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Start with a singular purpose. Make explicit what you want to achieve.

Text messaging should be one part of how you communicate with the people you serve, and it is best used to provoke action or influence behavior. Therefore, when starting to plan your texting campaign, it’s important to start with the end in mind.

To establish clear goals, start by answering the following questions:

  • Who do you want to text?
  • At what moments do you want to text them?
  • Why do you want to text them?
  • What do you want them to do?
Phone

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When should you send a text?

What to do

Use texting to share timely information, provide critical status updates, or remind someone to do something.

Examples:

{% set list_item_dos = [ { "list_content": "Your application is due on…", }, { "list_content": "We need more information from you to process your application for…", }, { "list_content": "We will be calling you about…at…", }, { "list_content": "We will be calling you about…at…", }, ] %}
    {% for item in list_item_dos %}
  • {{item.list_content}}
  • {% endfor %}

What not to do

Texting is not great for long, detailed instructions or frequent reminders that may be ignored.

Examples:

{% set list_item_donts = [ { "list_content": "Your rights and responsibilities", }, { "list_content": "How to complete your application", }, { "list_content": "Weekly reminder not to share your account information", }, ] %}
    {% for item in list_item_donts %}
  • {{item.list_content}}
  • {% endfor %}

Your program may already be communicating with your audience through methods like mailed notices and phone calls. Think of text messages as complementary to your existing communications. Review how well you are currently reaching your audience. Are there methods or gaps that could be supplemented with a text message?

The Department of Veterans Affairs provides a helpful flow-chart that can help you decide if a text message is needed for the communication problem you are trying to solve.

Use a hypothesis framework to plan your campaign

Think of your texting campaign as a scientific experiment, and try to articulate what you hope to improve as a result of implementing text messaging at your agency. For example:

We believe that texting [specific group of people] when [this happens or on this cadence] to inform/alert them about [subject] will result in [desired action].

Review your drafted hypothesis with your team to make sure everyone is aligned on your desired goals. A clear and concise hypothesis can help you decide how to write text message content that provokes action.

Begin with a small test

To help you decide how much to invest in text messaging over time, we highly recommend starting small and testing your message campaigns to refine based on feedback and evidence.

Starting small has less risk and more flexibility. It can help you gather data and decide if and how to send more text messages. For example, start by sending one message to a smaller sample of your audience and track their resulting behavior.

At a minimum, make sure to get feedback on your message content from staff, community-based organizations, and, ideally, from people who receive the texts themselves to ensure your messages are clear and actionable.

Measure performance

Building and operationalizing a texting initiative requires time and effort, and you want to be able to demonstrate the results of that effort.

To understand if your texting program is successful, ask:

  • What do you want to be different for your program or your desired audience after a text message is sent, as compared to your current state?
  • How will you know if text recipients take the desired action?
  • Do you have access to existing data in your system that you could use to determine whether texting is giving you the results you want?
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