Personalized text messages: Tips, examples, and best practices

In an inbox filled with spammy messages, personalized text messages help your brand stand out and drive real results. From personalized SMS marketing to one-to-one customer engagement, the right message at the right time can boost conversions, improve customer satisfaction, and build long-term loyalty.

In this guide, you’ll learn:

• What personalized text messages are and why they work
• How to automate SMS personalization using real-time data
• Templates and examples to inspire high-impact campaigns
• Best practices for segmentation, timing, and compliance
• How tools like Infobip enable personalized messaging at scale

What are personalized text messages?

Personalized text messages are SMS communications tailored to individual recipients using customer-specific data. Brands still use mass texting techniques to get messages across to customers. And that can still work if you are able to personalize mass text messages and not have them feel like one generic message that was blasted to your whole contact list.

Use relevant customer data to tailor messages to customers and help them stand out from other. Personalized messages can be used for:

• Sending birthday offers triggered by CDP or CRM data
• Recommending products based on browsing or purchase behavior
• Reminding a user to complete a sign-up process they started
• Following up after a service interaction
• Sending appointment reminders

To create personalized SMS messages, brands need an easy to use and robust platform that makes setting up triggers and flows simple. Infobip’s customer engagement platform, Moments, along with data collected in People CDP make it simple for brands to personalize text messages at scale.

Why personalized SMS marketing works

Customers are looking for personalized messages in every marketing campaign and customer support message. It helps them feel more connected to a brand and allows your message to stand out among those noisy and overcrowded inboxes:

• Appear next to personal conversations in a user’s inbox
• Don’t rely on apps or data connections
• Are read within minutes, if not seconds

4 ways personalized SMS makes a difference

1. Higher open & click rates: Personalized SMS messages can achieve open rates of 98%, especially when they reference specific user actions (like a recent browse or cart abandon).

• SMS messages are read within 3 minutes
• Personalization accelerates conversions
• Trackable URLs gives better insight into engagement

2. Improved customer experience: Relevant, real-time messages like order confirmations or renewal nudges create a sense of support, not spam. They meet the customer where they are in their journey.

• Remind users right before a free trial ends
• Follow up a couple hours after a cart is abandoned
• Re-engage lapsed users based on last activity

3. Increased conversions: Whether you’re prompting a sign-up completion or promoting a limited-time offer, personalization boosts response rates and conversion likelihood.

• Trigger messages based on user behavior
• Run lifecycle campaigns without lifting a finger
• Manage large volumes without losing relevance

4. Stronger brand loyalty: Customers who feel understood are more likely to engage again, refer friends, and return over time. Personalized messaging builds trust, and trust builds retention.

• Fewer “Where is my order?” tickets
• Higher CSAT with proactive messaging
• Relevant messages that push conversions

Top 5 tips to automate personalized text messages

To get the most out of customizing text messaging, focus on timing, relevance, and clarity. Here are five impactful ways to improve your SMS performance:

• Make opt-in valuable: Offer a clear incentive for signing up, like a discount or early access, and be transparent about what subscribers will receive
• Segment by behavior, not just demographics: Use browsing activity, purchase history, or engagement level to send more relevant messages
• Use automation, not templates alone: Pair personalized content with real-time triggers (e.g., subscription renewals or inactivity) to deliver at the right moment
  Be concise and clear: Keep texts short, scannable, and focused on one action. Avoid clutter and friction
• Test everything: Run A/B tests on timing, wording, and CTAs. Track conversions and not just clicks to understand what drives ROI

With tools like Infobip’s customer engagement platform (Moments) and customer data platform (People CDP), you can segment audiences based on demographics, behavior, and other distinctive characteristics. Then set up personalized workflows that ensure personalized and relevant messages are sent to the right people every time.

For example, set up Tags for customers based on their behavior in People CDP. Tags could include specific features or interests of customers like how often they use discount codes, subscriptions, or abandon carts.

Next, set up an automated Flow in Moments that triggers a personalized message to customers based on their behavior. For example, if an item is added to their cart but no purchase happens, a message will be triggered.

Examples of personalized text messages

Personalization can significantly increase engagement and conversion, along with short, effective templates. Here’s a few examples to get you started:

Re-engagement

Bring back inactive users with a friendly nudge and a time-sensitive incentive.

Example:

Free trial ending

Give trial users a timely reminder to convert before their access expires.

Example:

Abandoned cart

Recover lost revenue by reminding customers to complete their purchase.

Example:

Birthday offer

Send your customers a personal message to celebrate their birthday and make them feel valued. 

Example:

New product alert

Reward loyal customers with early access to new arrivals or launches.

Example:

How personalized SMS has helped business with real results

dahmakan: Loyalty offers and lifecycle engagement

Malaysian food delivery app dahmakan wanted to stand out in a crowded market. They used Infobip’s SMS platform to send personalized offers, like birthday discounts and tailored cashback incentives, reminders to use free credits before expiry based on each customer’s profile. Automated triggers ensure that each customer gets the promotion that is relevant for them.

Results:

• Doubled conversion rate on promotional campaigns
• 30% reduction in marketing costs by using SMS automation

Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz: Personalized reminders and test results

Leading Brazilian medical center Hospital Alemão Oswaldo Cruz needed a way to improve patient engagement while reducing appointment no-shows. By integrating Infobip SMS to their CRM, they were able to send campaigns and personalized text messages easily.

Results:

• 96% patient satisfaction with new communication strategy

Personalized SMS FAQs