SMS Marketing for Small Business Playbook

Why text beats email for small business

Email open rates for small business campaigns hover around 20–30%. SMS campaigns regularly see 90%+ read rates within minutes. If you have something time-sensitive to say — a sale, an appointment, an order update — text is the channel that gets seen.

That power comes with rules: texts are personal, so the bar for sending them is higher and the penalty for overuse is an unsubscribe or a complaint.

The rule that matters: consent

In Canada you can only send marketing texts to people who opted in. Consent must be clear, and every message needs a working opt-out (usually 'Reply STOP'). Breaking these rules risks complaints to the CRTC and fines.

An opt-in list of 500 engaged customers is worth more than 5,000 scraped numbers — and it keeps you legal.

What to send (and what not to)

The messages that work: appointment and no-show reminders, invoice and payment nudges, order updates, time-limited offers, and booking confirmations. The ones that don't: daily blasts, jokes, chain messages, and anything that doesn't help the customer.

A good rule of thumb: every text should either save the customer time or save them money.

What it costs

SMS marketing platforms charge roughly $0.02–$0.06 per message, or a flat monthly fee for a set volume. At 1,000 messages a month you're looking at $20–$60 in platform costs — far cheaper than the revenue a good campaign brings in.

Managed providers bundle the sending, the opt-in/opt-out compliance, and the automation rules for one price. Uphill Tech's SMS automation starts at CAD $49.99/month with setup included.

Your first 90 days

Month one: set up consent capture and send only service messages — confirmations and reminders. Month two: add one promotional text per month to opted-in customers. Month three: measure what gets replies and unsubscribes, then double down on what works.

That slow ramp builds a list that stays, instead of a list that burns.