’t met. Call recipients by name and share customized deals aligned with their interests and purchasing behaviors. Doing so can go a long way in showing customers that you understand who they are.
- Use proximity marketing: Using smartphone technologies like cell phone triangulation and GPS, this tactic uses customers’ locations to send highly targeted messages to promote your products or services. With proximity marketing, you can connect with audience members in your business’s vicinity—if they have a smartwatch, they’ll have an increased chance of seeing your text.
Optimize Your Texts for Smartwatches With Red Oxygen
Take advantage of the smartwatch boom by tailoring your messages to appear in one of the most convenient ways possible—on a little screen on someone’s wrist. Red Oxygen makes doing so easy with SMS solutions for multiple industries.
We help businesses send texts from a computer to any mobile device. Our solutions are compatible with Gmail, Office, web browsers and more. Plus, our personalization features can help drive results and increase customer engagement.
To learn more about how Red Oxygen can optimize your texts for smartwatches, contact us or request a demo today!
