SMS Call to Action: 10 Tips and Examples That Get Customers to Act

ATAbisola TanzakoOctober 23, 202514 min read

SMS call to action example: a plain text message from a business sender ID asks the customer to book a session and writes the booking link out in full, and tapping it opens the booking page where a Thursday 10:00 session is booked

If you send promotional SMS and few customers act on it, start with the call to action. An SMS call to action (CTA) is the one thing you want the reader to do after reading your message: open a link, call a number, start a WhatsApp chat or come into your shop. A good one names that action with a clear verb, tells the customer what they get, and makes the next step take a single tap.

One condition changes how you write it. Arkesel SMS is one-way, so customers’ replies don’t reach you, whatever name your messages come from. Your CTA therefore has to send people somewhere you can see their response. These SMS marketing tips and examples are written for businesses sending SMS in Ghana, Nigeria, South Africa and Tanzania.

What is an SMS call to action?

An SMS call to action is the instruction in a text message that tells the reader what to do next and how to do it. It usually comes at the end of the message, after the offer or update, and it carries three things: the action, the reason to take it, and the link, number or place where the customer takes it.

Compare two ways a fabric shop in Lagos might write the same promotion (the shop is an illustration):

Big sale this weekend at Mama Ada's Fabrics. Don't miss out!

Mama Ada's Fabrics: buy any ankara this Saturday and get a matching headwrap. Show this SMS at our Surulere shop to claim it.

The first tells customers something is happening. The second tells them what they get, when, and exactly what to do to get it, and the shop can count every customer who shows the message at the counter.

How do customers respond to an SMS they can’t reply to?

They respond through a route you give them in the message. Arkesel SMS is one-way: the platform does not receive SMS replies, so a reply from a customer reaches neither your account nor any inbox. So every CTA should point to a place where you can see the response:

A link to the product page, booking form, order page or payment link. You see the visits in your website analytics and the orders in your sales records.
A phone number that your team answers during the hours the message states.
A WhatsApp chat. If your customers prefer to talk on WhatsApp, give them your WhatsApp number or chat link. On Arkesel, two-way conversation with customers runs on WhatsApp through KOVA IQ, while SMS itself stays outbound only.
A visit with a code. Ask customers to show the message or quote a short code at the counter, and have staff note each one.
A USSD menu or payment prompt you already run. If your business already operates one, dialling it can be the action.

How customers respond to a sender ID SMS call to action: through a link, a phone number, a WhatsApp chat, a visit with a code or a USSD menu, because text replies from a sender ID don't reach the sender's account

Your brand name appears as the sender because Arkesel messages can send from a custom sender ID, and each sender ID goes through a review before you can use it. Our guide to sending bulk SMS with your sender ID walks through the setup.

What makes a good call to action in a text message?

A good SMS CTA asks for one action, explains what the customer gains, and gives them everything they need to act without searching. Check every message against these five parts:

An action verb. Book, order, call, chat, pay, show, claim.
The value to the customer. The discount, the appointment slot, the item that is back in stock.
A deadline, only when it is real. “Until Sunday” works when the offer genuinely ends on Sunday.
One action. A single link or a single number, not a choice between three.
The link or number, written in full. The customer should be able to tap it straight from the message.

Here is how a gym in Cape Town might write a message with all five parts in place:

FitHub Claremont: book your first personal training session this week and get a second one on us. Book here: [link]

Anatomy of an SMS call to action: the gym booking message with its five parts highlighted, action verb, value to the customer, a real deadline, one action, and the link written in full

Keep the whole message, link included, short enough to fit a single SMS where you can. Our guide to SMS length and character limits explains how many characters fit and which ones use up more space.

10 SMS call-to-action tips

1. Ask for one action only

Give each message a single job. When a text asks customers to visit the website, follow you on social media and call for a quote, it splits their attention three ways, and you can’t tell which request worked. Pick the action that matters most for this campaign and leave the others for another message.

2. Lead with a specific verb

Start the CTA with the exact thing you want the customer to do. “Book your slot”, “Order before 6pm” and “Show this SMS at the till” are clearer than “Learn more” or “Click here”, because they tell the reader what happens after the tap. If you can’t name the verb, the message probably has no clear action yet.

3. Say what the customer gets

Put the benefit right next to the action. “Order today” is an instruction; “Order today and we deliver tomorrow” gives the customer a reason. Use the offer itself rather than adjectives: “[discount]% off school shoes” says more than “amazing deals”.

4. Use a real deadline, never fake urgency

A deadline helps when it is true. “Ends Sunday” or “first 50 customers” gives people a reason to act now, but only if the offer actually ends then; a “last chance” offer that comes back every week gives customers no reason to believe the next one. When there is no genuine deadline, leave it out and lead with the value instead.

5. Personalise with fields you have actually filled

A customer’s name at the start of a message makes it read like it was meant for them. Arkesel bulk campaigns support per-recipient merge fields that fill from contact-group fields and from CSV or Excel uploads. A merge field is a placeholder in your message that the platform replaces with each contact’s own details when it sends. You don’t type these placeholders yourself. You pick them from the fields the platform offers: the fields in your contact group, such as first name and other name or contact details, or, if you upload an Excel file, that file’s columns. Only the fields the platform lists can go into a message.

Before you add a first-name field, check that it is filled for every contact in the group. Don’t rely on a fallback value for an empty field, because a blank name leaves an awkward greeting. Clean your list first, or write the message so it still reads well if the name is missing. Our guide to personalising bulk SMS covers how to prepare your contact data.

6. Make the link short, readable and trackable

Use a short link that shows your brand’s domain, so customers can see where it goes before they tap. Point it at the exact page for the offer, not your homepage, so nobody has to search for what the message promised. Add campaign tags to the link (UTM parameters, which your website analytics tool reads) so each campaign’s visits appear separately in your own reports.

A tagged link looks like yourshop.com/sale?utm_source=sms&utm_medium=sms&utm_campaign=school-shoes. The tags make the link longer, so add them first and then shorten the tagged link, so they don’t use up the space in your message.

7. Give a response route you actually monitor

Only offer a route someone on your team is watching. If the message says “Call us now”, staff the line during the hours customers are likely to call. If it says “Chat with us on WhatsApp”, make sure someone answers. A customer who acts on your message and gets no answer has done what you asked and been left waiting.

8. Send at a sensible time and test it

Send when your customers are awake and able to act, and when the people who answer your phone or WhatsApp are working. In Validity’s 2023 survey of consumers in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, 25% of respondents said brands constantly or often text them at inappropriate times, like late at night. That survey doesn’t cover African markets, but the point holds anywhere: a badly timed message annoys people before they read the CTA.

Arkesel campaigns can be scheduled for a future send time, and recurring sends are supported, so you can write the message during the day and have it go out when your customers are most likely to respond. There is no single best hour for every business, so test two send times and compare the responses. For messages that should go out when a customer does something, such as signing up or making a purchase, see our guide to triggered SMS campaigns.

9. Segment so the CTA fits the reader

The best action for a new customer is rarely the best one for a customer who has bought from you ten times. On Arkesel, contacts are organised into contact groups, and a campaign is sent to a group rather than to your whole contact list. Create groups such as new customers, regular buyers, customers in each city or customers who haven’t bought in three months, and write a CTA for each: a welcome offer for the first, early access for the second, a store visit for the third, a “we miss you” offer for the last.

10. Measure the response and test one change at a time

Measure two things: whether the message arrived, and whether people acted on it. Arkesel delivery reports show the delivery status of each recipient, so you can see which messages were delivered and which failed. Our guide to SMS delivery reports explains how to read them.

For the response, use tagged links in your own analytics, a dedicated phone line or an offer code that only appears in that campaign. Then change one thing at a time, such as the verb, the offer or the send time, and send each version to a similar group. If you change three things at once, you won’t know which one made the difference.

SMS call to action examples you can adapt

Each template below is labelled with its goal. Replace the bracketed details with your own before sending, except [First name] and [student name]. Those are per-recipient fields you pick from your contact-group fields or Excel columns, not text you type in by hand, and the platform fills them in for each contact. Every promotional template ends with an opt-out line that uses a route you receive, never a text reply.

Sale (fashion retailer, Lagos)

Hi [First name], [discount]% off all school shoes at [shop name] until Saturday. Shop now: [link]. To stop these messages, use [opt-out form link].

Booking (salon, Cape Town)

[Salon name]: we have open slots this Thursday and Friday. Book your braids appointment here: [link]. Don't want these updates? Call [number].

Payment reminder (school, Dar es Salaam)

Dear [First name], a reminder that second-term fees for [student name] are due on [date]. Pay here: [payment link]. Questions? Call the bursar on [number].

Event (electronics store launch, Kumasi)

[Store name] opens at [location] this Saturday at 9am. The first 30 buyers get a phone case. Get directions: [map link]. Opt out: [opt-out form link].

Re-engagement (gym, Johannesburg)

Hi [First name], we haven't seen you at [gym name] lately. Come back this month for a free class. Book here: [link]. Opt out: WhatsApp [number].

Feedback (restaurant, Accra)

Thanks for dining at [restaurant name], [First name]. Tell us how we did in 3 quick questions: [form link]. To stop these messages, use [opt-out form link].

Conversation on WhatsApp (phone shop, Abuja)

[Shop name]: the new [phone model] is in stock. Chat with us on WhatsApp for colours and delivery: [WhatsApp link]. Opt out: WhatsApp [number].

Store visit with a code (pharmacy, Arusha)

[Pharmacy name]: show code [code] at any of our branches before [date] for [discount]% off vitamins. Opt out: call [number].

When your templates are ready, load your contact groups and schedule a test send to a small group first, such as your own team. Check that the name fields filled correctly, the message still fits a single SMS once your real names and links are in, every link opens the right page and the phone line or WhatsApp number is answered, then schedule the full campaign.

How do you handle consent and opt-outs when customers can’t reply?

Send marketing texts only to people who have agreed to receive them. Ask at checkout or sign-up, say what kind of messages they will get, and keep each message to what they signed up for.

Opt-outs need the same care. In Validity’s 2023 survey of consumers in the US, UK, Australia and New Zealand, 58% of respondents said they had unsubscribed from a brand’s messages because its marketing texts irritated them, and 26% of respondents said brands constantly or often fail to respect opt-outs. That survey doesn’t cover African markets either, but the lesson carries: make leaving easy, and honour every request.

Give every customer a clear, easy way out that you will actually receive. Replies to an Arkesel SMS do not reach your account, so an opt-out line that asks people to reply by text will not get to you. Name a route you do receive instead, such as a phone number, a WhatsApp line or a web form. When someone opts out, remove their number from your contact groups before your next send. Keep those numbers on a do-not-send list as well, and check every new CSV or Excel upload against it, so an old file doesn’t bring them back.

If you offer a phone line or WhatsApp, log each request as it comes in so nothing is missed between campaigns. Our guide on how to avoid looking like spam covers the other habits that keep customers subscribed.

Common SMS CTA mistakes

Asking for a keyword reply. Asking people to reply with a word such as YES or STOP doesn’t work on an Arkesel send, because their reply never reaches you. Use a link, a phone number or a WhatsApp chat instead.
Several links or actions in one message. You can’t measure which one worked.
Vague verbs such as “Learn more” and “Click here”.
Fake urgency, such as a “today only” offer that returns next week.
A name field that comes out blank. A contact with an empty name field gets an awkward greeting, so clean your list before you send or write a greeting that still reads well without the name.
A link to your homepage when the message promises a specific offer.

Frequently asked questions

Should an SMS have more than one call to action?

No. Give each message one main action, such as booking, ordering or calling. The opt-out line is the one exception, because it is not competing with your offer: it gives people who no longer want your messages a way to leave.

Where should the call to action go in an SMS?

Usually at the end, after the customer knows what the offer is. Put the link or number last, so it is the final thing the customer reads and the easiest thing to tap. For a very short message, the verb can open the message instead: “Book your service before Friday: [link]”.

Do these SMS tips apply to transactional messages?

Partly. Transactional messages, such as payment reminders and delivery updates, also work better with one clear action and a route you monitor. They have a different purpose from promotional messages, though. Our guide to promotional vs transactional SMS explains the difference.

Send your next campaign with one clear action

Pick one campaign you are planning, write its CTA with the five parts above, and give customers a link, phone number or WhatsApp chat you are watching. Then send it from your own sender ID with Arkesel bulk SMS: load your contact groups, add merge fields, schedule the send and check the delivery report afterwards. The Arkesel web dashboard works fully in a phone’s mobile browser, so you can add contacts and compose and send a campaign from your phone.

You can create an account to get started, and see current pricing for SMS in your market. If you send in a specific country, our guides to SMS marketing in Ghana, sending bulk SMS in Nigeria and bulk SMS in Tanzania cover the local details, and our page on bulk SMS in South Africa covers sending there.